-June 2024 Special Lease Deals-
2024 Chevy Blazer EV lease from Bayway Auto Group Click here
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee lease from Mark Dodge Click here
2025 Ram 1500 Factory Order Discounts from Mark Dodge Click here
2024 Chevy Blazer EV lease from Bayway Auto Group Click here
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee lease from Mark Dodge Click here
2025 Ram 1500 Factory Order Discounts from Mark Dodge Click here
Options
Comments
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
But, the '67-70 does the same thing, and the car looks great. But, the '67-70 just has more eye-pleasing proportioning, in general. I think the '92 looks a bit awkward, from some angles.
1992 is a fun year to think about, as there were a bunch of new designs. Also the year I got my license, so I remember it clearly. These show how the aging of automotive designs has maybe slowed a bit compared to the past. These are all 32 year old cars that were new designs then:
And these are what 32 year old cars that were modern when new looked like in 1992:
For sure the tires and chrome do a bit, but in 1992, a 32 year old car was usually already a vintage thing someone was holding on to. Today, many 32 year old cars are just cars.
IMO malaise started ending with the jellybean design cars.
Also, in the '90's I was busier with career, babies, and ill parents so cars went lower on my radar.
A friend of mine's parents bought a Lexus SC 380 I think it was--like the one in your pics, above. I know, "ABSOLUTELY BULLETPROOF RELIABILITY!!!!!", but the car did absolutely zero for me, at that price point. I remember looking online at rear-seat legroom and my Cavalier coupe actually bested it by a fraction of a point.
If I'm not at least a little excited....or, well, happy with the car, bulletproof reliability isn't the end-all for me.
I think I like the '92-99 Eldorado better the '86-91 because it's bigger. But I don't think it's better looking. I actually find the '86-91 Eldo/Seville to be attractive cars. Just a bit on the small size overall, and perhaps looking a bit too much like the N-cars of the era.
The '92 Seville was a looker, though.
I always thought of Malaise as roughly 1973-82. I know people like to gripe about the horsepower cuts for 1972, but that was mostly gross-to-net. IIRC, GM actually cut some compression ratios for 1971, and some of the highest-powered engine options might have gone away, or got cut back for 1972. But most mass market cars in 1972 performed about as well as their 1971 counterparts. For instance, a '72 Impala with a 165 hp 350 probably did as well as the '71 with the 255 hp 350. But then in '73, they started cutting power across the board, not just the high-powered engines. And emissions controls got bad. I believe the 350-2bbl went from 165 hp to 145 hp. Consumer Reports tested a '73 Chevelle with the 350-2, and I seem to recall 0-60 a bit over 13 seconds, whereas the larger, heavier '72 Impala was good for 12. They also started putting in taller axle ratios, so even if those engines had the power, those loafy axles kept them from revving up too fast.
1982 always sticks in my mind, because I remember how much my grandparents learned to hate their '82 Malibu wagon. And it wasn't just those stationary rear windows; that was just the icing on the cake. That car was slow, and ate a couple of ECUs. Too bad Granddad didn't think to spring for the 305 that year, which you could still get in a wagon. I imagine it wasn't too common for them to be equipped that way, though. I think one reason a lot of people look at 1983 as the year we started to escape Malaise, is because the Mustang finally got a stronger 302. I'm sure the T-bird/Cougar helped as well. And for me at least, I welcomed the return of the 305/307 across the board in GM's midsized cars, and the end of those undersized V8s. For '81-82 it had been limited to wagons and CA/high-altitude models.
Wasn't 1983 also the year the 302 in the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis got fuel injection? I think it was TBI initially, but went to PFI a couple years later?
Even Lexus of that era can have problem areas. SC was two models - 300 6cyl, 400 8cyl. They were pretty expensive - maybe on par with a period Eldo, and definitely a posh product.
You are probably more in tune with what cars cost in the '90's, but I thought my friend said that Lexus coupe (six-cylinder) was 40K or low 40's. I didn't think Eldos were that high. I could well be wrong on both counts, and unlike FB car guys, I'm OK to admit it.
I'm old-skool even for my age, but I hated when plastichrome inside went away. I'll take plastichrome over just plastic, any day. I like turn signal levers, column-shift levers, door handles, radio knobs, to be bright-metal or even bright-metal plastic, and I like some bright trim on the panel and doors. I never got used to the era of flat-black plastic turn signal levers, shift levers, radio knobs, et al.
I also missed when frameless door glass largely went away.
andre--at the time I hated them, but I've grown to appreciate the later versions of the '86-91 Eldo and Seville. Really, totally unlike anything else made at the time by anyone. American styling, out and in.
My only complaint was that the seats seemed so thin.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I can actually remember one of these (well, some year in this '61-71 style) in our town when I was younger.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Yeah I remember the "whale" Caprice was a little polarizing, and at the time I was not a fan - although it grew on me with time, and today I have no problems with it. I think it was just too big of a jump at once for my eyes. For whatever reason, the Crown Vic wasn't as jarring to me. Speaking of jellybean, I also disliked the 90 Celica when it debuted, but it eventually became normal to me.
Plastichrome is fine if it doesn't fade or peel Might as well make it real chrome then, but I think for a lot of that one needs to go back to an early 70s or even 60s car.
They were, in no particular order: Cavalier, Celebrity, Caprice (most likely combined with Impala), Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Supreme (both coupe and sedan combined), Delta 88, and Century.
Ford had two, the Tempo and Escort. Rounding out that list was an import. I'm thinking it was the Sentra, but according to the stats on Wikipedia, the Accord outsold the Sentra that year, but I'm definitely remembering it as a Nissan. Maybe it was the Stanza? I couldn't find sales stats for the Stanza, but do remember that early/mid 80's generation seemed like a really popular car.
For 1986, I remember reading that GM was down to 6 of the top ten. They added the Grand Am, but lost two. Cutlass Supreme and Delta 88, I think. I'd imagine the '86 Taurus made it to that list. Also, as those import quotas were lifted, and the Japanese cars got larger, that put some pressure on the domestics.
GM tended to do its best with midsized cars, personal luxury coupes, and large cars. Unfortunately, the large car and personal luxury coupe markets became less relevant over time, and GM seemed to botch its response to the Taurus. I think there's always been a bit of overlap between compact and midsized cars, but in the later 80s and 90's, the distinction really seemed to blur. In 1980, for example, nobody who genuinely wanted a midsized car would have looked to a Japanese import, because they simply didn't offer cars in the US that were midsized in the way we thought of them. But by 1990, cars like the Accord, and Camry were becoming a viable alternative to what domestic US midsized cars had become.
I got so sick of that with rentals, I made it a point to get either beige or black inside instead of gray when I bought cars, not that those were way better. Funny, when Chevy introduced 'Pewter' in '72, I liked it, and again when they introduced 'Oyster' in '79, which was pretty light, I liked it. But then, those weren't everywhere. When I bought my '93 Caprice, I had them search for one with the dark maroon interior. I wouldn't take gray as a second choice.
Speaking of those cars, although I always p**s and moan about droopy rear wheel openings, today I'd take a '91 over a '93. If you ever looked close, the way they opened up that rear wheel opening for '93 was really done on the cheap. And I like the gloss black around the side windows, '91 only. I do like that GM made wagons on that body, which Ford didn't. I didn't care for Ford's vent window up against a vent window, but the Mercury got around that.
I was almost delirious to see the red interior on the C8 I ordered, with brushed metal trim inside.
On a side note, only because I was curious, a couple weeks ago I looked at dealer count of various makes in the U.S. I wouldn't have expected this, but Ford and Chevy have three times the number of locations as Toyota and Honda do. When I looked, Ford and Chevy were within five dealers of each other. Of course it's not like the old days, but one thing I always liked about Chevy back then (and Ford too, really), was that there were dealers everywhere.
There are two Chevy dealers within ten miles of me, which is nice as I use the best service coupons they send out. Until 2009, there were two more within ten miles of me. Where I bought my C8 is thirty miles away. They're delightfully rural, and small....not sure how he survived 2009 but his grandfather opened the place in 1928.
Actually, the 2003 Regal I inherited from Dad had them, too. But, it was also silver. And, by the time I got the car, all four of them had been missing, for quite some time. I never did ask Dad what happened to them when he was alive, so I never did get to learn the whole story. I honestly didn't care too much about what that car looked like, so I just drove it with the exposed black steel wheels. Somehow, I got used to the way it looked.
Nowadays though, even most cheap cars still have alloys, or at least some kind of styled steel wheel. So when I see plastic hubcaps, they really seem to stick out. And they're often done up in a pattern that draws attention to the fact that they're just wheelcovers.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Well, now that I think about it, my '93 Caprice Classic had wire wheelcovers.
I don't love the cars, but the '88 GM FWD midsizers, and the '90 Lumina, offered coupes, which I liked the choice of in that size class. I do remember the Lumina coupes seeming to be tight on headroom, and the rear seat cushions were very low, like sitting on cushions on bleachers, LOL. Decent legroom and styling though I think. Not great, but decent.
To this day, I could like an '88 Monte Carlo LS. I'd rather a '78 Malibu Classic coupe, but I think in all reality, my old-car days are behind me.
For anyone slightly interested, yesterday I received a pic that included my '66 Studebaker Cruiser, from the current owner, among his many other Studes of all vintages. I posted a pic to the 'Postwar Studebakers' page.
My last car with wheelcovers is the fintail - all my MBs since have wheels, I think the last MB sold in the USDM with wheelcovers was the 1983 240D (aka cheapest model but still cost as much as a top of the line Cadillac or Lincoln). Canadian spec early 00s W203 C-class could have plastic wheelcovers, but never offered here I am pretty sure. I think my dad's S-10 Blazer and maybe the 93 Grand Caravan had wheelcovers, all other modern cars since the mid 80s had wheels. For my mom, her current Camry (LE) has wheelcovers, but I remember the Taurus and Tempo had wheels.
Corman's "Cannonball" was also a fun movie, although a bit darker, as it actually had people getting killed in it. One memorable moment from that (which was deleted the last time I saw it) was a guy with a bad German accent saying "Schtoopid Amelican Caas! Dey loook like Tootsie Rolls on Veels!" Meanwhile, he's driving a De Tomaso Pantera, which I believe was made primarily for the US market?
And at one point, there are signs for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Yet you see palm trees here and there.
Spoiler alert: The Pantera had a bomb planted in it, set to explode when the car hit 160 mph. Never noticed it before, but whatever they blow up is a really, REALLY bad mockup of a Pantera... Also, when it blows up, that '73 Polara police car in front is running blocker, keeping the driver from passing. I didn't know a '73 Polara could go 160 mph...
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
I think Andre proved that a few hours ago!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
For that "Cannonball" mockup Pantera, I had the movie playing on the computer (found it on Youtube) and just did a screen capture. I was honestly surprised that it pasted!
Found this outside the Service Dept. of my dealer in Beloit, OH yesterday. Not sure if customer's or employee's car.
Note wheel which resembles plastic hubcap.
I don't remember enough about these cars to know if the body-colored grille was because of a trim level, or just a model-year change in the run.
I will give this car props as I'm thinking it's probably the last domestic hardtop with frameless door glass.
Had the car into the dealer for a few days because the gap on the right side of the tonneau was bigger than the left, which bugged fussy me. Considering they don't have a body shop, I was pleased with how they finessed it to be better. I asked if they'd wash the car as when I'd dropped it off, I'd driven 30 miles in rain. I'm used to dealer car washes being rather spotty (no pun intended), but I was pleased to see the car washed, dried, and tires blacked. I'm still liking this dealer.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
That does look like a nice example though
Also noticed a couple of cars I would spot sitting outside last year are gone - a series 3 XJ6 and a mid 60s Chevy pickup.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Yeah, good looking car for sure. If I recall the press liked the STS version.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Tinted windows would do wonders for that car.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve