r/pics 23d ago

Politics Tesla owners rebrand their vehicles to distance themselves from Trump

66.7k Upvotes

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735

u/Pudi2000 23d ago

Paint it red and slap a Pontiac Aztec signage.

197

u/MlleHoneyMitten 23d ago

The Aztec is the only car I can think of that got anywhere near as much hate! I looked them up, and honestly they pretty much look like any other compact SUV these days. But I remember thinking they were so stupid looking. The Cybertruck will forever be a disgrace though.

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u/b1200dat 23d ago

The Chrysler PT cruiser is definitely up there too!

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u/PaintshakerBaby 23d ago

My girlfriends parents gifted her a PT Cruiser for graduation. We called it Sir PT Cruise Alot.

We took really good care of it, but the engine randomly siezed at 170k. We had it towed to a chryslet dealership. A mechanic was looking it over and popped in the drivers seat to get the milage.

He said, "no way," and called the other mechanics over. A few came out of the woodwork and proceeded to marvel at the odometer like it was a unicorn.

I said, "I know. Can't believe it blew up before 200k."

One of them looked at me like I was stupid, explaining, "this is legitimately highest milage PT cruiser we have ever seen blow up... Usually, they are around 90-120k when they roll in here."

Here I was thinking we got the shit end of the stick, when I guess we were actually really lucky??

Yay, Chrysler!

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u/GoneinaSecondeded 23d ago

230k on my PT. I loved that car. I always wished they put a small block v6 in it tho. It was pretty underpowered.

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u/not-good_enough 23d ago

And had the turning radius of a freight train

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u/NotARobotDefACyborg 23d ago

Some former friends of mine owned one. Looked like a Prohibition era gangster-mobile, drove like a tank. So much dislike.

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u/GoneinaSecondeded 22d ago

Oh yeah so true! No tight u turns in that thing. But I really liked it.

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u/PoliticalyUnstable 23d ago

Honestly I didn't hate driving a PT after college. My parents got a good deal on one for me. Felt like driving a little truck thing. But agreed that it was underpowered.

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u/kl8xon 22d ago

You have to replace the timing belt every 60k miles on a PT Cruiser, and it's a very involved and expensive job.

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u/ReporterOther2179 23d ago

Wowza, you used the unbowlderized version of the cliche! Much thanks.

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u/ElfegoBaca 23d ago

When the PT came out it was in high demand. It was unique at the time.

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u/SouthLakeWA 23d ago

Yes, my 50-something boss bought a red one immediately. Not long after, when it started becoming popular with a specific female demographic, he said, “it’s a real chick magnet. Not in a good way.”

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u/gsfgf 23d ago

And apparently, the manual version drove well. A buddy test drove one and was ready to buy it until he got out and looked at it again. Instead he got a first gen Mazda 3, and those cars were fucking bulletproof.

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u/1duck 23d ago

Having driven the manual it was a sloppy bag of shit, at least European ones were.

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u/AverageSizeWayne 23d ago

Cybertruck was also high demand. It got over a million preorders. It didn’t deliver what was originally promised.

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u/psychocopter 23d ago

Wasnt it supposed to be like 40k?

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u/AverageSizeWayne 22d ago

Original trims were 40k/50k/70k I believe.

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u/Dark-astral-3909 23d ago

Remember the Scion? They were unique enough to warrant their own bumper sticker line. I saw one that said ‘your boyfriend likes my box’. I thought it was hilarious.

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u/b1200dat 23d ago

I think they will become a cult classic in the near future, if they haven't already.

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u/Vark675 23d ago

There's a funny reddit thread from ages ago asking what tragedy befell them that caused them to inherit their PT Cruisers and I think my favorite part about it is how many of them genuinely inherited them from dead grandmas lol

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u/Goodknight808 23d ago

I always saw that car and expected 30 clowns to get out like at the circus.

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u/newbreedofdrew 23d ago

As a driver of one, I can confirm lol

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u/quaffee 23d ago

Peak Florida Boomer car

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u/Open_Persimmon_6650 23d ago

The Nissan Juke is fucking hideous and yet no one ever talks about it for some reason.

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u/m8remotion 23d ago

No, it was disliked for the styling. But not for it's association with narcissistic Nazis.

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u/just-a-random-accnt 23d ago

Ahead of it's time. GM had some great ideas that never caught on until years later.

The big one was their EV1, killed by big oil

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u/gsfgf 23d ago

And the Aztek had an optional tent attachment, which is super trendy now.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Wish725 23d ago

Just said the same thing to a coworker. The Aztec isn't nearly as ugly looking back considering how similar it looks to a modern compact

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u/ConfidentCamp5248 23d ago

Didn’t Walter white drive that model on breaking bad lol

5

u/Ratbu 23d ago

They gave Walt an Aztek to emphasize how much of a loser he was

Instead he was able to make people like the car

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u/Pavotine 23d ago

Yeah. After I saw that and kinda liked the car, I looked them up and they have a camping attachment as an extra. So cool.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f5/6c/d8/f56cd80d443e9cbd4e8c7a7d3460e665--pontiac-aztek-ray-ray.jpg

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u/matt_minderbinder 23d ago

GM was ahead of the crossover curve and they paid the price for it. The Aztec was an ugly vehicle but no more ugly than some other vehicles out there now. I could've gotten a new one for under cost back in the day and probably stupidly didn't. They were interesting cars.

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u/Hi-Lander 23d ago

Honda Element would like a word

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u/MlleHoneyMitten 22d ago

I have always liked the Element, though I’ve never owned one.

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u/Hi-Lander 22d ago

They’re super practical. My friend had one and it was great for camping and skiing trips. But it’s still ugly as sin

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u/InternetDweller95 23d ago

Well, the Aztek's fatal flaw was that it looked as bad as the Cybertruck is. A guy I know who had one said once you got past it looking like an ass-crack, it was a pretty decent car.

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u/iwuvwatches 23d ago

That's Walt Whites car right?

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u/Ok_Flan4404 23d ago

The Cyberclunk.

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u/NotRolo 23d ago

Tell me you were born after 1975 without saying "Pacer."

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u/Tricky_Leader_2773 23d ago

I was trying to remember the name of that thing. Tha AMC Pacer. George Jetsons Flying Fishbowl. Man that thing was goofy looking. The original cab forward design.

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u/Ice_Burn 23d ago

I'm probably a bit older than you. I remember the Gremlin and the Pacer.

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u/sweetalkersweetalker 23d ago

I remember the PT Cruiser getting hate

2

u/kelticladi 23d ago

I actually sort of liked the Aztec. It's modular design appealed to me. It still looked like an actual vehicle tho. The naziwagon just looks like a kid slapped some cardboard boxes together in their backyard.

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u/Hearing_Loss 23d ago

Breaking Bad saved the Aztec for sure

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u/MlleHoneyMitten 22d ago

It really did give it some street cred though, right?! I love that!

2

u/Tokin420nchokin 23d ago

I got a killer deal a fully loaded one back in the day. My sister owned it, and brother in law went off the road and hit a tree. It really didn't do much damage, but the new windshield was several thousand dollars at the time due to heads up display and a built in antenna. I got the car for a couple thousand dollars from them with real low miles. I drove it about a year and sold it for like 7k. Really solid vehicle with tons of useful features for its day!

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u/DadEoh75 23d ago

This is such a good observation. I remember the hate 20 years ago but strangely you look at it now and so many Small SUVs today have copied that shape. You have to get rid of the hood scoop and slope the back just a touch more but it’s sort of the same.

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u/MlleHoneyMitten 22d ago

If I saw one one the road today, I wouldn’t even notice it. I probably have seen them.

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u/Tribblehappy 23d ago

I remember really liking the aztec but my friends all thought I was nuts. The fact you could get a tent for the back was the coolest thing to me.

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u/lump- 23d ago

The Aztec was ahead of its time and everyone knew it!

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u/deflorist 23d ago

I worked with a woman that had a ugly orange/yellow one. I remember trying to tease out if she got a great deal or something but I think she actually liked it. wild

1

u/zach1396 23d ago

Fiat multipla

1

u/ButtIsItArt 23d ago

I love the Aztec. I really wanted one for the longest time when I was smitten with the idea of going on adventures and car camping.

Now I just do that in my Toyota Corolla, albeit, less comfortably than I would have in the Pontiac.

1

u/Substantial-Stage-82 23d ago

The Aztec held the belt for heavyweight champion of shitty design until the old Cybertrash was released. They are the ugliest vehicles ever.. and as a bonus, they're total pieces of shit.

1

u/Bubbly_Magnesium 23d ago

I had to look it up. Kinda remindes me of a Buick Rendezvous

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u/ChewieBearStare 23d ago

The Aztec and maybe the PT Cruiser.

1

u/Much_Essay_9151 23d ago

I used to detail cars and the quality of the aztecs interior made them a pain to clean. I remember trying so hard to scrub/wipe, you just get to the “good enough” and be done

I detailed cars for a wholesaler, so seen a ton of interiors, the aztek had the cheap fuzzy side of velcro carpet, and this really rough, rubbery, bumpy lizard skin interior. Any scuffs were pretty much permanent and towel fuzzies would grab on everywhere.

1

u/Holiday_Ad_5445 23d ago

I don’t think they’ll last that long.

1

u/Ex-ConK9s 22d ago

Until it’s starring role in Breaking Bad

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u/MlleHoneyMitten 8d ago

Oh, 💯 dude! I loved its resurrection via BB!!! Also, I remember El Caminos being a joke during a period of my childhood. Obviously that was dumb.

0

u/Johnny5ish 23d ago

I disagree with it looking like today's SUVs. Honda toaster Element was pretty rough too.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

The selection bias is strong these days. Ok to graffiti political buses but not teslas and visa versa. But if anyone is surprised that crime goes up when a political party actively dismantles the societal norms and the government at the same time…well they probably didnt get good grades in history class.

1

u/Interesting-Tough640 21d ago

Political busses are totally different from a personal vehicle.

I don’t live in the US but I do have a Tesla, I didn’t get it because I support Elon’s political views, I got it because I have a long commute and the Tesla is incredibly cheap to run compared to a traditional ICE vehicle. If I had earned more money I would have been tempted to get a different brand of vehicle but on the second hand market Tesla are pretty unbeatable regarding value. My car is not in any way an expression of political opinion.

Don’t you see how different this is from driving a bus that is literally promoting a specific ideological narrative? Expression of political opinion is the entire point of the bus.

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u/Reaper_1492 23d ago

Vandalizing someone’s car because of the brand is gross. Would be absolutely irony if these people drawing swastikas on teslas were arrested and charged with a hate crime.

There’s probably nowhere else in the country they’d openly get away with this. Seattle has become a total shit hole.

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u/jprefect 23d ago

It's not just "some brand"

It's the brand of the world's most powerful Nazi.

You can't be that daft as to miss the point entirely.

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u/kingDavid425 23d ago

Yes it is, yet on the r/seattle sub, it’s all bad. You’ll find 100s of people applauding the behavior and encouraging it. It’s insane behavior.

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u/AdjNounNumbers 23d ago

Or paint it green and put Waste Management on the side

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u/adooble22 23d ago

Paint it green and slap a Waste Management logo on it

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u/PhthaloVonLangborste 23d ago

Aztek yellow, not red

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u/longboardchick 23d ago

It’s gotta be the gold one. It must be the gold one.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

😂

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u/SouthLakeWA 23d ago

Or bright yellow

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u/zherico 23d ago

Or "Waste Management"

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u/LuiClikClakClity 23d ago

Darn this is good. I had completely forgotten about the Aztec, my brain eliminated it for self care reasons of course

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u/Ruka_Blue 23d ago

That's an insult to the Aztec

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u/Cultural_39 23d ago

On the money - u got my upvote! I would vote twice if I were a reputincan!

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u/Fiestameister 23d ago

😂😂😂😂 that's just wrong! The Aztec was ugly sure but don't do Pontiac dirty by putting their badge on a cyber truck. Here take my like 😂

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u/odiethethird 23d ago

Shave your head, grow a goatee, quit your job as a high school science teacher to make meth

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u/TheUrgeToSplurg3 23d ago

If it's good enough for Walter white...

1

u/Suspicious-Garbage92 23d ago

Make it a microwave and an oven at the same time

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u/Suspicious-Garbage92 23d ago

Make it a microwave and an oven at the same time

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u/TheLaserGuru 22d ago

Paint it green and slap a "Sanitation" sticker on it.

1

u/A1oso 21d ago

🎵 I see a black door and I want it painted red 🎵

🎵 No colors anywhere, I want it painted red 🎵