“My A/C broke and I can’t afford to fix it, could I just put one in the window like I have in the house?” Well, no, I might have tried to explain to this person. For one thing you’d need more electricity than your car battery could generate. “Generate, you say?”

This fictional exchange and the video inspiring it has been filed to “car technology” with a heavy sense of irony.

The funniest part is that this old Mercedes looks pretty well-maintained, and as far as bad ideas go, this actually looks... somewhat well-executed. I mean, the generator appears to be held down with taut straps and the frame made for the window A/C unit looks like it’s cleanly cut to shape.

That said, for the love of all that’s sacred, please don’t cruise around with a running, vibrating gas generator on your roof. This guy is one pothole or panic-stop away from dumping fuel, refrigerant and mechanical parts all over the road. Not to mention putting a nasty dent in the roof of his lovely old S-Class.