Earlier this month Jalopnik took reader suggestions for the “Top Slow Cars to Drive Fast“. Our beloved bricks came in 5th. Quote from a Jalopnik reader:
You haven’t lived until you’ve gotten one of these sideways, steering by looking out the side windows as you listen to the rev limiter have an epileptic seizure and the only thing you can smell is tire smoke as your mind reels at the insanity of it all… At 14mph.
Beardy McBrick was traveling to the annual hacky sack festival with his buds when he came upon the most dreaded of obstacles: a hill. He warned his friends it would be a long, hard slog in his diesel 245 and that they should just relax. “Bummer,” his buddy Phil said. “At least we have a good way to pass the time,” Phil chuckled as he handed around his packed chillum.
An hour later they’d past the half-way mark when something blue flashed in McBrick’s smog-coated side-view mirror. It was a car; a diesel in fact. But this was no ancient Benz or Volvo. It was a BMW, and it was coming up fast. “Maybe you should slow down and let him pass,” his girlfriend, Sunflower, suggested. And he did. They looked in awe as the strange rocket car passed by with nary a puff of smoke. Phil stared with mouth agape as the blue streak sped over the apex and out of sight. “Damn, McBrick!” he exclaimed, “you shoulda’ bought that car instead of taking this donation from your English professor.”
“Yeah…” McBrick thought, as he looked with dread at the climb ahead, “then these damn hills wouldn’t be such a drag.” The wagons’s exhaust belched a dark cloud and woke McBrick from his day-dream. “Hey Phil!” he shouted good-naturedly, “quit bogarting and share the love!” They all laughed. McBrick flipped his cassette of Shakedown Street and settled in for the rest of the hill.
- Inspired by “Changes”, an ad for diesel engined BMWs.
Jalopnik this week asked for suggestions for the “Top Car for College” and the Volvo 240 wagon won top honors, beating out the Buick Roadmaster Estate and Ford Crown Vic. From the editors:
You can move entire apartments in this thing, when it breaks down it’s usually capable of being fixed by someone with limited repair skills, and they’re fun at low speeds. And if you have to sleep in a car, it’s one of the most comfortable.
Wired’s Autopia came to the same conclusion last year, but they included 700 and 900 series as well.
Today I stupidly tried to plow my brick through a 1/2 block long flood of water and stalled. I pushed the car about 20 yards by myself through knee deep water before jumping back in. After 5 minutes of futile starting attempts my trusty brick sparked back to life and I sputtered to higher ground to dry off. Can’t kill it.
While I didn’t get video of my ordeal, I did manage to shoot plenty of traffic near my studio. This kind of flooding has been happening for years.
Flooding in Hoboken from Stripped Nuts on Vimeo.
When the payload of your wagon just isn’t enough, there’s this… I guess?
Last summer I spotted this brick at the NJ state fairgrounds and met the owner, Joe. He was preparing for the evenings demolition derby. Turns out he’s at it again this year with a 240 sedan. He’ll be competing at the Sussex Co. Fairgrounds on Sunday, Aug 7 and Monday, Aug 8th, both nights from 7:30-9, but he’ll probably be around on Sunday getting ready. Good luck Joe!
Here’s his rundown of the event last year, plus a gallery of pics:
This 240 wagon raced 3 times. 1st time disqualifed 4th place for an oil fire in the compact class, 2nd time disqualifed 4th place for a slight gas leak in the compact class and on the final race i raced the car among the six cylinder class of cars (intepids, luminas, bonnevilles, montecarlos, etc) and destroyed them getting a second place only due to an electrical short.
Driving Travels & Tribulations
Somehow this trucker managed to wedge his trailer under the train trestle at the entrance to Hoboken. This happened today a block from my studio and I shot video and photos. It’s a recycling truck that had just emptied it’s load about a 1/2 mile away. Took the tow company a couple hours to finally pull it out since it was wedged under two different tracks. Hoboken traffic was a mess with this major entry and exit route closed at rush hour.
Click to view the gorgeous, full-size scan of this Kodachrome of a 1960 Chevy Packwood, just back from vacation.
via Shorpy
I’m in the middle of launching a new blog about drawing and won’t be posting much on this site right now. My car is running great and luckily the only issues I have is with the pigeons in the neighborhood sitting on telephone wires above my car. I’m planning an interactive toy based on my car called “The Black Brick Experience” and hope to launch in the fall.
I post t-shirts as “Stripped Nuts” on Zazzle. I’m always drawing and post my images, like the truck above, on Flickr and I recently updated my portfolio at jayboucher.com.
