Posted on 05/10/2006 4:48:01 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jabari Bryant didn't go to a car dealership to buy his new car last fall. The 28-year-old went to a retirement community in Tybee Island, Ga., where for $2,000 he bought a navy blue 1988 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham from a man who was "at least 83."
The seller said "his eyesight was going and he had no use for the car," recalls Mr. Bryant, an automobile glass installer from Savannah.
Young people today don't want their father's Oldsmobile -- they want their grandfather's. Some of the hippest wheels for under-30 drivers today are models commonly identified with seniors: Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Chevrolets and Cadillacs from the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
From Collins Ave. in Miami Beach's South Beach neighborhood to International Blvd. in Oakland, Calif., teens and young adults are cruising in "grandpa" and "grandma" cars that they have painted bright colors like lime green, outfitted with fancy sound systems and propped up on monster-truck-style wheels. They're sweet-talking their grandparents into giving up old cars and offering to buy them on the spot from strangers.
Television shows, such as MTV's "Pimp My Ride," and rappers, including Snoop Dogg, are helping to drive the craze. There's even a new magazine, Donk, Box & Bubble, dedicated to the tricked-out-oldie-car culture.
For U.S. car makers, struggling to lift sales, it's a painful irony that the models striking a chord with young buyers aren't those rolling off the assembly lines today but rather ones made decades ago. Detroit's marketers are trying to figure out how to ride the trend without ruining it.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
They all look like bars of soap on wheels.
I think the real Impala ss was from 94 to 98
Wow. My 1993 Dodge dynasty is back in. (Great car, BTW...the 1992 and 1993 models are excellent vehicles). Now I wish I still had my 1988 Caprice Classic.
I had a 1969 chevy caprice, vinyl roof, 350 engine. Bought it from the chevrolet agency I worked for while I was working my way through college paid $500.00.
The guy who traded it in couldn't bear to drive it. It was his wife's who had passed away. The thing I didn't get was that he traded it in for a Chevette...
I recently saw the car driving around. Still on the road many years later. Amazing.
I had a 63 Dodge Dart and a girlfriend named Heidi. Was yours (car that is) white with a blue interior?
Dose new love for old include the AMC Pacer? I drove a 68 Lincon Imperial 2dr. It cost me almost 20 dollars to fill.>
Matadors are cool.
My mom had one of those! The fabulous 'VistaCruiser' clear roof panels!
lol, my grandmother had a 61 Cadi, a62 plymouth valiant, and a 71 plymouth duster.
Any of those cars would be hot today.
Reminds me of a car I saw a couple of years ago. I think it was an early 80's Buick or some other butt-ugly early 80's two-door car. The driver had jacked up the car about as high as you could go and put the smallest tires posssible on it.
He slowly went around a corner and the tires were screeching like mad and I thought it would flip over when one of the tires came off the ground.
I was thinking "congratulations, your an idiot!".
Nope...dark blue inside and out...
That would have been weird if I was with your girlfriend in your car. That's just wrong. :-)
I once owned a 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix. It was white with the tan landeau (sp?) roof and tan leather interior. Electric everything. Man, I was stylin'! Those were nice looking cars.
Though he helped me build it, he'll have to wait 'til I'm dead before he gets it. LOL
I owned an 77 Caprice Classic and kept it on the road until I bought a 82 Toyata Supra.
The Caprice was huge, all white with a metal panel that came halfway down over the tires. Plus white walls. I loved that car back then! You could stretch out and sleep on the front seats. Complete with an 8 track player.
My grandmother had a 1976 Malibu Classic, landau roof, swivel bucket seats. Man, I'd kill for that car today.
My wife's car when we got married was a green 1976 Plymouth Volare Premier sedan with a vinyl top. People used to laugh at her at stop lights. When she put her foot into the 4 barrel 318, the laughing stopped. I called it "Granny's Green Grocery Getter".
Granpa FJ40
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