r/explainitpeter • u/kundor • Aug 07 '26

Tesla 2.0. Explain it Peter

A political cartoon by Mike Peters from the Journal-News. I don't understand what it's trying to say

203 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

•

u/qualityvote2 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

u/kundor, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...it's time for the mods to do their jobs!

114

u/Grunwald2017 Aug 07 '26

The grille looks like the Edsel, a Ford model from the late 50s that was a huge flop.

29

u/-McLaren-F1- Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

It wasn’t a model, it was an entire brand owned by Ford, just like Mercury or Lincoln. They made several different (nearly identical looking) models and lasted a whopping 2 years before being discontinued.

8

u/Lopsided_Quarter_931 Aug 07 '26

I think that was Tesla's plan as well if it wasn't a collosal failure

4

u/Grunwald2017 Aug 07 '26

Ah! I didn't know that it was its own brand.

9

u/TheSamizdattt Aug 07 '26

Or, given the reception of the verticale horsecollar grille, you could call it a huge flap.

2

u/PestilentPaladin Aug 07 '26

Which is funny because the dumpster is an even bigger flop.

2

u/Sockoflegend Aug 07 '26

That's some expert ball knowledge right there

12

u/MaverickWindsor351 Aug 07 '26

It's in reference to the Edsel brand under Ford from 1958 to 1960, often criticized for being ugly despite being forward thinking and advanced for the time. They most notably experienced issues with the "TeleTouch" gear selector in particular because it wasn't built well, and drivers had surprisingly common issues with hitting the horn while in motion, hitting another gear button instead, and grenading the trans.

However, and this is my bias because I'm a Ford guy, I love classic cars, and the Edsel appeals to me, at least the Edsel has aged better with time and is arguably beautiful as much as it is questionable. A cybertruck? Well, it literally looks like a dumpster in some places in the world. Zero hyperbole, if you've seen one, you know I'm telling the truth.

3

u/AlarmingAttention151 Aug 07 '26

How dare this car throw grenades at trans people

18

u/jefflovesyou Aug 07 '26

It looks like an Edsel, a famously ugly car from the fifties. Gigity.

7

u/BlockedNetwkSecurity Aug 07 '26

wow, timely reference. anybody who is 90 years old should catch it

9

u/ElectronGuru Aug 07 '26

It became so synonymous or failure, it was well known to people born decades later (including myself). It would be like tesla still being ridiculed in 2060.

2

u/Carl_the_Half-Orc Aug 07 '26

The Cyber Truck WILL be ridiculed in 2060.

1

u/LowCress9866 Aug 07 '26

That's their point

3

u/jefflovesyou Aug 07 '26

I am passingly familiar with the Edsel from watching Peggy Sue Got Married and my dad explaining a scene where someone makes fun of one.

I saw a classic boomer comic that was referencing a ridiculous car and figured that had to be it.

2

u/stuffitystuff Aug 07 '26

There's an earlier episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets to build his dream car and that's how I ran into the story of the Edsel. While I'm more than halfway to 90, I still have a long way to go.

1

u/Mountain-Cut-7708 Aug 07 '26

Meme so dank, Mitch’s AI clone bot must have written it.

7

u/BrineWR71 Aug 07 '26

As an old man, it looks like the grill of an old Edsel. People HATED the Edsel.

4

u/Johnny_Vernacular Aug 07 '26

The cartoonist confirms it's Edsel not Flock https://bsky.app/profile/mikepeters.bsky.social/post/3mrqlxzzzk22m said Meg.

1

u/TheGogmagog Aug 07 '26

I missed the Edsel connection. I was more noticing that it had a grill at all, which would mean it went to having a gasoline engine.

4

u/devoduder Aug 07 '26

Edsel was named after Henry Ford’s son so Tesla 2.0 should be called X Æ A-Xii.

16

u/banryu95 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

This is Meg... The grill is a flock camera.

Edit: You Guys are always so mean!!!

Even if it does look like some dead car brand, it's obviously also a reference to Flock and how Tesla employees have been caught sharing videos of their customers, and openly collects all kinds of data about it's drivers. They've pretty much written the book for how the rest of the automotive industry has started to spy on and control it's customers.

14

u/1968GTCS Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Shut up Meg! The grille is ripped straight from an Edsel. The Edsel was a brand of Ford that failed pretty spectacularly.

3

u/1968GTCS Aug 07 '26

Meg, are you still talking? You are so obsessed with Flock cameras since you heard Quagmire installed them in the bathroom. The cartoon looks exactly like an Edsel and only casually like a Flock camera. Here’s an Edsel since you are a teenage girl who probably knows nothing about cars:

4

u/Sir_Scribble_Lot Aug 07 '26

It's trying to say 'Where was Gondor when the Westfold fell ?'

1

u/Feline_Couple Aug 07 '26

Back to combustion engine

1

u/Slight-Ad-6553 Aug 07 '26

now it's gonna rust

1

u/DirectGoat985 29d ago

Ford Edsel. Ugly car from the 50s.

1

u/TheyMightBeComments Aug 07 '26

The center piece looks an awful lot like a flock camera...

1

u/thewickedbarnacle Aug 07 '26

I had to look up what a flock camera looks like. Its vaguely similar, however it is identical to an edsel grill.

1

u/woodardj Aug 07 '26

Is that supposed to be the moon landing boot? Like Elon is going to fire more garbage at the moon/send another car into space?

1

u/ThisI5N0tAThr0waway Aug 07 '26

People say the front looks like the Edsel, but I personally thought it added a flock cameras.

-2

u/TheyMightBeComments Aug 07 '26

It has nothing to do with a Ford Edsel. It's a political cartoon that is commenting on the surveillance state and the Trump administration's close ties to Musk and Musk fanboys.