My wife and I just returned from a trip to Hawai’i, celebrating our 25th anniversary on Kaua’i. Discretion being the better part of valor, I limited my CC spotting to a bare minimum and only when convenient, such as when I shot this first-gen Pontiac Vibe near Shipwreck Beach (an appropriate location for this specimen). I had to hunt quite a bit to find a Poncho (to make the title work)—this was one of only four Pontiacs I saw the whole time we were on the islands; the other three were all last-gen Trans Ams.
Vintage Beetles and Busses were actually pretty common, such as this 1967 Type I with a 1500cc engine, uprated from 50hp the previous year to 53hp (or 1.325 forty-horse VW Beetles). I saw one 2012+ Beetle, and a handful of New Beetles as well.
I got a very hasty shot of this first-year 1966 Dodge Charger from the tour bus on the big island. We saw quite a few classics from the 60s and 70s, and also spotted a Model A out enjoying the sun.
Next up are a pair of diesel-electrics, the first being this GE 25 ton industrial locomotive. Originally used to haul sugar cane out of the fields on Kaua’i, it’s enjoying lighter duty giving tours around the Kilohana plantation these days.
Our other diesel-electric is the Bowfin (SS 287), a Baleo-class Fleet-type submarine that served during WWII. It is perhaps the nicest example I’ve ever been through. The boat was powered by four General Motors V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators/motors which in turn drive the screws. All told, they provide 5,400 shaft horsepower when running surfaced (equivalent to 134 forty-horse Beetles).
The most powerful vehicle we saw on the trip was the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), which is leaving port in this photo. Note the sailors “manning the rails” in their dress whites as they salute the USS Arizona while passing by. This carrier is powered by two Westinghouse nuclear reactors which generate 260,000 shp (that’s about 6,500 forty-horse Beetles).
Of course, one of the main requirements during a visit to Pearl Harbor is to experience the USS Arizona and Missouri memorials. This photo captures the “bookends” of the Pacific war, with the Arizona in the background and the plaque commemorating the signing of the instruments of surrender in the foreground.
Moving from sea to air, my jaw bounced off the pavement when we walked over to the the restoration hangar at the Pacific Aviation Museum and saw this B-17E Flying Fortress. This specific aircraft was supposed to have been in the flight of 17s that arrived over Pearl Harbor right in the middle of the December 7, 1941 attack, but had been grounded due to engine problems (each Wright/Cyclone R1820 made 1,200hp, so the whole plane had the power of 120 forty-horse Beetles) and missed out on all the trouble.
It eventually crash landed in a swamp on New Guinea after being shot up in 1942. The aircraft was rediscovered in the 1970s, and recovered within the last few years—it had arrived at Pearl only two weeks before we did, and nearly 72 years after originally intended.
Back on Kaua’i, we took a helicopter tour in this Hughes 500E, which was a real blast (literally—no doors!). The 500 had its genesis in the OH-6 Cayuse which was introduced in 1963 as the result of a bid for a light helicopter for the US Army. The 500 was the civilian version, with the E series being introduced in 1982. This was my second heli ride ever; the first being a Life Flight after a motorcycle accident back when Beth and I were dating.
I hesitate to include our rental car for the week… However, because it was such a special occasion and in a special location, I requested the convertible “upgrade,” only to realize after a couple days that the rental agencies stock these by the gross on the islands. While the top-down motoring was nice, it really wasn’t anything unique, because these were literally everywhere. Next time, I’m going to request something less common, like a four-door Malibu…
If you photoshop out the other cars in the Poncho picture it looks like a still from a Four Wheel and Off Road magazine story about the off road capability of an AWD Vibe, or perhaps a crazy Car and Driver test where they decide to get every AWD sport compact they can get their hands on and flog them off road. 😛
Looks like the Vibe slid into a hay bale at some point and the open hood makes me think of a West Virginia Radiator. So, what is the average age of vehicles in Hawaii anyway? I imagine it is really expensive to have a vehicle on the islands and I am not sure how easy the place is on vehicles. What surprised me is none of the vehicles in the photos have paint damaged by UV rays.
In general, most of what we saw is exactly what you’d see in any larger city here on the mainland. However, the brands were heavily weighted toward Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet – very few Buick/Olds/Cadillac cars in evidence, for example. There were tons of pickups, from compacts to full-size, with a substantial portion of them riding on monster tires and frames jacked up literally above the tops of the tires.
Ahh, ok. So, when you say “Most of what we saw is exactly what you’d see in any larger city here on the mainland” I am going to assume a mix between Rust Belt cities where the vehicles rust faster and Sun Belt cities where the average age is older. Too bad about the Bro Trucks, never really cared for those unless they actually serve a purpose in Hawaii
The older non-CC stuff tended to be well rusted-out, but unlike Rust Belt cars, which tend to rot from the sills up, these were rotted all over, including hoods, trunk lids, etc. It was kind of weird, actually.
The trucks were more “redneck” than “bro,” but some of them actually looked pretty cool. Others looked like a strong breeze would tip them right over…
Great post. I appreciate you posting the link to the aircraft website — I’ll be wasting lots of time over there. That B17E is incredible. I hope it’s put back together again.
The Charger is pretty cool too.
I knew that was ‘Swamp Ghost’ as soon as I saw the pic. It’s been featured in various flying and ww2 mags since it’s discovery. They don’t plan to restore to flying status, unfortunately, as it would be the only flying ‘E’ model of the B-17.
If only there was a relatively intact B-17D somewhere in the Phillipines…
Supposedly there’s an E being (very slowly) restored to airworthy condition somewhere here in Illinois.
You took a tour bus on the Big Island??? That island just begs to be driven across or around, all day long. It’s is my favorite of Hawaii and yes, I had a Mustang convertible while there as well (a 2003 or 04 and it was a nice car – just pull over and put the top up when the very first drop of rain hits or it’s too late, hah).
The most difficult car to rent on the islands is a minivan, if you can believe that!
Yes, despite my strong aversion to “touristy” activities, we decided on a packaged tour of the volcanos on Hawai’i Island in addition to the Pearl Harbor trip. Kaua’i was “home base,” and we did a good bit of driving around and hiking (in addition to the heli tour, which was every bit as good as folks said it would be).
We did see one rental agency which had nothing *but* minivans, and several others that were heavily weighted toward Jeep variations. There was a smattering of convertible Camaros, too, but as they had an additional upcharge, we stuck with the Mustang.
So true: the island is covered by packs of Mustangs. We rented one there last year… and swapped for it an SUV after a few days. I was getting sunburned, and we wanted something that gave us access to the trails on less-developed roads. (Nothing impressive, just a fwd Explorer… but every bit of clearance helps over those ruts!)
Isn’t the Stennis a new carrier or just recently refitted? BTW, thanks for sharing the pictures from your visit to Pearl, a bucket list item to be sure.
The interwebs say she is a Nimitz-class carrier, commissioned in 1993. Most recent deployment was in the Middle East and Singapore. Last dry dock was in 2004.
In a 2008 trip to Maui, I saw lots of rental Sebring convertibles. It became a ‘slug-bug’ game with my niceces. They had the ribbed hood then, so that made them stand out.
One of my old cars was a former rental from Kauai, a v6 Ford Contour. It had reddish mud stains underneath, and from the Vibe pic, I can see why. But, also some friends said ‘oh that’s Hawaii mud’.
Oh yeah, forgot about the Sebrings… Between those, the Mustangs and Jeeps, we all practically had big signs on our backs reading “TOURIST!!”
When we were there in 2008, it was Dodge Chargers (with the 2.7 – ugh). We rented one for our week-long trip around the Big Island, but rented a cheap very old ’96 Camry V6 in Kauai, like a Rent-A-Wreck outfit. I liked the Camry better:)
Funny how here in Vermont (basically, Oregon with road salt) the place is full of Vibes – even the cancellation of the AWD model didn’t seem to affect sales that much.