Build the Titanic!

[Simon_Jester]

Whether it was a torpedo or a mine is irrelevant; *something* exploded and the ship sank due to failure of compartmentalization, in turn due to failure to close certain doors and damage to doors in the explosion.

[Sea Skimmer]

The mere fact someone still brings up the torpedo canard about HMHS Britannic is possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've seen on this board... Which is saying a lot. I thought this had been definitely settled in, oh, about 1920?

By any rational standard it was. Its now been a full decade since the mine field itself was found on the seafloor too.

[Irbis]

I don't know about the modern Benzes but as far as the ones made pre 90's you couldn't be more wrong. Those things were absolutely the best made cars in the world and with a modicum of maintenance could easily last decades, particularly the diesels.

You're looking at them with rose tinted glasses. Benz from that era was rugged, yes, today it's nothing great. Better cars of other German makers do indeed beat average Benz, there is nothing special in them you can't get in say VW Phaeton for similar or smaller price. Except, as stated, marketing.

[atg]

Excuse me while I gush over these beautiful and unequalled lines..

Didn't they have to later raise the height of the stacks on that because the smoke was causing issues for the passengers? Aside from the height of the stacks its exterior looks much the same as any other liner of its time to me

[Thanas]

Excuse me while I gush over these beautiful and unequalled lines..

Didn't they have to later raise the height of the stacks on that because the smoke was causing issues for the passengers? Aside from the height of the stacks its exterior looks much the same as any other liner of its time to me

That picture is after the stacks had already been raised. That operation was complete in 1930, the picture is in 1931.

I think one has to really see a model of the ship to appreciate the flow of the overall design. I have collected a lot of pics from every liner of the period but none of them match the beauty of her.

[aieeegrunt]

Modern Benzes are absolute pieces of shit. Their current model (at least for the lower-end cars) seems to be make them as cheap as possible, sell them as cheap as possible, then make the difference in repairs and maintenance as the cars basically fall apart around you over the next few years. If you want a kraut luxury car of the same class, get a Beamer. They seem to have gotten over the early computer glitches that led to things like the car shutting down and refusing to start while speeding down the highway (actually happened to a family friend in the early 2000s).

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

This makes me a sad Panda. The ones built in the 70's and early 80's were probably the best built cars in the world at the time, which is why a surprising number of them are still on the road. The "mass die off" of that era is finally starting to happen and appreciable numbers are entering the pick and pull junk yards, which will extend the life of the ones still on the road.

Every time I'm scavanging the vast majority of the dead ones I see were killed by sheer stupidity. Like a virtully spotless one with a busted motor that had a trunk full of empty starting fluid cans, somebody should be groin kicked into orbit for that. Somebody had already gotten to the manual climate control before me though, god I hate auto climate control.

[Flagg]

Modern Benzes are absolute pieces of shit. Their current model (at least for the lower-end cars) seems to be make them as cheap as possible, sell them as cheap as possible, then make the difference in repairs and maintenance as the cars basically fall apart around you over the next few years. If you want a kraut luxury car of the same class, get a Beamer. They seem to have gotten over the early computer glitches that led to things like the car shutting down and refusing to start while speeding down the highway (actually happened to a family friend in the early 2000s).

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

This makes me a sad Panda. The ones built in the 70's and early 80's were probably the best built cars in the world at the time, which is why a surprising number of them are still on the road. The "mass die off" of that era is finally starting to happen and appreciable numbers are entering the pick and pull junk yards, which will extend the life of the ones still on the road.

Every time I'm scavanging the vast majority of the dead ones I see were killed by sheer stupidity. Like a virtully spotless one with a busted motor that had a trunk full of empty starting fluid cans, somebody should be groin kicked into orbit for that. Somebody had already gotten to the manual climate control before me though, god I hate auto climate control.

Dude I don't know that you want to take car advice from someone who used the term "kraut luxury car" in their recommendation of what to buy and what not to buy.

[Thanas]

Based on anecdotal family evidence, my uncle's S-class has run smoothly since 2002 without any problem.

[fgalkin]

Modern Benzes are absolute pieces of shit. Their current model (at least for the lower-end cars) seems to be make them as cheap as possible, sell them as cheap as possible, then make the difference in repairs and maintenance as the cars basically fall apart around you over the next few years. If you want a kraut luxury car of the same class, get a Beamer. They seem to have gotten over the early computer glitches that led to things like the car shutting down and refusing to start while speeding down the highway (actually happened to a family friend in the early 2000s).

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

This makes me a sad Panda. The ones built in the 70's and early 80's were probably the best built cars in the world at the time, which is why a surprising number of them are still on the road. The "mass die off" of that era is finally starting to happen and appreciable numbers are entering the pick and pull junk yards, which will extend the life of the ones still on the road.

Every time I'm scavanging the vast majority of the dead ones I see were killed by sheer stupidity. Like a virtully spotless one with a busted motor that had a trunk full of empty starting fluid cans, somebody should be groin kicked into orbit for that. Somebody had already gotten to the manual climate control before me though, god I hate auto climate control.

Dude I don't know that you want to take car advice from someone who used the term "kraut luxury car" in their recommendation of what to buy and what not to buy.

Why not? My immediate branch of the family have been devoted Benz followers for over a decade now, leasing a new E-classes every two years or so. Thus, I have first hand experience of Benz becoming worse with each subsequent update. I have similar experiences with Beamers improving. What are your qualifications, exactly?

Based on anecdotal family evidence, my uncle's S-class has run smoothly since 2002 without any problem.

See above. A 2002 S-Class is very different beast from a 2012 S-Class, much less an E-class and below. Generally, anything in their lineup below $100k is no longer worth buying and will be falling apart by the end of the lease period. I shudder to think what the under-$30K CLA will be like.

This was not the case even five years ago, but now they seem firmly committed to scooping up the lower edges of the luxury market and so let quality suffer accordingly.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[fgalkin]

Ghetto Edit:

As an example, here is an anecdote. Last year, my father suffered a little accident when his 2010 E350 was sideswiped by a truck. The truck's footrest was dragged along the car's side. The truck suffered no damage whatsoever (literally, not a scratch!). The damage to the Benz was below:




Because the car's body is mostly hollow, with only a few centimeters of whatever alloy they're using, it was opened like a tin can, leading to almost $2000 in repairs. The body is extremely fragile. If you kick it, it will dent. I've dented a Benz car door from gently opening it into a fence. If you ride over a large enough pothole, you will knock the wheels out of alignment, etc.

Add to that things like random equipment failure and you have one spectacularly shitty automobile. And that's just only one example out of many.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Thanas]

I don't think using lightweight design is a bad thing per se.

[LaCroix]

A quick anectode by someone I know who works in a BMW Motor plant - they occasionally have a full run of motors which all need additional sealing compounds so they don't leak that badly. He predicts a lot of gaskets to be blown in a couple of years.

[aieeegrunt]

Why not? My immediate branch of the family have been devoted Benz followers for over a decade now, leasing a new E-classes every two years or so. Thus, I have first hand experience of Benz becoming worse with each subsequent update. I have similar experiences with Beamers improving. What are your qualifications, exactly?

I'm the third generation of Benz owners in my family, but they've all been pre 1980 models. Some of the benz forums I hang out on the guys that own the older generations of Benz's are constantly derping at the newer models for being shit but I don't know how much of that is just the usual forum bs and posturing.

Ghetto Edit:

Because the car's body is mostly hollow, with only a few centimeters of whatever alloy they're using, it was opened like a tin can, leading to almost $2000 in repairs. The body is extremely fragile. If you kick it, it will dent. I've dented a Benz car door from gently opening it into a fence. If you ride over a large enough pothole, you will knock the wheels out of alignment, etc.

Add to that things like random equipment failure and you have one spectacularly shitty automobile. And that's just only one example out of many.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Jesus. I was pulling out of my driveway one day in a 79 300 and my neighbour across the street with Altzheimers decided to floor it out of her driveway planting the nose of her buick across my rear driver side wheel arch hard enough to shove my rear end around. Dented the rear driver's side door, wheel arch and fender. Old lady's idiot children took the plates off the car but left it in her driveway and left the car keys in the house. Fucking retards are lucky that wasn't a kid on a bike, and boy did I let them know it.

My dad and I looked at each other, shrugged, bent the sheet metal back out, and I drove it for several years afterwards. You couldn't even tell from inside that it had been hit. The fracking power window in that door still worked. You can't dent one of those old tanks by kicking it unless you've got steel toes on, or you're willing to break your foot. I love the "don't give a fuck" factor of knowing that if some asshole in a parking lot opens his door into it his car will lose. I also love having actual bumpers on my car, I've made a couple F150 asshats back down from trying to muscle me out of my turn in line at a gas station or whatever. Go ahead, hit me. I'll have a scratch on my bumper to buff out and you'll have a thousand dollar+ body panel to deal with. Big truck, tiny dick.

It's also nice knowing with that thick metal that if I have to patch a rust hole or whatever I can just grind the sucker down and backyard weld a patch, which is exactly what is going to happen as soon as the weather clears up. Getting that factory undercoating off first is annoying though. The rear wheel drive is glorious too. I found an empty parking lot this winter and introduced my daughter to the glory of fishtails and donuts.

[mr friendly guy]

Just for interest, Clive Palmer is also building a giant dinosaur park filled with animatronics, and it looks like it will open soon.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/no-t ... 6598919235

THE world's biggest dinosaur park, dubbed Palmersauria, will roar to life sooner than expected on the Sunshine Coast.
The dream of eccentric mining billionaire Clive Palmer, the attraction is coming together in the grounds of the Palmer Coolum Resort.
It features more than 150 replica animatronic prehistoric creatures, imported from China.
Resort general manager Bill Schoch said while an official name had not been settled on, there was little doubt "Palmer" would be in the title, building on a brand that already included Palmer Resort, Palmer Golf, Palmer Grill and Palmer Motorama vintage car museum.

[Jade Falcon]

Like many of the others here I prefer the aesthetics of the older luxury liners like the Aquitania, the Queen Mary even up to the SS United States and the SS France. I'm not a fan of the looks of the floating Tenement buildings of today, but saying that, I think using the name Titanic is a bit tacky.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Now that I think about it more, a Mauritania II would have been better. Neither Titanic or Lusitania, and thinking on it, I like the looks of the Lusitania class more