2005 Chevy SSR

[Doozer]

Is it possible to convert a recent North American vehicle to right-hand drive, for New Zealand use?

Sounds like an emotional problem.
I have driven a right had Land Rover on our American
roads before. After 30 seconds, I really did not feel
awkward sitting on the other side with the steering wheel
what so ever.

-D

[J Tiers]

Is it possible to convert a recent North American vehicle to right-hand drive, for New Zealand use?

Some have RHD models. The Ranger, for instance, is sold allover the world (outside the US as diesel). There is almost certainly an RHD version that would supply parts

But, Doozer is correct.... LHD should be perfectly driveable. There are RHD vehicles in the US, and they do not drive off the side of mountains, or into shop windows.

And, when some countries changed sides, everyone did not have to scrap their vehicles.

[Willy]

Some have RHD models. The Ranger, for instance, is sold allover the world (outside the US as diesel). There is almost certainly an RHD version that would supply parts

But, Doozer is correct.... LHD should be perfectly driveable. There are RHD vehicles in the US, and they do not drive off the side of mountains, or into shop windows.

And, when some countries changed sides, everyone did not have to scrap their vehicles.

You may find this an interesting video, it compares in detail how the European Ranger differs from the US spec version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaq_fgcQUxk

[Mcgyver]

Sounds like an emotional problem.
I have driven a right had Land Rover on our American
roads before. After 30 seconds, I really did not feel
awkward sitting on the other side with the steering wheel
what so ever.

-D

I'd find it an issue when passing.

[The Artful Bodger]

Sounds like an emotional problem.
I have driven a right had Land Rover on our American
roads before. After 30 seconds, I really did not feel
awkward sitting on the other side with the steering wheel
what so ever.

-D

Yeabut how many car park barriers did you have to put your card in in 30 seconds of driving?

[JRouche]

Sounds like an emotional problem.
I have driven a right had Land Rover on our American
roads before. After 30 seconds, I really did not feel
awkward sitting on the other side with the steering wheel
what so ever.

-D

Yeah but, you have that right brain, left brain swap going on so there is that. I'm surprised you don't like the car. The car reeks of Nerd and well.... JR

[rmcphearson]

I saw this in Phoenix last week at a house near Piestowa Peak. I chatted with the owner, age 77. He said the truck is for sale. Rotating the tires is constrained -- the rear wheels are larger than the front wheels. Only about 20,000 were made -- have you seen one in your town?




.

You could fit a gas can it the back, which is necessary to get to the next gas station to refuel both the tank and the can.

[alanganes]

Hm.... The 2019 Ranger was positively cheap. It was not much more expensive than the 2000 S10 I bought new.

At first I thought you might be in Canada, where everything is expensive, but you are not. Dunno. Maybe different definitions of "cheap"? I've seen used cars with high miles for similar cost recently.

Well it was pricey in relation to what I had to spend on a vehicle at the time. I was not in the market for a new off-the-lot vehicle. They were still fairly new back to the market so used ones were few and far between and those around here were selling for stupidly high prices.

Used vehicle prices now are still crazy, particularly for trucks. I did without it for a while and then bought something else.

[The Artful Bodger]

You could fit a gas can it the back, which is necessary to get to the next gas station to refuel both the tank and the can.

I did not realise 'gas stations' were so far apart in your country.

[aostling]

I did not realise 'gas stations' were so far apart in your country.

In the "lower 48" Nevada may hold the record for distance between fuel stops on major routes. Four months ago I drove from Pioche to Ely (108 miles), and I once did Austin to Tonopah (118 miles). If you encounter an oncoming car during the passage one always waves.

In New Zealand the drive from Te Anau to Milford is 118 kim (73 miles), but as you well know there is no petrol at Milford so you have to return on the same tank.

Baldwin Street in Dunedin is the world's steepest street, to the chagrin of San Francisco. I drove up it in 1995, thinking "I'm glad I don't have to go down this street." Guess again -- it is a dead end. I'm glad the brakes on my 1981 Datsun Sunny held.

[Doozer]

Yeabut how many car park barriers did you have to put your card in in 30 seconds of driving?

But you are totally justified for going through the
drive thru window at McDonald's in reverse !

-Doozer

[The Artful Bodger]

In the "lower 48" Nevada may hold the record for distance between fuel stops on major routes. Four months ago I drove from Pioche to Ely (108 miles), and I once did Austin to Tonopah (118 miles). If you encounter an oncoming car during the passage one always waves.

In New Zealand the drive from Te Anau to Milford is 118 kim (73 miles), but as you well know there is no petrol at Milford so you have to return on the same tank.

Baldwin Street in Dunedin is the world's steepest street, to the chagrin of San Francisco. I drove up it in 1995, thinking "I'm glad I don't have to go down this street." Guess again -- it is a dead end. I'm glad the brakes on my 1981 Datsun Sunny held.

I have stopped at places in Australia where they can just look at your car and know what your minimum purchase is!

We were on a night time bus in Australia and when the driver saw approaching headlights he just stopped right on the road as he knew the only apposing traffic was probably another bus going the other direction . Of course that bus stopped too and the drivers grabbed their tucker boxes and changed buses.

In 1970 or so the only night petrol available between Milford and Christchurch was at Cromwell and that was a coin pump requiring buckets of coins for a full tank.

[The Metal Butcher]

I saw one of the yellow ones when they first came out. In yellow I thought it looked good, but you could buy a Camaro for less so I didn’t dig into it. The cap on the bed looks bad, and hides the best feature: the wooden bed.

the HHR (Heritage High Roof) came out the same year - saw a fair number of them on the road and tried one as a rental: decent ride, but not enough power to be fun.

I was ready to jump on the bandwagon and cruify the HHR, which TBH, I never thought they were that ugly. But I looked them up, and they had a turbocharged, manual, panel van, with a bunch of neat SS features. I'd rock that to be honest. Not even a Chevy guy in the slightest, but that would be a neat, fun, practical ride. Like a European VW caddy, but bigger.

For me? It's just a mediocre attempt to cash in on nostalgia by churning out a parts bin special with no special engineering etc. In short, my opinion is "it looks cool, but I have zero interest in owning one". A lot of people felt the same way. I'm sure the original passion behind the project at GM had different plans for it, as they always do until the bean counters stepped in, but what they came out with initially was an over hyped flop in the press, and the sales never materialized. Even when they spiced it up with the Vette engine at the end. I think they would have done Much better if they went all in with the Vette power train right from the beginning, and marketed it as a retro performance truck. I worked at GM when it came out, and it's all people talked about. Mostly with a lot of Boomers, and the general target market. When it finally hit the road the general consensus was "that's it?"

Something I read about the prowler (a car I DO kinda like, but still don't want one), is that a lot of the sales were driven by speculation and collector market. Very few were ever driven, and still the market for them is just that. Whether that is the case with the ssr or not, I don't know, but the muscle car boom of the past 2 decades, was a big driver behind a lot of this fake nostalgia, but IMO they missed the mark on what the market actually wanted.

Now the Solstice was a cool car, and one I really wanted at the time, but I was just a broke college kid then. Maybe in about 10 years when the kids move out and I have some disposable cash I might pick one up to play with (does that sound like a familiar repeating market pattern to anyone......). I do like the mini's too, and almost bought one last year instead of my Fit.

I saw a guy with a Solstice/Sky, and liking small cars, asked if I could see if I fit. I tried 2 different ways, and I could not event. My femur is simply too long, longer than the distance between the dash and the seat. I can drive an NB miata, barely, and sit in an NA, but that was a no go.

Maybe I'll import and swap a Smart roadster someday.

[JRouche]

I was ready to jump on the bandwagon and cruify the HHR, which TBH, I never thought they were that ugly.

Maybe I'll import and swap a Smart roadster someday.

What the heck? I thought I was on the SSR car thread?


I like my oldish cars, no payments. JR

[JRouche]

I saw this in Phoenix last week at a house near Piestowa Peak. I chatted with the owner, age 77. He said the truck is for sale. Rotating the tires is constrained -- the rear wheels are larger than the front wheels. Only about 20,000 were made -- have you seen one in your town?




.

That is a very good example of the best of that modal. Oh, PT Cruiser?? Are you kidding me?

The name they gave it says it all. They called it a PT cruiser for a reason, A market (boomers) at the time. Thats all. JR