By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
I agree with this statement, overall, of course. But I will say back then you didn't get catastrophic stuff going wrong, like faulty steering, electronically-controlled this-and-that, transmissions didn't cost $4K, etc. etc. etc.
But what I think we've largely lost since then, is personality in cars.
'Til probably the mid'80's, at least at GM, you could custom-tailor a car so you'd never see an exact duplicate. Now you see exact duplicates sitting next to each other on the new car lot--with identical price stickers. I used to be so excited to see the new models each fall. Now, I hardly give a s**t!
Back in our town, a '65 Caprice was a rare bird. It came out in Dec. '64 if I remember correctly, and was an option package on only the Impala Sport Sedan. In '66 it also was available in Coupe and Estate Wagon variants, but I always thought the '65 Chevy styling was just beautiful from every angle, and the '66, although very similar, was 'screwed up' in the details!
http://aftermarketbusiness.search-autoparts.com/aftermarketbusiness/article/arti- cleDetail.jsp?id=683238&sk=973a7b5ee809dbb4263dee2931fc8e60
Yeah, I think it's a bit of a mixed bag. One one hand, cars require less maintenance these days, and don't break down like they used to. But, I think it's more economically feasible to nurse an older car along, than a new one. The transmission in my uncle's '97 Silverado costs about 3x more to rebuild than the one in my '85, and I'm sure that 6-speed thing they use nowadays is worse still.
And then, you have stuff on modern cars that didn't even exist back in the day. Now, you can have electronic systems and sensors and such fail, cripple the car to the tune of several thousand bucks, where back in the day it was like change the ballast resistor and you're good to go!
It's less criminal than the whole company going under.
The UAW high salaries and benes helped make the US makes less competitive. The UAW worked to feather their caps at the expense of a lot of other workers. Of course that was unsustainable.
I remember in the same town at the same time, another guy was selling a very sharp 58 Olds, I guess a top of the line model, as it had air suspension. Completely original stock car down to ancient bias ply wide whites. I think he was asking around 10K for it back around 1995-96 or so...and I know it sold, but I don't know what it brought.
Surely the personality has faded, in trim/color choices and design in general, I blame computers and sycophantic design schools where everyone thinks the same. And when when something questionable but different comes out, like a Cube/Soul/Scion etc, people go nuts just to have something different.
Considering EPA, and NHTSA rules, lean manufacturing, along with management and board of directors that have their heads squarely up their collective (well you know). You end up with cars that aren't very imaginative.
You've got 6 figures to get something remotely interesting.
Trucks are still very customizable. I don't know how many different configs and F-150 has but the options and configuration list is long. I think the f150 has 5 different trim levels, a few different bed lenghts and styles, single cab, super cab, and super crew cab etc. Maybe that's partly why they're so expensive. It has to be a very complicated manufacturing process to efficiently build that many combinations.
Yeah, cars are more expensive to repair, but I haven't had a car leave me stranded in probably 13 years and I've probably driven 200k+ miles since then.
Me, neither! I'm a fan of their fastback coupes ('Sport Coupe') of that era. I really didn't like the formal Caprice/Impala Custom rooflines until '71, when IMO the Sport Coupe roof looked too small for the rest of the Chevy's body.
I thought the formal roofline looked a bit odd at first and preferred the slicker fastback, in '65-66 at least, but then for '67-68, I think the fastback was just TOO extreme. Although I think I still prefer it to the formal roof.
For '69-70, I think they got the regular roofline at just the right balance...not too rakish, not too upright.
In '71-73, I agree, the Impala Custom coupe looks better than the Sport coupe. I like the larger quarter window, and the Dart-like, concave rear window. I think they all looked good in that timeframe, though.
For 1974, the Sport coupe got a C-pillar that looked kind of like the '71-73 Custom coupe, but was clunkier. And it lost the concave rear window. The Custom Coupe, and Caprice, went to a stationary window style with a long, skinny window that wasn't as tall as the door window, and the result made it look like two different cars were grafted together at the B-pillar.
You could still get the "true hardtop" Sport coupe in 1975, but I think most buyers went for the fixed-window Custom. I always thought it was odd that the car with roll-down rear windows was cheaper than the car with stationary rear windows!
I always liked that 2-door hardtop style that the '74-76 LeSabre, Catalina, Delta 88, and '74 Bonneville used. It was sort of a combination of a true hardtop and the "Colonade" roofline of the '73- era intermediates. You still got a small, roll-down window, but then had a longer, skinny, stationary window behind it.
here's a '75 LeSabre coupe. This roofline might look clunky to a lot of people, but I think it's pretty neat looking. Plus, it probably gave the cars good visibility and an open, airy feel.
Heck, I remember Ziebart and Rusty Jones.
"Hello Rusty Jones! Good-bye rusty cars!"
It was just a 4-door sedan, and I think dark green. I never did get a chance to see it though, just knew what my neighbor told me. It would've been a neat car, but I'm still glad I held off. Who knows...if I had bought that Buick, I might never have gotten the DeSoto.
LOL, I had completely forgotten about ole Rusty Jones
Sometimes, I feel like my neighborhood must be the land that time forgot, when I see these old relics still sitting around in driveways. Oh well, I guess I live in the right neighborhood! :P
And, this is only about 1/4 mile from the house that has the '79 Buick I was interested in which, unfortunately, turned out to be a Skylark. :sick:
What killed the Torino was some drunk knucklehead who owned a local deli in a 1972 Pontiac LeMans. I remember walking to the car Sunday morning to go to church and my Dad says, "Why is my car parked so crooked?" He goes around to the other side and I hear, "...oh no...OH NO!!!" The left rear corner was plowed into up to the rear window. Later on, my Dad got a call from the guy who hit his car. The guy told my Dad, "Why did you park it so far out into the street?" My Dad responded with profanity that would make Tony Soprano blush.
That '75 car is another I give a "disco" moniker too, that roofline is so 70s to me, along with its sedan counterparts that had the rear quarter window.
How many period American cars weren't available with a vinyl top?
I also remember looking at a 63 Galaxie convertible and a 63.5 Falcon Sprint, both of which I really wanted, but neither owner would sell, preferring to see the cars slowly rot away in carports. I don't know exactly what became of either. My dad also liked both cars, especially the Falcon as it was rare and in very sound condition. I also remember looking at a 62 Galaxie 500 XL about 6 months before I got my license...black on red, 390, decent condition, they wanted 2K for it...but my dad didn't like it for some unknown reason.
When I was 15 or so, a friend of mine's father sold an immaculate white on red 62 Impala SS for something like $6K, it would have been a bargain even then.
Now that's a good question. Maybe the eco cars didn't get them I can't remember, but it probably was at least an option. Did the likes of Pintos and Vegas have vinyl roofs? I don't think I've ever seen a Corvette with one thank God.
I think the fake convertible tops were great;)....um, not....
Actually, both Vegas and Pintos got optional vinyl tops in their mid-to-later years. In the Vega, it was only on the notchback coupe (ick), as part of the "LX" package (late '74/'75). Not sure when they started on Pintos.
I remember to see an early Cadillac Seville without a vinyl top was a rare treat. Same with the all-new '79 Eldorado.
I'm mostly familiar with GM's, but I think starting in the mid'60's you could get vinyl tops on virtually every car in the lineup (except Corvair).
And when you got the removable hardtop on Corvettes, at least on '68's and later, they could be black-vinyl covered. I remember them well.
Regards,
OW
It actually does look a bit like a Sonata, in the greenhouse area.
Whatever it is, I think it's reasonably attractive. Much better looking than the Sonata that actually hit the streets.
Supposed to be the flagship of the Hyundai brand.
Hyundai Equus
:shades:
I wonder if Photoshop is still made in America? :surprise: I just did a quick survey of my desktop. Keyboard, made in China. Mouse, too. My electric stapler's made in Japan. The phone is made in Germany. Heavy duty stapler, made in Taiwan.
I have a 10 year old monitor that's "Designed by Apple in California" but "Assembled in Korea". Samsung monitor that my PC uses...no need to turn that one around and look, I guess. :sick: I also have a Dell monitor and an Acer, both made in China. Speakers for the computer? China.
My chair was made in Canada. It was also recalled, because there was the possibility that the backrest could fail and fall away. Oddly, my Intrepid, which was built in Canada, had been recalled for the same thing.
About the only thing I can find, made in America, is the copy paper, a little group award we got a couple years ago, and an ancient 3-color transfer roll, still in the box, that I sit my monitor on to raise it up.
I just built my own pc with an Intel I5 processor and many components from us companies. No doubt most of the parts were made in Asia. Final assembly was in the good ol USA
I remember, years ago, at work, hearing and feeling a loud thud, and hearing something metallic break, in an office down the hall. Then, about a minute later, a lady down the hall comes into my office with a 3-hole punch that had the handle broken off. She asked me if I had another.
I asked her, what'd you do, jump on it?! That's exactly what she did. It jammed up and so she threw a little weight into it.
This story really doesn't have much to do about cheap Chinese junk though. This girl would probably break an anvil if she jumped on it.
Didn't they have less than stellar Chinese engines in the previous Equinox?
I can't remember now, if that 3.4 was built in China, or if it was the 5-speed automatic, or both? But yeah, I didn't like the idea of that stuff coming from China.
"GM and SAIC Motor Announce Powertrain Co-Development "
Then there is this:
"GM, China’s SAIC to co-develop engine, dual-clutch transmission "
And let's not forget this:
"General Motors 2011 VIN decoder reveals new 1.0L, 1.2L, 1.6L four cylinder engines"
Both engines are listed as port-injected, dual-overhead-cam units from the automaker's South Korean operations, GM Daewoo Automotive Technologies (GMDAT).
Go America... :sick:
Still, one doesn't have to choose those products.
Anyone has got to know, that GM is still more of an American corporation than Hyundai. Anything else is just posturing.
I choose domestic-built product from a U.S. corporation with high NA content--which means U.S. and Canada on the sourcing labels.
Hopefully this sends some small message to the manufacturer--hey, build it here!
Why Canada? If your basic working definition of "foreign" is anything that comes from outside of our 50 states - & that's the only definition that's logically coherent - then Canada is every bit as foreign as, say, Vietnam. That Canada shares a border with us & that some Canadians speak a form of English that we can understand doesn't change that.
Among the buy-American crowd, there's a tendency to give Canada a pass. But until the provinces successfully petition for entry to our Union, then Canada is no less foreign than any other country.
Otherwise, you have to allow me to argue that because my father's family came here from Germany 150 years ago, my BMW 330i (yes, I'm bragging) really isn't a foreign car.
Why Canada? If your basic working definition of "foreign" is anything that comes from outside of our 50 states - & that's the only definition that's logically coherent - then Canada is every bit as foreign as, say, Vietnam. That Canada shares a border with us & that some Canadians speak a form of English that we can understand doesn't change that.
Among the buy-American crowd, there's a tendency to give Canada a pass. But until the provinces successfully petition for entry to our Union, then Canada is no less foreign than any other country.
Otherwise, you have to allow me to argue that because my father's family came here from Germany 150 years ago, my BMW 330i (yes, I'm bragging) really isn't a foreign car.
I completely agree. Why do some excuse the Canada-made items, yet blast the Mexican ones?
Does either country contribute to the US government coffers? Can US citizens get some of the Canadian government provided health care?
The answer, of course...is NO!
But, lets be fair. There are several reasons production has been outsourced to other countries. Profits, non-unionized work force, and...here's a big one... Environmental impact.
Manufacturing can be a very dirty business, especially in areas such as metals production, electronic components and chemicals (as well as other areas). It makes sense that US manufacturers would operate in the least-strict environmental area.... as long as they can get away with it.
However, as these 3rd world economies improve and grow, they too will want a cleaner environment, causing manufacturing operations to shift to yet additional areas.... And, the cycle continues. China clearly recognizes that already.
China won't be a manufacturing cess-pool in the long run... Nor will any country with a government other than one like N. Korea.
Meanwhile, the most US-sourced vehicle is the Toyota Camry.
Perhaps the UAW is the differentiator?
Regards,
OW
Well, to paraphrase Ricky Ricardo... they don't have earthquakes in Connecticut, and they don't have tornadoes (they do, but that's not germane to the topic), but they do have hurricanes. And that think looks like Hurricane Lucy and Hurricane Ethel went Tag-Team on a Camry!