The Spinach Roadster

Despite the Depression, the automobile was becoming a popular mode of transportation in the U.S. It was also the era of bold new design for luxury autos, as shown with Bluto's sporty roadster, which Americans saw mostly on the cinema screen.

When the cartoon starts, Popeye's car is a usual American left-hand drive car. Popeye eats spinach and catches up to Bluto (getting Olive back into his car). Popeye then abandons his car to Olive, gets into Bluto's car and starts to beat up Bluto. At this point, when Olive is alone in Popeye's car, it is still a left-hand drive car. Popeye then finishes beating up Bluto and destroys his car (and in the process ends up with Bluto's steering wheel). The cartoon then returns to Olive who is struggling to get control of Popeye's runaway car, but Popeye's car has turned into a right-hand drive car. In her efforts to gain control of Popeye's car, Olive tears the steering wheel out. She hits Popeye (now a pedestrian) with his car, and throws him up and back into his now steering-wheel-less car. Since he still has Bluto's steering wheel, Popeye inserts Bluto's steering wheel as he lands in his car. But in doing so, he inserts it on the right side of his car (again making it a right-hand drive car).

Also available in a computer colorized version.

Featured in The Popeye Show: The Spinach Roadster/Ration fer the Duration/A Job for a Gob (2002)