What’s the greatest automotive urban legend?

[snopes]

We have to go with the infamous "stealth 200mph drug-dealer Lamborghini." Legend has it, an enterprising drug dealer outfitted a black Lamborghini Diablo with loads of stealth tech including night vision (a la Jackie Chan's Subaru in Cannonball Run) so it could make quick runs up I-95 from Miami to New York in one night, with no lights. Word is, he did exist and was caught thanks to some NY State Troopers and a spotter plane. But, you know, who really does know?

http://jalopnik.com/5855228/whats-th...e-urban-legend

[overyonder]

To me, the biggest lie in there is the "Quick run up I-95". If anyone's ever driven that road, it's darn near impossible to drive much more than the speed limit.

O_Y

[Richard W]

Why have they illustrated it with a picture of a Lamborghini Murcielago?

[DrRocket]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Why have they illustrated it with a picture of a Lamborghini Murcielago?

To most folks, a Lamborghini is a Lamborghini is a Lamborghini....

My vote goes to the 200mpg carburetor that *Insert ebbil car maker of your choice here* has been "sitting on" for years, even though "everyone" knows they have it and it works.

Hint to believers of this myth: (And they are still legion.) If *Insert ebbil car maker of your choice here* introduced a car that got 200mpg, do you think people would buy it?????

Revelation: Don't you think they know that????

[GenYus234]

I thought it was an oil company that bought the magic carb?

My vote for greatest auto UL is that Chevy couldn't sell the Nova in Mexico because Nova means, "It doesn't go" in Spanish.

[Hans Off]

For me, the best summed up in one acronym...

JATO

[DrRocket]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

I thought it was an oil company that bought the magic carb?

In the version I first heard, it was GM. that's why it never made a bit of sense to me.

I could understand Exxon and the like doing though.

[Jay Temple]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

My vote for greatest auto UL is that Chevy couldn't sell the Nova in Mexico because Nova means, "It doesn't go" in Spanish.

That was the first one I thought of. Of course, I thought it was a bad idea to name it after an object that, by definition, has exploded.

Hans: What are you referring to?

[diddy]

Originally Posted by Jay Temple

Hans: What are you referring to?

He is referring to this....

[Ramblin' Dave]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

My vote for greatest auto UL is that Chevy couldn't sell the Nova in Mexico because Nova means, "It doesn't go" in Spanish.

Seconded. That's the only car-related UL I can recall ever hearing repeated as fact, and I've heard it numerous times.

[HelloLlama]

My husband has mentioned that Nova story several times to me. Every time I tell him it's a UL. Normally that info coming from me is enough to keep him from ever repeating a story, but for some reason he forgets this one isn't true and dredges it up again every few years.

[Richard W]

Does the one about the guy setting his Winnebago on cruise control and going into the back to make coffee count as "automotive"? Arguably it's usually a lawsuit-related one. But I've heard that repeated as fact, too.

I think I've heard the JATO one repeated as fact, for that matter - I certainly remember the days when it was circulating in emails as "fact".

(eta)

Originally Posted by DrRocket

To most folks, a Lamborghini is a Lamborghini is a Lamborghini....

Jalopnik seems to be a site about cars, though. You'd have thought they'd know the difference.

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Jalopnik seems to be a site about cars, though. You'd have thought they'd know the difference.

It's a press photo, and it was probably the first one that came up when they searched in their image archives for a Lamborghini. Oddly, I think this is the first time i've heard this particular legend as well. More well known are probably the ones about the vintage Ferrari/Corvette/Bugatti/Etceterini that someone's kid bought just before shipping out to Vietnam and being KIA, and the car's been sitting ever since, and sold it for a hundred dollars. I mean, rare and unusual cars turn up all the time, but they're usually sold somewhere close to market value.

-RB

[smittykins]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

My vote for greatest auto UL is that Chevy couldn't sell the Nova in Mexico because Nova means, "It doesn't go" in Spanish.

That was the one I was most disappointed to find out wasn't true.

[DrRocket]

Another one of my favorites is the warehouse full of factory new Willys-Overland jeeps/Harley messenger bikes/Sherman tanks, coated in cosmoline that's "just been discovered." AND YOU CAN BUY ONE!!!!

My freinds and relatives know I'm a "car guy" and send stuff like this all the time.

Most of the time, I just read it, cluck my tongue and hit the delete icon.

Every once in a while though, for the really outrageous ones, I will set them straight.

Not auto related, but I’d had a conversation recently with an acquaintance about the space program. He later forwarded me the old fable about the “space pen,” you know, the one that insists NASA spent untold million on a pen that would write in space? And the Rooskies??? Why, they used a pencil!!!

I can’t believe that old canard is STILL floating around…..

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by DrRocket

Another one of my favorites is the warehouse full of factory new Willys-Overland jeeps/Harley messenger bikes/Sherman tanks, coated in cosmoline that's "just been discovered." AND YOU CAN BUY ONE!!!!

Funny, a couple of years ago a guy named Mullins, who specializes in old Jeep parts, found a stash of ex-French military Ford flatheads, about to be scrapped. Blocks, rods, and complete engines, all coated in Cosmoline and wrapped in plastic.

A similar tale I've heard is of ex-AMC employees in Wisconsin, who bought all the parts when the Kenosha factory closed down. Reputedly there's a warehouse full of parts, from body panels to complete big block engines. I'm reasonably sure it's not true.

-RB

Anyone remember the hydrosilator?

How about the myth from about 6 years ago that ABS makes cars magically fly off the road?

[Roadhog]

One of the urban leg-ends that I find amazing is the one involving the Toyota hybrids. The legend suggests that the technology was withheld in the west by various car makers (Mercedes Benz, Ford, GM, Chrysler, British Leyland and VW are commonly mentioned). The legend goes on to suggest Toyota somehow got hold of plans, and built a car to see if it worked.
The reality is very diffrent. The basis of Toyota's hybrid technology had its basis in the Budd petrol-mechanical railcars of the 1920's. Similar technology has been used since in railway locomotives. The problem was finding storage batteries that wouldnt make a car overweight. That was solved a couple decades ago, and the hybrid, or petrol-electric road car is now a reality!

[Debunker]

My favorite, because I've heard it so many times, is the one about the wife whose husband left her, and told her to sell his Mercedes/Porsche/Cadillac/etc. and send her the money. So she sold it for $50.

http://www.snopes.com/love/revenge/porsche.asp

[Mad Jay]

My favorite one is the one with the thieves who break into the garage, turn the car around, but don't steal anything.