Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Velcro™ Cars

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For many years we've made cars with shiny, painted panels and assumed they'll be used discretely, rather than joining them together.

Inspired by [Voice]'s annotation, I got to thinking about the benefits of bonding cars together.

Velcro™ was itself inspired by the hooks on the burrs of the burdock plant.

So, putting the two together, you could reasonably add a panel of hook material to the front bumper of your car and loop material to the back, to allow you to travel comfortably in close convoys on the freeway; a poor man's version of the Mercedes Benz drive-by-wire systems that have been under development for the last 25 years or so.

To exit the queue, simply decelerate gently and you'll pull free with a massive tearing sound, not unlike a gigantic fart, repeated as you then accelerate away from the vehicle to your rear.

This may well require a major rethink of how we use our motor vehicles.

UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012

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       What was [voice]'s annotation?   

       Details man, details.   

       [Voice] wrote:   

       "Velcro cars?"   

       on my "Get Me Outta Here" idea.
UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012
  

       See, you can never touch the consciousness-stream in the same place twice.   

       Very frustrating.   

       //To exit the queue, simply decelerate//, thereby converting the 2CV behind you into a 1CV.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 13 2012
  

       If you're driving a 2CV then you're either French or an idiot. Either way, it's your fault for refusing to get a real car. Sorry.
UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012
  

       //either French or an idiot// You seem to assume that the two are mutually exclusive.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 13 2012
  

       Not all idiots are French.
UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012
  

       [MB] Yes, [UB] didn't say "French XOR an idiot" which would have implied mutual exclusivity.
hippo, Jun 13 2012
  

       The "either/or" tends to imply XOR...
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 13 2012
  

       I was assuming all Frenchmen who drive 2CVs were idiots and that some idiots were not French. No mutual exclusivity about it.   

       Let's pretend the 2CV was invented by someone French, rather than its Italian designer, Flaminio Bertoni, shall we?   

       There was never an XOR model, but the S model got the 4-speed gearbox, which engineers passed off to Boulanger as an overdrive, rather than a concession to the car's lack of power.
UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012
  

       Ah yes, you're right - I read it without noticing the "either" hidden in there. As an aside, I quite like 2CVs - not to drive, but I just admire the fact that they exist, mostly because nothing about their design is the easy, obvious choice - the bodywork, suspension, engine, silly little windows, leaky roof, etc. Where I grew up there was a family down the road who had two cars - a massive, ancient Rolls Royce, and a Citroën 2CV.
hippo, Jun 13 2012
  

       Put velcro on your car chasing dog and there is a small chance he catch one ?
popbottle, Feb 21 2017
  

       It's only '2CV' in British English, it's '2Resume' on the other side of the pond.   

       In a very oblique way the 2CV may have actually spurred progress in bombing techniques and/or technology. Citroen bought a load of aluminium welding kit, but then decided to make the 2CV's out of steel. Problem was, aluminium welding kit can make/fix fighter planes and bombers, so the Germans bombed the Citroen factory hoping to destroy the kit, then Bomber Command spent the rest of the war bombing the Citroen factory for the same reason.
not_morrison_rm, Feb 22 2017
  

       No, it was because they were french. The aluminium welding story was just a pretext.
8th of 7, Feb 22 2017
  
      
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