I recently test drove and wrote about the new Ford Bronco, which is designed to resurrect the appeal of the original, both visually and functionally. It does both excellently. It’s just a shame its about twice-as-expensive to buy today as it was back in 1966 – the first year for the first-generation Bronco that the new Bronco emulates visually and functionally.
Three times more – if you compared the Bronco I test-drove, which was a fancier Stroppe Edition equipped with the Sasquatch off-road package and the extra-cost twin-turbo V6 engine. This Bronco stickered for more than $75,000. 
To be fair, we’ll compare the least expensive version of the 2025 Bronco. It lists for $38,955 to start. Back in 1966, a brand-new Bronco could be purchased for about $2,500.
If you buy what the federal government’s inflation calculator calculates, $2,500 in 1966 dollars would have the buying power of about $25,000 in today’s reduced-buying-power dollars, which is what “inflation” amounts to.
Conversations about this are frustrating because they rarely discuss a crucial corollary fact, which is that for the most part, people are not being paid more dollars to offset the reduced buying power of the dollar. This accounts for the fact that – back in the mid-late 1960s, before “inflation” really got going – just about anyone gainfully employed could afford to buy a new Bronco, which (like others of its type) was a cheaper-to-buy vehicle than most of the cars of its time because it was very basic. There was a stamped steel body bolted onto a steel girder frame. There was either a six cylinder engine – not even fuel injected, let alone turbocharged – or an optional V8 that wasn’t exotically powerful and so affordably priced (as almost anything new with a V8 is not). The interior was mostly painted metal. There was an AM radio, maybe. A heater.
It wasn’t much – and that’s why it didn’t cost very much. 
Imagine being able to buy a 4×4 off-roader today for $25k – which is about what you pay today to buy a small, front-wheel-drive car such as a Honda Civic or Hyundai Elantra.
Of course, you can’t – because such a vehicle (the 4×4) is not available for less than close-to $40k. This is so in part because the new Bronco is not a basic vehicle, even though it is every bit the 4×4 its ancestor was and arguably more, when equipped with such gear as comes with the Sasquatch package (this includes huge off-road knobbies, an upgraded suspension and so on). Of course, standard luxury features that would have been inconceivable luxury options – in a ’66 Bronco – like climate control AC and heated seats and a top-shelf stereo system and of course power-activated everything – including the 4WD system – have plumped up the new Bronco’s base price to nearly twice the cost of a ’66 Bronco – back in ’66.
But that’s not fundamentally what makes the new Bronco so expensive. The thing that does that is the incongruity between how many dollars it takes to buy a given item today vs. how many dollars most of us are being paid today. The latter has not kept pace with the former and that is why we;re most of us feeling poorer – and it is why a new Bronco is a vehicle for people with a lot more money than was the case back in ’66. The higher-trim models such as the tested Stroppe Edition are for people with truckloads of money.
Fewer people, in other words.
This means that Ford probably won’t sell very many new Broncos – even the base-priced ones – because being gainfully employed is no longer enough to be in a position to buy a nearly $40,000-to-start vehicle.
Ford cannot do anything about “inflation,” of course – because Ford is not the Fed, that dishonestly named cartel of private banks that have acquired the legal power to counterfeit money by creating as much of it as they like out of thin air – and loaning this “money” at interest to the federal government. But Ford could do something to counteract the effects of the Fed’s counterfeiting – by making a new Bronco more like the original Bronco. Something more basic. Something without everything. Something with less. So that it would cost less.
Starting with the engine. The current Bronco’s standard turbocharged four is very powerful – 300 horsepower. That’s nice, but not necessary. The original Bronco’s standard inline six made a lot less power but it was enough to keep it rolling. The modern emphasis on extreme – by historical standards – power/performance – has contributed to the cost of modern vehicles. The new Bronco accelerates as quickly as most of the muscle cars of the ’60s did. And you pay a steep price for that.
A base engine – emissions compliant, of course – that made say 180 horsepower would be enough – especially if it was a torquey diesel engine with good low-end grunt, ideal for low-speed off-roading. Pair it with a manual – of course.
The new Bronco already has manual seats; maybe more manual stuff such as manual 4WD engagement. Offer a delete option for the LCD touchscreen and pre-wiring for a stereo so that the owner could add one later. Lose the fancy (costly) LED type headlights in favor of the most basic units the law will allow – and leave it up to the owner to upgrade them if he wishes to. Keep the air bags and “safety” stuff to the bare (legally permissible) minimum. The Stroppe Edition I tested had at least six, including four air bags embedded in the perimeter roll bar (as if a roll bar weren’t enough for “safety”).
Maybe Ford could “get away” – don’t you love the gaslighting? – with just four. Und so weiter.
Just some suggestions. The point being that – surely – it is possible for a big car company such as Ford, with all those engineers working there – to build a Bronco that could be sold for around what the original one sold for. Maybe not $25k but how about around $30k? There is nothing inherently nearly $40k-to-start about the Bronco – or at least, ought not to be.
The Bronco is – fundamentally – a young man’s vehicle. The way it’s priced now, it is an older guy’s vehicle. Why not try to sell both men – and women, there are plenty who like 4x4s – a Bronco they can all afford? Ford might sell more of them that way.
Imagine that.
. . .
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Internet of BOTS. The trouble with “AI”, aka “ARTIFICIAL Intelligence”, is that it ASSumes there’s native intelligence from an organic being to begin with.
I was taught a long time ago to never take on debt.. so with that said I own a 2000 Nissan XE King-Cab 4×4 and 2001 GMC 2500HD both low miles garage kept and minty! I love them both and would NEVER trade for a ‘modern’ ninny mobile, even it they do have those sexy star-trek looking moped Christmas strand LED’s. 😀
I don’t know how some of you guys can do it.. buying a new vehicle in the US has become absurd.
Amen, AMC Guy!
The only time I ever bought a new vehicle was back in 2002 – which was when I bought my ’03 Kawasaki ZRX1200. It was about $7,500 as I recall and I was able to swing that because, at the time, I was making ok money and I just decided to treat myself for a change. I still have that bike – and it’s probably worth $4k as it has never once been down or rained on and looks like it just came out of the crate!
That ZRX is one sweet ride Eric, had my eye on that model for a long time!
Sadly even buying a new motorcycle in the US has become a nasty venture. The last three new bikes we have purchased were smaller ‘affordable’ units that cost me $1000 + each (cash mind you) over MSRP just for the privilege of buying.
Plus dealing with some seriously prick-headed misguided salesmen and managers.
I used to LOVE car and bike shopping. Not anymore.
“Fun!” I remember that. It’s what we did in, ‘The Before Times”.
…”Fun” is not allowed today. Pretty much, no one has Fun these days.
…Or, has affordable: “This Bronco stickered for more than $75,000.”
…Might as well be a Million Dollars.
According to the interwebs in 1966 the Bronco was 35.7% of household income. Today’s cheap model is 45.4%
Which led me to wonder, would anyone sell a glider kit. Buy the engine & trans and save about 25% if you installed it yourself.
That would drop the ratio to 35% or pretty much what it used to cost.
All that means the price of a factory manufactured car is mostly increased by compliance costs. This is what government has stolen from you.
Even if you paid a garage a few thousand to put in the powertrain, you would still be ahead by thousands
Hi Dan,
Yup! Also, there are the similarly increased costs of pretty much everything (plus taxes) that make individual large purchases more effectively expensive. Back in ’66, a single income as enough to support a family, to buy a house and afford kids. Today, it effectively requires two incomes – because one is only sufficient (for most of us) to afford rent in an apartment.
Actually the 1950s-1960s ability for a single income as enough to support a family, to buy a house and afford kids was more the aberration than the historical normal for the majority of the population. During the Depression most people still lived in some sort of EXTENDED (not “nuclear”) family arrangements and it often came down to whoever could FIND work. Even if the man of the house had gainful employment the women often had to take in side work such as mending, sewing, cleaning, childcare, etcetera to make ends meet. Many families also took in boarders to help cover expenses as well. Prior to the 20th century most Americans still lived on farms where EVERYONE, even the children worked. Or family run businesses where that also applied.
The horrible reality that young people face today needs to be fixed, but what the solution will end up being is likely quite different from the romanticized vision of what the 1950s and 1960s were.
Ford is just ripping people of when the new bronco was released I seen one new for 28k base model only a few years later now same one is 40k talk about greed.
The auto industry is in line with the government, they don’t want people to have independent freedom of movement that a car provides. No, they want high gas prices /w high insurance rates that the middle class can’t afford. That’s why they load up the options on their vehicles to get those prices into the unaffordable range. Sure they can make them affordable but they won’t.
No, you see, the middle class can afford it. It’s just that, there’s no bread crumbs leftover after that.
“/w high insurance rates that the middle class can’t afford.”
…That’s, ‘The Plan”.
Regulations + goobermit … oh, why bother, either ya get it, or ya don’t. (not you, mankind in general).
I agree, Chanito –
What the industry wants – and they have been open about this – is transportation as a service; i.e., you pay an ongoing “subscription” to use a vehicle. This will be sold to people as a way to lower the cost of transportation.
They’ve let the Chosenites call the shots. This is the sort of shit they’ve always pulled.
Fourteen Words.
Those old Broncos were 411s and 410s with posi-traction on the rear and a 302 ci engine.
There is no comparison. Better performance and a lot more fun!
“There is no comparison”
A.k.a. The Big Rip Off.
…The younger generations prolly have No Clue how bad they are being ripped off?
…Or, maybe, some do? Idk.
If you remember, it wasn’t that long ago, just before covid “happened”, employment levels were higher. So that meant that pay was just beginning to finally go up a bit because it had to. Remember that there were some raises (for the first time in a decade for some)finally for some in the private sector (public always does). Employers were having a harder time filling jobs. Even fast food restaurants were paying like over $15 an hour (without the local government making them do so). It seemed that it was the beginning of incomes finally starting to equalize a bit with prices.
But they Covid hit and that was the end of that. And inflation going crazy and eating up that gain and more. I am certain that is why covid happened, our betters didn’t like that we were finally getting raises, and they had to put a stop to it.
Ha! Respectfully as can say, That’s the most ignorant downplaying bit I’ve ever seen, ” I am certain that is why covid happened, our betters didn’t like that we were finally getting raises, and they had to put a stop to it.”
It was ALL about, Power and Control, dude.
Power, and control.
“After you read The Bodies of Others: The New Authoritarians, Covid-19 and the War Against the Human, you will understand the truly diabolical conspiracy that threatens the world with destruction.”…
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/07/lew-rockwell/the-covid-plot-against-humanity/
Catalytic Converters and Airbags alone make up the $12k price difference. Government regulations are the answer to your question. I could build a 25k Bronco but the lawyers wouldn’t let me sell it.
Hmm, ” I could build a 25k Bronco but the lawyers wouldn’t let me sell it.”
Do it anyway.
—– gauntlet —-
I dare ya.
I’ll bet I could do one and sell it as a tractor. Different market than even the overpriced side x side, and could even have a PTO like the 1945 civilian jeeps.
Of course, any such dodge is bothe easily snatched away by a change of “law”, and is a cowardly way of avoiding the necessary reckoning with tyranny.
Ford makes up their loses in volume. It’s the new world order, Too Big To Fail business model. Maybe Ford could begin offering a twenty year auto loan wrapped into your fifty year home loan. Straight from idiocracy, instead of free oil changes, the dealers could offer free handjobs for the first year.
The new Broncos look cool. the original Broncos were cool.
“The new Broncos looks cool.
The original Broncos were cool”
Perfect analogy Norm. 🤘
“instead of free oil changes, the dealers could offer free handjobs for the first year.” –
Knowing Ford’s policy on LGBTQ++++! issues, those handjobs would undoubtedly be required to be performed by a MALE employee!
And knowing Ford’s policy that would include no lube. That requires a monthly subscription.
Hahaha, You guys/gals are too funny.
If you love Broncos check out Jeff’s Bronco Graveyard. I have known Jeff for many years. Since High School.
https://broncograveyard.com/
I didn’t click it, but the title is a perfect metaphor for our times, “Jeff’s Bronco Graveyard”.
“Just some suggestions. The point being that – surely – it is possible for a big car company such as Ford, with all those engineers working there – to build a Bronco that could be sold for around what the original one sold for. Maybe not $25k but how about around $30k? There is nothing inherently nearly $40k-to-start about the Bronco – or at least, ought not to be.”
Let’s start with a financial and physical baseline – let’s say a 2000 PT Cruiser. MSRP was bout $16k to start. Using the (lying) BLS inflation calculator that underestimates inflation that is $30,786 in 2025 dollars.
The PT Cruiser had a profit margin of about 5% of sales. So $800 profit on a $16k PT Cruiser.
So for roughly the same money ($30k) in 2025 it is proposed to add at a minimum:
A driven rear axle.
Locking hubs or lockers in the front axle
A two speed transfer case.
Larger off-road wheel and tires
Much more steel / aluminum for body and chassis components vs a PT Cruiser.
And now in 2025 there are new regulations that have to be met. (Just a few listed) that the PT Cruiser didn’t have to meet.
ABS / ESC (FMVSS 126)
Add rear backup camera (FMVSS 111)
Add more airbags for side impact
Add more roof structure and/or rollbar for rollover
The PT weighs 3000-3300 lbs. A 2025 Bronco weighs 4300-5700 lbs.
Let’s not pass by the fact that the PT cruiser had 150 HP and was panned ruthlessly as under powered by journalists. Some even complained it didn’t have a V6 or an V8 engine. Hmm. 🤔 And you’re proposing 180 HP for a much heavier 2025 Bronco? But it’s all about torque you say.
OK. . . the PT had a 4 speed automatic or simple 5 speed manual.
180 HP moving an incremental weight add of 1000 lbs over a PT Cruiser isn’t going to cut it with your fellow journalists or customers.
So that means add a modern 8-10 speed trans to the list of added costs.
I’m just getting started on a back of napkin engineering analysis and we are well beyond the scope and cost of the baseline 2000 era PT Cruiser. Where does all this incremental content come from for free?
So . . . no, surely, a 2025 Bronco CANNOT be produced for $30k in today’s dollars.
Its another 6 figure Rubiconesque toy for rich brats. Just like the TT Charger.
Let’s also go at this from the standpoint of a Jeep Wrangler which is already a 4×4.
A base trim Wrangler is about $32k. So why not start there?
Well the Wrangler doesn’t ride as nicely due to the solid front axle. So add cost for the Independent front suspension of the Bronco.
The key thing here is that much of the JK & JL Wrangler tooling dates back to 2007 and has long since been fully amortized.
When the Wrangler has to refresh its tooling, you will see a substantial increase in the base model MSRP. Since the Bronco was all new in 2021, that higher cost of tooling has to be reflected in the Base MSRP vs the Wrangler.
The Bronco also has much higher interior trim content than a Wrangler, again, driving costs to increase.
Pretty simple really.
Ameri-can’t.
Judas, you’re exhausting to have around.
I don’t know; the new Bronco looks fragile compared to the original. The original not only competed in the Baja 1000; it LAUGHED at it! the original Bronco was one of the toughest vehicles ever made.
The modern electronics by itself makes it more fragile. Any new car has that achilles heel.
Also thinner body panels as well. Yes, they are “stronger” but they are harder (and more expensive) to fix.
Right.
Bronco won Stock Midsize at 2025 Baja.
https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/f-150-raptor-bronco-raptor-double-class-wins-2025-baja-1000
How “stock” was it, though?
I would LOVE the ability to buy a simple, basic vehicle. Don’t need power seats or power windows. Don’t need the ability to connect my phone to the vehicle. Don’t need built in GPS. Don’t need anything other than a spot in the dash to put the radio of my choice. A basic engine would be fine. Sounds like a dream.
RE: “Sounds like a dream.”
Yepper’s. America is the land of, can’t.
…Isn’t permitted.
…Not allowed.
…and, God forbid, Fun.
Well, you won’t find a NEW one, and given what the automakers have done to even their “low end’ stuff to make them service-hostile, you should eschew new rides anyway. Find something like what I picked up recently: a 2006 Toyota Corolla, LE model, very “basic”, but has automatic, air, and power steering (had to, there hadn’t been “Manuel” steering in over 20 years when that thing rolled out), but still has KEYED door locks and WINDOW CRANKS. Open up the hood, and one can readily service that peppy little four-banger. My ’06 “Yoda” has but 58K miles on it, so, headed into retirement, that might just last the rest of my life! Five grand, cash on the barrel head, from a neighbor of my son’s whom I knew well, and it was mine. Came from his “grand-mama” who’s almost 90 and isn’t driving anymore.
Just get a RAV4.
With lane assist and multiple air bags ready to knock you eye out of it’s socket?
You’re clueless, eh?
If the writer asked a mechanic, they’d advise against a “turbo” gasoline engine. But thanks to EPA regulations, carmakers are forced to make the troubled engines standard equipment even in cheaper cars and trucks. But they burn out and require costly, ungreen replacements more often from factories. Better to buy a used instead.
Turbo engines are best suited for Diesel engines.
For gas engines, either get a naturally aspirated engine or one matched with a hybrid for city and trail rides. And one with an eCVT tranny, if the hybrid is an option.
CAFE standards need to be eliminated. All the electrical nonsense in these vehicles needs to be eliminated. All those unnecessary sensors need to be eliminated. Engines could have an HEI distributor and throttle body fuel injection and make almost as good of mpg as the newest stuff. For all the complexity they’ve added, the gains in mpg have been minimal. Don’t even get me started on the stupid engine shut off feature when hitting stoplights. How many starters will need to be replaced in short order because of that nonsense?
Get rid of ALL the electrical nonsense in the interior. People shouldn’t be looking at screens when they’re driving, they should be looking at the road. Give me crank windows, a comfortable seat and a good heater. I can get by without the rest.
“ Engines could have an HEI distributor and throttle body fuel injection “
Double plus upvote!
Forgot to add, straight forward logical use of tech is fine by me. TBI in my truck uses one computer box, a wiring harness, several engine sensors and one oxygen sensor. 34 years on it operates as it did when new. This system is really easy to understand easy to maintain.
The “pendulum in the middle” no extremes – now it’s newer stuff such as exhaust manifold cats, down stream cats, multiple/heated O2 sensors, multiple computers, coil on plug buried under a plastic intake manifold, gack. Then throw in a twin turbo system to really mix it up, no thanks.
I agree, Sparkey. The throttle body on my 1990 Silverado is the bee’s-knees. Just the simple injectors-in-the-carburetor-intake type system. Nothing more complex is necessary.
Hmm, “Get rid of ALL the electrical nonsense in the interior. People shouldn’t be looking at screens when they’re driving”
But, but, our overlords & their clueless minions demand it! ?
DOn’t you know? Every Karen seeks Control. Our overlords work hard to make her THINK she shares in that control.
…When, she don’t.
…It’s just our overlords vs. Us.
You didn’t mention a fully restored version of the original can set you back up to $250K.
Hi Sweettea,
Yup – that’s true. And it’s true because those old models are in. many ways better and so more desirable. They have an intangible something that’s lacking in the new stuff. Even my nothing-special ’76 Trans-Am is now a car I could not afford to buy again. When I bought it – when I was much younger, more than 30 years ago – it was a car a young guy in his early 20s could afford. Now – a middle-aged me can’t afford a car like it.
My dad had a 67 Bronco, a Barricuda, Plymouth Roadrunner, 67 convertible Camaro and an Opal. If only he knew.
Bronco have manual hubs remember having to turn shotgun side in or out depending on the situation.
As a five year old… please fuck off future generations.
Hmm, if I didn’t misunderstand, RE: “As a five year old… please fuck off future generations.”
Perhaps, maybe, it’s: “As a five year old… please FIX the future generations.” So, we have a future?
? Idk. Maybe?
Eric – there is no car “like” your ’76 T/A being produced ATM. There are a few HIGH END sports cars, intended for affluent old fogeys like me (and I’m not taking the ‘bait’), frustrated that they have neither the time, the energy, nor the skills necessary to find a 50 y.o. muscle car (or older, as 1976 is smack dab in the middle of the “Malaise Era”, so most REAL “muscle cars” are at least 55, and some 65 years old! Something like a latter-day Mustang (before Ford fucked around with even THAT), a ‘Maro (Camaro), or a Dodge Challenger (I like the four-door Charger, but don’t count it) is definitely NOT something some kid making $22/hour at an Amazon warehouse is going to be able to make the payments on, and he SHOULDN’T. Nor do most of these lads, having been mainly raised by their SINGLE mothers and maybe SOME of them get to visit “Dad”, who generally they’re somewhat estranged from in wake of either the divorce or the breakup, and they don’t quite pick up any “wrenching” or other practical skills from “Dear ol’ Dad” like I did, and did my level best to convey to my kids, daughters included.
Let’s not forget that to be able to SPEND $40,000, you need to EARN substantially more than that. The $40,000 is only what you get to KEEP after Uncle Sugar takes Social Security taxes (7.65% or 15.3% if you are self-employed) and income taxes (let’s say 15%) Most states have an income tax, let’s estimate 4%. Then of course you will pay sales tax on it, many states are in the 6-9% range so let’s say 7%.
If we add in shipping, which is almost $2000, let’s calculate how much you would need to earn to be able to buy a base Bronco at $42,000 including shipping:
7.65 + 15 + 4 + 7 = 33.65%
.3365 x 42000 = $14, 133 + 42,000 = $56, 133 if you work for someone else.
If you are self-employed, your Social Security tax doubles, so you would need to add about three grand.
So you would need to earn almost $60,000 in today’s debased dollars to be able to spend the $42,000.
This assumes you are paying cash and not financing it. Add in interest if you are doing that.
Add another two to four percentage points for all the taxes and “fees” for vehicle registration and the endless lists added to our electric and internet/phone/streaming bills. An the “apps” we MUST have for the invasive googapple “phones,” forced to “update” every three or four years. I pay an extra $1.95 a month just to use a credit card online to pay my electric bill, the options are mail a check ($0.78 stamp + bank fee, I forget the $) or drive across town (about a buck in gas) to wait in line to pay in cash. And then there’s mandatory insurance…
I didn’t read your guys’ comments. I can’t. It’s too depressing.
Why in the hell are you on this site then Helot if the comments depress you so much? You waste everyone else’s time spewing your verbal diarrhea with your constant refutes, rebuttals, and disagreements bordering on rudeness. Perhaps this site is not worthy enough for someone who likes to troll.
And furthermore, in the mid 1960’s, over 1/3 of households were still operating on ONE income.
Lets not forget that at one time, both mom’s station wagon and dad’s sedan were paid for from a single paycheck.
Yeesh, make me repeat myself? I can’t read your comment, it’s too danged depressing.
The monsters, our overlords, this is all by design.
Whilst workers will usually resist a reduction of money-wages, it is not their practice to withdraw their labor whenever there is a rise in the price of wage-goods. -Keynes, John Maynard. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (p. 7). (Function). Kindle Edition.
I’m still trying to figure out why anyone would believe that we must devalue the dollar by 2% annually. Oh sure, deflation would lead to some problems WRT to how we price things, but it seems like that’s completely solvable, at least with a decimal dollar. Just add an extra column to the right side of the decimal point.
That’s obviously not the reason why. It has to do with keeping productive workers productive more than anything. And making sure no one gets truly ahead.
You have to keep the slaves hungry and busy, otherwise they’ll get uppity and mouthy.
It’s really that simple. I realized decades ago that my time was worth far more than I was getting paid for it, and limited my “income” to bare minimum, subsistence/poverty level. My productive time has been used to hustle and produce wealth not counted as income. It’s an approach. The problem is the cost of that subsistence keeps rising.
Deflation isn’t a problem when durable, necessary things are made. It’s a problem in a consumer economy because if people start to think prices are going to fall they delay purchases, which drives aggregate demand down and the whole merry-go-round freezes up. Keynes required that velocity of money and demand to never slow, growth to be continuous, for his magic to work.
Are you a Robot? “Deflation isn’t a problem when durable, necessary things are made.”
Psft! Robber.
“This article explains the fallacies behind inflation, deflation, economic performance and interest rates. They arise from the modern states’ overriding determination to access the wealth of its electorate instead of being driven by a genuine and considered concern for its welfare.” …
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/09/alasdair-macleod/inflation-deflation-and-other-fallacies/
So just for grins, I calculated the $75,000 price tag divided over the course of a typical, five year car loan. Holy buckets Bat Man, that is an eye watering, $1,250 dollar a month car payment! That is if you want to get it paid off in five years. That does not include the monthly, nickel-and-dime subscriptions that are being tacked on. Whether it be the Spotify for the music, the monthly fee for using the heated seat feature, what have you. I would love an off-road Bronco for 25K with none of the bells and whistles and “saaaafety” crap. Sadly, the powers-that-be will never “allow” us to ever own one again.
We are ruled. We are owned.
…Let us not talk of freedom or liberty, for we are owned.
That’s what it means to be an American, = to. be. owned.
Eh?
I suspect at this point a lot of families would have trouble affording a Pinto. The manufacturing jobs and the middle class have to return before the buyers do and at this point almost everyone is in debt up to their eyeballs. Expecting anything else is just wishful thinking.
“Will work for
fooda Pinto.”Sorry, the model you requested has been upgraded for 2025:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrM15LMF8qk
I laffed myself sick at 1:10 in the video, when the clueless Gen Z narrator says that its 2-liter four produces “275 L-B-F-T of torque.” He prolly thought it was a typo for “L-G-B-T-Q.”
Vroom, vroom! 🙂
Hi Jim!
That’s an AI narrated video, I’m pretty sure. AI narration can be identified by malaprops such as “L B S” and such. No human would say that.
You’re noticing a bit of what all those data centers are doing!
How long before you accept AI hush crypto to fade away and this turns clusterfuk auto?
Search anything prefaced by “how to” Try not to gag.
Its aka the new journalism.
Hmm, “How long before you accept…”
Seems like you’re embracing already.
Are you married to AI? Do you roll over often and expose your belly?
Thanks, Eric! And my apologies to Gen Z.
Last week, the narrator of a video on air guns pronounced ‘.22 cal’ as ‘point twenty-two calories.’
Only a computer could be that stupid.
Internet of BOTS. The trouble with “AI”, aka “ARTIFICIAL Intelligence”, is that it ASSumes there’s native intelligence from an organic being to begin with.
Eric,
The penultimate photo of a plain, flat-faced, painted-metal dash with half a dozen knobs, a two-spoke steering wheel, a column shifter, and three pedals on the floor says it all.
Why is this not good enough for us anymore? Why did the Minimalist movement completely bypass contemporary vehicles?
As you correctly diagnose, with its byzantine regs, the US fedgov created a moat for incumbent auto makers. Tesla transcended that moat by pre-wiring the system with its phony MPGe metric, and a vast network of regulatory credits which taxed other auto makers to pay for Tesla’s expansion. But all the other EeeVee startups (those that remain, that is) appear headed for failure.
Likewise with the larger picture: Federal Reserve counterfeiters euthanized the middle class. Their asset inflation (which did not extend to wages) created a billionaire elite, lording it over a hopelessly indebted, pauperized peasantry.
You don’t need no PhD in Sociology to grok that this setup is unstable and is going to hit the wall with an almighty bang. Smash the Fed.
I agree, smash the fed, that would be a good start.
“… I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.” – Étienne de La Boétie