Do examples of this have to actually be vehicles, or can they be other types of objects?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36ni4Vkhtfw
and skip to 2:20?
Watch it from 2:20 to the end.
What happened to the Trope Namer? It seems to have been dropped from the article.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul
it\'s... HIM
Could the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo count? I know I remember it breaking down a few times when they needed a reason to be stranded somewhere, because Mystery Magnet
Oh look I mispeled somethink.
Why is the trope titled "The Alleged Car"? To me, that title implies it was used in a getaway crime scene, not a hunk of junk.
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Because the object in question is allegedly a car, but actually more like a junkpile.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Deleted the entry for the Excursion.
It's not poorly made, it doesn't require constant maintenance to be kept barely functional, and it certainly isn't cheap.
It's big and fuel inefficient, but it's not actually a bad vehicle.
A whole bunch of stuff from the Trabant example, removed for being more information than necessary:
- Needless to say, imagine what happened when its hilariously cheap construction and total lack of comfort was suddenly pitched against BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche once the wall collapsed. Actually, we'll say it: Capitalist Germany was so shocked, it quickly became a cult object and general symbol of East Germany and its many failings.
- After the fall of the Wall, many Trabbis were parked at the roadside, key in ignition and documents of ownerships under the wiper. People were giving away this car for free to anyone desperate enough to take it.
- There are currently three camps of Trabant collectors. One insists on keeping the original 0.5-liter two stroke in top condition out of nostalgia. The second insists on swapping the engine with an actual L4 (e.g. a Volkswagen Polo engine) because the original engine sucks that much. The third, meanwhile, prefers to rig them with Japanese superbike engines, being one of the most common setups known as "Trabusa", i.e. a Trabant with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine.
- The U.S Government literally refused to allow the Trabant to set one wheel on our public roads, to the point that when Car and Driver wanted to conduct a road test on a Trabant that Kamen Guitars had imported to NY to use as a trade show display they immediately ordered the car destroyed. They finally allowed them to test it on the Chrysler proving grounds provided the car remain chained onto a trailer at all times except within private property. After the test (in which the noted that "stripper Dodge Colts loomed in the mirror like Peterbilts before blowing by like Formula One cars") Car & Driver concluded that the Trabant was actually worse than its reputation implied.
- Ironically, when the Mercedes-Benz Class A was pitched against a Trabant in a handling test, the Trabant won. Needless to say, all German auto magazines made damn sure to rub the Trabant's victory in Daimler-Benz's face.
- The Trabant at least doesn't suffer the spares problem; its simple construction and wide tolerances allows parts to be scavenged from other cars or even scratch-built with consumer-grade fabrication equipment.
- It should be noted that the Trabant was actually quite advanced and well-built when it was first designed (a front-wheel-drive supermini with a recycled bodyshell which was easy to build and couldn't rust); however, the designers never intended it to be more than a stop-gap car until a new model could be designed a few years down the line. The government just never got around to the second part.
I think the unnecessary details were an attempt by the Germans at humour.
Their best attempt, however, would be the Volskwagen Phaeton, priced at $120,000.
I know I don't need to, I just want you to know why I edited the Cadillac V8-6-4 and Oldsmobile Diesel 350.
Its reliability is not cut and dry. It was mostly an electronic issue. If you fixed the electronics, it worked fine.
The Olds diesel was a fixable problem caused by headbolts and head gasket and a lack of a fuel-water separator (common on all GM diesels then). It was by no means a good engine, but the major problems could be fixed.
I removed the bit about the Eldorado in Casino having the V8-6-4, first because it was connected to two seperate thoughts, with no clear indication which (did it have an Olds diesel? The V8-6-4?), and was almost purely opinion - "it's hard to believe anone would shed a tear over it": We get it. You hate Cadillacs. We don't care. That opinion belongs elsewhere, not the main page of a trope.
Also, please exaplin why the Mistubishi Lancer is an alleged car. Saying it is, or just because you don't like it, isn't a reason.
We really need to be more stringent about what is said about the Pinto and natter and bashing cars one doesn't like.
For starters, exactly 27 people were killed in fires started by rear end collisions in Pintos between 1971 and 1978, and it was a lawsuit filed in 1972 that resulted in compensatory damages of $2.5 million and punitive damages of $3.5 million that sparked the whole controversy.
As it is, it's almost getting to the point of No Real Life Examples Please levels, mostly because bad cars, cars that have been neglected or abused to the point of being a genuine piece of junk, and lemons in every make, brank and model are a fact of life.
Edited by maxwellsilver Hide / Show Replies
Being "a fact of life" isn't a reason to cut examples, though.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
But complaining about cars for being bad or having a bad reputation, is.
There's more information on the Trabant, Yugo and Pinto than necessary, and some examples are either apocryphal or outright false.
Examples of the false information are the claim that some Fords would catch fire "at idle without being on" (idling means it IS on, so either it's on and idling, or it's off, not both), and the claim that the Pinto was a re-skinned vehicle for its first year (it wasn't) and thus didn't have the defect in 1971 (it did; the affected years were 1971-76, on coupes and sedans only).
The complete transcription of the lyrics from a song in "Brave Little Toaster" is a bit much. It should be collapsed, a smaller example or an external link to a lyrics site.
Fallingwater: from the the Trabant example:
- The third, meanwhile, prefers instead to stick to two-stroke and rig them with Japanese superbike engines, being one of the most common setups known as "Trabusa", i.e. a Trabant with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine.
Related to BlasiuS's question: does the trope only cover cars, or do other vehicles apply? Because there's definitely something to be said about department store bicycles, and there are bunches of motorcycles out there that are bound to drop all their parts and leave the rider on a bare frame with wheelsf.
Edited by REV6Pilot