Posted on 04/18/2002 3:40:20 AM PDT by 2Trievers
ONE CAR COMPANY is running ads in which its suave 44-year old CEO underscores his love for the outdoors by saying, “I won’t even stay in a hotel if I can’t open the windows.” Another car company, its tone set by its 70-year-old vice chairman — an ex-Marine aviator — is putting up three billboards. One shows a 1957 Chevy’s grille—think of Teddy Roosevelt’s grin in chrome — and says: “Proof your parents were actually cool once.” Another shows the rear deck of a little red 1963 Corvette Sting Ray and says: “They don’t write songs about Volvos.” The third shows the gritted-teeth grille of a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS and says: “Not everyone wants a car with a bud vase on the dash.” Guess which company is doing best. Bill Ford’s problems at the company his great-grandfather founded are bigger than odd advertising. And there are many reasons why GM is soaring like the jet fighter Robert Lutz flies for fun. But institutions are the lengthening shadows of strong individuals, and Lutz is, in the elemental argot of Detroit, a “car guy.” When GM lured Lutz back into the car business last summer, The Detroit News headline (“Lutz Rides In To Rev Up GM”) was of a size usually reserved for Pearl Harbors or two-game Tiger winning streaks. But are Americans still “car people” the way they were when Lutz was young, in the 1950s? Then they were automobile voluptuaries, Detroit was in its rococo period and its great stylist was GM’s Harley Earl, “the Cellini of chrome,” of whom it was said that if he could have put chrome on his clothes, he would have. Cars had front bumpers that were protuberant, not to say nubile, and tail fins. Cars looked, a wit said, “like chorus girls coming and fighter planes going.” Indeed, Buick’s LeSabre emulated the F-86 Sabre jet. Lutz, tall and trim, knows that today’s Americans generally have a less erotic relationship with cars. They look upon many cars, he says, “as more or less an appliance.” As mere transportation. Utilitarian. Boring. Furthermore, 20 years ago a “premium” car meant one substantially more capable. Today premium technologies (e.g., high-tech engines, overhead cams) are everywhere. But, Lutz says happily, your car is still “an extension of your psycho-motor system.” More than the other stuff we surround ourselves with — do you know the brand of your refrigerator? will you replace it before it breaks down? —your car “continually makes an instant statement about you, even to complete strangers.” So, Lutz insists, design is still central to success in the automobile business. Art is supposed to “evoke emotional responses” and cars are art — “a mobile sculpture.” He also believes that when everybody else is doing it, don’t. Most cars today have rounded aerodynamic lines. But the new Cadillac CTS, with angular lines, is described in ads as “edgy.” And when Lutz was at Chrysler a few years ago, he pushed through the development of the popular PT Cruiser, an echo of a 1937 Ford. Why? Surely not nostalgia. Probably most of the (mostly young) people buying these cars do not know who was President in 1937. Go figure. Lutz believes that “aspirational aspects overwhelm the functional differences” when car customers make their choices. When that happens, the “left-analytical brain has been defeated again,” the “right brain” has prevailed and Lutz rejoices. But this does not mean people plunk down large sums merely for high-status brands. Chevrolet sells more vehicles costing more than $30,000 than do Mercedes, BMW, Lexus and Audi combined, but this is partly due to the popularity of light trucks, a category that includes sport utility vehicles. Today an “extremely high-end demographic” — e.g., investment bankers and stockbrokers — are buying GMC SUVs. Some Americans (let us avoid the term “liberals”) hate fun, such as cheeseburgers, talk radio, guns, Las Vegas, and cars that are larger than roller skates and that look more interesting than shoe boxes. They hated 1950s cars that looked — as a sniffy critic said — like juke boxes on wheels. Such people love guilt, and want people to feel guilty about cars because cars have made possible suburbs, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and emancipation from public transportation. GM’s “car guy” knows that Americans generally keep their cars longer than they used to — creeping utilitarianism — and do not define automotive fun as they did in the gaudy 1950s. But he is betting that lots of them still are guilty of letting their right brains rip when purchasing a car. George F. Will is a columnist with Newsweek and an ABC commentator.
Oh? Have you driven a all aluminium, DOC, 32V Northstar V8 Caddy lately? Believe me those things move! My dad has one and I took it on a trip, kicking it into the passing lane it pushes you back into your seat quite well and one might think its about to top out around 90; then the engine management system gets the clue that you're not on a Sunday drive and all those valves open up and it really starts to cook, and it doesn't feel like it wants to stop.
One of the best damn motors built anywhere. Mastercraft even offers them as an option on their boats.
Daily Driver - BMW M3 Convertible
Pickup- Ford F250 Super Duty Diesel 4x4
SUV- V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Sportscar 1 - Ferrari 550/575 Maranello
Sportscar 2 - RUF Porsche 911 Turbo
Exotic - McLaren F1 GTR (or Porsche GT1 EVO, tossup)
Race Car - Ferrari 333SP (or 71 Porsche 917k, tossup)
Sedan - BMW M5
American Iron - 1967 Corvette 427 coupe (or late 60ish Hemi Challenger, tossup)
Motorcyle 1: Suzuki GSXR 1000, to go fast.
Motorcycle 2: Ducati 996, to look cool.
And maybe a Harley for when I need to make a lot of noise, but don't want to go fast.
Hmm. Aside from costing $50k and the 150mph top end, the STS seems like a GREAT car for a teenager! Nothing like starting at the top. All joking aside, that Cadillac will flat haul a** for a big fat GM sedan, and a front driver at that.
How about an Acura RSX? Or even a clean used BMW 5 series if he wants a sedan.
You have FReepmail.
Add some stringback gloves, and a nice plaid beret, and off you go...
I just bought a 2000 Honda Accord EX 4-Door. I love it! Wouldn't have thought to buy anything American.
Daily Driver - BMW M3 Convertible
Naahh - BMW Z3.
Pickup- Ford F250 Super Duty Diesel 4x4
SUV- V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Don't do trucks, but a Range Rover in a pinch ;)
Sportscar 1 - Ferrari 550/575 Maranello
No, no - 512TR.
Sportscar 2 - RUF Porsche 911 Turbo
Bleh. Gimme the HMS-modified Viper and I'll smoke that krautmobile like a cheap cigar ;)
Exotic - McLaren F1 GTR (or Porsche GT1 EVO, tossup)
Throw the F40/50/60 in, and now we're talking...
Sedan - BMW M5
Hmmmm. Jag - my wife likes Jags. I could care less ;)
American Iron - 1967 Corvette 427 coupe (or late 60ish Hemi Challenger, tossup)
1970 Pontiac GTO convertible, or maybe the '71 426-Hemi Barracuda - good call...
I'll grant you the rest ;)
I forgot the 'Cuda in my haste, actually a better looking car than the Challenger. Not to mention the absolute hammer down ferocity that accompanies the phrase, "Hemi 'Cuda".
Those early 389 GTO's are still gorgeous cars also, they got a little bloated by the mid 70's.
Amazing how almost all of the truly great muscle cars were made between 1965-1971.
Imagine if the oil crisis hadn't brought us miracles like the Gremlin, Pacer and Pinto?
Oh, and the Vega, I can't believe I forgot the VEGA.
The '71 'Cuda was really the last and best of the breed. There's something special about that car...
Oh, the Vega wasn't so bad. Shoehorn in a built 350 and a beefy drivetrain, then paint it red. A 6-point rollcage and subframe connectors would be good ideas, too - that much torque tends to twist a Vega until the windshield pops out. Actually, I had not seen a Vega in years, save for ones gutted and turned into drag cars. Then, just last week, I saw a guy on the Interstate driving a *Cosworth Vega*. That was a neat surprise, and I'm not that big a Chevy fan.
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