Cadillac Inner Space Concept: The Autonomous Sex Pod of the Future?

The myth of the Cadillac coffin is one that has haunted pop culture for decades, even popularized in the song Willie the Wimp by blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughn in the mid-1980s. The idea of being buried in a luxury car might seem like a one-off tribute to the ancient Egyptian pharaohs (who were routinely interred with all of their worldly possessions), but the twist in Willie's tale is that it's based on a true story.Willie "Wimp" Stokes Jr., Chicago gangster and over-the-top gambler, was indeed laid six feet under in a bizarre coffin-sized replica of his pimp-mobile (pictured above), which combined the wheels, grille, and trunk from his personal ride with a windshield, dash, and license plate. Willie's corpse was propped up inside this creation to look as though he was driving himself through the gates of Hades.Dig a little deeper and even more exhumed urban legends acquire an unexpected factuality. It seems like car lovers have been bending the rules to be buried in their favorite rides for decades. One of the earliest recorded instances speaks of heiress Sandra Ilene West, a Texan who departed for the afterlife inside her 1964 Ferrari California. Aurora Schuck, another Cadillac fan (although without Willie's links to organized crime) and her 1976 Eldorado convertible were craned into a 24-by-12-foot plot dug specifically to accommodate the Caddy in 1989, followed by George Swanson taking his '84 Corvette to the afterlife six years later, and Lonnie Holloway in his 1976 Pontiac Catalina in 2009.Whither the extreme automotive enthusiast who desires to make a mausoleum of their favorite hunk of metal in the year 2022? As a Boomer-led tide of death pushes cemeteries to the brink of real estate availability, environmental legislation tightens regarding what you can legally put into ground, and social media lies in wait to pounce on anyone who elects to extend their flamboyance into the afterlife, we wanted to know if it was still possible to be buried in your car?Make Room!The answer to that question, it seems, varies significantly depending on where you plan to rest eternally. There's actually no single overarching framework that governs how cemeteries are managed, or how human remains must be disposed of, which means each jurisdiction is on its own to create (or not) a set of regulations regarding burials.The first daunting step in the quest for a car coffin is to secure a cemetery plot of adequate size. Ms. Schuck had the luxury of scooping up roughly 16 plots to combine into one Caddy-sized pit (taking into account the need to build a full concrete foundation and then surround the vehicle with even more cement). Even Swansons' more modestly-sized Corvette required four plots in total (with a layer of concrete poured on top to prevent settling). It can be a struggle in some urban areas to find standard-size side-by-side plots so that spouses can dream together forever, let alone carve out a car-sized slice of terrain, so it definitely helps if you plan on being eternally linked to a Miata rather than an Escalade.Then there's the question of access. The kind of heavy equipment required to dig a sizable hole in the ground needs a fair amount of space to operate, not to mention a pathway to the plot(s) in question, and that's before you take into account the logistics of fitting a car-capable crane onto ground that may or may not be hard enough to accommodate its weight.Of course, you could always opt for home burial, which alleviates many of the above problems (in all but Indiana, Washington D.C., Washington State, and California, where it's not legal). There are roughly 10 states that require you to get a funeral director to move the body to its intended burial spot, but almost everywhere else it's the Wild West when it comes to its transportation and burial/cremation (as long as you take care of it within the 24-48-hour window that precludes the need for embalming, and don't try to cross state lines).Don't Confuse Your Backyard For A DumpEven if burying someone on your own land is nearly 50-state legal, you still have to consider the environmental implications of stuffing a vehicle filled with toxic fluids and forever-plastics under the ground. It turns out the federal government is a bit touchy about what you can dump a shovel of dirt on, regardless of who owns the land.The flip-side of this is that cemeteries themselves aren't exempt from environmental concerns associated with even a traditional burial. Chemicals like formaldehyde (used in embalming), and arsenic (formerly used in embalming) have been leaking into groundwater from graveyards for decades, not to mention the myriad coffin paints, finishes, and metals that are part of a traditional funeral. Even cremation takes its toll on the environment at large.The bottom line? Each state has its own regulations that either modify or complement federal guidelines about waste management, and you'll have to take those into account when deciding how best to manage your auto-tomb's afterlife emissions, regardless of whether you're twisting the arm of a local cemetery manager or simply burying your loved one's motorcade in the backyard. In Pennsylvania, George Swanson's family had the entire drivetrain drained prior to interment, but in more permissive Indiana, Aurora Schuck's Cadillac was actually driven into the grave just before the burial began.Maybe Don't Do It?A final word of advice, should you choose to pilot your precious muscle machine or low-rider on the ferry across the river Styx: try to keep it on the down-low and avoid turning the burial into a show.What are we saying—there's absolutely no way to avoid word getting out about an automotive-adjacent event like this one. Be prepared for the onslaught of social media stars trying to score points as they alternately laud and lament your choice to go all-in on an automotive afterlife, not to mention the endless parade of purists who will roast your decision to deprive the world of one more example of whatever make and model coffin you select.A vehicular funeral isn't for the attention-averse, and while you might be slumbering peacefully on the rich, Corinthian leather of your casket, your loved ones will have to deal with the digital looky-loos and snide commenters haunting their Insta profiles and email inboxes.

The third-generation Ford Everest has made its global debut. If you've never heard of this three-row SUV—and you are scratching your head trying to figure out what it is—that's because it has never been offered in the United States, and it never will be. The Everest is sold in places like Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Lament as you may from the highest mountaintops, but we won't be getting this mighty handsome, muscularly modern seven-seater. Add it to the list of forbidden fruit, alongside the Toyota Land Cruiser—the key difference being that the Land Cruiser was offered here, until recently.The third-generation 2023 Ford Everest is basically a global-market midsize 2023 Ranger pickup clad in SUV skin. Ever wonder what an SUV Ranger would look like? Look at the Everest. Ranger in the front, with a closed-in body (not bed) in the back. Recall that the Ranger's redesign for 2023 gives it a totally different look than the current Ranger, and the Everest adopts these same blocky new design cues. In addition to sharing the upgraded Ford T-6 platform, the Fords share a lot when it comes to the front fascia, including the C-clamp headlights and grille design.The next-gen Ford Everest will be offered with a trio of turbodiesel engines or a gasoline-fed 2.3-liter EcoBoost I-4, with availability depending on the market. The diesel engines include the 3.0-liter Power Stroke V-6 (a variant of what was offered in the F-150), a single-turbo 2.0-liter I-4, and a bi-turbo 2.0-liter I-4. These engines will be mated to six- or ten-speed automatic transmissions. Max towing is an impressive 7,716 pounds. At launch, it'll be available in Sport, Titanium+, and Platinum trims.Ford likens the improved interior of the Ford Everest to a "sanctuary," a quiet place where occupants from all rows can talk to each other without yelling. If that's what the new Ranger is like inside, great, because this Everest seems to share much with that pickup's interior. Like the Ranger, the Everest gets a portrait-oriented 10.1- or 12.0-inch vertical center stack touchscreen equipped with SYNC 4A. This screen displays a 360-degree camera view with a split-view display, making parking or negotiating tight spaces easier. Behind the steering wheel resides an 8.0- or 12.4-inch digital instrument panel, replacing analogue clusters.When it comes to off-road capability, the Everest is exploration ready. Its wider track, longer wheelbase, and tweaks to the damper settings help keep the SUV planted. Although some markets will have an available two-wheel drive offering, the Everest will mostly get one of two four-wheel drive systems (part-time and permanent). The Everest can ford through over 2.5 feet of water, just a few inches less than the Bronco. It has underbody protection, selectable off-road drive modes, a rear locking differential, two front tow hooks, engine bay space for a second battery, and upfitter accessory switches. There's an off-road screen display that shows pertinent vehicle information, a front camera view, predictive overlay guidelines, and more. Owners trying to set up camp in the dark can control the new exterior zone lighting system via the FordPass App.Is it selfish to lust after unobtainable factory vehicles like the Ford Everest and wish their presence in our stateside lineup? No. It would be awesome to have here. So why don't we get the Ford Everest? Because we get the Ford Bronco, which may be considered too similar and (probably) more popular. The Bronco and Everest would be in the same midsize SUV category, creating too much overlap. The Bronco is basically our Ranger-based SUV, meaning the Everest would be...another Ranger-based SUV. However, the Bronco is a beast of its own and is so fundamentally different than the Ranger—different suspension, different body—that one could argue there is room for the Everest, an actual Ranger-looking Ranger-based SUV.Going a step further, there would be utmost demand for an Everest Raptor in the U.S. After all, there is a Ranger Raptor that's already paved the way, and there's a Bronco Raptor. We're happy for the parts of the world that will get the the new SUV, but the real mountaintop high would be news of an Everest to call our own.

Since we've said from the very beginning that a Ford Maverick Tremor just makes sense, we're optimistically convinced that the undisguised special Maverick prototype we see here is indeed a future Maverick Tremor. (Cue the happy clap. We can't wait for special Mavericks to emerge.) Already applied to the F-150, F-250, F-350, and Ranger, the only Ford truck left out is the Maverick, making it the next logical candidate for the Tremor treatment. More than an Active Orange color package—although that's a big visual part for the F-150 especially—the Tremor includes elements like improved shocks, better skid plating, locking rear differential, and more aggressive tires.Tremor'ing a Maverick is low-hanging fruit—specifically, orange fruit. The copious use of orange accents on the grille's crossbar, tow hooks, and wheels has us thinking Tremor all the way—although there's no overt Tremor badge, yet. Why not Timberline? Timberline has been reserved for Ford's SUVs, so it wouldn't really make sense to cross over at this point, especially considering the popularity of the Tremor name across Ford's mid-size, full-size, and HD truck lineup. Plus, the Timberline accents are more of a reddish-orange while these resemble the vibrant orange found on the F-150 Tremor.An orange Lariat badge on the side vent indicates that the Tremor package will be an add-on for at least the Maverick's Lariat trim. It's not impossible for the XLT to get the Tremor option too, making it the same as the Ranger Tremor's availability. (Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum Super Duty trims can get the Tremor Off-Road Package treatment.) As for the F-150 Tremor, it's a little different, acting as a stand-alone trim (rather than an add-on package) that can be optioned with standard, mid, and high equipment groups.The engine option for the Maverick Tremor would have to be the 2.0-liter EcoBoost, as the 2.5-liter Hybrid is front-wheel drive only, an unlikely candidate for the Tremor.It's hard to tell what the paint color is exactly, but it might not be any of the 10 colors offered for 2022. Could this be Avalanche, snagged from the 2022 Ranger (and 2023 F-150)? Notice also that the head lights and tail lights have a smoked tint appearance; could this be coming to the Maverick and specifically the Maverick Tremor? We dig it.As for the suspension, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but we expect more ground clearance (doesn't it look taller?) and more performance. We see no reason why Ford couldn't suspend the Maverick Tremor with some Bronco Sport Badlands HOSS (High-Performance Off-Road Stability Suspension) system bits, considering they share a platform. If we're lucky, the Maverick Tremor might even adopt the upgraded all-wheel-drive system from said Badlands, complete with its torque-vectoring rear differential. A new off-road high-clearance front bumper should improve the approach angle. The tires on the Maverick prototype are Falken Wildpeak A/Ts.Don't hold back, Ford. Don't hold back.