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15 Comments on “Ask the Best And Brightest: Is Automotive Nostalgia What It Used to Be?...”
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Ask Peter De Lorenzo that question.
I miss nostalgia
Sure. Watch Barrett-Jackson. The Swinging 70’s are about to kick in. Chicken Trans Ams will rule with the guidomobile IROC Z. 512 Berlinettas will share the stage with cherry Countachs. Still, the big block heavy iron from the late 60’s to early 70’s will still get the big bucks.
If I could,for just one hour,be the top dog at GM instead of the bottom.I would force every executive and board member active and retired to watch that vid.Over and over again.Maybe just maybe they would come to grips with what they managed to destroy.
I didn’t see a 57 Chev darn.But that rear view of the 62 Pontiac, perfect.
Maybe not perfect like J Lo but real close.
I got bored after about 1 minute. Too many fins, fat bodies, faired wheelarches – and of course enough chrome to bury Luxembourg. One good shot of a Miura or an E-type completely sinks that whole montage.
They were beautiful weren’t they? Pretty easy to maintain, but labor intensive. Lousy handling, crappy brakes, weak automatic trans. Ever try starting a 1st gen Chrysler hemi with a 6 volt starter and straight weight oil? Oh, and I forgot, pneumatic wipers. But they dared to be different, you could tell a Dodge from a Buick in those days.
It is true – GM, Ford etc. has completely blown the large car market.
The Town Car is strange hybird/bastard car – too much trying to be the plain, dull European style interior and exterior, yet European fans would never buy one.
So we are left with a bunch of sameness from Detroit and Tokyo.
Great vid!
Mikey, check out my website, motorlegends.com, for a ’57 Chevy. And other nostalgia. –David
That’s why Detroit is so great at producing pickup trucks, they’ve perfected the 1950’s technology that they’re based on, leaf springs and body-on-frame construction.
You guys are attracted to that era? I’d have thought that, for most, that time had come and gone. They’re too large, too inefficient and just plain ugly. That period’s styling cues are dead and buried. One generation later is where all the action is.
Everyone that I know appreciates any car that’s made this far from that era but just for the rarity, not desirability. I haven’t hit 50, yet, but these are before my time.
I love the vid and cars of that era but I’m depressed that I’m nowhere near that good of an artist
Ah, the good old days, when you could actually tell one GM brand from another. For that matter, you could tell the year, make and model of about everything on the road.
@Dimwit:
I agree that these cars were too big and inefficient, and the handling was mostly terrible, but they were wonderful commercial art, and very evocative of the spirit of their era. Nostalgia doesn’t mean you really want to go back to that era; in fact, by its nature, nostalgia has rose-colored glasses. But it sure is fun.
This is a great reminder of how product illustration has largely become a lost art. Many of those wonderful illustrations are the work of the legendary Van Kaufman and Arthur Fitzpatrick, often known as “Van and Fitz.”
John DeLorean was a fan of this team during his tenure as head of the Pontiac division; their technique of “cheating” with the horizontal proportions made many a youngster (including me) lust after a wide-track Pontiac. Unfortunately, today this lack of realism in product presentation would likely prompt a lawsuit for false advertising.
One of these gentlemen was interviewed years later and stated that, some time in the early 1970’s, Pontiac thought it would be less expensive to abandon illustrations and rely solely on photography for all promotional advertising. It turned out that the ad costs for that year far exceeded the budget, due to the uncertainties of photo shoots (weather, equipment failures, issues with models and products). Ironically, these factors were notably absent when the product and scene was depicted from the “perfect world” of the illustrator’s imagination.
Well, this video slideshow gets a smile out of me. IMO, most of today’s cars are either bland or tacky. They can’t compare to the styling of the mid-1950s through mid-1960s. If I didn’t live in the rust belt, which necessitates storing my good cars for the winter, I wouldn’t own anything newer!