Saturday, May 22, 2010

There are no stupid questions...

...just stupid people.

The amount of incredibly stupid things I heard people say at the auto show this year was truly mind-boggling. I don't think people actually got stupider this year; maybe I was just paying more attention because I was looking for blog material.

But really, we got some stupid, stupid questions. Not just me, but all of us at every manufacturer from every country and in every vehicle type. Stupid, stupid questions.

This year, Detroit took the prize for idiocy. In fact, the stupid question of the year award goes to a Detroit show visitor who, while driving a car in the ride and drive in the green car section in the BASEMENT of Cobo Hall, asked:

"Does this car run on solar power?"

Really, people. Come on, now. Do you know your own name? How to get back to your house? Tie your shoes? Not stab yourself in the eye when eating with a fork?

Let's think about this for a minute. Is there sun in the basement? Does the sun have magical rays that pierce through layers of concrete to power the vehicle you are currently driving and obviously must have some source of power? No?

Then no, this car is not solar powered. Jesus.

PS - Check out this week's column over at TheTruthAboutCars.com!

8 comments:

  1. So I'm probably not going to be able to talk you into my eco, solar-powered flashlight then, huh?

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  2. Not such a dumb question. You would expect it to run in the dark...So it must have a way of storing power or alternative charging right?

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  3. "How much is the maintenance on the water cooled muffler bearings?"

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  4. Anon - Perhaps, if such technology existed for commercially-available passenger vehicles yet. And if the car had, say, solar panels instead of a fuel door... My source says he wasn't talking about the Prius kind of solar power. He was talking about like Jetsons, flying car kind of solar power. : ) Which would be totally rad unless you lived in Washington State.

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  5. I am an illustrator, slowly gaining in my profession, I cannot say that I have anything but the least of interest in cars. That said, I still your blog to be profoundly interesting.

    I work a day job making sandwiches and I can't tell you how many stupid people I run into daily, it's good to know I'm not the only one who deals with this kind of mess, but sad to know it exists everywhere...

    Keep up the good work!

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  6. Wow, I just noticed all of my typos up there, maybe next time I should do a quick proofread...

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  7. When electric cars were first introduced I had a guy ask me "How long was the extension cord". Really?

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  8. I am a product specialist as well and worked the Detroit Auto show. I am laughing so hard at your post I have tears running down my face. Ohhhhhh so true!!!!

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