Elon Musk is demonstrably a twit. I don’t know what you’re getting by repeatedly denying it. I’m all for electric cars; I will definitely buy one as soon as it’s affordable. But I will never buy a Tesla. I don’t care if they’re reliable or safe (very few cars aren’t these days). I don’t care what they’ve done to innovate in the EV space (though I know for a fact it’s less than most weird nerds defending the brand want to believe). I do not like their business practices, I do not like how they react to criticism of very real issues with their cars and their marketing strategies, and I do not like Elon Musk personally. Because of stupid crap like the Cybertruck, which isn’t even on the top ten list of asinine decisions made by Musk. None, I repeat, none of this means that this site and its residents are any less about green and renewable technology. Rejecting a company because of the huckster-in-chief doesn’t mean rejecting the entire industry. I know that’s a hard concept.
It’s a cybertruck, so you can just clean up the fit and finish in photoshop, right?
Apparently chrome was the theme of the opening. Very 1960s idea of the future
Edited to remove ppl from 1st photo. It didn’t come off social media
Normally I’d call this all bluster, except for the small fact that Tesla is the largest maker of actual, genuine, real electric cars and SUVs in the world, and literally sells as many as they can manage to build, and has for literally years at this point.
i.e. It’s not like they don’t know how to productionalize ideas like the Model X gullwing doors or the like. They’ll get this thing built and it will be as good as the rest of their lineup. Just a question of precisely when, and how much it will resemble the prototypes (something common to ALL auto manufacturers).
A public service announcement from a multi-multi-generation Texan:
NOBODY EXCEPT NATIVE TEXANS ARE ALLOWED TO DO SHIT LIKE THIS
When we do it, it’s cute, stupid, and naive. (And really, it should be done only at the State Fair of Texas.) When other people do it, it misses the point entirely, and immediately gives them away as newcomers.
Everything about this vehicle screams “this is a pickup truck designed by people who have zero use for or practical experience using pickup trucks.”
A giant chrome Big Tex would have been funny. I guess they could only borrow his accessories. This is Big Tex, for anyone unfamiliar with him.
The giant hat and boot are ridiculous and I don’t think they were intended as a joke. I heard there was a chrome cactus field that looked interesting in the dark, as it was lit up. I haven’t seen any pics. The steampunk bull is interesting looking
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a giant cowboy boot stamping on a human face - for ever”
has he ( thunder etc ) improved at all since his time attacking women during gamergate? i ask because he seems to be part of the bro mindset that musk embodies so well
Like anything on the internet, nothing’s perfect and you take the good with the bad. This particular Musk summary is spot on as far as I can tell.
Musk has obviously never worked as a dishwasher
Probably not, but he played one on TV.
In regards to car parts, If they manufacture any significant quantity at all, it shouldn’t be a problem if they go out of business. For example, I have a 1929 Little Giant 50-lb power hammer in regular use. They went out of business nearly 60 years ago, yet I can still get newly manufactures custom parts for it, from the guy who currently owns the orginal casting molds and all the part specs. A friend who races a 1915 Model T (with aftermarket nitrous, even) at the local track showed me a website where you can order just about any part needed to fix it when I asked how he kept it running despite hard use. I’ve talked to restorers who commented how hard it is to find original parts, but who were able to find a cheap modern replacement even for vehicles as exotic as Dusenbergs, pre-War Rolls, and nigh-oneoffs such as the BMW M1.
As for software, yes, the now-bankrupt company will stop updating it, but unless they decide the lawsuit is worth some reward they won’t brick the cars, and even if they do someone will come up with a cheap way to rip out the hardware and run it from a laptop or old cell phone if they can’t hack the original back into operation.
But if my steam club can get a set of gaskets for a 10hp 1908 steam tractor for about $150, I’m pretty sure that any pickup made today will be able to find replacement parts in a hundred years.
Doubtful. See my link above about how GM doesn’t even make spare brake lights for a Cadillac they built as recently as 2009.
There are many, many examples of how older cars are often easier to get parts for than newer ones. A few years back my wife couldn’t get her early 90s Mitsubishi to pass smog check because a key electronic component wasn’t available, so we had to give the car away. But I’ve never run into problems getting parts for my 1960 Ford.
That reads like one would have to be a fairly hard-core hobbiest to keep a not-too-old, not-yet-classic car running.
Have you met an old-car restoration enthusiast? They live for this stuff, and often have collections of “soon-to-be-collectable” cars in barns, back yards, friends garages, and so on. I know one motorcycle enthusiast who has over 250 “project” motorcycles, which he keeps on a farm he rents for the purpose.
Speak for yourself. I may enjoy working on my 1960 Ford but having to hack together electronic modules to make something basic like brake lights work is the last thing I want to do. Plus, in the case of the smog system on my wife’s Mitsubishi, it’s against California law to install non OEM parts that haven’t been through a certification process. This is definitely not a golden age for people who want to perform basic repairs on their own cars.
Mr. Musk’s shenanigans provide so much legit fuel for the obligatory three minutes hate that accompanies any post that relates to him, it makes me sad to see people fumbling it by resorting to “I don’t like how it looks so it suxxx, hur hur hurrrr”.
I remember when the Pontiac Aztek came out (“Ass-tek, hur hur hurrrr”). I spent just as much time as anyone slagging its looks. Take a look at it now. It looks kind of… humdrum and unexceptional (ish). Fashion is a fickle beast, personally I wouldn’t want to pick that particular hill to plant my flag of Musk-hatred on.
At least 12 posts about Musk generally being an asshole, before this thread gets pruned.
Because he is demonstrably an asshole, so make that 13 posts.
It doesn’t suck because of the way it looks. It sucks, and it looks bad. We do need electric vehicles in more form factors than just “lozenge-shaped people mover”. But this ain’t it.
