This week I found myself riding shotgun in the wife’s MX-5 RF, and took this photograph. I can’t imagine driving a car with these covers installed.
Nowadays about fifty percent of these roadsters are equipped with an automatic, and based these accessories you might assume that’s her preference as well. However, it’s a manual, which is why I love her.
Morning Update: My wife just called and she’s very amused by your comments, especially the Jedi comment from CJinSD.
She also suggested Elon Musk add one to the SpaceX car.
D/S @ 9:45 AM.
How is this even legal? A crime against fashion, sure, but the traffic code also ought to have something to say about this.
I agree, how can she see the gauges?
Gauges? Gauges? Where we’re going we don’t need no stinkin’ gauges!
(The Mall)
Yeah, right, the traffic code.
In the US, not only are there over 50 traffic codes (one per state, the District of Columbia, and some local codes on top of that), the codes themselves are fairly lax in some jurisdictions, and enforcement ranges from lax to almost nonexistent. Yes, almost NO enforcement; no annual inspections, and maybe a citation if it’s noticed when stopped for a moving violation.
It would be interesting to see how US motorists would react to EU-style licensing, traffic laws, and annual registration requirements. I have a feeling it wouldn’t be very pretty.
“It would be interesting to see how US motorists would react to EU-style licensing, traffic laws, and annual registration requirements. I have a feeling it wouldn’t be very pretty.
It wasn’t-
https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2009/11/the-great-safety-belt-interlock-fiasco/
What I’m referring to is the annual inspections that are required for road worthiness, the lane discipline that’s enforced on multi-lane highways, and so forth.
I’m not sure that seatbelt interlocks make a good comparison to how things are in Europe, because they were a passive device that were foisted upon us as an alternative to mandatory seat belt laws, which didn’t start appearing for another 10 years after the interlock debacle. And to my knowledge, no other country mandated interlocks.
Yeah, I know this and agree completely. It’s puzzling to me that American traffic legislation is so intent on letting other motorists endanger your life. Why would you want that?
This might not be directly endangering other people’s lives, but it is obscuring the view of theorad, the view of the guages and limiting grip on steering wheel and gear knob.
Maybe, but I think here in the EU we went too far the other way. Not looking forward to the bill I’ll get in order to type approve such sensible improvements to my old car such as disc brakes, 5sp gearbox, power assisted steering or fuel injection.
I’m in the EU too, but the examples you mention must be a national/Austrian thing.
Here in the UK it would be deemed a danger for obscuring the speedo.could set you back 75 gbp and confiscation.
It looks like she has a tribble for a shift knob. 😉🖖
Yeah, I’d be afraid that I’d come back the next day and the entire cabin would be packed with tribbles…
That’s the trouble with tribbles.
Its probably too late already! Looks like the gear shift lever already mated with the steering wheel. 😉
“Captain! They’ve taken over helm control and the warp speed selector! We canna stop them!”
The shift knob oscillates briefly at start up, so Celeste says the car “wags it’s tail” every morning.
Nah, Mr S, it’s not that you love your wife “but”, THIS is why you do, surely.
It’s pretty damn funny, especially it being a convertible and Mr Snuffulfagus’ hairs a blowing in the wind for all the less-relaxed to see.
I guess this does a good job of keeping one’s hands warm during those cold Southern California winters?
Those from the Midwest can laugh all they want, but many Californians use the seat heater during that chilly morning drive into work, so yes.
When I bought my MX-5 it happened to come with heated seats. I thought “I’m never going to use these — I live in California.” But as it turns out turning on the seat heater makes driving with the top down tolerable in chilly weather. You know, like high 50s Fahrenheit.
What and what the two of you. It isn’t chilly here until it gets into the mid 40s and then my 62 year old insulated leather Air Force jacket takes care of that. In the mid 50s one only needs a pair of gloves to make things comfortable. Thin blood, huh?
Yes, that would drive me crazy too. Put down the top and watch the fur fly.
I can almost imagine that these covers were what was inside other covers… say, snakeskin? Then, one afternoon it got really hot, or some morning it got extremely cold and the skin burst open and this was what was left.
That gear knob looks like an aged version of our esteemed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But someone smeared him right around the wheel….
Oh ‘ere I say, that’s a new one: “I was shifting with my furry Boris knob, I was, and then, all of a sudden…”
I suppose this also has a practical purpose that we’re overlooking.
You could take the shifter cover off, and use it to pick up the dust that seems to immediately and constantly settle on the interior surfaces of convertibles.
(EDIT: Oops, I just noticed that this is an RF, but the top still opens enough to create the same dust problem that plagues convertibles.)
Sight of the speedometer, the gas gauge? A Jedi cares not for these things.
How many Muppets died to make that interior?
Who stole my shag rug that I had in my living room since 1975? I want it returned … and NOW!
‘Perry Mason – The Case Of the Shady Shaggy Shifter’ !
The first time I saw one of these, my immediate thought was “that has got to be a female’s car!”….I was not wrong in my assessment! 🙂
I just love how “extra” this is. But, yes – a lack of a clear view of the gauges would be of concern.
As a child, was your wife the kid in school who had the elf with long hair pencil topper? When it was rolled quickly between your palms the hair would fly in every direction.
“I would drape myself in velvet, if it was socially acceptable.”
— George Costanza
I think one of these would of looked GREAT on Elon Musk’s SpaceX Tesla Roadster. 😊
– The Wife
Are you sure that’s not Toonces the driving cat wrapped around the wheel?
Toonces the driving cat
The cat who could drive a car
He drives around, all over the town
Toonces the driving cat
Nope, I’m not going to have this song stuck in my head all day.
Good call! They don’t make such simple, silly skits anymore.
“He CAN drive, just not very well.
If you can’t see the speedo, it can’t possibly be legal.
I doubt it –
The law states you have to obey the speed limit. It does not require you to continuously monitor vehicle speed.
What I’d like to know is why does she say she likes that? Is it actually comfortable? Is it a statement? Does she just like to give a middle finger to practicality? Enquiring minds want to know!
CC Effect: Two days ago I saw a similar one on somebody’s Saturn, in pink. I had never noticed those before. The owner was walking to the car and her keychain was also an absurdly large ball of pink fur.
I assume she keeps a can of flea powder in the glovebox.
“Do you suffer from the heartbreak of Premature Interior Baldness? If so, Car Toupees may be the answer; barely noticeable, and they look so natural! Don’t let PIB ruin another drive…consult your car care professional today!
* Warning: Car toupees may cause fuzz inhalation, gauge blockage, and your steering wheel to be attacked by eagles or other small-game predators.”
One can, after all, over-accessorize, if one isn’t careful.
OMG
When ZZ Top did fuzzy in the 80’s it just seemed so much more normal.
Dang, I forgot to look and mixed up the Armor All with my bottle of Rogaine…
But man, is your head shiny! 🙂