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The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

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Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#81
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be an excellent point for a headline that says, “This Never-Sold Concept Car Had The Wildest Dashboard You’ve Never Seen.” Obviously, such a truthful headline would get much fewer clicks. The actual headline intentionally wants us to think they’re going to show us the “Wildest” Knight Rider car that people were driving in the 80s. (Maybe they were rare, maybe you were too young to have seen them, but we ha…

Nothing about the headline stated or even implied it was a production vehicle. It literally does say, "You’ve Never Seen" it. I immediately presumed it was a concept car from the headline. If you presumed otherwise, that just might be your unfamiliarity with the subject matter.

Of course a clickbait headline does not literally lie.

A clickbait headline elides, omits key information strategically, deliberately creating a far juicier story in the minds of readers than is justified by the actual post-click article.

Key information like the fact that no one ever bought and drove this car on the road.

I don’t think a headline gets immunity from being called clickbait if it successfully dupes only those people insufficiently familiar with its particular subject matter.

Clickbait gets under the noses of such people by design.

Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#82

Back in the 80s one of my father's summer past times was test driving cars. Once a week or so he would stick me on his lap in our Dodge Horizon and have me work the wheel while he took care of the pedals and gear shift with a Camel in one hand and a bottle of beer (generic) in the other, Uriah Heap or Deep Purple on the 8-track since for what ever reason those were the only cartridges that 8-track would not eat. Reme…

I don't think NHTSA ever approved a yoke steering setup for a production car in the US; but a late-80's Pontiac Bonneville or Mitsubishi Galant would have steering wheels chock full of control buttons, and a dash covered in LEDs like the cockpit of a Gundam.

It may be likely that the wheel in the parent story wasn't factory equipment.

But, the NHTSA doesn't approve designs before they hit the market. For example:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-yoke-steering-wheel-nhtsa-st...

Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#83
post #12

Example of bad UX: controls where your hands already are is great (curse you, idiotic touchscreens) but gear controls for an automatic transmission aren’t used while in motion, so put them elsewhere. Forgivable, as it’s a concept car, so just give people an idea.

The other issue is that once you're turning the wheel more than about 90 degrees your hands are no longer on the controls and at 180 degrees the sides are swapped (and upside down) so it can be disorienting.

Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#84
post #83
post #12

Example of bad UX: controls where your hands already are is great (curse you, idiotic touchscreens) but gear controls for an automatic transmission aren’t used while in motion, so put them elsewhere. Forgivable, as it’s a concept car, so just give people an idea.

The other issue is that once you're turning the wheel more than about 90 degrees your hands are no longer on the controls and at 180 degrees the sides are swapped (and upside down) so it can be disorienting.

Good point!

Though perhaps you shouldn't be manipulating anything and instead concentrating on navigation while the car isn't moving straight? Hmm, perhaps those controls should be disabled when the wheel is (say) 15% from straight?

Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#85
post #38

One of my first cars was a 1986 Oldsmobile Riviera The Riviera was one of my favorite cars, had a touch screen to control most things in the car. Basically the Tesla of 1986. https://www.carscoops.com/2021/10/the-buick-riviera-had-a-to...

For a while I kinda wanted to buy a used Buick Reatta as a project car because it had the same CRT touchscreen technology. It's extremely cool if you're into the 80s retro futuristic vibe.

Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#86
post #75
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oldsmobile at the time (around 1990) had a reputation for being the car of the not-quite-well-to-do middle aged. Cars that were positioned upmarket like the Delta 98 and Cutlass Ciera were very cheaply and poorly built despite having standard features that were high end options on a Chevrolet or Pontiac or were exclusive to Oldsmobile and Buick. Oldsmobile was one of the brands that decided not to participate in the…

Are you sure you're not confusing the 60* V6 family that was around in GM vehicles in the 80s (the 2.8, 3.1, and 3.4 and their predecessor engines) with the Buick 90* V6 (of which the 3800 was a part of and dated back to way before I was born). Otherwise that's pretty fascinating...GM vehicles are always so strange in so far as that the "lower end" marques and lower trim vehicles always seemed to be better designed,…

You're right that I got the two confused. The 3800 Series II was descended from the 1960 aluminum "Fireball" V6 and used a block derived from it's successors, but if I'm remembering correctly was part of the engine family that started in 1978 and was part of GM's downsizing to combat gas prices. The Fireball and 235 used a 90° bank and was 3.8L but with the switch to FWD in 1982 the new LK9 used a 3.0L (I was wrong about the 3.6L displacement, I apologize) 60° layout that grew in displacement until the late 1990s.

Re: The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)

#88
Incas is a weird name. I can't see it other as the plural of Inca, as in that historic people of South America. If such a name is used for a product, it's always singular if the product is singular: e.g. Jeep Cherokee, not Cherokees. A box of chocolates shaped like aboriginal characters could plausibly be Cherokees (issues of offensiveness aside).
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