As you know, I’m very fond of any automotive cutaway drawings, because I have all kinds of weird automotive packaging fetishes and I just like knowing what’s inside things in general. This particular cutaway drawing, from a 1965 Fiat 1500L brochure, is a strange one, though. Partially because it shows you exactly where the things are that you already knew the location of: the people and their stuff, in exactly the most expected locations, zero surprises; and partially because I think it’s less of a cutaway than it is these people in an invisible car. I’ll reveal how I know, if you’ll indulge me.
First, the simplified outline visual style has been established as representing an invisible thing, graphically. I support this with the only relevant bit of evidence needed:
Yes, Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. How did she read the instruments on that thing? Would she check the fuel levels by looking to the side to see a couple of sloshing oblongs of jet fuel in the sky? Why can’t we see the inner workings of the plane? I guess they’re all invisible. But people can still just see Wonder Woman just sitting there, flying around, so doesn’t that defeat the purpose of invisibility? And is there a bathroom on there?
The other clue that lets me know those five people in the Fiat are in an invisible car instead of being part of a cutaway diagram is that they’re looking right at me. Through what should be the opaque roof of the car, were it visible! They know I’m here, watching them and their funny kelly green hats and bright red dresses and grins and why is it men don’t get to wear colors here and hey the steering wheel isn’t invisible, nor the seats and and and and
They’re still looking at me.
They’re all happily returning from a shopping trip to the Tiny Luggage Store.
There IS an invisible toilet on Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. At least according to Teen Titans Go.
I thought it was all thats left after rust makes its job.
It may very well be invisible but I think all that can safely be inferred from their gaze is that someone at Fiat went to a lot of trouble to affix an invisible roof to a cutaway diagram of a 1500L.
Their big smiles aren’t because of the Fiat. It’s because the group is on their way to a swingers weekend. Hence the extra woman.
Is it customary to supply an extra woman for a swinger’s party? Someone should really publish the rules. Like that time I went to a furry convention and brought my dog…
“Is it customary to supply an extra woman for a swinger’s party?”
According to nature documentaries I may have watched, it is customary for an extra male of the homo sapien species to attend said parties. A requirement is the unattached male be well endowed, again according to the documentaries.
The tiny people, they shine so brightly even the smooth steel of the automobile cannot hide them.
Are the wheels, tail lights and bumpers aftermarket? They don’t appear to be the factory invisible ones.
Clearly (heh, heh) rather than being an invisible car with a number of non-invisible replacement parts (in which case, where did the invisible patch panels and Bondo for the inevitable invisible-rust repair come from?) but rather, Invisible was one of many color choices for the 1500 series. Wheels, tires and bumpers were all painted or chromed as normal, and Invisible was one of multiple interior colors that could be paired with an Invisible exterior.
The hard part, 60 years on, is selling a car with a standard visible-spectrum paint color and an Invisible interior, that the latter isn’t just gutted. Go ahead, take a seat – no, you won’t need a milk crate, it’s actually in excellent original condition…
Some would argue that invisibility is not an act of physics, but rather the propensity of the brain to reject processing images from the eyes that conflict with the brain’s “rational” expectations of what it should see. These expectations are further filtered by beliefs. This process can also cause people to see what isn’t there.
I believe that Fiat 1500s should not exist, therefore, they are invisible to me.
Just the large Fiat 1500L or the smaller type which shared its body with the 1300 as well?
Torch? Are you OK? Do you have the urge to draw cats? Have you been channeling Louis Wain during your weekly seances? Hang in there, man.
https://the8percent.com/aotw-louis-wains-cats/
Are they all looking up at the poparazzi?
Read to the tune of Alice Cooper’s “Can’t Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me.”
Eh, I read “invisible car” the same way They Might Be Giants sing “minimum wage”, complete with following whip crack and shout.
I’m going to dust off that cassette for my kids now. They’ll love it!
More meant the “they’re still looking at me” with the song, but fair enough