Hooniverse Asks- What’s the Greatest Unsung Hipster Ride?
Sixties American iron – for the longest time they were generally considered to be overweight, under-braked behemouths with the handling prowess of warm Play-doh. And that was just the compacts. Up through the eighties, what had been the most mundane of the sixties family sedans and two-door coupes seemed destined only to be junk yard fodder, or rolling mansions for the mentally unhinged. But then something happened.
What happened was the grunge scene ran its course and young middle-class urbanites needed another way to differentiate themeselves in a unique conformity, and hence the hipster, or scenester movement was born. Hipsters can be identified by their bachelor of arts degrees, as well as their retro affectations, part of which is made up by the cars they drive. It’s hard to look hipster, even while wearing your vintage flannel and nerd-glasses, when driving a Boxster or M3 – not that any of them could afford either – but in a ’68 Galaxie or vintage Dart everything falls into place.
The sixties in the U.S. was like the Cambrian explosion of car makes and models, and while many of the cars that debuted during that turbulent time are historically important and desirable to auto enthusiasts, there are tons that came and went without much fanfare, and are to this day waiting to be discovered for their antiestablishment hipness. The joke goes – why did the hipster burn his mouth on a piece of pizza? Because he ate it before it was cool. That’s the Hipster ethos- glom onto a fad before anyone else does – establishing it rather than simply participating in it. Hence those big-ass macrame hats. What we want to know is, what sixties ( or even seventies) car do you think is an undiscovered gem, and something that a hipster would define as as-yet uncool, but still could be. What’s the greatest undiscovered hipster car?
Image source: [diecastaircraftforum.com]
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Screech 
![http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/05/ImpalaBurnout-520px.jpg"](http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/05/ImpalaBurnout-520px.jpg"){kind=link}
I'd say an AMC Matador coupe, particularly in two-tone Barcelona trim.
<img src="http://blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2010/11/6339465-640-0.jpg" width=500>
The Matador Coupe is way too actually desirable. The Matador SEDAN, on the other hand, has some serious undiscovered ironic retro uncool going on…
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TsdjySqKQlI/TDzVL_4N4CI/AAAAAAAAEQ8/TiEea3f0Mcs/s400/1974%20AMC%20Matador%20Sedan.%20-%201.jpg" width="300/">
The 1974-1978 models with the hideous coffin-nose bumpout should be particularly appropriate…
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TsdjySqKQlI/TDzVLfeGalI/AAAAAAAAEQ0/S5D_g9fjAiQ/s1600/1974%20AMC%20Matador%20Sedan.%20-%202.jpg" width="300/">
Extra points for the with-it hipster if they can find one with the seriously underpowered 232ci straight-six with the one-barrel carb (for reduced fuel consumption) and AMC's rapid-fade four-wheel drum brakes (for that vague mushy feeling that you're gonna DIE while entering every intersection, to help you respect life on the edge).
To me the ultimate hipster car is the 1961 (see how i made it fit into your 60s thing?) Nash Metropolitan. It's like wearing a wool hat on a 100 degree day. It's so not cool that it should be for sale at Hot Topic. It's economical so you can afford to run it on the money you steal out of your mother wallet. The one speaker stereo can play your 90's retro swing music.
This is what I consider to be the most hipster car of the 60s
<img src="http://hotrod205.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/nash61a.jpg" width="600/">
Good point, but they've been "discovered" a long time ago. Have you priced good examples lately? They're breaking $20K now.
Yeah the price is a sore point. Maybe I need to go find a Kaiser instead
Too mainstream. Hold out for an Allstate-branded Henry J.
Oh bonus points for using a Sears labeled car for the hipsters. That's pretty unhip
Here is a 54 that was hipster before hipster was cool, in the masterpiece film Clueless.
<img src="http://imcdb.org/i033460.jpg" width="500">
This Ronsir Zyl wearing, indie rock enthusiast recommends this fine product of the Rootes Group.
<img src="http://www.vic.rootesgroup.org.au/material/Super-Snipe.jpg">
Double hipster points if its a right hooker.
Or, perhaps you'd like a nice, Mother Earth friendly diesel Heckflosse.
<img src="http://static3.carsablanca.de/files/medias/filename/Mercedes-Benz%20190%20Heckflosse%20grau_5124_big.jpg?1280326473">
Or you could follow the lead of noted Hooniverse hipster, Jim Brennan
<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2744/4155115696_a457ec1d68.jpg" width="500" height="491" alt="1963 Chevrolet Corvair 700 Club Coupe & Sedan">
picture from aldenjewel's Flickr account
700? No thanks, I'll take a Monza.
These are all of my "Hipster" cars from my first car onward….
- 1966 Corvair Monza Convertible (Close to this one pictured)
<img src="http://www.chooseyouritem.com/classics/photos/67500/67997.1966.Chevrolet.Corvair.Monza.2-Door.Convertible.jpg" alt="">
- 1966 Rambler American Sedan (Lighter Blue than this one)
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/1966_Rambler_American_4door-blue.jpg" alt="">
- 1971 Chevrolet Nova Coupe (Burnt Orange with White Top)
<img src="http://nicksherman.com/photos/vehicles/nova-beach.jpg" width = 500 alt="">
- 1977 Buick Opel by Isuzu (Yes in exactly the same color as this one)
<img src="http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr286/TylerW71/1976 Isuzu/S3010044.jpg" alt="">
- 1980 Ford Mustang 3-door Hatch (6-Cyl Automatic – Same color as this Coupe)
<img src="http://www.rmauctions.com/images/cars/ds09/DS09_r024_01.jpg" alt="">
- 1982 Volkswagen Jetta Mk I (In a Dark Red, and the worst car I ever owned)
<img src="http://static.cargurus.com/images/site/2009/02/03/18/04/1982_volkswagen_jetta-pic-43498.jpeg" width="500" alt="">
- 1986 Hyundai Excel GL (In Sedan Configuration, same color)
<img src="http://productioncars.com/send_file.php/hyundai_excel_silver_1986.jpg" alt="">
Even better when you lose your car in the parking lot. You can say to your hipsters friends "Time to go snipe hunting"
Four door Ford Thunderbirds. Sure, they may seem an unlikely choice, but isn't that the point? They have the exclusivity of only being part of a 5 year run (1967-1971), they have rear suicide doors, and they have some dramatic styling.
<img src="http://automotivemileposts.com/files/tbird19682and4door.jpg" width="400">
<img src="http://www.tbird.org/gallery/large.images/wetmore.jpg" width="400">
And did I mention suicide rear doors?
<img src="http://automotivemileposts.com/autobrevity/images/tbird1967reardoordemo.jpg" width="400">
As an added hipster bonus, a design change in the front end between the early models and the late models allows for a superiority debate within the genre itself.
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6628080495_7cfd761a1e_m.jpg" width="400">
Definitely the '70, with the beak.
<img src="http://www.murraymitchell.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vintage_weathered_car_with_surfboard_on_roof.jpg" width="550/">
Hell, I would rock that Ghia.
That plate…. Not sure if awesome… It's spelled wrong, and that bothers me.
Ghe Ghe Ghe Ghia!
On the other hand, spelled correctly and with a layer of moss…
Stutz Bearcat of the 1970's with its fake side pipes, driven by a gold jewelry-clad hipster wearing a leisure suit.
<img src="http://www.madle.org/bh71epjules.JPG"width="500"/>
They look like they've just been surprised by investigators from the SEC.
I know you're aiming for 60's, but not enough can be said about Volvo's place in hipsterdom. This might hit close to home for some, but it has all the speed of a Volvo Wagon without the practicality part. Hip indeed.
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qow6Uz4n9W0/S7eg9SWRmSI/AAAAAAAAALo/LFBhxIQ4GbI/s1600/volvo_262_old_01.jpg" width=500>
Knowing hipsters, they'll probably start gunning for military trucks next… But they'll paint the camo in pink, lavender and white to be "cool" and "different".
<img src="http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1460/1601/3648300158_large.jpg" width=500>
If I were a hipster, I'd get a military truck with a funny hat and glasses
<img src="http://image.trucktrend.com/f/reader-rides/readers-rides-miniature-tank-pinzgauer-710m-and-heavy-duty-dodge-ram/27560056/pinzgauer-710m.jpg" width=500>
I've never seen a military truck that had a funny hat and glasses.
Oh, I don't know, I could consider this a very heavy duty truck with a funny/queer hat and optics…
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Abrams-transparent.png" width=500>
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/168607_619198583940_2912893_34718324_2322106_n.jpg" width="500"> What if mine was faster than the wagons? Oh crap wait, I forgot about the 850 T-5R. Eh whatever, incontrovertible proof that I'm a hipster, wearing plaid even. <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/75998_612292753280_2912893_34568781_8178926_n.jpg" width="500">
Granted, although, in my defense, I was referring to the pictured 262 as a hipster ride specifically. I guess the 242 fits the bill well also. There are many other qualifiers beyond car and shirt choice that makes a hipster though.
Dammit, still not a hipster then, and I had a flying station wagon before it was cool!
I always knew you were a hipster… Where is your fixi bike?
I've got three, you can actually see parts from all three of my fixie bikes on the wall in the photo with the wagon. I'm always fixing them to keep one working! Wait no that means I'm the fixie not the bike… Dang, still not cool.
Hahahaha!!!
Happy new year to you Vavon! I was looking for the photo Aga or I took of the guy on the bike with a surf board, can't find it online, so just imagine it as a gift I guess, sorry.
No! The 242 is not a hipster car goddammit!! So help me, I will hunt you down if you ever insinuate that again.
It even has an approximation of thick rimmed glasses.
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TsdjySqKQlI/S29Za4sp5uI/AAAAAAAACO0/xMTAZirXGcQ/s400/1977+Volvo+242+DL.+-+1.jpg">
Perish slowly in a massive conflagration.
Ha ha ha ha ha! You two, really made me laugh out loud here at work just now, thanks!
It's all good man, I'll vouch for the fact that you were into them before they were cool.
That's it… you're a dead man. I'm going to get a screwdriver, remove my 242 specific rear window, and beat you with it just for the sake of irony.
Woah man, sorry, didn't mean to get you so amped up. You should probably cool down with some water.
<img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/terminal01/2010/6/24/11/pbr-water-14865-1277392544-5.jpg" width=500>
Maybe your blood sugar is low. You should get some sausage in you
<img src="http://chzallnighter.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/party-fails-pbratwurst-pbr-beer-bratwurst-fusion.jpg" width=500>
I have no response to that, so here is a cat getting hit by a train.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/CicfK.gif">
Well you seem like a classy guy, so you've got to go a bit more exclusive than his suggestions.
<img src="http://editorial.designtaxi.com/news-pbr2307/1.jpg">
"…You should get some sausage in you…"
I'll have you know there's plenty of room for that in a Volvo wagon with the seats folded.
I'm sure there is, Floppy Pimperton, I'm sure there is.
Just not the coupe.
You'd be surprised. There is actually a remarkable amount of room in the back of a 242. Take it from a 6'4" guy who drove one through his college years.
And as for the front seats, well, they're no good for sleeping (been there in a 244), but they're strong. If the console's broken, as many are, you can just stuff a pillow between the seats and use the 'bench seat' up front instead, should you be so inclined.
Hmmm, creative… I may have to modify the center console a bit for that… Mine is still intact, and I do kinda need the parking brake… While that is kinda true about the front seats, my current DD makes me long for the nearly flat by comparison 242 seats. The seats in the goat barely lean back at all. If I put them all the way back, and lean all the way back, there is still some leg room for the rear…
Oh, my 244's parking brake works, but the console's shattered. I've considered making my own pillow so I can have a 'bench seat' of my own over the remaining half-console, but remove it when I need to set the brake (rarely, as it's an automatic for now).
I suspect 'no good for sleeping' has as much to do with 'no good for sitting either, with the foam collapsed' as it does with the angle (which is pretty good).
Ah yes, the built in gangsta lean. I have yet to see a 240 without it.
I need to get that thing running again. I miss its idiosyncrasies.
Exactly how I feel about mine. I also miss averaging over 20 MPG.
What does your 242 need?
It's so stupid how little it needs. The brakes need to be finished, (hook up lines and flush fluid) I need spacers to clear the RX-7 brakes, the gauges and HVAC controls need to be hooked up, radiator and e-fan need to be mounted, complete fluid flush, and I need to figure out how to cram the 740 airbox in there so it will pass ref. That's it. I'm sure it could be done in a couple solid work days. I just haven't worked on it since it started getting cold…
What's the status on your 244?
Hell, there's plenty of room for that in the back seat of the sedans. Any wagon without shaggin' space when the seats are folded down isn't worth the "wagon" name. (Maybe it helps that I've always dated short women?)
True – there's plenty of room to get it on, but post-coital snuggles are far easier – far more possible, actually – in a wagon.
You need to read Shibumi.
I'm all for letting the douchebags/hipsters (redundant?) have the 262s – especially the Bertone versions – as long as they stay the fuck away from all other 2xx & earlier Volvos. May they be cursed with trying to keep the PRV running with the sweat of their intentionally pale brows & skinny little wrists.
Is it me, or is that rock face giving your significant other the stink eye?
Do we have any geologists on staff who can confirm?
Yes, I believe that is the correct technical term.
<img src="http://www.milweb.net/features/mv/dukw.jpg" width="500">
Amphibiousity. It's the wave of the retro future!
Good idea! Then all the hipsters will get barged!
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2011/philadelphia…
I took my first ride in a duck last week. Now I want one.
… hipster.
I was me before being me was cool – like this morning.
You really took your trip to Seattle seriously. Did you also dine in the rotating restaurant at the top of the Space Needle? The food's better nowadays.
I found that 96 you posted, but nobody appeared to be home. Looks like it hasn't moved in a while, even by my standards. I'll check back later.
Off topic, I know, but one of my greatest accomplishments of the tech bubble was expensing a dinner at the Space Needle restaurant to Microsoft and getting reimbursed
The food was not all that great 
How long ago? It's still not the finest dining, but at some point in the last few years it lifted itself above the "Denny's in the Sky" reputation that has characterized most of its existence.
Had you been able to work in a reference to Boeing, your experience would have been complete.
Absolutely – went there for lunch. The crab mac n' cheese was tasty but overpriced.
I guess this trip was a surrender of sorts – I did several things that only tourists do. Even appeased my daughter with a trip to the troll.
How can a Seattleite tell which direction is north? By looking at which side the moss is growing on the aging Swedish car.
My sister lives a bit further down that block. I'll ask her to keep an eye out for signs of life at that house. Looks like it might be vacant.
The dude pedaling the fixed gear elevator that is used to bring the food up to the restaurant gets paid a lot. That's what makes it expensive.
Shouldn't that place run by Starbucks by now?
Thanks to your Boeing reference, I wanted to find out what the Boeing factory in Philly builds. Apparently those badass heavy lifters (H-46, H-47) and VTOL's (V-22) come from Philadelphia PA.
That's genuinely cool info!
I always wondered why every so often when I was in the city I would see a flock of Chinooks overhead.
It was the second half of 1999. Drat I was tantalizingly close with that comment, because I visited the Boeing plant in Everett that trip as well. I saw the 777 for the first time there. The most memorable part of the trip was the monorail though.
Oh, 1999. Essentially Denny's, then. At least that's my understanding. I've been up the thing three times, once each in 1971, 1978, and 2011. The only time I ate there was 2011. Never been on the monorail, so you've got me there. I did ride the Bubbleator in '78, though.
Aah, the Bubbleator. I had completely forgotten it. Last time I rode it, I spent the day at the Fun Forest.
I went to Portland last year and attended a street fair in one of the most hipster parts of town – every second bar had a PBR neon sign in the window, and I was *literally* tripping over all the fixed gear bikes parked on the sidewalks.
Parked in the vicinity of the street fair were an early '80s Fox body Granada coupe, and an early '80s Eldorado, both in pretty darn nice shape for their age, and I saw both of them driving away full of skinny jeans wearing, neck-beard sporting, spectacled hipsters. So either they happened to get nice beaters, or the cars were statements. I prefer to think it's the latter. And if that's the case, I pre hipstered the hipsters, since I've had an '85 Ford since I was about 17 years old.
Hipsters!
Or inherited their grandmother's cars, the ones none of their siblings or cousins wanted.
Very possible, although they seem to be enjoying their grandparents' beer and glasses.
Well, if we're going '70s, then:
<img src="IMAGE URL" width="600">
<img src="http://www.oldirish.com/cars/xj6c/75xj6c01.JPG">
As long as they don't touch my Broughams…
Needs Euro bumpers desperately!
Hipsters like to get into things before they were cool. The XJ-C never qualified.
If we're going '70s, I'd have to vote for the '76-'77 B-body Charger Daytona. Ironic Hipster gold!
<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5061/5876237905_404cfedef7_z.jpg" width="512">
Speaking of poor taste, anything in a trim combo known as "Black Gold".
Why must you hurt like that?
I love them, and would buy one in a heart beat, but you have to agree, they're a bit beyond tacky.
There's no shortage of ironic Mopars of yore. The most hipster of all? Ask the Chairman of the Board…
[youtube JSsUcP13j6E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSsUcP13j6E youtube]
But hipsters need to get to Starbucks and PBR-selling bars once in a while. With a '70s XJ, they'd have to rely on their fixie bikes too often.
Knowing how much hipsters love vinyl, clearly the Mohs Safarikar is the hipstermobile of choice.
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZN6yDnS5tnI/Te0ohGMjq_I/AAAAAAAACPA/pXlF4FIFSiI/s1600/mosafarikar01.jpg">
Mohs made what, three of those? A true hipster would prefer something he KNOWS he's not going to see another one of coming down the road. The Mohs Ostentatienne Opera Sedan (AFAIK, only one of these was ever built).
<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3293/2757634435_811d499ec3.jpg" width="500" height="234" alt="Mohs Ostentatienne Opera Sedan">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TsdjySqKQlI/TOTDtUwkRbI/AAAAAAAAFX8/F-OjMY-GZOc/s1600/1968%2BDodge%2BDart%2BSedan.%2B-%2B1.jpg"width=500>
I want that car. However, I've never tried PBR, I don't wear skinny jeans, I shaved today, and my bicycle (while purple) has 18 speeds, and I took an active hand in its revival from derelict lawn ornament to transportation. I think I'm safe from hipster consideration.
Through the 80s, this was the quintessential ironic vehicle. It told the world you didn't care what you looked like as long as you could continue to drive over cockroaches after the apocalypse.
It was also the perfect trifecta of low purchase price, simplicity and parts availability for the student-aged shade tree mechanic.
I've fallen in love with a 1965 Galaxie that's for sale locally, but sadly I realized that it's too long to fit into my garage. Sigh.
I'll go with a little Peugeot 404 Station Wagon. Hipster cool with the boards on the roof!
<img src="http://svammelsurium.blogg.se/images/2011/peugeot-404-wagon-usa-promo-2_178601355.jpg">
Those wheels are horrific, indeed.
Can we just nominate this guy's entire
garage, err,driveway… fleet??http://intensedebate.com/people/mdharrell
Aw, hell. I was hoping to stay off the radar on this one. I've got a bachelor of arts degree, too…. Damn.
mdharrel. So hip.
Why the hipsters haven't jumped all over this one yet, I haven't a clue. I can smell the ironic from here.
<img src="http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/86-Nissan-N12-EXA.jpg" width="512">
digs through memories. . . .
Quasar? Black Hole? Supernova? Dang it . . . .
Wait! Comet–
No. . . .
Vixen, no wait Dasher? Gah!
HA HA!
Nebula! The Nissan Nebula!
This is a winner, as long as they don't touch my GTi-R's.
Am I watching a bunch of old guys make statement on a young culture?
In my time in Austin I have penetrated the hipster culture through its heart; the Indy music scene. Not a single 60s car is to be found. They can't afford them, they can't fix them, and the fuel bill would dip into the PBR tabs at local dives.
It's really Civics, Accords, Camrollas, and other cheap 90s sedans. The occasional 80s Caddy makes a showing, but that's really it. The oldest vehicle you'll find hipsters in is either vans or old motorcycles. Their tastes in cycles lean towards cafe racer style. Mopeds are the order of the day for the truly frugal.
Oh thank god!
I think…
For better or worse, I don't think the status of MGBs was ever in question in this context.
Or, come to think of it, any MG. Not even the 1100. Maybe a Maestro.
Hey, I'll have you know that I may be old now, but way back when I was *NEVER* hip. So my advanced age has NOTHING to do with my cluelessness! Ha!
(And furthermore, get off my lawn.)
For something truly hip, and truly undiscovered, a Mexican Borgward.
<img src="http://img53.echo.cx/img53/9437/230gl4ru.jpg" >
A Mexican Borgward is way hipper than those run of the mill Borgwards.
They look like they were trying to be Rallies, and failed. Hard.
How about the Cordoba? Old, American and relatively unknown, yet just f**k ugly enough to qualify as ironic.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/o1vJs.jpg" width="500"/>
Ugly!? For shame, sir.
Cheap. Ironic. Good on gas. Room for a drum kit. Doubles as a spare bedroom.
I don't know if they've discovered minivans yet, so get in on the ground floor;
<img src="http://www.previasforsale.com/images/1995%20Toyota%20Previa%20LE-White.JPG" width="600">
A vision of the future from the past.
One of my hippest friends had a Previa and loved it. Hopefully most get confused and buy a Trans Sport, because Previas are awesome.
I feel like this is relevant, even if The Black Keys are far too mainstream. Bonus points to all minivans for being stonkingly uncool, and easily handed down for free.
<img src="http://www.covershut.com/back_covers/The-Black-Keys-El-Camino-2011-Back-Cover-61449.jpg" /img>
The Black Keys are really mainstream now? God I can't keep track of these things.
Well, I know who they are, and they get pretty consistent radio play around here – I'm fairly sure that counts as far too mainstream for hipsters.
On the other hand, that also applies to The Arcade Fire, and look at the confusion following their Grammy win, so mainstream might be the wrong term.
I suppose I don't really listen to the radio so I don't know what the kids these days are listening to. I will listen to albums recommended by Pitchfork though – the hipsterest hipsters in hipsterdom – and sometimes I think they're deliberately screwing with their reader base.
Mainstream? If so, the mainstream has suddenly become much better. That gives me a tiny bit of hope. Are the Black Keys being played on commercial radio (and does anyone listen to commercial – terrestrial – radio anymore)?
I love the Black Keys, and I dig the cognitive dissonance created with a picture of their old touring minivan on an album titled El Camino.
(and I must be old, since I still call full-length releases "albums").
Plus that one's the hippest of the minivans, a mid-engine, like a Ferrari or something.
Clearly.
<img src="http://www.marriedtothesea.com/091610/hipsterest-bike.gif" width=500>
I knew a bearded hippy who actually built something remarkably similar to this in the early '70s. I saw him riding it around my little upstate NY village quite frequently for several years.
How did he dismount?
By jumping into a 3m tall cup of mochachocolattefrappe.
It might not fall into the '60s-'70s criteria, but I've noted some hipster interest in the GM FWD C and H-body biggies from the 1990s. They're really cheap to buy, not hard to find in good shape, cheap to fix, aren't all that gas-piggish, and you can carry lots of friends in comfort. Plus they have that anti-cool vibe of a car that looks perfectly at home in a retirement community. I've had more than a few hipsters and urban guys express interest in my nice-looking '94 LeSabre. Does future collectability await?! (The pictured car isn't mine but it looks identical.)
<img src="http://imganuncios.mitula.net/1995_buick_lesabre_limited_blue_in_jackson_mississippi_94314791578625415.jpg" width=500>
Which is why I love my '93 Regal. I love it to death, but I fantasize about Le Sabres all the time.
When my nephew first got his drivers license and a stock-boy job a few years ago at age 16, he began searching high and low for a C-body Park Avenue Ultra. It was the ONLY car he wanted. He bought a clapped-out one for $1700, drove it for a couple years…and then moved on to a mid-90s Camry with a 4-banger and MT. Go figure.
Better than half the people who've tried to buy my Metro from me have been hipsters.
Oddly, probably a quarter have been fat old Filipinas.
<img src="http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/2010/05/geo_metro_01_01.jpg" width=500>
Any crossover between those two demographics?
You must travel in upper class areas. Only poor people try to buy my Metro off of me.
BTW, love the 13 in wheel conversion. I just did it to mine and it made quite a difference in braking. However, it makes no difference to the fuel mileage in my city driving. Actually the thing has become a bit of a gas guzzler over the last few months and now struggles to get above 38 mpg (city, and I do compensate for the taller tires with a conversion factor of 7.17%). It seems to have happened after my last oil change when I went to Rotella T 10W-30. I guess it's just part of the joy of driving a Metro.
HA! The remaining quarter are mostly farmworkers who don't speak English.
Mine is currently mid-swap, sitting engineless in the carport. The old one finally wore out after two quick and dirty rebuilds, compression down to around 125 on all three. I had zippo power until maybe 3500 rpm and had to ride the clutch to get moving (forget starting on a hill), then run at pretty high rpm after I did get moving. My worst tank of gas before parking it was 21 mpg, and I almost died a couple times pulling into traffic. Yeek.
Have you added a sway bar yet? Mine came off a 2001 sedan and bolted right on. The brake improvement from the 13" wheels? This was just as awesome an improvement for cornering. Have you tried a long highway trip for mileage? I had the same experience as you with the city driving, but on an interstate at a steady 65 I went from 43 to 48 mpg. I dropped to 60 on the way home and got 51 but that was in the middle of the night. I wouldn't do that in normal daytime traffic.
'62 Chevrolet Biscayne. If someone could post a pic for me I would be grateful.
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/207567_656771138240_2912893_34934862_5051216_n.jpg" width="500"> I think this one is a '59, saw it at work once, dig it myself. Owner probably a really nice person, but maybe this was what you were about with the rattle can primer and bondo showing through, interior with a fancy ipod radio?
As one of the Brooklynite members of this forum, I see what the hipsters are driving every day. My girlfriend even lives in a loft building in Bushwick right around the corner from Roberta's (http://gothamist.com/2011/08/24/ny_times_drops_two_stars_on_roberta.php), lest you doubt my cred. Right now, young car-minded hipsters don't drive 60s anymore, they drive mid 70s detroit sedans, ideally not the biggest ones. (Non car-minded ones drive whatever their parents gave them after college, or just don't drive.) The second they start to gradually turn into yuppies, they switch to old Volvos, W123 wagons, or grey E28 sedans. In all cases, the car cannot seem nice or well-maintained and cannot be the sporty or desirable body type. Something like this:
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Dodge-Dart-sedan-2.jpg" width="500">
I think the new trend is to go to circa 1980-85 Japanese cars, like this Celica liftback:
<img src=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/ToyotaCelica1970s.jpg" width="500">
I drove a 92 Lesabre here for a while, and though some of the hipsters liked its grandpa-ness, even an old-fashioned Volvo 240 would have earned me more bonus points.
Sorry the liftback here (couldn't edit it in without rewriting a ton of garbled html in the edit format):
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/ToyotaCelica1970s.jpg" width="500">
The greatest unsung hipster ride? Someone else's car you bum rides in.
+1000.
Anything that keeps them from buying cars that hoons & car guys want. Stay the hell away from my beloved Volvo 240s! (and get off mah lawn!)
I just don't think they're rolling out in droves to snap much of anything up – it's not entirely practical in an urban environment, it's not the most fashionable accessory (there's some vague sense of environmental awareness), and it's money out of the overpriced "vintage" clothing budget. Sadly, I think the 240 is one of the more prime candidates – it's adequately cheap and interesting.
In Los Angeles it's always either a Prius or a black 7 series BMW, but if they really wanted to embrace irony it'd be this:
<img src="http://otosuv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2011-Chrysler-PT-Cruiser-Side-Angle-Pictures.jpg" width="600">
I gotta be honest, I really don't get what this hipster thing is. I don't think I've even seen a real one in the wild.
I have, and use a lot of old crap around the house that I hear quoted as being hipsterish (or was last week), but it's because I'm old and have had it forever, I don't throw neat old good and usable stuff that I like away. But now I can't even brag how I've had it forever anymore because that makes me sound hipsterish, even though I'm closer to a hoarder and still stuck in the 70's.
Who the @$% ARE these people?!?
Super-Spouse's brother-in-law rides a fixie-bike, which I had never heard of before. When he showed it off to me and explained it, I told him it was the single most stupid fucking thing I had ever seen. Unless you are one of them idiots racing on a banked track while drafting behind a dork standing on a motorcycle, the thing is about as useful and logical as tampons on a lizard.
The dude is a douche, so now when I hear the word hipster I think of him, someone always trying too hard to be an asshole. Works for me.
I got a little irate when I started reading this post because many of the cars a Hipster would drive, I would want myself. Here on Hooniverse however I think most of us know the difference between contrived coolness and just being yourself, which may or may not happen to be cool in spite of ourselves. Most of us like our old crappy weird cars because old weird crappy cars make us giddy, not because we are trying to impress another asshole that dresses exactly like us.
I think that's the key difference, a Hoon can tell you about whatever object and what it means to them, while a Hipster (or whatever the herd calls themselves next week) will hide behind some chick catchphrase they heard on youtube. Just like every other fad, they will eventually move on so I'm not going to my panties in a bunch and go back to cleaning oil spots in the driveway..
End rant
I had to source it from [redacted], but at the time of this picture, this man was the pinnacle of hip:
<img src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2010/07/dan_neil_manuals_lucida.jpg" width="500/">
Hipsterdom is always evolving though, so the v necks and girl jeans are all but out. If you google image search hipsters, you'll find plenty of examples.
There is nothing about this photo that does not make me feel like evil Spiderman when he is consumed by hatred….
… so… ANGRY!!!!
This picture is reason number five why I refuse to watch The Car Show.
48:11 http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?pla…
I forgave Dan Neil because of this. (His stance on the Porsche Boxter is still idiotic, but I can't hate him after listening to the above.)
I can't listen to it. A tenth of a penny might go to him. I can't do it man.
I understand. It is however a Public Radio International production. I'm 90% sure that he would have been paid a fixed amount and that any further revenue just goes to running PRI, and not Neil. (However, the popularity of that clip may cause them to bring Dan back on for another segment and pay him again, so your patronage may still be worth a fraction of a penny.)
EXACTLY. When it comes down to Dan Neil, risking a thousandth of a penny is too much.Brief synopsis?
It was a lovely piece about Sir Stirling Moss at 75. A bit of a recount of him taking Jenks for a 10 hour, 7 minute and 48 second jaunt around Italy, and what it was like to drive and ride in the Mercedes SLR. Now this is the part that is going to make you hate Mr. Neil even more. He got to ride shotgun in the #722 SLR for a couple of hot laps with Sir Moss at the helm.
Anyway, it was a lovely, caring treatment of one of our heroes. I thought it hit just the right note, and it softened my opinion of him. Even if he did kick one of my biggest sacred cows in the junk.
I'd never seen him before the Car Show. If I ever met him, I don't think I'd be able to keep myself from kicking him in the junk. I'd have sooner seen him dropped than John Salley.
You clean the oil spots in your driveway? I prefer to drive and/or push each vehicle into a "fresh" area whenever I have to work underneath instead.
And by "clean" of course I mean sit on the couch with a pot of macaroni while surfing Hooniverse.
Now I wish I had a couch.
I just throw a tarp underneath (keeps the sand off of me, too!) and move it afterward.
"Someone always trying too hard to be an asshole" is probably the most accurate description of the common hipster I've ever seen.
I thought riding a fixie was the perfect identifier, but it's six of one, half-a-dozen of the other…
Perhaps this educational video will be of help…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbTI7eWaQbk
I love Glove and Boots!!
I take some offense to this.
I'm not too much of a hipster, but my commuter bike is a fixie and sometimes I act vaguely hipstrish (the clothing, "vintage" everything, etc). I don't like being told that I couldn't tell you why I like riding a fixed-gear bicycle. I do know why I ride fixed – because I like it. It's a drivetrain choice and I don't have to legitimize it to anyone else. (And my weekend bike isn't fixed, anyway.) Nobody I know who rides fixed – and I know very few others who do, even amongst "proper hipsters" – just jumped on the bandwagon. You need to ride a fixie for a few weeks before it makes sense. It's just a nice way of moving your legs while you ride; that's the same as driving manual, for which there is no compelling practical argument anymore. (And I do drive manual.) And I know people who didn't like riding fixed and switched back.
I'm also sick of being told, when I have this conversation with others, "yeah, but you're not really a hipster." The only reason they say that is because they've never spoken to any other "hipsters" – it's just a label we apply to people we want to not like. And because hipsters aren't particularly threatening, nobody is afraid to talk shit about them.
Well, enough of that. Go to a "hipster bar" and talk to some of them for a while. Yes, hipsters can be grating, and yes, there is a certain subset of them that just sucks. But it's hard for me to accept writing off vast swathes of society because they wear thick glasses or plaid shirts. It's not a character-defining principle. It's just a fashion.
jeez look how many parenthetical statements i have in that first paragraph
Well written retort.
If said brother in law were half as well spoken and thoughtful as you, instead of being a lying jerkfaced "I'm cooler than everyone" blowhard that lives in a bottle I *may* have come to a different conclusion on hipsters as a whole. Like I said, I don't know or have contact with anyone who fits the description other than him, and am not sure what the fuss is about other than the jokes I hear. They do all fit the guy.
Thanks for the insight on fixie bikes. The first intelligent description I've heard. They sound interesting in that context, but riding without a brake is not something I am personally willing to do in traffic. However if you like it, screw what anyone else thinks, and I can respect that. My rant was intended to highlight one example of this particular irritating man as an idiot (jumping on the fixie bandwagon) rather than disparaging remarks against bikes. HIS only motivations in life are to feel cool at everyone else's expense and then pass out drunk, wife, young child & family be damned. I have no respect for the guy.
I don't care what or how a person dresses like (I myself usually look like I just came out of a bad 70's movie like Corvette Summer) but grating attitudes of any sort are encouraged to go screw themselves elsewhere. I'm too old and confident in my fat self to suffer fools. That said I usually get along with everyone, but jerks generally hate me. (personal value thing, fuck with those who would fuck with others).
For me it comes down to this: If someone is into things that do not hurt others and being true to themselves – more power to them, I will never cast an Ill word upon them. If they are just trying to play a caricature in life, running amok over others AND being a jackass about it, I rarely let an opportunity to mess with them pass, and neither should you.
There are annoying versions of these so-called "Hipsters" in every group (Bikers, Squids, Marines, Army, Chefs, Cooks, Mormons, Wiccans, Americans, Thai etc), and like you, I take offence at being judged by what I wear, drive or listen to just because a group of jerks happened to be associated with it. But again, it is not the shirt, it is the one who wears it.
/will never give up my aviators
"…driving manual, for which there is no compelling practical argument anymore."
Is it still possible to start today's manually-equipped vehicles by popping the clutch in the event of a weak battery and/or a dead starter? If so, I've found that to be a compelling practical argument from time to time.
<img src="http://www.pbase.com/kraig/image/140706085/medium.jpg">
I'll add some wasabi how about a 510 not the boy racer poor man's 2002 but the wagon or 4 door
The problem is, cool/uncool 60s-70s cars (thinking like 4-door slant-6 Dart) were more of a late '90s to '00s "Indie kid" thing. The "indie kid" was the proto-hipster in much the same way the beatniks were proto-hippies. Sort of the genuinely cool version before it became the default youth culture.
Today's hipsters are more likely to be driving something truly crapironic from the 80s-early 90s. I'm thinking like 1st-2nd gen Chrysler minivan or the aforementioned Previa.
Ford Mavericks are prevalent in the East Bay piloted by hipster doofuses.
I badly want to rescue a poor green Donked Maverick from the East Bay on CL.
Poor car.
Saab 9-2x.
They get all they Euro-hipness of the Saab name (made cooler by said name's recent demise) combined with the boy racer capabilities of a WRX without the Suby ricer stigma.
Plus, it looks really great with a coupla fixies on the bike rack.
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Saab9-2x-ai.jpg" width=500>
Cars from the 60s/70s are so en passé. What a hipster really needs these days is some sleek 80s styling combined with a complete lack of power, much like the hipsters themselves.
http://www.auto-facts.org/images/1984-pontiac-fie…
Saabaru? Really? Fixies on bike racks? No.
Just no. No.
Bike racks on the top of subies and saabarus are for the bike-pants-bike-jersey-helmet-wearing yuppie "I like to pretend I'm Lance Armstrong" crowd. Waaay not cool. These are people who argue about whether you should have bottles in your triangle and your jersey pocket or just wear a camelback. Did I say way not cool? Totally not cool. These people shop at REI and buy titanium martini glasses. And when these people aren't sticking 37½ speed carbon fiber road bikes on their roof racks, they're putting full suspension mountain bikes up there.
Are you crazy?
(For the record, I am one of these people. I'm on the camelback side of the debate. You have no idea how offensive they are to some people. It's truly surprising.)
I should've added the word "hypothetically" in there somewhere.
I do know a hipster knucklehead who drives a Saab 900 "cuz Saabs are, you know, cool." Yeah buddy, what's cool about them? "Well, they're, you know, Swedish and they were, like, a jet company. Oh, and the key's on the floor and the parts are really hard to find and stuff. . . "
I hit him with the above Saabaru argument a while back and he looked sorta thoughtful, like he was maybe considering it.
One for sale near Tahoe. If I had the money I'd be all over this. The big 2.5L turbo and a 5-speed. I shiver when I think about it. http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/2740122029.html
Titanium martini glasses? Really?
Oh, I like Saabarus. They're lovely machines. (I considered saabarus and subies when I was shopping 4x4s and AWD vehicles last year.) Don't get me wrong. Also, I can see a hipster thinking too long about that and liking the 900 for the wrong reasons for the wrong reasons[*].
Also, I may have been exaggerating about the titanium martini glasses just a little bit. (I know I've seen titanium espresso sets, but couldn't find one on REI's website…)
[*] We often like cars for the wrong reasons. I, for instance, would rather have a solid axle over an IRS. But I like to think I feel that way for the right reasons.
Concluding from some of the descriptions of a hipster, this olelongrooffan is pretty sure that I am not, never have been, nor ever will be a hipster…
But if I were, this would be the Pontiac Safari I would Hipster Hoon around, custom bodywork and all…
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6631313595_f3a84999bd.jpg" width="500" height="238" alt="the pick 029">
they even come in the colours of PBR.
[img