Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.
THE MAILMAN MAY SOON KNOW MORE THAN YOUR NEIGHBORS
The United States Postal Service is testing a new technology that could turn ordinary mail trucks into rolling surveillance cameras, and it's raising some interesting questions about privacy. According to reporting by 404 Media and MotorBiscuit, the Postal Service launched a pilot program September 21 involving approximately 100 delivery vehicles in the Washington, D.C., area equipped with high-resolution cameras manufactured by Nextbase. The cameras can record video in 4K resolution, clear enough to capture license plates, street signs and other details along delivery routes. USPS says the purpose is to evaluate roadway conditions and improve community safety, and the cameras operate automatically while the vehicles are being driven, shutting off when they enter designated areas around postal facilities. The agency also says privacy safeguards are built into the program, including automatically obscuring postal employees and official insignia. Here's where things get interesting: Although the cameras reportedly aren't currently equipped with automatic license plate recognition software, they're capable of recording the kinds of images such systems use, raising questions about who might eventually have access to the footage. Privacy advocates worry that recordings could someday be shared with law enforcement or code enforcement agencies, although there is no evidence that is currently happening. Postal employees and union representatives reportedly weren't given much advance notice, either, with the union learning about the program after it had already begun. The pilot is expected to continue for several months before USPS decides whether to expand it. I understand wanting safer roads, but we've reached an interesting point when the same person delivering your electric bill might also be recording the cars in your driveway. We've always heard that neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stops the mail. Apparently, privacy concerns might not stop it, either.
CALIFORNIA HAS TREES YOU CAN ACTUALLY DRIVE THROUGH
If you've ever wanted to drive your car straight through a tree without involving your insurance company, California has three places where you can legally do just that. The state's famous drive-through redwoods have been attracting tourists for generations, and some of these enormous trees are still standing with openings large enough for automobiles to pass through. The idea dates back to 1878, when a tunnel was carved into a giant sequoia in Yosemite's Tuolumne Grove to attract visitors. That tree, known as the Dead Giant, eventually closed to vehicle traffic in 1993. Another famous example, the Wawona Tree, was carved in 1881 but fell during a snowy winter in 1969. Today, motorists can still drive through three coastal redwoods in Northern California. There's the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree in Myers Flat, whose opening was created naturally by a lightning strike and fire; the Chandelier Tree in Leggett, with a tunnel carved in 1937; and the Klamath Tour Thru Tree, which was carved in 1976 with care taken to preserve the living portions of the trunk. The Chandelier Tree is particularly impressive, with a tunnel approximately six feet wide and seven feet tall. Of course, modern vehicles have gotten considerably larger since these attractions became popular, and that has created some interesting situations. In 2023, a Nissan Armada driver managed to get the big SUV temporarily stuck while attempting to squeeze through the Shrine Tree, which is estimated to be 2,500 years old. The vehicle eventually made it through, but not without attracting plenty of attention. These roadside attractions remain popular reminders of California's enormous redwoods and the early days of automobile tourism, when simply driving through a tree was considered an adventure worth traveling across the country to experience. I think it's a terrific idea for a family road trip, although I'd recommend checking your vehicle's dimensions before attempting it. After all, explaining to your insurance agent that you hit a 2,500-year-old tree is one thing. Explaining that you hit it from the inside might be a little more complicated.
SEVEN MOVIES THAT PROVE YOUR CAR REALLY COULD BE OUT TO GET YOU
With Halloween approaching, Jalopnik has put together a list of seven horror movies featuring cars and trucks that do considerably worse things than leave you stranded on the side of the road. Leading the list is Christine, the 1983 John Carpenter classic based on Stephen King's novel about a possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury that develops an unhealthy attachment to its teenage owner. Then there's The Car, starring James Brolin and a sinister 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III customized by legendary car builder George Barris. In Wheels of Terror from 1990, a Dodge Charger terrorizes a small Arizona community, although apparently the filmmakers couldn't decide which Charger to use, switching between different model years and even colors during filming. Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, featuring machines that come to life and start killing people, including a semi-truck with a giant Green Goblin face on the front. It was also King's only attempt at directing a movie, and judging by the reviews, perhaps that was enough. Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof from 2007 features Kurt Russell as a stunt driver who uses a specially modified 1970 Chevrolet Nova as a murder weapon. The 2001 thriller Joy Ride stars Paul Walker and features a terrifying truck driver known as Rusty Nail, who doesn't appreciate being the victim of a CB radio prank. Finally, there's Steven Spielberg's 1971 television movie Duel, starring Dennis Weaver as a salesman driving a Plymouth Valiant while being relentlessly pursued by a menacing Peterbilt tanker truck. It's a pretty entertaining collection for car lovers looking for something different to watch this Halloween. Personally, I've spent enough years around automobiles to know they can sometimes seem possessed, especially when the check-engine light comes on two days after the warranty expires. But at least most of them stop short of trying to kill their owners.
THE DRIVE-THRU WINDOW THAT CHANGED HOW AMERICA EATS
Americans love their cars, and apparently we love them even more when we don't have to get out of them to eat. The modern fast-food drive-thru owes much of its popularity to a little hamburger stand that opened in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948. That's when Harry and Esther Snyder founded In-N-Out Burger, introducing a two-way speaker system that allowed customers to order their food without leaving their vehicles. It was a clever idea at a time when carhops were still a familiar sight at roadside restaurants. Instead of waiting for someone to walk out, take an order and carry it back to the kitchen, customers could speak directly to employees and pick up their meals at a window. In-N-Out wasn't the first restaurant to serve motorists through a drive-thru, but its ordering system helped establish the model that would eventually become a fixture of American life. The concept caught on quickly, helped by America's growing love affair with automobiles and the postwar expansion of suburbs and highways.Red's Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri, is widely credited with opening the first drive-thru restaurant in 1947, but In-N-Out's two-way speaker system was the innovation that helped turn the idea into a national phenomenon. By 1951, Jack in the Box had opened in San Diego as a drive-thru-only restaurant, and eventually everybody from McDonald's to banks and pharmacies recognized that Americans liked doing business without leaving their cars. Today, ordering dinner through a speaker is so routine that we barely think about it, although I suspect Harry Snyder would be amazed at the technology involved in modern drive-thrus, where digital menu boards, smartphone apps and multiple ordering lanes have replaced his homemade speaker box. Of course, technology hasn't solved every problem. Nearly 80 years after In-N-Out helped perfect the concept, we still occasionally get home and discover somebody forgot the French fries.