I’ll admit, one of my sources of pride is that I think I’m pretty good at identifying cars when they’re under tarps or car covers or even filthy, moldy bedspreads. As far as personal vanity goes, I suppose this isn’t the worst example, and I’d like to note our own David Tracy can confirm that I once ID’d a Volvo 544 under a tarp in a driveway in a fraction of a second as we whizzed by at 35 mph or so.
But it’s not easy! And just the other day, Autopian contributor Emily Velasco sent me a car-under-cover picture that was satisfyingly challenging. You can see it up above there. We do know the answer, which I’ll have a link for you at the end of the post, but it seems like it’d be more fun to just try and figure it out, right?
I’ll admit, this one did give me some fits before identification; the lower valence with its vents felt like something I’d seen before, but after realizing that there’s a surprising number of cars with vented rear valences, I hadn’t found my answer. Also, it appears that if you’re going to have a louvered or vented rear under-bumper/muffler-area valence, those louvers are more likely to be vertical as opposed to the horizontal ones seen here.
I’d also like to encourage all of you to attempt this raw-dog, with just the automotive visual parts of your brains working hard, and not to use reverse-image search solutions or anything like that, because that just feels more, you know, sporting.
So, what is that thing under that tarp? Give your guesses in the comments, and if you want to see the answer, well, here you go.
These are kinda fun, right? If you like, we can maybe try and do more quick what’s-under-the-tarp posts. Let me know that in the comments, too!
