Author Topic: Only in America ...  (Read 1517 times)

Pilgrim

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #15 on: January 15, 2021, 08:19:04 AM »
I think the Challenger is an inspired update of an old design.  Ford also has done a consistently great job with the Mustang (until the electric suppository they call a Mustang E...)

I have been a fan of GM, but they must have sent all their designers to a gulag sometime around 1980. Aside from the Corvette and Camaro, the styling of their passenger vehicles was freakin' awful, and the interiors weren't any better.  When Olds went under, if I were CEO I would have scrapped all the styling on the Chevy cars and used the Olds bodies instead; they had a few attractive points. But in general, it all sucked. For about three decades there wasn't a single GM car I liked other than the 'Vette or Camaro.

For the resurrected Camaro - my thought for the design would have been to park a 1968 Camaro in a big garage, put chairs around it, send in the designers and tell them "don't come out of the room until you have a design that echoes this car." They came within shouting distance of it, but I thought it was not as close as the Challenger or Mustang.   
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lowend1

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #16 on: January 15, 2021, 09:02:36 PM »
I don’t think the Camaro was supposed to be a retro design. Only little bits and pieces of the past were allowed to squeak through, leaving it with an ambiguous, unfinished look. The Challenger and Mustang were fully fleshed out. The Challenger is a heftier car than its ancestor, but I’ve always been a big-car guy anyhow. I think if Buick were to revisit the Grand National, it would sell. Of course, they would have to use a Chevy motor, which would kinda be sacrilege.
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Dave W

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #17 on: January 15, 2021, 09:32:02 PM »
At least GM has the worst TV car ads in history.

uwe

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #18 on: January 16, 2021, 04:13:27 AM »
What happened to the Dodge Viper, is that still being built in some shape or form? I remember a friend calling it "Pamela Anderson as a car".  :mrgreen:
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Pilgrim

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #19 on: January 16, 2021, 09:49:59 AM »
What happened to the Dodge Viper, is that still being built in some shape or form? I remember a friend calling it "Pamela Anderson as a car".  :mrgreen:

It went out of production in 2017, although the remaining new old stock cars are still being sold.
https://www.motor1.com/news/447601/two-dodge-viper-sold-q3-2020/#:~:text=That's%20down%20from%20the%20five,has%20ceased%2C%20its%20sale%20continues.
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lowend1

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #20 on: January 16, 2021, 01:21:41 PM »
What happened to the Dodge Viper, is that still being built in some shape or form? I remember a friend calling it "Pamela Anderson as a car".  :mrgreen:

The Viper was a fantastic "halo car" - low production, expensive and with limited market appeal, and drives the brand image. When they introduced the Hellcat, Demon and variants thereof, they realized that building a V10 specifically for the Viper didn't make much sense, especially since the Hellcat V8 is more powerful. A Viper without the V10 kind of defeats the whole purpose of its existence.
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uwe

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Re: Only in America ...
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2021, 11:11:05 AM »
I saw one once in Germany - not a lot made it over here. The side exhaust pipes were a work of art, like pythons trying to get into the car.  :mrgreen:
We've taken too much for granted ... and all the time it had grown ...
From techno seeds we first planted ... evolved a mind of its own ...