Posts from ‘Classic Cars’
Forgotten Concept: Cadillac Voyage
Cadillac Voyage Concept
This is an installment in a series of posts looking back on show cars that we feel deserved a little more attention than they got. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept topic, please shoot us a line or leave a comment below.
10 Worst Gas Guzzlers of 1994*
1994 Cadillac Deville
I’m not quite ready to accept the Nineties as the distant past, but maybe I need to. Consider that the first official White House website went live in 1994, and that Quentin Tarantino’s now-classic Pulp Fiction was released the same year. It’s getting hard to remember a world before internet connections and great Vincent Vega quotes. In auto-related news, trucks accounted for 40 percent of all light-duty-vehicle sales for the very first time.
Consumer Guide Publisher Tom Appel learned to drive stick in a 1977 Ford Pinto nearly identical to the one seen here.
I learned to drive a manual transmission in 1982. I was in something of a hurry to do so, as I had just started working at a service station and was not keen to admit to my boss or any of the mechanics there that I could not operate a three-pedal vehicle. It was just assumed that I could, and I meant to meet that expectation.
Funny story about learning to drive stick…
2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer
I joined the Consumer Guide team the summer of 2002. That means that, in just a few months, I will have been writing about cars full-time for 20 years. I mention this because I have only recently begun to consider just how much the automotive landscape has changed in the past two decades.
1961 Plymouth Belvedere Four-Door Sedan
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2017 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
Plymouth spent the early Sixties in crisis mode. Sales of the 1960 Plymouths had been disappointing. Although the 1961 car was a continuation of the 1960 body shell, it got a complete makeover. Only the roof and doors were carried over—all other sheetmetal was new.
Pontiac Grand Prix STE Turbo
by Don Sikora II
Note: The following story was excerpted from the Februry 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
From the Pontiac Grand Prix’s 1962 introduction through 1989 it was exclusively a two-door car. That changed with the addition of four-door sedans for 1990. More-door GPs continued through 2008, but perhaps the most interesting one of them all came from that inaugural season: the little-remembered STE Turbo.
1957 Pontiac Star Chief Hardtop Coupe
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2017 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
The 1957 Pontiac was the first Pontiac since 1934 without “Silver Streaks” on the hood. Before Cadillac had tailfins and Buick had portholes, Pontiac had its signature chrome band (or bands) adorning the hood. However, Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen arrived as Pontiac’s new general manager just as the ’57 models were ready for production, and he was determined to change that.
Review Flashback! 2006 Subaru Baja
2006 Subaru Baja
The classic Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is widely beloved today, but did you know that it was met with only faint critical praise when it was released in time for the holidays in 1946? The Frank Capra-directed story about a family man fallen on hard times underperformed at the box office, and would not be recognized as a serious work of cinematic art until decades later. Fans of the film will be glad to hear that It’s a Wonderful Life now ranks high on the American Film Institute’s (AFI’s) 100 Years, 100 Movies list.
2007 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
Thanks in large part to Chevrolet’s involvement in NASCAR racing, the somewhat anachronistic Monte Carlo outlived its useful life span by half a decade or so. By 2000, the mainstream-brand midsize/large coupe segment was all but gone, with only the coupe versions of the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry (dubbed Solara) still seeing meaningful sales volume.
Mercury Villager Nautica
According to Investopedia.com, co-branding is “… a marketing strategy that utilizes multiple brand names on a good or service as part of a strategic alliance. Also known as a brand partnership, co-branding (or “cobranding”) encompasses several different types of branding collaborations, typically involving the brands of at least two companies.”
