Review: Jeff Dunham’s The Cars That Drove Us “Dune Buggy/Wait, That’s Factory?”
Overview (Spoilers Below):
Dune Buggy
A garage-built experiment turns a cultural icon, the Meyers Manx dune buggy, which makes car building accessible to the masses. However, its success unleashes a flood of copycats that nearly wiped out the very garage that started it all.
Wait, That’s Factory?
As people spend more time in cars, drivers crave the comforts of home. Factory options like glove-box cocktail bars promise just that, though not all are created equal. Join Jeff Dunham for a ride through the wacky world of factory options!
Our Take:
One of the final two episodes demonstrated that many of the world’s greatest inventions can come from anywhere. Yes, even a garage from a normal house. One such case is the Meyers Manx dune buggy, invented by Bruce Meyers, which is involved in his quest to beat the Baja run record and has inspired many doppelgänger buggies that ran over his dream. That is, until the praise he received convinced him to continue his work. Additionally, I got a kick out of the fact that the headlights were based on Mickey Mouse’s ears. It’s a good thing Disney didn’t sue Meyers over that design.
In the eighth episode, we see the show take a different approach to representing a vehicle. Instead of highlighting a certain car, the episode takes a step further by exploring a car’s factory options. It shows that a vehicle doesn’t just dazzle with its design, but also with the features it offers that make it worth purchasing. Unsurprisingly, this trend began after the U.S.’s trip to space, which prompted people to invent “futuristic” features for specific vehicles, such as gas heaters and a coffee machine. Personally, I always go with the car that has the best features that benefit my needs, like cup holders, but a glove-box cocktail bar would also be cool, I guess.
With these two episodes, The Cars That Drove Us finished off its final lap without any major car troubles. Initially, I was concerned about not getting into the show since I’m not a massive fan of vehicles. But to my surprise, I started to come around thanks to Dunham’s narration, the show’s documentary style, and the unique cars it features. Sure, the DeLorean and the Batmobile are what caught my attention the most because of their cinematic presence, but they’re also the reasons I was invested in the other vehicles. It may not push any boundaries like Dunham’s stand-up routines, but as the comedian’s first attempt to reach a broader audience, it’s as functional as a working automobile.
