Blast from the Past: Ugly Cars of the 70s!

Yes, kids, it's a rerun this week. But it's from two and a half years ago, so it's time for a revisit anyway. It's personally topical, because I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the 2015 Jeep Renegade. While I think it's great looking, there is a contingent (mostly Jeep purists) who think it is ugly. Enjoy!

ORIGINAL POST:

I don't think the new Dodge Dart will land on many
"ugly" lists. Image from MSNBC.

I got the idea for this week's Blast from the Past from the news story that Chrysler is bringing back the Dodge Dart. The new one is a much different critter from the old 60s and 70s Dart, which started kind of classic, and became desperately ugly by the mid-1970s. But so many did!

There is no doubt that Detroit made a lot of ugly iron in the 1970s. Whatever brand loyalty and reputation they may have earned in the previous 50 years was all but destroyed by those crappy cars. Some of them became classics anyway, whether ironically or not. But most of these beasties can only be loved with buckets full of nostalgia thrown on them.


1. Chrysler Cordoba - Only remembered for Ricardo Montalban's "rich Corinthian leather!"
2. Chevrolet Chevette (1976) - This ugly duckling debuted with fanfare it didn't deserve. It never, ever turned into a swan.



3. AMC Pacer - Ugly inside and out, even with a Chevy Nova inside.
4. AMC Gremlin - They took a reasonable looking Hornet, chopped off the trunk, then made it as ugly as possible.



5. Ford Pinto (1970) - Much like the Chevette, Ford tried to make this sound like something wonderful and exciting, and "care free." If you don't care about fires. . .
6. Dodge Dart Swinger - Ten kinds of ugly, swinger or not. (Cheating a little, this is a '69 commercial)



7. Plymouth Duster (1972) - This one actually looked uglier to me in its original time. Given how ugly so many other cars of the era look now, this one is growing on me.
8. Oldsmobile Omega Brougham (1976) - I picked this car because almost nobody remembers it. Unlike the others, it doesn't have a legend that goes with it. But it is a great example of how little thought went into making cars attractive in America in the 1970s. (The original ad is missing, I had to substitute an '80)



That will just about do it for me for the week. I know there are many unrepresented ugly 70s cars, so I tagged this as "Part 1."And we've got other decades to hit too! Happy Monday!

Blast from the Past - Ugly Cars of the 1970s! (Part 1)

I don't think the new Dodge Dart will land on many
"ugly" lists. Image from MSNBC.

I got the idea for this week's Blast from the Past from the news story that Chrysler is bringing back the Dodge Dart. The new one is a much different critter from the old 60s and 70s Dart, which started kind of classic, and became desperately ugly by the mid-1970s. But so many did!

There is no doubt that Detroit made a lot of ugly iron in the 1970s. Whatever brand loyalty and reputation they may have earned in the previous 50 years was all but destroyed by those crappy cars. Some of them became classics anyway, whether ironically or not. But most of these beasties can only be loved with buckets full of nostalgia thrown on them.


1. Chrysler Cordoba - Only remembered for Ricardo Montalban's "rich Corinthian leather!"
2. Chevrolet Chevette (1976) - This ugly duckling debuted with fanfare it didn't deserve. It never, ever turned into a swan.



3. AMC Pacer - Ugly inside and out, even with a Chevy Nova inside.
4. AMC Gremlin - They took a reasonable looking Hornet, chopped off the trunk, then made it as ugly as possible.



5. Ford Pinto (1970) - Much like the Chevette, Ford tried to make this sound like something wonderful and exciting, and "care free." If you don't care about fires. . .
6. Dodge Dart Swinger - Ten kinds of ugly, swinger or not.



7. Plymouth Duster (1972) - This one actually looked uglier to me in its original time. Given how ugly so many other cars of the era look now, this one is growing on me.
8. Oldsmobile Omega Broughm (1976) - I picked this car because almost nobody remembers it. Unlike the others, it doesn't have a legend that goes with it. But it is a great example of how little thought went into making cars attractive in America in the 1970s.



That will just about do it for me for the week. I know there are many unrepresented ugly 70s cars, so I tagged this as "Part 1."And we've got other decades to hit too! Happy Monday!

Sign of the Times: Don't Steal My Neon, Bro!

I'm still studying and fumbling with my many remote controls on my home theater setup, but I thought I'd post this picture I snapped while out shopping this weekend.


In what is either a case of being way overprotective, or just too friggin' broke to tempt fate, the Nevada owner of this mid-90s Plymouth Neon put The Club on the steering wheel. You know, just to be sure.

Another Car Company Bites the Dust: Mercury, R.I.P.

Image from source, Wall Street Journal

It makes sense for Ford to kill off Mercury.  They haven't been a distinct brand in a long time, seemingly made up of a bunch of Fords with different badges (and higher prices).  But it's still a little bit--a very little bit--sad.  In my lifetime, I've seen the demise of AMC, Plymouth, Eagle, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer.  Of those, the biggest surprises were Plymouth (which had survived the near death of Chrysler in the 1970s), Olds (which just seemed too old to go away) and Pontiac (which seemed to at least have the most classic cars in its history). But Mercury was just kind of there.

The last Mercury I remember with a distinct personality was the last iteration of the Cougar, and even it was only "cool" for a year or two before it just looked kind of odd.  All the rest have been retreads of Fords, and they didn't even come up with a better logo than the 80s "M" thingy.  I think Mercury missed out on the "retro" craze brought in by the Volkswagen New Beetle, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the newer Ford Mustangs, the Chevy Camaro and the Dodge Challenger.  They should've pulled one of their classic nameplates out of mothballs, and maybe even put a new spin on the winged Mercury head logo.  Too late now.

[Excerpt]

Ford Will Shut Down Mercury

People who work in or follow the car industry have been predicting the demise of Ford’s Mercury division for years. So it is no surprise to hear today that Ford will kill its middle-of-the-road brand by year’s end. . .

Read more at: Wall Street Journal

Obama Administration Trying to Save Chrysler?

I'm in my early (OK, mid) 40s, and I still remember when the government (then headed by President Jimmy Carter) bailed out the Chrysler Corporation. I was a "'tween" at the time, and even I wondered why anyone would bother. Back then, the big Chrysler models were the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon twins, which were ugly knockoffs of the Volkswagen Rabbit and/or the Chevrolet Chevette. Can you imagine knocking off the piece of crap that was the Chevette?

But in the seventies, almost all of Chrysler's products were knockoffs of other cars. Even the flagship Chrysler New Yorker was a smaller, crappier version of the Lincoln Town Car. But after the bailout, Lee Iacocca steered the company in a new direction, one where Chrysler was the company being copied. The Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager/Chrysler Town & Country were basically the first minivan (if you forget the VW Micro Bus). But internally, Chrysler still copied itself. In that last example, you can see that Chrysler's three different divisions often treated one product as different trim levels, with Plymouth the entry level, Dodge the middle, and Chrysler the top.

Eventually, Plymouth was docked at the shore, and petered out with the "niche" vehicle, the Prowler. After years of mediocrity, Dodge actually began to be cool, and Chrysler's image was tweaked as well. When they ditched the "penta-star"--which had become synonymous with crap--and changed back to their old "wax seal" logo, their image began to change. And when some designer put wings around that logo, they very likely accidentally completely changed the design scheme for the whole division. Every Chrysler has those wings now, and while it may be starting to age, I still like it. And I never look at a Chrysler product anymore and think, "piece of crap."

Along the way, Chrysler scooped up American Motors Corp. as it was dying, mostly to pluck out the Jeep division. For a few years, "Eagle" lived on as a division, stretching out the death of AMC. But Eagle was as unnecessary as Plymouth, and disappeared. Jeep has been (at least from a design and brand-stretching perspective) a success. Until recently, they wouldn't even put Jeep Wranglers on sale, because they didn't ever need to. Chrysler wasn't responsible for the square headlights on their first Wrangler, which was dreamed up by AMC. But their ten-year run of the next Wrangler brought it back to its CJ glory, making me drool until I finally bought one. Several Jeeps have been born under Chrysler, some great (Grand Cherokee), some not (first Liberty looked like the product of a mating between a Kia and a frog).

So, it would be sad to see Chrysler die after such a stunning rebirth, and sustained second life. But as we learned with the death of Plymouth and AMC, we absorb the news and get used to it. And Jeep--as it has through several previous owners--would survive the mayhem.

[Excerpt]

Obama Administration Seeks to Keep Chrysler Out of Bankruptcy

The Obama administration's autos task force adviser Ron Bloom told Chrysler stakeholders this morning that they are working to strike a deal to avoid putting the company into bankruptcy. . .

Read more at: Washington Post