Going loco, up in Acapulancaster

[Escadrille Ecosse]

12 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Ken Greenley's designed a number of other Ssangyong vehicles, including some SUVs. None is as awful looking as the Rodius. Thankfully.

You do wonder why anyone asked him back

[RedRooster]

He was cheap. 

[mossmonaco]

2 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Ssangyong always made me think of Kaa in the original Disney film Trusst in mee, jusst in mee...

Which is still one of my all time favourite films. In spite of some revisionists trying to manufacutre an issue to put the story onto the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. I digress...

My favourite disney by miles-I expect we are of similatr ages (62)-favourite disney film seems to be related to the age you were when you first saw it. One of my best memories is of seeing Jungle Book on an outdoor cinema at Glastonbury 20 odd years ago in a field full of about 500 festival go-ers (most of them off their heads) at midnight with everyone singing along to every song at max volume.

[PaulAA]

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

He was cheap. 

He wasn't, but he was a good salesman and sold Ssangyong the idea of a 'landyacht':

https://driventowrite.com/2024/04/22/what-on-earth-ssangyong-rodius/

Ex-Head of Automotive Design at one of the world's premier car design colleges, the RCA. What could go wrong..?

[JohnD]

Ugly?  Fugly?  The Ssangyong Rodius?  

That's this:

Undistinguished would be a fairer verdict.

The vehicle that wins the Fugliest Thing on Four Wheels HAS to be the Tesla Cybertruck:

 

I mean - WHAT?  A hundred years of aerodynamic design, thrown away.  And there's worse.

There is a camper version (geddit?)

It's even worse inside - you thought the Allegro's "Quartic" steering wheel was a mad idea?  Look at this- that steering wheel is NOT a lens distortion:

And that interior looks to be  a safety engineer's nightmare - as many hard edges as the outside.

John

[JohnD]

On 8/14/2024 at 1:13 PM, PaulAA said:

John, just stumbled across this fellow traveller:

https://www.thefrenchspartan.com/

According to his Instagram feed, he's touring the UK at this very moment!

Paul

Thank you, Paul!  I've passed that on to my buyer.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

8 hours ago, mossmonaco said:

My favourite disney by miles-I expect we are of similatr ages (62)-favourite disney film seems to be related to the age you were when you first saw it. One of my best memories is of seeing Jungle Book on an outdoor cinema at Glastonbury 20 odd years ago in a field full of about 500 festival go-ers (most of them off their heads) at midnight with everyone singing along to every song at max volume.

Yes indeed, I'm 63. Think I must have seen Jungle Book at the cinema in Aviemore when I was living up there with my Granny after the families were evacuated from Aden.

Before the whole video thing came along I went to see it again in the old Falkirk cinema with my then girlfriend who was also a fan.

I now possess a DVD version .

On the subject of outdoor cinemas the Astra (all RAF station cinemas were called the Astra) in Aden was outdoor. Most memorable film there was Dumbo, mainly because the mums and kids were grenaded as we left at the end.

When we were at RAF Valley one of the sergeants on the station took it on himself to start up a Saturday morning kids programme with cartoons and the old serials like Flash Gordon, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger. And someone selling sweets and ice cream from a tray down at the front. Bloody brilliant.

[mossmonaco]

1 hour ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Yes indeed, I'm 63. Think I must have seen Jungle Book at the cinema in Aviemore when I was living up there with my Granny after the families were evacuated from Aden.

Before the whole video thing came along I went to see it again in the old Falkirk cinema with my then girlfriend who was also a fan.

I now possess a DVD version .

On the subject of outdoor cinemas the Astra (all RAF station cinemas were called the Astra) in Aden was outdoor. Most memorable film there was Dumbo, mainly because the mums and kids were grenaded as we left at the end.

When we were at RAF Valley one of the sergeants on the station took it on himself to start up a Saturday morning kids programme with cartoons and the old serials like Flash Gordon, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger. And someone selling sweets and ice cream from a tray down at the front. Bloody brilliant.

talk about 3 degrees of separation......

I'm not certain, but I almost certainly first saw Jungle book and Jumbo in the Astra at North Luffenham or possibly Gaydon. My cousin Roger Pearse  is 63 and I expect he first saw them in the Astra in Aden.-you were probably in the same class at school! I believe his dad was on the last tour of Aden....and then on the last tour of Akroteri (a pattern?)

My dad managed to avoid the dubious joys of Lossiemouth and Anglesea and his only overseas posting was a year in Gan, so I spent my most of my childhood moving up and down Cambs/Lincs/Norfolk and Biggin Hill, accordingly we never got grenaded, though when I was about 3 (first year of firework safety being a thing) the mess at Cranwell had a big firefork display. All the fireworks were to be kept in a big steel chest and taken out as required to be set off. Someone left the lid open and the first salvo of rockets came down on top of the chest. Apparently hundrerds of pounds (1964 prices) of fireworks went off in 30 seconds, RAF personnel 'hit the deck' whilst wives held the kids up to get a good look.

 

[mossmonaco]

and having seen the quality of you work on that bonnet mold........

 

I wanna be like you-ho-ho!

[andymcp]

My theory on the Cybertruck is that it was born from Elon's warped sense of humour.  Spend millions of dollars producing the worst vehicle possible , just to see if anyone buys one. 

[andymcp]

First saw Top Gun at the Astra at Cosford.  I'm a bit younger (but not much)!

P.S. King Louie rocks...

[Nick Jones]

1 hour ago, andymcp said:

Spend millions of dollars producing the worst vehicle possible , just to see if anyone buys one. 

No risk. ‘Cause ‘Murica….

[JohnD]

If we're Jungle Book reminiscing....

Was no one here a Wolf Cub?    The adult troop leader is "Akela", their second in command , "Baloo" or "Bagheera" or even "Kaa" (!).    I think that today the Scout Movement has de-emphasised the association with Kipling's work, but there are still  Akelas.

By the way, I yield to no one in my admiration for Scouts and Scouting!   Or Cubbing!

John

[Nick Jones]

Oh yeah, very much the Jungle Book theme when I was a Cub Scout in Swaziland in ‘77 ish.

Similar era we used to go to the drive-in cinema in Ezulwini (long gone ) and watch, among the occasional Bond movie, such Disney non-cartoon classics such as “Diamonds on Wheels” and “One of our Dinosaurs is Missing”.  Found the latter on DVD recently. Jeez…. What utter tripe, no wonder the Chinese ambassador left half way through!

Surprisingly Botswana didn’t have a drive-in but did have a “real” cinema in town. A decent one, which even showed the occasional decent film amongst the many,many Bruce Lee type “kick-‘em-ups” that the locals seemed obsessed by. Mind you, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” also went down a storm. I went to that one and it was a most memorable occasion with high levels of audience involvement!

 

[egret]

My eldest is in cubs with Akela (recently promoted from Kaa), and has support from Bagheera.  They thoroughly enjoy there time there.  The ability to develop independence and engage with children outside of their school year are both highlights.

[PaulAA]

2 hours ago, JohnD said:

Was no one here a Wolf Cub?

Me! I seem to remember getting the gold arrow.

Akela and 2IC was Kaa. We met at the village hall in Benllech and I stumbled across a picture of the troupe a while back on t'internet, with the dubious vicar of the time leering over his flock from behind.

The cinema in Benllech was a large bed sheet in the Community Centre, which showed a selection of anodine druid-approved titles, usually far from recent (we had to go across the water to Bangor to see Life of Brian...)

On Saturday mornings, it sometimes showed a selection of 1950s kids' features, which was good for a bit of rowdiness.

However, in 1980 it experienced an aberration and there was one (packed) showing of Vivian Stanshall's brilliant Sir Henry at Rawlinson End. I think it was shut for a while after that...

Paul

[Escadrille Ecosse]

13 hours ago, mossmonaco said:

I'm not certain, but I almost certainly first saw Jungle book and Jumbo in the Astra at North Luffenham or possibly Gaydon. My cousin Roger Pearse  is 63 and I expect he first saw them in the Astra in Aden.-you were probably in the same class at school! I believe his dad was on the last tour of Aden....and then on the last tour of Akroteri (a pattern?)

Blimey! Yes we probably were! Dad was last tour of Aden. Finally shipped out just before the Commandos from HMS Albion.

36 minutes ago, PaulAA said:

Me! I seem to remember getting the gold arrow.

I had a gold arrow too. 

And came across this recently too...

[mossmonaco]

speaking as the ex-leader of Black Six I'm a bit suspicious of those with a White woggle!

[PeteStupps]

On 8/15/2024 at 10:54 AM, RedRooster said:

Imagine a minivan exposed to toxic levels of radiation, and it would probably mutate into something like the Rodius. This giant Korean-built seven seater features a gaping fish-mouth grille and a bizarre roofline that looks like someone built a glassed-in porch on the back of the Jestons' house. There is some Mercedes-Benz DNA buried deep within the Rodius, a legacy of DCX's early 1990s fling with Ssangyong, but no-one's going to want to get close enough to find out.

What a delightfully worded appraisal. I was mercifully ignorant of the Rodius but just googled it and can't help but concur.