1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible
1960 Chevrolet Impala 4-Door Hardtop
If you were to walk up to a typical New York executive in the 1960s -- think Don Draper in AMC's "Mad Men" -- and tell him that General Motors Corp. would be in bankruptcy by 2009, he would have thought you were delusional, or perhaps a Communist. GM was more than just the world's largest and most admired corporation; it was the final vindication of the American Way, the perfected and even divinely inspired example of democratic capitalism that stood opposed to the airless atheism and nullity of the Soviet system.Read the full article, here. See the Times' photo gallery, here.
Or imagine that you were somehow able to drag Nikita Khrushchev from the United Nations podium into the street to confront -- no, behold -- a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. Nearly 19 feet long from its Jayne Mansfield-like bumpers to its rocket-like tail lamps, a lyric in steel and mirrored chrome, as bright and beautiful as a ripe plum is sweet, and yet just ever so slightly obscene. Khrushchev would have dropped his shoe.
Surely a company, a country, that could produce such an object would last forever.
Retro Cars Photo Hat Tip: Libby Spencer.
4 comments:
I live in Michigan but will never buy another GM car. NO business owned by the government is truly an American business.
Thanks for the insight, Shoprat!
Well, said, Shoprat! I think you may be the harbinger of things to come. I hadn’t thought about that, but, yea, I wouldn’t buy the new, gov-owned, Greenmachine, regardless of design. But, more likely small-fragile-vulnerable-car that Obamanation wants us to own. Probably like you. I used to wait with giddy anticipation for the latest Buick -all kinds of chrome in 1950s, any of the sexy tail fins of the 50’s Cadillacs, no one beat the 1959 Chevy, and my Dad’s 1955 Pontiac was gray and white – matching our house colors…funny. Truly GM going to Obama.socialist.gov, is a Great Leap Backward. The U.S. I hope will return to it’s sanity, but, not until leftist guilt and shame gets worked out – maybe Opera or Dr. Phil (I don’t watch them) can help them! But, then who will help them? This is outrageous indulgence of a presidential administration having their way.
Interesting piece on the part of Dan Neil, but all that Gore crap is a lot of hooey. A Gore presidency would have put the "Big Three" into the crapper long before now, and perhaps us with them.
Sorry, but real Americans just aren't interested in driving government-approved transportation appliances that wouldn't pass a crash test with migratory water fowl. GM (and soon-to-be Chrysler) CEO Barry Obama is going to be finding that out the hard way right soon. Sadly, so are us hapless taxpayers.
As an avid car enthusiast who grew up reading Car & Driver back in the glory days, when David E. Davis Jr. was in the driver's seat and all appeared almost right with the world, I developed an insatiable lust for European automobiles.
In 1979 at the age of 16, I was given the ride of my life on the German Autobahn in a stark white Porsche 930 Turbo which, even 30 years later, remains the most potent car I have ever ridden in.
LOL-If that car still exists, I am quite sure my finger imprints are still visible on the "oh-shit" handles.
Over the course of my life, I have owned a tricked-out '85 VW Golf (my first brand new car), a super sweet 2 door '89 Jetta (which was sadly rear-ended and killed two years later), a supremely sweet 87 Saab 900s that I bought with $6.4k with 75k on the odo and drove, nearly trouble-free, for 180k miles afterward, a '98 Maxima SE (black, of course, with the 5 spoke wheels-the fastest car I have ever owned), and a 1981 Mercedes 280 SE European model S class sedan (which I lovingly referred to as the Panzer) and that I finally managed to drive the wheels off of last May. That car weighed 5000lbs sitting dead empty in the driveway. :-)
However, despite my decided affinity for European automotive hardware, along the way I also developed an appreciation for good ol' Amurrican Iron.
I have a lot of cousins, and they were all car nuts, and a little older than me. They were mostly into American fare car-wise, and I had a great time learning from them.
Sure, the cars themselves couldn't negotiate a curve worth a damn, as the suspensions underneath were little improved from the horse-and-buggy days, but in straight-line acceleration, they would literally suck the headlights out of all but the most exotic (and thus stratospherically expensive) European offerings of the time.
Although I had many wonderful experiences during those days automotive-wise, the one memory that will stick in my mind forever is a bronze 1972 Buick GS my oldest cousin owned.
That awesome machine had a full-blown 455ci motor, owner modified with HUGE dual four barrel carbs (his father was a top notch GM tech and had access to parts bins that would cause a Ford or Mopar guy to go limp on sight) and had every option available, including a few you had to "know somebody" to get.
No joke, if he revved it up at a stoplight, I could almost see leaves being sucked off of surrounding trees.
My other object of Amurrican automotive lust was a 1973 Chevrolet Impala two door with a huge V-8 and an AC system that would keep a twelve-pack of your favorite suds frosty for the duration of the trip.
I endeavored in vain to buy that massive, sweet machine off my uncle for over half a decade, despite the best fuel mileage it ever recorded was 12mpg (down hill with a HUGE rock in the trunk)and that was on a good day.
Alas, those were the days.
For those of you who may have missed it, P. J. O'Rourke weighed in with an excellent article on why the American "love affair" with the automobile has now reached its inglorious end:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203771904574173401767415892.html
Personally, I believe this all represents far more than just the end of the "love affair" with the automobile, but that is a post for another day.
-Dave
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