Lockdown learning: a thread about car-themed USB memory sticks. I’ve been dusting down some of the dozens of USBs that were in vogue over the past two decades. My first was bought on assignment for @CARmagazine in Detroit in 2017: 128MB for around $30, by memory

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Pretty quickly, data capacities ballooned - and USB memory sticks fast became the default mechanism by which press kits were distributed to the media by car manufacturers at events. Items like this 2GB Ford stick proliferated...
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But then car brands got inventive. One of my favourites was this cool #Porsche USB modelled on a 911 key. Great fun - I wonder how many recipients faked Porsche ownership in a bar/on a date etc?
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Volkswagen’s micro-targeted Yorkshire e-Up memory stick was popular in Leeds (or possibly not)
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Then they discovered you could do USBs in the shape of cars. This cute #Volkswagen Beetle stick was millennium Bug-free...
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Which is more than can be said for this rather forlorn-looking #Ford Focus USB. The control-blade rear axle has fallen off...
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Jeep branched out with this wooden USB stick. Barking mad etc
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BMW played the sensible business card with these credit card style USBs, which could just about fit in your wallet
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While crazy Michelin obviously produced Bibendum shaped USBs for their press kits. They had great crash protection
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And the Koreans came up with leather keyrings, in the hope that journalists would attach their house keys to the spec pack for the latest Tucson...
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And in a sign of the problem with miniaturisation, Bosch shrunk the memory stick to the size of a thumbnail. Tellingly, USBs soon disappeared from view, as press kits migrated to the cloud.

Anyone else got any unusual car-themed USB sticks? 🤔
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You can follow @TimPollardCars.
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