Broken heater controls? There’s that old sink faucet in the garage…looks like it probably has the potential for being adjusted to a very fine degree. Now this one shows some some genuine ingenuity. Let’s see if any of the others do.
Let’s start with a couple of outside mirror replacements. This one also shows a hint of cleverness, and hey; it’s even aerodynamic!
This one most definitely doesn’t.
We had some inside door handle replacements; now for an outside one. I’d say it’s in the highly temporary category.
The curse of hidden headlights….
I think we’ve seen this one once before, but this is a much better shot. Who would come up with this? And think that the hose would actually make a difference?
If Jeeps have folding windshields, why not folding seats?
Ho hum.
Now this fix has a touch of brilliance to it; well, sort of. Having faced similar challenges once or twice (my first was installing an 8-track in my Mom’s ’65 Coronet that had no radio, meaning that whole part of the dash was covered with a blank plate, not just a radio blank…she wasn’t too thrilled with the looks of the results). Anyway, this one shows some genuine spark of creativity.
So what’s the verdict?
Hat tip to AmazonRay
Last picture: 3rd. Gen Jetta????
Second-generation, actually.
right. thanks. I was confused over the generations, but it’s the squared Rabbit w/ a trunk.
#1: Winner in the “More Trouble Than It Was Worth” category.
concur.
and Ive always driven Camaros so I could avoid the Firebird’s hidden lites…
the jeep with the folding chair would be a great running gag in some sit-com (along the lines of the stair truck in Arrested Develoment) although i always thought a car with a between the bucket seats storage compartment that lacked a bottom would be even funnier (car speeds off into the distance with deposited items left on the highway)
The heater control is sheer brilliance. How many times have I ranted here about the lack of a proper heater control valve in modern cars. This is a perfect solution. This almost makes me want to do it in all of my cars.
The chain lock is a little inelegant. Why not just bolt on a household deadbolt lockset instead?
Finally, the handheld mirror taped over the original mirror has a sort of alluring simplicity to it. It is a shame to waste that handle with the hole in it already. I’m thinking a thermometer.
That last one will really play CDs. The old full-size CD-ROM drives work just fine as CD players, through the headphone jack on the front. Sponges isolate the drive from vibration.
I was about to call you all sorts of intersting adjectives until I saw this:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/How-to-Transform-a-CD-ROM-Drive-into-a-Car-CD-Player/71
Well I’ll be…
That is a PC tech/geek/almost Make magazine solution, not a Wal-Mart parking lot solution. (Wonder where this was found. My money’s on Mountain View.)
Betcha Wal-Mart sells (or once sold) very cheap CD-ROM drives.
Good point, although you might also still be able to get one from the “open box” shelf at Fry’s. :p
my son and I have used PlayStation 1st gens as CD players, both home and auto apps!
Love the heater controls and the aero mirror shows ingenuity but the door handle is cool I had a 73 aussie Valiant with 3 rope outside door handles the originals were even weaker than Falcon versions.
The track jacket and un-identifiable dash in the first picture makes me think somewhere in a former so-block country, not in the US.
Yes, also the badge on the lower dash near glovebox.
the inscription to the right might be Volga in cyrilics therefore it’s probably Russia. Certanly soviet block 🙂
#1 wins.
Yup, that CD-ROM drive hack works in the house too.
#1, but I sure hope it doesn’t spring a leak. That could be painful.
The taped on bathroom handheld mirror is classic. The kind of repair a non-car enthusiast would make.
Put me in that category. Dead broke and on the road (a long-term trip to Alaska in search of work) the carburetor of Tojo, my Datsun King Cab pickup, went on the flooey. My limited diagnostic talents suggested the float didn’t float any more…it would rich up to where it would stall.
I already had a manual choke on it and it worked. Had to, HAD TO be the float.
Lacking money for a carb rebuild, and not having the time to seek out a donor…I got a fuel-valve at a little hot-rod shop and about twelve feet of fuel line. Ran the fuel line through a hole in the firewall…in and then back, with the valve near the gearshift. It worked…not well, but I kept running. When it would start running rich, I’d close the valve until it would starve of fuel, and then start cracking it open.
Ran like hell but didn’t quit on me. Most of the time the truck ran okay anyway; I managed later to sell it without the Tobacco Road fuel feed, and the buyer didn’t find anything amiss.