watcha said

Take luxury yachts or Rolls Royce's. All builders strive to perpetuate the classic style, not just for the interior design. Some do modern, and it always look fuckin' cheap.

Hey watcha, I can see where you're coming from; the Routemaster is an irreplacable classic design beloved of those who rode on them. Besides hopping on and off them when they were going slowly enough or at traffic lights gave them added versatility and enriched the user experience.
Where I come from, we didn't have the Routemaster itself, but I may be wrong on that, though we had equally beautifully designed buses, trams and trollleybuses with the open rear entry. The bus in the picture is a Leyland Tital L163. I always tried to get one of the four seats in the front row of the upper deck - brilliant view. The trams were fun as well, with the clever idea that when it reached the terminus, the "clippie" as we called them could swivel the backs of the seats to face the opposite direction, and off it went back the way it came.

But I don't agree with you that the new Routemaster looks cheap. In fact, I'm pretty impressed with the design and style. I like the middle door - great for the infirm and wheelchair access - The rear looks nicely designed - they've captured the traditional roundness of the older British buses prety well. The front? I'm kind of lukewarm on that myself, but it's not so shabby after all. And there is the gain in interior space to factor in, though it's a pity to see the loss of the separate driver's cab and the space beside it - that was part of their overall beautiful and distinct design. I suspect the builders will improve on it as time goes on for the Mk 2 version or for other contracts for double deckers with other cities.

You might be shattered with the loss of the Routemaster, but I'll you what pisses me off. To see beautiful old British telephone boxes plonked down in the middle of some garish and ugly French hypermarket or stuck on some street corner, badly painted and not even used as telephone boxes.

Now you're talking tacky!

Sorry. Forgot to add the photo.

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... Dutch's idea definitely has merit and shows good ol' American entrepreneurship. ... but going in halfsies with Lyme is a bit "iffy." Lyme might be prone to squander any profits on buying a hot dog factory instead of tending and upgrading the diner. He's also been somewhat of a recluse since he didn't get his shiny red Schwinn.

I have another idea. ... How about a rolling whorehouse? ... Think of it! You could stay ahead of pending raids, pay no property taxes, and cheap girls would be only a Chunnel away. Touring Germany with a load of french women would make everyone feel like old times. ... Think it over.



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TexanForever wrote:

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... Dutch's idea definitely has merit and shows good ol' American entrepreneurship. ... but going in halfsies with Lyme is a bit "iffy." Lyme might be prone to squander any profits on buying a hot dog factory instead of tending and upgrading the diner. He's also been somewhat of a recluse since he didn't get his shiny red Schwinn.

I have another idea. ... How about a rolling whorehouse? ... Think of it! You could stay ahead of pending raids, pay no property taxes, and cheap girls would be only a Chunnel away. Touring Germany with a load of french women would make everyone feel like old times. ... Think it over.



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Rolling whorehouses already exist, it is called a ... barn.