Thought experiment: Time travelling car

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Let’s say you equip your new 2016 Toyota Corolla with a flux capacitor and time travel to 1956. What would the Corolla be like compared to cars of the time? Would people think that it looks cool and futuristic, or ugly? If you chopped off the cat, would it run reliably on leaded fuel? How far could it go before it broke down? And most importantly, would it be competitive in a race with the best sports cars of the time?

And also, if you could pick any car to travel to the past with, what would you pick?

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i seem to remember posting a similar question (the 2nd one) a while back

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I think the people in the past will be disappointed because we don’t have flying cars and we’re downzising engines :grin: If we chopped the cat, will need to change the ECU due the sensors in the exhaust and if it breaks down…:skull_crossbones:

I always imagine myself going to the past and pattenting an existing technology and becoming rich xD in this case, I would re-create some of my favourite cars before they were even released.

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Screw that! If you’re gonna apply time travel to a car, use it for racing.

BobLoblaw has crossed the line… And they’re off!

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Why stop there? I say steal a tank and use it for global conquest in the days of old.

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I’ve thought of that before. The thing is, tanks require tons of fuel and maintenance to function. Without an extensive supply chain, they wouldn’t last long stuck in the past :wink:

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How about a Silverado with a chaingun bolted to the roof, and makeshift armor plating?

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from time travelling cars to tanks to chaingun silverado. it’s going down the drain pretty fast…

so pitching in, if i would take a car to the past. i’d probably take something that has been dumbed down to go back to carb, albeit a modern day carb. or something electric. i won’t have to worry TOO much about the fuel and maintenance

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So I guess you could time travel with a Toyota Hilux? Never maintain it and feed it goat piss and it’ll be fine…

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If that,were possible, wouldn’t it also be possible to distort space to allow you to return to a specific point in the time you left originally? You could set up a hidden parts depot or refinery to create fuel, and take the presumably more abundant resources from that time to the future for processing?

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Oh, Time travel’s one of those tough ones to figure out the right way to do things.

First and foremost, the car that should be brought back needs to be something that could somewhat blend in. For those who’ve seen it, Back to the Future shows an excellent problem with time travel in a car: If your car looks too modern for the year you’ve gone back to, it’s not useful.

Second, the year makes a huge difference in what you need, as fuel availability may pose a bigger problem than you originally thought.

Third, assuming we’re doing this type of time travel as a casual thing, not to change the future, but to observe the past, it’s important not to bring anything back that could theoretically give a jump-start to the technology of the time.

Alternatively, if you’re going back in time to change the future, you’d want to bring back things that could right the wrongs of the future, like bringing back a clean-running diesel to show the Detroit Three in the US how to do diesels in the 70’s and 80’s, or bringing back a high-flow three-way catalytic converter in the dark days of forced emissions equipment.

Fourth, you have to keep in mind that any repairs that you need to do to your choice of car has to be able to be done with period-correct materials. So, the best material your car could be made out of is steel, as most cars for the longest time have had a steel construction.

Effectively, the best car for the job would be a car from the era you planned to go to. Though, to do things properly and recommend a car from this time to go back, assuming Alternate Timeline theory (thereby avoiding potential paradoxes from doing this), you go back in a vehicle that could handle just about anything, and will run on commonly available fuels.

My choice would be a diesel-powered pickup truck. Why? Given my location (the USA), we’ve had diesel for a long time, just not used in cars. It’s used in trains and large trucks, as well as in tractors. It’d be a commonly available fuel, free from lead, requires little change of the components in the truck itself after removing the emissions equipment, and being a truck, you know they’re steel body on a steel frame.

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Haha well this topic got pretty interesting :slight_smile:

I was mostly interested in how competitive a modern shitbox would be compared to the best cars in the past, especially in regards to styling, reliability, and performance.

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I wonder how people from the past would react to a bugatti veyron or chiron :laughing:

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And also, if you could pick any car to travel to the past with, what would you pick?

though question
i’ll take the bmw m1
sell it to bmw, get rich

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Styling we can throw out the window: It’s too radical, and it’s been proven time and time again that radical car designs don’t typically sell well.

Reliability depends on the era you ended up in. If your modern shitbox is having to swill down leaded fuel, it’s not gonna last. If you manage to find unleaded fuels, it’ll last a bit longer, but keep in mind that some of those old carburetted cars are still running today. Also consider how many modern shitboxes are in the junkyard from their own mechanical problems.

Performance, however, is where the shitbox might shine. Bring back the right one and you may have a winner down a drag strip or around a road course, depending on location and time. If you ended up in the 50’s, for example, as long as you could do so on one tank, you could outrun any car of the time. Lead in the fuel, though, I’m sure is what would kill a modern car. At the least, you’d have to remove the emissions equipment and reset the computers to run without it.

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Diesel fuel has remained more or less the same over time, correct? So maybe a VW Golf or Passat would be a good choice. Or maybe a Porsche Panamera Diesel :smiley:

Actually, I’d really like to see a Volkswagen XL1 drag race a 50s car.

According to this a 1954 Hudson Hornet (5.0L, 170hp) had a 0-60 time of 12.2 seconds and a top speed of 106mph. The XL1 (0.8L, 74hp) does 0-60 in 11.9 seconds and has a governed top speed of 98mph. Would be pretty interesting!

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Another interesting note: With a range of over 600 miles, the XL1 would be able to finish every NASCAR race without a single pit stop!

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Chrysler Turbine. If you can’t find the correct gasoline you could always pour tequila in the tank.