That is a 50-year old question that has scratched the heads of those of us who lament and laugh of these cars. In particular, how do we map the advent of a new class of American car to today’s automobiles?
The year 1977 was a watershed moment in the automotive industry. The OPEC Oil Crisis was already over. However, the lessons learned from the crisis began to trickle down into the products North American automakers rolled out.
The turn of the 1970s was a time of transition. It was clear that Richard Nixon wasn't going anywhere. His administration oversaw the first landing on the moon by human beings, but the escalating war in Vietnam dogged his leadership. In 1968, many thought Nixon was the peace candidate for President. He would end up sending more USA troops into Southeast Asia.
It is with historical context, however. It was ten years removed from a war that should have ended all wars. Unfortunately, a spat between Korean partisans turned into an international affair splitting the peninsula in half. The same trouble was brewing in Vietnam, a soon-to-be former French colony. Even those within the Soviet Bloc weren’t buying into the new world order as envisioned by Karl Marx. Hungary was a year away from challenging Moscow on whether it should be their superpower or not.
One of them will be the year of "thinning the herd," which, sadly, can be taken many ways. However, this term is apt for something that have been a trend in the North American automotive market – the elimination of models from their respective lineups.
TweetIt sounds like a myth, but it is true: I was brought home from the hospital in my mother's 1955 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Starfire convertible. A fact that would otherwise be trivial is an indicator of what my future would hold. Let alone a point of historical reference that denotes a heritage of car ownership. Perhaps …
There seems to be a theme unfolding here. A disturbing and sad theme, but it is the reality that 2020 had yielded for us. On top of a pandemic and the movement towards social justice, many car lines are being eliminated by the end of this calendar year.
It has been something I have witnessed through a brief foray or two into Chevrolet’s mid-sized, three-row SUV since before its first appearance in showrooms in the summer of 2017. I applauded the fact that it has adult-sized space in the third row, despite having access to it from the passenger side only. I also applauded the fact that it is contemporary enough to fit within Chevrolet’s new design guidelines, along with huge advances to its technology offerings.
On Amigo Avenue, the street where I lived, our corner lot at Gilmore Street offered plenty of curbside parking for any of the cars our family owned and any car I would take home from a rental car lot. As with many days in the Valley, when the sun was setting in the west came this shimmering white light across the mulberry trees that would give any of those vehicles a shimmery gleam to our property. In the early years, Mom’s Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Luxury sedan would catch that sheen when she arrived home. On most days, that meant things were OK in the world – even when they were not.
The answer would be obvious by now. You probably recall the old advertising theme from the 1970s, telling us that Americans love "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet." The bowtie brand was the dominant brand of automobile for decades.