It's Behind You!

What is? 2021?

Well, today is December 31st - the traditional day for looking back.

But you won't be able to do that if you own certain Tesla Model 3's from model years 2017 to 2020.

This Car+Driver story explains how cars of that ilk are being recalled due to a rear camera failure caused by opening and shutting the boot too often.  This will obviously affect anyone wanting to see what is behind them when reversing.

I'm not convinced how big a story this is - I'm only using it as an excuse to get one last post into 2021.

You see, if the rear-view camera has failed and affected drivers want to go backwards, they are going to have to do what I have been doing throughout my driving career...

...and LOOK OUT OF THE BACK WINDOW!!

Alternators

I am a very successful motoring journalist who has just sold my internationally acclaimed TV Show about motoring (with an amusing bent) to Netflix.

Or I might be - in an alternative Universe where horrible things like Brexit and Jeggings and Vauxhall Agilas never happened.

If only.

Autocar today are looking at some if-only situations that could have changed motoring history - albeit not as much as me having my own TV show.  The article is here.

They look at how The Second World War could have been avoided by the bloke who drove into Hitler going a bit faster.

They sort of blame the recently deceased Frank Williams for annoying Adrian Newey enough such that he left Williams.  This led to McLaren and then Red Bull taking over the dominance or Formula 1.

They ask what would have happened if BMW hadn't bought Rover from under Honda's nose in 1994.  This is a trickier one with pros and cons on both sides but I can't help but think that the Rover and MG marques wouldn't have disappeared when the four directors took over and made a complete hash of it all.  The Triumph name might still be on some cars too.

Then it's back to F1 and the question of what would have happened if Gilles Villeneuve hadn't been killed in a crash during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982.  Maybe his nephew wouldn't have had a career?

Next in line, what if Saab had an equivalent version of the other GM branded plug-in hybrids The Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall/Opel Ampera?  Given the relative lack of success of the Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall/Opel Ampera (which is a shame - they were ahead of their time) then I doubt if it would have made much difference.

Finally, they return to Rover with the question, "What if... BMW had made the Pininfarina 1100?" Pretty sure that is a typo - it should read "What if... BMC had made the Pininfarina 1100?" But never mind, it is an interesting question and they even get a mention of the recently deceased Prince Philip in there.  It suggests a world without The Austin Allegro.  Very interesting.

However, what if the Autocar Team had thought a little longer...

A good question would be: What if Major Ivan Hirst had convinced a British car company to take on building the cars he found in a certain car factory in Wolfburg?

Or how about?: What if this year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Race Director Michael Masi had thought a little longer?

There'll Be Bluebirds Over...

...at the charging points.

Remember back in April when I quite liked the electric Hyundai Pony?

Well Nissan have done the same thing now with The Bluebird.  Here's Autocar with the story.

Although it's not really Nissan who have done it - they got a local company who do such conversions to do it for them.  It's to celebrate 35 years since the first car was built at their Sunderland factory - seems a strange number to celebrate.  I must have missed the celebrations for the 35 years since the completion of the M25.

I do like it:

I wouldn't have given it a second glance in the '80s even with the garish paintjob and it's only the lights that would make you suspicious today.

Unlike the Pony, the interior is very stock if you ignore the ugly plate where the gearstick should be:

But there does seem to be an issue if you want to get home from the airport and fancy ordering a nostalgic private hire ride:

Mind The Bollards

I actually don't understand what is happening in the video with this BBC story.

Here's the video:

It's about a recently narrowed bit of street furniture designed to stop wide vehicles travelling down a residential road.  As a car fan, I found this very uncomfortable to watch.

A TOYOTA AYGO IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT A WIDE CAR!

And I can't figure out what is going on anyway!

But I would say that if you want to catch this on video...

...DON'T HAVE THE IMPORTANT BIT OBSCURED BY A BUSH!

Meanwhile, over in Norfolk...

Constitutional Observations

I like to partake of a daily constitutional.

This morning I observed a Santa being transported in a trailer at an uncomfortable speed yelling "Ho Ho Ho" then "Merry Christmas" repeatedly through some sort of amplification system.  He terrified a small dog much to the displeasure of its owner.

The Santa's voice started to waver when they became stuck behind some vehicles wanting to turn right so he was ground to a halt for a quite a while.

The towing vehicle was a large Toyota - probably a Land-Cruiser - this is meant to be a motoring blog.  It would have been more appropriate though to use a Hyundai Santa Fe.

The next thing I observed was this road sign that I've never seen before:

Obviously I don't mean the 20 one.

Or the Pink Route.  Other colours of route are available - I don't think this one takes you to the Gay District.

Here is the one I'm on about in a bit more detail:

Although the only version I could find on the Internet is reversed compared with the one I photographed.

Was it a warning about driving lengthways along steps?

I hadn't twigged at that point that it was a circle not a triangle so not a warning about anything.

It was further along a side road that I found one with a plate below it that read "No motor vehicle parking on verge or footway"

The reversed ones would be on the other side of the road.

There are no yellow lines around there so I guess the council would rather you block the road than damage the grass verges.  I don't know if that is sensible or verging on the ridiculous.