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| One word: Plastics. |
The dash weirds me out. By the late '90s, Japanese manufacturers generally had heavily-styled dashboards like anybody else, but the agricultural panel in the Forester, with its clear and simple gauge cluster, clicky plasticky buttons, and a center stack as rectilinear as a wall at Mailboxes, Etc., is almost anachronistic, as though it came out of Japanese Anycar, model year '78-'88. (It's even more strange when you think that during those earlier years, Subaru was making its name with odd cockpits.)
I sometimes make motor noises as I putter around the streets of Broad Ripple...
My knees! They're...FAMOUS!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf one looks very closely, my Day-Glo pink shoelaces are just visible in the shadow under the dash, immediately to the right of not-quite-as-bright monkey's fist on my key ring. Geesh, those laces are bright.
And photogenic knees they are too.
ReplyDeleteI can only assume Tam was riding shotgun in case of hipster attack while you were conning Roseholme's cargo shuttle on a resupply run?
BGM
BGM,
ReplyDeleteWe were carting me home from getting my face unlaced.
I like my version better.
ReplyDeleteBGM
Me too! :o
ReplyDeleteWell, it appears someone put an aftermarket Alpine head unit in. Can't be all bad. I hear it gets NPR?
ReplyDeleteMe? Still adding to the list of noises that are "normal" for a 94 Mustang with 200K Plus on it.
You should get busy with a torch and an angle grinder and....
ReplyDeleteWait...
Strike that.
You should make friends with someone that can get busy with a torch and grinder and add a turret to the Subie.
BGM
Stick a baseball card in the spokes
ReplyDeleteAt least yours post-dates the cheesy flash items Japanese manufacturers stuck on the sheet metal. In the early seventies they had do nothing scoops and blank louvers and chrome flourishes all over the exteriors.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I noted that the Korean companies did similar stuff when they first began exporting to us. I think it takes a while for the typical Asian esthetic to adjust to our ideas of what a car should look like.
On the other hand I saw the new Ford Escape yesterday and it sure looks as if a Japanese team designed it.
My beater just died and I picked up an 03 Outback wagon to replace it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the time I spent on my grandfather's farm as a kid, but I kind of like the agrarian flavor to my Subie.
You two crack me up. I've never seen anyone have so much fun with a cheap used car since that time that I ... wait... The statute of limitations isn't up on that one. Never mind.
ReplyDeleteIf you like boxy plastic dashes, you should spend some time behind the wheel off a first gen Montero like mine. ;-)
ReplyDeletehttp://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2566/2681/6413840006_large.jpg
How does it smell inside?
ReplyDeleteBack when we were shopping for an Audi to replace the A4 the owner of a turn of this century A6 mentioned it smelled like melted crayons "like all older, used German cars" while describing condition.
It later occurred to me she was right. Older German stuff does have that sort of smell.
It also occurred to me used Japanese and American cars have their own distinct odors as well but I'm not sure how to describe them.
Scott J,
ReplyDeleteLike mouse fur and plastic. Like an old Japanese car. :D
That right-handed cockpit wouldn't be allowed onto a school campus, because the steering wheel resembles a gun. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeletejf
Hmph, jf @9:55 beat me to it. Actually the steering wheel looks more like a power drill to me (Alcyone: the Rorschach of cockpits), but yeah, OMG gun!!11
ReplyDeleteI am happy to have one of the older Outbacks (VDC) before they put cosmetic, nonfunctional scoops on a later model, in the early/mid 2000's. And well before they increased the ground clearance and SUVified the Outbacks -- I think to get around CAFE restrictions.
Scott J: I don't know about all German stuff getting that melted crayon smell, but it's really common in the VWs of around that vintage, in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThe worst offenders seem to be VW Beetles. A lot of those have that smell so strong that I can barely stand being in them.
I'm just saying that the "Odd Cockpits" would be a great name for a gay punk band.
ReplyDeleteVery sorry, Ma'am, about my earlier rudeness with the Subaru-Lesbian joke.
ReplyDeleteSince then, I have been able to examine a few Foresters. They seem like useful good-lookin' vehicles. I want one.
So, Funny thing about Subarus and worn rear shocks. The motor, and part of the trans are in front of the front axle, meaning there is a lot of weight in front of that fulcrum. Check out this vid from an amature Rally driver and her donor car, Showing what happens when both rear shocks blow:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-i2_g33wXQ
Bobby,
ReplyDeleteYeah, mine are just a little worn-out. :o
How much fixin' up gets done to the Subie will depend on the total tabs of two things:
1) The Zed Drei, and
2) The final bill from the nose.
Yeah, that's an extreme. And the weight is likely more balanced on a wagon (ish) shaped subie.
ReplyDeleteThat video is just fun to show to people :-D
Heres to hoping that those tabs stay in the managable range...
Bobby,
ReplyDeleteI was telling Roomie this morning that I'm into the Subie cheaply enough that if I can get three years of winter use and occasional cargo-hauling out of it, I consider myself money ahead. :)
Nice Monkey Knut!
ReplyDeleteSounds perfect. I wish people thought about Subarus like that around here. The NY area seems to put a 1K premium, on top of the usual NY used car markup, On any Used Subaru when compaired to the other states...
ReplyDeleteOh, did y'all know that a Flat Four is the only engine with that few cylinders which is perfectly balanced, and throws off no vibrations into the rest of the machine?
ReplyDeleteDammit, wimmin, y'all are really really making me want one of those things!
Love the old Foresters. Just dropped a few grand on a facelift for my Lady's old Forester that got a little smooshed. Still trucking along at 189k.
ReplyDelete