Broken: Donald Trump Promises Cheap USA-Made Car Soon

[MineralMan]

In a little-noticed comment during a rally yesterday in West Virginia, the President promised that soon there would be a very affordable new automobile available to American workers. Coal-powered, it will cost just under $2000 and financing will be available through a federal loan program.

The President said, "I know what you folks need - an affordable car that burns coal as fuel. That would give everyone a chance to drive a new car, made right here in the good old US of A. It's a car for ordinary working folks like you, and it will depend on a growing supply of coal mined right here in West Virginia. So, we're going to call it the...wait for it: WV FolksWagon. I just thought that up right now! Isn't that tremendous?"

Note to those who struggle with humor: This story is not true. I made it up. It's satire. OK, you can laugh now...

[unblock]

1. maybe he could distribute armbands to his supporters.

and maybe they could have a secret handshake. no, too cheesy -- how about a secret salute?

...

[NightWatcher]

2. Alerting!

Please delete the last line. If someone cannot grasp that this satire, they don't need to be here.


I like their Black Lung Guarantee: If you die from lung cancer before it's paid off, your family gets the vehicle for free, along with a year's supply of chewing tobacco.

[MineralMan]

5. I like your additional idea for this. Brilliant!

However, due to constant requests, I am adding the satire disclaimer to all of my posts that are satirical in nature. I was getting too many complaints from people who missed all the clues I put in my posts to indicate that.

[exboyfil]

3. No more ridiculous than the proposal

to use the Wall to generate solar power for sale. That one was a true suggestion by Trump.

[Sancho]

4. Here you go....

&frags=pl%2Cwn

[dalton99a]

6. Maybe a Lada

[MineralMan]

7. Here's an early test model of the coal-burning car:

[Afromania]

8. I don't know anymore, satire has become reality with this guy and his gaggle of dunderhead momo's.

As for the OP, it's only a matter of time

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. With doors?

[MineralMan]

13. Doors are a popular option. The basic WV Folkswagon

is an open-air auto. Your photo of an early prototype? Where did you get it? This was supposed to be classified TOP SECRET FUBAR.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Cohen had it on his phone. . . . nt

[MineralMan]

19. Aha! Damned Leakers! No Collusion!

[Totally Tunsie]

10. The emissions testing on this could be hilarious.

I wonder if it'll pass RI inspection.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Laugh all you want, but....

Retro Review: Coal-Powered Turbine Engine Oldsmobile

LOL


Published on Jan 6, 2017
In 1982, worried about rising oil prices, GM was toying with the idea of car that ran on coal dust. This 1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 was converted to a turbine engine that burned powered coal. Call it...the COALdsmobile???

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Why would corporate execs waste engineering money on something like this?

Well, for a dollar bet, of course.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Realistically, they exist but not for $2000, at least not new

You could undoubtedly jury-rig one from a used clunker you buy for $600 and put some attachments like these guys

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Use electric power instead

[MineralMan]

16. LOL! I like that one!

Here's a steam-powered coal burner:

[Ferrets are Cool]

18. Wasn't that the Pinto?

We remember how that worked out.

[marble falls]

20. It still sounds about right.

[Jersey Devil]

21. How long will it take such a car to "gestate"?

Can it core a apple?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. GM Once Built These Fascinating Coal-Powered Turbine Cars

GM Once Built These Fascinating Coal-Powered Turbine Cars

David Tracy
1/31/17 5:12pm

What happens when your nation is going through an oil crisis, but you want to keep building big-ass land yachts? You just crush up some of America’s plentiful coal supply, and use that to move the barge down the road, I guess.

Chrysler’s three decade-long turbine program tends to get all the credit, but GM had its own nerdy engineers looking at turbine power as far back as the 1950s. Fast-forward a few decades from then to the second oil crisis in 1979, and the General decided to use that expertise to build alternative-fuel turbines— particularly, ones that ran off powdered coal. ... Two coal-fed turbine cars debuted in the early 1980s, a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado and the 1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 you see in the Motorweek video above.

The way they worked was very interesting. As The New York Times mentions, under the vast hoods of these cars was a coal bin, whose powdery contents had to be “agitated” by what the Christian Science Monitor referred to as “mechanical vibrators.” The New York Times goes on to quote a GM engineer who worked on the project named John Schult, who said a “small conveyor belt delivered the coal [from the bin] to the gasifier,” and that compressed air then “blew the coal from the conveyor into the gasifier.” He went on, saying:

When you stepped on the gas pedal, it actually moved a potentiometer that varied the speed of the coal conveyor belt. More fuel resulted in more power.

....

To get the car started, Schult told The Times, the engine used diesel fuel to commence the combustion process, but once that was done, the turbine engine automatically switched its fuel source to coal, a process that an earlier New York Times article says involved diverting the compressed air to the fuel tank “to keep the coal powder flowing, like a liquid, into the combustion area.” .... In the earlier 1981 article on the topic, the newspaper quotes GM’s vice chariman Howard Kehrl as saying the vehicles would be “products of the next century.” But we’re already in the next century, and coal turbines are nowhere on the radar; clearly, this was a big PR stunt.

[MineralMan]

23. I do remember reading about that.

Proof of concept.

[JDC]

24. Ahh, steam powered cars fueled by beautiful clean coal

I long to remove my driving goggles and have my black soot covered face contrast the white rings around my eyes. My handlebar mustache demands it.

[keithbvadu2]

25. Insert picture of Hitler admiring new concept VW People's Car.

Insert picture of Hitler admiring new concept VW People's Car.

[NutmegYankee]

26. He should fund it through a "strength through joy" loan program.

[vlyons]

27. Oh let me guess its name

I know, it will be called the Folks Wagon

[riversedge]

28. When I saw your headline I immediately thought--Is this like Trumps Junk health Insurance

that he is selling (or will be shortly).



chuckle. good post.