OT: Let's remember some cars! (Talking cars Tuesday)
Just like Taco Tuesday in the Lego Movie, it's time for Talking Cars Tuesday on a Friday.
So with apologies to David Roth (NTDLR), let's remember some cars! What's a car that's not around, or an old version of a car, or something that makes you go "wow, that was real! They should do that again" or something similar. Got nostalgia for a car that wasn't that great, but for some reason it was just right?
August 5th, 2022 at 11:18 AM ^
As the impetus for this thread, I saw a Buick Regal GS today. Back in 2011, GM figured it made total sense to take a ho-hum, front wheel drive, 4 door sedan and stick a 270HP turbo 4 in it with a 6 speed stick as an option. It was decent! But who was this car for? I remember thinking that fast, stick, 4 doors made sense.. but I also had a VW CC 6M at the time. Which was much prettier.
By 2015 they dropped in a V6, and it got AWD, but was now automatic only. All Regals, not just the GS, were discontinued by 2020.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
Does it make any less sense than a $100k 10k lb electric SUV that only drives 50miles if it's hauling a trailer.
GM has made ALOT of stupid vehicles over the years.
I saw an Azetec in really good shape the other day. It reminded me again of how stupid that car was.
GMC Envoy XUV was another really worthless vehicle. They tried to make an SUV that converted into a pickup truck. Good idea, but nobody wanted it.
But, GM didn't corner the market on stupid vehicles. Ford made the ridiculous Lincoln Blackwood, otherwise known as the "Jackwood". Everybody wants an expensive PU with a carpeted bed with a bunch of divider bins and a tonneau cover that couldn't be removed.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
Those 100k electric SUVs that are selling for 200k on the secondary market now? I think they're more for the market that buys the house at the lake versus tows the boat to the ramp.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Vehemently disagree on the Aztec. Loved that car. Had good pep and was a spacious mid-size SUV.
Shit on it all you want, but it was a good one.
I hated the Aztec until I found myself at a pirate ship themed bar in Los Angeles next to a very drunk and gabby former editor for Road & Track. His surprisingly coherent dissertation on the merits of the Aztec turned me around and reminded me that growing up in Lansing doesn't make me a car expert.
Things got dark when the conversation turned to the Fiero.
The Aztec was too early. Everything today is off-roady looking with black plastic and "lifestyle" goodies.
August 7th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
It was ugly then, it looks uglier now.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
If you want to mention Buick, remember the GNX?
Turbo 3.8 with published numbers of 245H/355T and those numbers were completely FOS. I remember seeing dynos showing 300/400. And it ran like it too. Fun car. Very.
Edit/Add: Had a neighbor that actually had one. Got a few rides in it. Yeah, it pulled hard. :-)
Stock photo, but it's what his looked like.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
The 2011 Buick Regal GS was equivalent to remembering a guy. The GNX is a hall of famer. Too good to be remembered as a guy
August 5th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
I liked the Regal GS, but would've loved it in wagon form. When the new Regal came out, I was again excited until I learned it would be butched up faux offroad version only. The GS sportback was cool, but I wanted a wagon. Ended up with a Volvo V60.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
My kingdom for a Golf R wagon!!! Currently waiting for my dealer to get a manual R allocation as is... but that extra length would be nice.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
I would get this car.
The large VW dealer in Glenview, who I have worked with for 4 other vehicles, has told me that they'll call when they get a manual R for me. They've only been allocated 1 auto in the last 2 years.
Cmon supply chain!! (I say as an engineering manager at an auto supplier...)
I wanted that car, but couldn't afford it. I bought a Verano 2.0T with a stick instead. I love sedans that haul ass.
That car taught me that modern cars with sticks do too much work for you, and that 250+ hp is overkill in the same application. Never did get used to it.
In a perfect world GM would put a NA V8 in either the CT4 or CT5 and I'd have it my driveway, but GM sucks.
NA V8? I think GM's last hurrah for that was the LS7 (discontinued this year), no? Everything now has to have some form of extra compression (see LT4).
They still have the 5.3 and 6.2. the latter of those is in the Camaro, which is a platform-mate.
August 6th, 2022 at 12:58 AM ^
You are correct, absolutely. I was only thinking of the LT4 in the ZL1, I forgot the LT1 in the SS.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
The Walter White Pontiac Aztek, of course!
August 5th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
Ummm....seriously?! Same picture and all (see below).
BTW, I'm wearing a navy shirt and khakis today. I'm sure you are, too. Might as well embrace the twinning.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
Well... his did post 2 min before yours. It would be more impressive with the identical time stamp.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^
You can now surmise that it takes me at least 2 minutes to properly upload an image to this site. I'm a tad slow.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
I honestly can't understand the wardrobe in that show. It's hot as balls here in the desert for 8 months out of the year. I lose half my body weight in sweat just watching Jesse run around in his bedazzled JNCOs screaming, "Yeah, BITCH!"
Needless to say, it's shorts and t-shirt for the foreseeable future.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:47 AM ^
Pretty sweet ride, Clark.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
"you think you hate it now? Wait until you drive it"
August 5th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
1973 plymouth road runner - my car at U of M. no A/C, weak stereo, but it did have a hand-crank sun roof which was pretty rad back then. not my car, but a near exact version:
August 5th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
This post is sorely missing data. Motor, gotta report on your motor! (Forget brakes, those cars didn't have any). Well?!? 😁
August 5th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
383, auto transmission. fast, but not amazingly so. for obvious reasons my nickname was 'bobby duke' of dukes of hazzard fame
incidentally, of all the autophiles on this list, i expect a heavyweight entry or two from you.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
The stock 383, nice! Best line I ever heard about the MOPAR cars during that era was? "Make sure it's pointing straight when you floor it".
As this is a somewhat regularly occurring thread, I'll try to start from the beginning. Coming up...
Well before my time, but I do know that by 73', the EPA's emissions restrictions and soaring insurance costs ate away at the power manufacturers were putting into cars. 65'-71' were the glory years of muscle cars back then. Now I'm just waiting for something to curb the current horsepower wars. While I love it, there's no reason an average driver should be driving a 700+ HP Car out of the dealership without a least a little bit of high performance driving education.. Sheesh.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
That was 1973's version of the Dodge Charger for the hockey team?
August 5th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
that rig was parked in the players lot at yost and i was the only guy on the team that had one of those. funny, but i still have a vivid memory of my last talk with giordano at yost, sept of '82, and putting my hockey gear in the trunk and driving away.
at the time i was there that car was 8 yrs old and had 100K miles on it. it was fine for the time but a very affordable car for me.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
I used to have a 1989 Alfa Romeo Graduate -- the one that Dustin Hoffman drove in The Graduate, just a later model. It was a stick and the gear shift was almost horizontal -- not quite in the usual spot on the deck but also not as far up as the dashboard. I have very fond memories of it but like anything, I wonder if I drove it today, would it live up to the memories? If I'm honest, it would probably be like driving a go cart.
Found a shot of the stick. This is a later model, but stick is in the same position.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
Rowing that shifter had to be awkward, no?
August 5th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
Eh, it's an Italian Sportscar. Awkward was built in back in those days. And to some extent, these days. Here's the dash of a Fiat 500 Abarth:
August 5th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
I got used to it quickly. In some ways it was better, especially if you're a visual person. You just shift your eyes slightly as opposed to looking down, if you need to remind yourself what gear you're in, in the face of the occasional brain fart.
And, I mean, there's something to that. It's where Porsche put the stick shift in the Carrera GT
August 5th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
Interesting choice by the engineers.
I have only known vertical sticks. Driving a horizontal stick would be strange to me. I'd be like a fish out of water and would feel like I had to learn it all over again.
Speaking of stick shift vehicles, I would love to own one again. I miss that extra sense of control over the vehicle. MGoPsychologists might have a field day with this one. But I don't miss working the clutch in a 30 minute stop and go traffic jam.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
My father had a 1968 Olds 442 convertible. It was candy apple red - white interior - with a four speed Hurst shifter. THAT was a sweet ride.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:52 AM ^
68 442? Perfection! Friend had one of those. His was their perfect blue. He never lacked for lovely passengers, as I recall.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
I liked the dash of the 90 cougar.
August 5th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
What car does this belong to? I'm not gifted enough to identify car's by their dashboard lights...
August 5th, 2022 at 12:20 PM ^
It's weird.
It's 80s.
Subaru SVX is my guess?!
August 5th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
Looks like either a mid-late 80's Thunderbird or Cougar. My mom had a Cougar that looked exactly like this from my fuzzy memories of 25 years ago when she got rid of it.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
I agree. I would like to know what model/year this gage cluster this belongs to. Reminds me of a 90's Ford brand.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
Pontiac 6000?
My uncle had a cougar. I thought it was a 1990. This is how I remember the dash. I always liked it as a kid.
August 5th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
My first car was a 1956 Buick Super, purchased the summer of my senior year at Huron High School in 1974. Unfortunately, the windshield wipers never worked, which was not great in summer gullywashers, but I survived. Unfortunately, the car didn't. I don't even want to say how I wrecked that beautiful piece of Detroit iron, because the car gods may still smite me for it one day.
I also had a 63 Volkswagen Beetle a few years later in college, shrinking and moving forward, chronologically. That car's grandest moment came when, during the Eclipse Jazz Festival in '78, I picked up Stan Getz at the airport in Detroit. Great guy; I enjoyed his company a lot. He wanted to go for a swim and I took him to North Campus (I think?) and sat at poolside with his saxophone on my lap while he did his.
I guess both of these cars qualify, or could squeak in, since neither is in production any longer.