Ultimate Tiki Ride and what would you do to it? - General Tiki

G Gigantalope Member Shinola, California Joined: Aug 01, 2004 Posts: 913	G Gigantalope Posted posted on Sun, Aug 8, 2004 4:51 PM I have peroozed old chats where people spoke of their old and future rides...but...What is the ultimate Tiki Car. In about 1994 the whole Art Car Movement boomed to the point of Smithsonian doing pieces on them. Most were garbage...stuff glued on beat up cars...but some were clever and some were glorious. (It think in Houston, San Jose, LA and SF there are still art car shows) Unfortunately...they are not specifically tiki If you could have any car as a daily driver... (Not counting the Flinstone's car) for an extension of your Tiki lifestyle...what would it be? I have the most obvious ones... A Woody, despite actually being horrible (noisy and dangerous in a collision) is swank, but so rare as to be almost unobtainable The PT Cruiser woodys are pedestrian and common, but still...they are cheap for new cars, they start every time and the heater works. Jeeps have the war surplus Donovan's Reef look. Jeep just this year sells a WWII knock off that's olive drab with numbers and white stars. Land Rovers too..the models with the close together lights from the Documentaries we all watched. (Landy enthusiast like the old grills as they pop off and can be used to cook on) Amphi-Car? Those German Karman Ghia looking convertible that actually could go in water..even ocean? That's swank. I've read when they were first made, some guy drove one to Catalina Island, and almost made it before the engine flooded. Most stylish foreign cars like a Hillman or a Citroen are not exactly Tiki, but you sure look like you know your cocktails when you pull up in one. Huge Station Wagon with Fake wood are nice, or even better...the Oldsmobile Vista Cruisers with roof windows. (They just stopped making Oldsmobile's this past month...makes me want one) IH Scouts, Post war Americana, The roofs come off, and they often came with weird theme options (before the SUV craze) They are like jeeps made by a tractor company. Gremlins and Pacers are from the era when Tiki was on the decline, however I think because they were iconoclastic and available about the time most of us were learning to drive, they beckoned to counterculture types. Darts and Lancers (some Ramblers & Studebakers ) were cheap and bullet proof. Also they kinda looked like tropical fish. Checkers are campy and weird...kind of valuable now too. Not Tiki, but of great props...nodoubt the shuttle of many wasailers to and from the best of the best tiki establishments in their day. Myers Manx the inventor of the dune buggy, like the ones Kurt Russell drove in films...VW engine, big chrome headlights? (a million knock offs drove Meyers out of business, but...they just began production again because of demand for retro stuff) They were fast cheap and fun. Great So Cal style and what a way to show off your new Prince Albert. Any thoughts?

I have peroozed old chats where people spoke of their old and future rides...but...What is the ultimate Tiki Car. In about 1994 the whole Art Car Movement boomed to the point of Smithsonian doing pieces on them. Most were garbage...stuff glued on beat up cars...but some were clever and some were glorious. (It think in Houston, San Jose, LA and SF there are still art car shows) Unfortunately...they are not specifically tiki

If you could have any car as a daily driver... (Not counting the Flinstone's car) for an extension of your Tiki lifestyle...what would it be?
I have the most obvious ones...

A Woody, despite actually being horrible (noisy and dangerous in a collision) is swank, but so rare as to be almost unobtainable

The PT Cruiser woodys are pedestrian and common, but still...they are cheap for new cars, they start every time and the heater works.

Jeeps have the war surplus Donovan's Reef look. Jeep just this year sells a WWII knock off that's olive drab with numbers and white stars.

Land Rovers too..the models with the close together lights from the Documentaries we all watched. (Landy enthusiast like the old grills as they pop off and can be used to cook on)

Amphi-Car? Those German Karman Ghia looking convertible that actually could go in water..even ocean? That's swank. I've read when they were first made, some guy drove one to Catalina Island, and almost made it before the engine flooded.

Most stylish foreign cars like a Hillman or a Citroen are not exactly Tiki, but you sure look like you know your cocktails when you pull up in one.
Huge Station Wagon with Fake wood are nice, or even better...the Oldsmobile Vista Cruisers with roof windows. (They just stopped making Oldsmobile's this past month...makes me want one)

IH Scouts, Post war Americana, The roofs come off, and they often came with weird theme options (before the SUV craze) They are like jeeps made by a tractor company.

Gremlins and Pacers are from the era when Tiki was on the decline, however I think because they were iconoclastic and available about the time most of us were learning to drive, they beckoned to counterculture types.

Darts and Lancers (some Ramblers & Studebakers ) were cheap and bullet proof. Also they kinda looked like tropical fish.

Checkers are campy and weird...kind of valuable now too. Not Tiki, but of great props...nodoubt the shuttle of many wasailers to and from the best of the best tiki establishments in their day.

Myers Manx the inventor of the dune buggy, like the ones Kurt Russell drove in films...VW engine, big chrome headlights? (a million knock offs drove Meyers out of business, but...they just began production again because of demand for retro stuff) They were fast cheap and fun. Great So Cal style and what a way to show off your new Prince Albert.

Any thoughts?

Post #107054 by Gigantalope on Sun, Aug 8, 2004 4:51 PM