I’ve mentioned my tendency towards pareidolia, where one tends to see faces in inanimate objects, many times before. In fact, I mentioned it in a Cold Start about fitted luggage a few days ago. Well, there’s another related thing that happens to me, a sort of automotive pareidolia, where I see car faces or fascias or front ends or whatever you want to call them in things that are not cars. Like that Target shopping cart up there, which I encountered while getting some stuff with David and Matt while we were doing our Big Desert Shoot.
That molded plastic thing in the cart that lets you put some beverages in there (along with some molded-in warnings that those beverages may, in fact, be hot) and with that strange central grated area all sort of feels like the front end of something rugged and off-road-y, something maybe not exactly Jeep-like, but maybe early Land Cruiser-like.
This is what it evoked for me:
See what I mean? The fictional carmaker that made the Targetcart 2500 SUV I think wants to avoid any legal attention from Jeep, hence the 16-pill-shaped-opening grille.
I think it’s a pretty tough-looking SUV, though. I need new headlight bulbs for it, I think, even if those headlights may be hot.
Anyone see any other car possibilities here? I’d love to hear what this evokes for you!
1950 Cadillac LeMonstre LeMans car
https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/1950-cadillac-le-monstre-comes-out-of-long-term-storage-to-showcase-wing-like-body_6.jpg
It reminds me of some of those off-road screw drive vehicles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw-propelled_vehicle
A Honda Z600 was what first came to mind. But the more I looked the more a 1966 Dodge D-100 crept in, and now I think it’s a D-100.
I see dollar signs where I come home with stuff I probably shouldn’t, and chips.
This is clearly not a car, but a dragonfly.
I think it looks like a Mahindra Roxor. The grille design and round headlights are iconic.
The Roxor was my first thought. Even though the slat design doesn’t quite match, my brain filled in the discrepancy with its own back story of the shopping cart mimicking the Roxor but changing the grill design to avoid a lawsuit like Mahindra had with Jeep.
Jeep? What’s that?
The original Lost in Space Chariot. Or a Sno Cat.
And on this day Jeep sues Target for copyright infringement.
Citroen Mehari!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Citro%C3%ABn_M%C3%A9hari_Nice_IMG_1269.jpg/1280px-Citro%C3%ABn_M%C3%A9hari_Nice_IMG_1269.jpg
That’s even the right color!
The body is also plastic!
That’s a Maruti Gypsy
The remnants of a blueberry muffin in one of the, uh, headlights bring to mind the infamous anecdote about the crew mechanics finding a human finger embedded in the radiator of a Group B rally race car during one race where spectators were especially egregious about crowding the course.
Between that and the multiple fatalities among drivers and navigators it’s small wonder Group B rallying was abolished (apparently much to the relief of many drivers and navigators, quite understandably.)
Appreciation post to Target and their carts with nice cupholders and the “grill” to put your phone, not other store around me do this properly.
That’s a Jeep FC truck.
The angle of the photo set on the drawing gives it a massive underbite. So with those big eyes I’m imaging a pug-like Jeep-ish thing.
A ‘Beverages may be hot’ warning on a shopping cart cup holder? Only in America.
There’s a little bit of Crosley Farm-O-Road or Crofton Bug in there.
It’s clearly a Volvo TP21 Sugga
OG Land Cruiser.
I see a Soviet design. Mount it with the headlights towards the bottom (i.e. upside-down from Jason’s mock-up), stick some turn signals on top, and you’ve got a variant of the Lada Niva.
I also see a UAZ-469 in there.
Agreed. Something like a NVA-L60 is the best I could do.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/NVA_L60_%288102901136%29.jpg
I see a Jimny pretending not to be a Jeep
Suzuki Samurai/Jimny. Either the current model or the early SJ10/SJ30.
Pre-lawsuit Mahindra Roxor. It’s jeep adjacent, but cartoony, so basically a Roxor.
upside down jeep.
“uh oh I maed a lil fucky-wucky pls no bulli” – as it’s laying on its roof.
Now I’m just imagining an upside down anthropomorphized Jeep Wrangler doing the furry pose… That’s going to make the rest of my day extremely uncomfortable every time I see a Wrangler.
I’m seeing a Futuramaesque robot along the lines Bender, Roberto or Calculon but it does have a Jeep Renegade vibe.
Looks like something in the cute-ute category, like its headlights are too big for its widdle face.