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Our Two Cents: 9 Automotive Brands We Miss
There’s a lot to celebrate about the modern car industry. High performance has never been so accessible, or so reliable. A base Prius costs under $30K (just) and returns 57 miles per gallon in the city. Luxury features and safety technology have never been more widely available. But to many people, the current choices are a lot like living in the suburbs: On paper, you have everything you could ever want. In reality? Something’s missing.
Because of globalization, cars no longer look distinctively British, American, French, or German. That increasing homogeneity, where everything kinda looks the same, is one explanation for why we nominated the brands below: Each brought something distinctive, whether that was outside-the-box engineering, stylish quirkiness, or a depth of character that simply doesn’t exist today. No matter how you define the golden era of the automobile, and whether or not you would buy a product offered by one of the automakers named below, we think you’ll agree that the car world is a little worse for their absence.
(We didn’t set out to pick so many brands that started with “S,” by the way. It just sort of happened. And, if you’d like to get lost down a rabbit hole, here is a list of defunct American brands—a lot of interesting ones in there.)
Saturn
Saturn was so easy to root for. This was a youthful, optimistic brand that tried to put its customers first with a no-haggle sales model. The culture, both within General Motors and at dealers, was energized with fresh ideas. The cars themselves were style-forward, particularly at the beginning, but also prioritized ease of repair thanks to easily replaceable body panels. Every few weeks here in southeast Michigan, I still see S-Series Saturns chugging around, cheerful and plastic-paneled as ever. I have no particular interest in these cars myself, but a few years ago, a young Saturn collector made the whole bygone sensation seem endearing. — Eric Weiner
Pontiac
I’m picking Pontiac, from the John DeLorean–led period of the 1960s to its sad, withering death in 2010. Pontiac had a consistently interesting, if not always successful, lineup of cars even towards the end. My mother drove a black-over-silver 1970 LeMans, a good-looking, good-handling car that from 25 feet away could be mistaken for a GTO. In college, I bought a new ’77 Pontiac Trans Am (and yes, I had a full-time job to pay for it) that I like to say was the first car I owned that actually felt a lot like cars do now—radial tires, a properly tuned suspension and good brakes (and, yes, a chicken on the hood). And the last car my parents owned was a Malaise-era 1986 two-door Grand Am, maroon with gray plastic side cladding and nice wheels, but pretty for what it was—and pretty dependable, with the 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-cylinder engine. Miss them, miss Pontiac. It would be interesting to see what they’d be building now. — Steven Cole Smith
Scion
Scions were essentially funky Toyotas that were seemingly purpose-built to appeal to young drivers. There was never a Scion that I saw and thought, “Man, my grandfather would look great in that.”
And perhaps some of them were actually bad! But models like the Scion xB were adventurous with design, entirely unique, and eye-catching in their own weird way. I’ll never forget seeing a Scion xB with a roll-out DJ booth built into it at an auto show once; that thing made zero sense from a driving standpoint, but was a neat exploration of the custom-car world at the time and its immense ties with the world of music. — Nathan Petroelje
Saab
Saab has to be on this list. Thanks to internet lore, even those who haven’t experienced the brand firsthand know about Saab’s quirkiness, and who doesn’t appreciate a company that insists on carving its own path?
But die-hards know Saab’s products weren’t just oddballs—they were incredibly capable and rugged as hell. RBank Racing, the team I used to run with in the Chumpcar/ChampCar budget endurance series, used Saab 9-3s (two of the OG, pre-GM variety), and for a while, they were among the winningest cars in the league. They knocked out 14-, 24-, and even 37- and 38-hour race victories with a combination of reliability, pace, economy, and the ability to take a beating. They were just brilliant cars.— Eddy Eckart
(The Old) Chevrolet
I miss the old Chevrolet. It’s wild that we live in an era where the Bowtie’s only performance vehicle (or fun-to-drive car, for that matter) is the Corvette. I know it doesn’t make any sense to replicate the ’60s when you had Camaro, Chevelle, Nova, Impala, and Monte Carlo in showrooms, but dang, at least give us Chevy lifers something fun in the modern lineup. — Cameron Neveu
Matra
French folly or Gallic great? Matra was actually a bit of both. Genius engineers who won in Formula 1, and when Matra made road cars, they were always innovative. Moving on from the mid-engined Bagheera and Murena into the mainstream, Matra pretty much invented the SUV with the Rancho, then broke new ground with the Espace for Renault, establishing the market for MPVs in Europe. Admittedly, the crazy Avantime coupe was somewhat less successful, but you’ve got to admire the attempt. — Nik Berg
Jaguar
I miss Jaguar. I know the brand isn’t technically defunct, but c’mon. The absolute greatness of Jaguar’s range of cars from the 1950s through the 1970s can’t be overstated, nor can its long, slow decline, which has seen the brand arrive at … whatever it seems to be doing now, which equates to teasing a rolling fashion accessory while not building much of anything. — Stefan Lombard
Mercury
Thanks to names like Montego and Cougar, the Mercury brand was a big part of my childhood. I looked up to the Marquis and Grand Marquis, as those were the cars my parents wanted but could not afford. Then the Sable came out and blew my little mind! At some point, I went to the library to learn about Mercury vehicles, and guess what happened when I read about the Mercury Marauder? I became a loyalist for life.
But there was always trouble in paradise, and Mercury’s marketing dollars moving from men to women as the decades passed suggests they never really had a firm grasp on either segment of the market. These days, I drive my 1988 Mercury Cougar to local car shows and I’m almost always the only person with a Mercury. It could be worse, because when people complain about how their brand is faltering, I point to my car and say, “At least you still have something to complain about.” — Sajeev Mehta
Marmon
There are many brands I would love to revive, but the question is not what I would bring back but rather what I miss. Marmon has been defunct for the better part of 92 years, but every time I see a Marmon automobile, it makes me smile. Created by Howard Carpenter Marmon in 1902 from inside a flour grinding machinery company, Marmon went on to create stylish cars with cool powerplants, including a V-16 that was just a year or two late compared to Cadillac’s. Had Marmon gotten the jump, it may well have propelled the company further in history, especially when you add in Marmon’s Indianapolis 500 history with the Wasp. This is one cool brand that seems like it could have made some fun vehicles if it had survived into the ’50s and ’60s. — Kyle Smith
My experience with the Marmon marque was indeed an adventure. This took place in the late ’70s. My father was a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair, and thus finding vehicles that were suitable for his transportation was always a challenge. Somewhere he turned up a 1946 Marmon-Herrington DELIVR-ALL milk delivery truck, powered by a Willys 4-cylinder. Due to the milkman needing to make frequent stops and get in and out with little effort, the seat was basically a bicycle seat on a folding stand that could be stowed up against the firewall to allow access to the back of the van. And the most unique (and important) part was that the throttle was on a knob that twisted on top of the shifter. This was wonderful – in his mind – as part of a “hand controlled” vehicle, with the addition of lever and linkages to also make the clutch and brakes operable by hand. His vision (for me to accomplish) was to remove the bike seat and put in a floor clamp system to enable him to park his wheelchair as the “driver’s seat”; build the brake and clutch controls, and fashion ramps that would winch down and up in the rear door opening to facilitate his entry and egress. He figured a couple of benches on the side walls back in the milk storage area would accommodate passengers. I was also to install “seat belt” restraints of some sort for both he and his riders.
I got the thing running and did the normal thing with new tires, brakes, and replacing a couple pieces of broken glass. Then I started on engineering the conversion to full-on hand controls and ramp designing. Dad lived on Social Security and a small disability pension, so expenditures had to be kept small and spread out over time. I taught myself how to stick weld while building seating frames and bracketry (which impressed to old man).
We had several failures at folding ramp designs (needing to extend out far enough to give him a gentle slope and still stow in the door opening was a BIG challenge). The hand controls needed some tweaking, but they were coming together. Then tragedy struck and my dad was burned badly in a fire. His overall health was deteriorating, and he decided he should no longer try to drive. He sold the Marmon to the pro-painter who did some of the rebuilding work on his fire-damaged home.
I’ve no idea if I would have ever got that thing operating sufficiently for Dad to go anywhere in it by himself (I did take him for some short drives with myself driving while standing up) – but he and I had a lot of quality time trying to solve the problems and figuring out the logistics of the project. I for one vote for Kyle’s choice (although the trucks and Indy cars were pretty far apart) – my personal experience with one of their products was both frustrating and wonderful at the same time. Gawd, how I wish that old milk truck was parked out in my barn right now – the memories!!!
That’s a great story.
Thanks for sharing. What a great memory with your pops.
Thanks, sledawgpilot. As a “it’s a small world” follow up, telling the story made me curious to do some digging online. I ran across this: https://www.ewillys.com/2013/05/24/1947-marmon-herrington-delivery-van-johnsburg-il-1800/ – where there is this entry…”I used to own one of these back in 1976 Boise, Idaho. It was a milk delivery van. I had a painting baseness then. I gave it away.” Posted by John in 2015. This cannot be a coincidence, it has to have been my dad’s van.
There’s just something about the exotic styling of the 77 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that still gets me gawking. It looked like a wild animal. It looked dangerous. It looked like it could bite your leg off. That to me was one of the best styles if not the best style produced by any car company.
I wholeheartedly agree!
I kept my 78 Trans Am for 19 years. Then bought a 97 Cobra mustang. Kept it for 25 years and gave it to my son for Christmas.
I now have a 66 mustang.
Lucky kid just like Dad!
What about Plymouth? C’mon everybody remembers when the Roadrunners hit the market, I never had one but I do have a 340 Duster.
Agree, Hard to imagine that got missed in the lineup. Ive never owned a mopar but Plymouth had some iconic models.
Yeah, I’m with you and what about Oldsmobile? They had some 442’s that were hot. The Cutlass #1 sales field for hell I think 10 years from the 70s up through like the mid late 80s.
Definitely can’t skip Oldsmobiles.
I agree on the Oldsmobile marque. Olds was always the GM brand that got the newest technology for car buyers to “test” out. From hydramatic transmissions in the 50’s to the first American made front wheel drive in the 1966 Toronado. I have owned more Cutlasses than any other model, 4 to be exact and currently have had a 1984 Hurst/Olds for 26 years with license plate EXTINCT 1. Sorry to see Olds and Pontiac go extinct.
Can not forget Olds.
I had a 1972 340 Duster with a Zoom 433 rear end.
Nothing extra on it, just a Hurst 4 speed
Great fun car to get off the line. Never got beat. Sorry I sold it.
Plymouth for sure I want my old road runner and barracuda back
Plymouth gets no love these days, as it is overshadowed by Dodge, but that’s a shame! While we’re at it, how about some love for the DeSoto, Chrysler’s red-headed middle child, between Plymouth at the low end and Dodge just below Chrysler at the high end? The last DeSoto rolled off of the line in 1961, when JFK was still moving into the White House, so again, I have no direct memory of them, but they should get some attention too, right?
To be entirely fair, there were over one-hundred American car makers in 1900, but only three (3) survived to the 21st century, so we can’t cover them all, but some are getting short shrift, IMHO.
What about the Cuda, one of the most sought after cars, especially the top dog HEMI CUDA. Need I say more.
What a cool van! With a transverse 4 cyl engine and fwd! So sorry about your dad’s misfortunes and I can see why he would want it for a wheelchair. Hey, if that was your van, at least you know it is still around…and it still runs!
That’s so cool! Has to be the same painter guy.
Your kidding me? Matra what is that? Saab? scion? What about Oldsmobile? The oldest car manufacture in the US at the time and the first with an assembly line! The top selling Cutlass and the 442. I usually dont look at lists like this but this one is way off!!
I AGREE 100% PERCENT!!! Oldsmobile… the1966 Toronado …STILL REVERED! I am amazed at how CLUELESS these “experts” are!
I agree with Frank!! Not only the Toronado, for sure, but Oldsmobile was the GM innovation division!
Then get your own magazine and you can be the “expert”. These were their choices, not yours. AND they said there were a lot that got left out. Good grief, man, don’t take this article so personally.
Sounds like Lightn Up needs to take his own advice !
Bad day huh . This is getting better all the time!
Appears to me that lighntn up needs to use spell check but don’t criticize those in the majority. Plymouth deserves more attention than some of those foreign monstrosities.
Had an 86 Toronado and it was the best ride ever!!!
And the Vista Cruiser!
There was a similar Buick, but the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser was the one most people remember. And, I believe more popular
CORRECT! As someone who owned a 1966 442 I can say they were fun to drive, and lasted a long time! I sold mine with 120K miles on it, running well still. Why GM killed the Oldsmobile name I will never know.
I Love the Colonnade body style by Fisher of the time…is the ’73 GTO considered Colonnade? But anyway the W-30 and Gran Sport. Heck, even the Cordoba and Torino had a similar look…..
My 70 cutlass supreme was my best car ever.
My ‘79 Calais was my worst. Bought new but there was never a day where everything was perfect.
Agreed 100%
There’s a name I haven’t seen in years
Any chance you’re from Canada?
I’m with you. I thought they would list the Olds first. I’m 73 now but my dad was an Olds guy. 63 Olds 98 and then a 67 Tornado. In my 20’s I had two 69 Olds 442 convertibles. Wish I had them now.
Amen…and let us not forget the Hurst 442. I had a 69 and it was a true muscle car. Loved it!
These articles are like “we have a slow day think something up ” ! Not much though goes into any of them, or most anyways. Maybe it`s because the ones who write them are too young to truly understand the automobile history ? Come on guys ,, take a bit longer thinking about what you are writing about !
Had several new Oldsmobiles:
1. 1967 Olds 88 sedan
2. 1973 Olds 98 Sedan
3. 1983 Olds 98 sedan
4. 1983 Olds Cutlass (company car)
The 1973 Olds 98 coupe was absolutely the best. Just a superb highway cruiser.
The 1967 Olds 88 sedan gave the most problems, mainly water pumps.
The 1983 Cutlass never had one single problem.
Still hard to believe that GM got rid of Oldsmobile.
There still are Iconic car brands with distinctive looks that are fun to drive, American cars Corvette Camaro Mustang Dodge Challenger/Charger
You are a good son.
Incredible heartfelt story and perhaps one of your best comments of them all. Thank you for sharing!
Good on you, sir!
Thank you so much for the great story about you and your pop working together on the restoration and necessary modifications so he could drive it!!
I was a little confused about the article / title but very happy I read through it. I thought I would see: Packard, Plymouth, Olds, Pontiac, maybe Nash Rambler, Hudson, Studebaker, AMC, etc for American and maybe Triumph, Simca, etc…
First of all, no matter what brand, it would be the same boring stuff that is available today. Body designs are all the same looking to me for each category. Only the front and rear plastic varies. I get it, the shapes are the optimum aerodynamics – the engines all sound the same for each category.
Do you remember when you could tell what brand of vehicle was coming towards you by the sound of the exhaust??
Or at-a-glance you knew what brand and model it was? That’s what I miss…
Anyway, I’m sooo glad I read through it so that I could enjoy DUB6 wonderful story. Thanks for sharing… : )
I’m sorry – it’s not the 60’s, but chevy’s not dead. Nor is it just corvette. What about blazer ev ss? 0-60 in 3.4 seconds.
Even the blazer ev awd (at 6 sec) bests the chevelle ss 454.
They say you can’t go back home again. But nostalgia is cool…
In my more imaginative moments I wonder what Jaguar could have done if they were able to remain independent, and had they committed to continuing development and production of lightweight, technologically sophisticated, straight-six powered sports cars like the E-Type, much in the way Porsche evolved the 911 concept over the decades.
I agree. Back on the 80s I had the pleasure of driving around for a in a XJ5 touring sedan and was enthralled with it, got to love the XJ series body lines as works of art. Then the late 90s hit and the XJs and other series were looking too much like the other euro cars and I feel like they lost their individuaility and I don’t know how or why. Until I driven that car up until then I was strictly American made fan until I driven the XJ5 or when Audi built good cars like the Audi 5000. They changed my mind. Porsche didn’t have to change my mind I was in love first drive in a 911. And a older 913 I think.
You of course mean XJ6. There was no Jaguar XJ5. The “Six” in the model name refers to the venerable DOHC inline six engine. There was also an upscale XJ12, also in reference to the engine.
Jaguar isn’t defunct just yet, and anything is possible in this world. If the EV Type 00 to be released in the not too distant future is a bust it doesn’t necessarily mean the demise of the marque itself, but perhaps a new awakening. If it’s met with lacklustre sales maybe even more of a wakeup call to get back to the basics that made Jaguars great cars in their heyday.
If we’re going to reminisce about Jaguars, how about Triumphs?!
I still own a 1969 Triumph TR6 which gets a lot of attention anywhere I am.
With their very dependable straight 6 cylinder engines and (optional) electric overdrive transmissions, (optional) spoked
wheels, these 2 seater convertibles are frequently described as the last of the ‘hairy chested sportscars’.
Triumphs, MGs, Austin Healeys, Morgans, and ACs should be in anyone’s list of ‘missed cars’, if Jaguars are.
Agree – great looking. gobs of torque, fun to drive. Sounds fantastic too!
I agree, Jaguar lost direction and instead of making beauty and performance the key elements insisted on, and I quote a Jaguar designer here ‘I know its a sports car but it has to take a set of Golf clubs or we cant sell it….’
I played Golf once in the 70s and never again but have bought around 15 jags since then.
I stopped buying new models when , as you say, they started looking like everything else.
I look forlornly at my Mk2 and XK120 and wonder where it all went so wrong…
Saab, oh Saab! Man, for a quirky personality and something different in luxury other than The Jones’s BMW or Audi? There was the Saab. I loved it; I hated it; in the end, I simply loved it! I miss it to this day. I bought one new in 2003 a 9-3. GM totally ruined the brand!
Had a 900GLE with the weird starter and the front wheel drive that took a little while to get used to. Dark Brown with dark red velour. And it ran!
Still miss the first car -bucket of bolts Plymouth. I own a 69 Barracuda convertible and it gets oohs and aahs in town….Mopar!
My dad wouldn’t buy Ford because of 30’s anti-semitism.
Don’t agree that GM ruined SAAB. I have owned SAABs from MY ’88, ’91, 94 (2), and finally a 2008 which runs great and I still own. GM did for SAAB what Ford did for Jaguar (had one of them too, a 2001 XJR). I don’t agree with all that GM did, but then again I don’t care for any new cars on the market today – too much distracting electronics. I want to drive a car, not a P.C.
So two editors picked brands that still exist and no one said Oldsmobile?
Yes, What about Oldsmobile. Do they not know about Olds. What about all the great 442s?
Not just 442s, but Hurst Olds, Cutlass, Vista Crusier. Not only was the Cutlass a sales leader in the later 70s and 80s, but Olds engineers developed cutting edge tech that spread across the industry.
I agree! My ’77 Cutlass was a joy to drive, reliable, and good looking.
Thank you for mentioning Oldsmobile! Not so sure where the writers of this article are at.
Absolutely! I expected names like Packard, Nash/Rambler/AMC, Delorean, Tucker, Cord, etc. Either misnamed article, or poorly prepared. Not up to great articles of Hagerty.
Tucker. Absolutely!
Totally agree — the only unexpected (yet highly appropriate) choice was Marmon.
(Duesenbergs were for show-offs; Marmons were for those with quietly confident good taste.)
Packard should have been an obvious choice. Also Studebaker, maybe Hudson — two independents that were different through choice and necessity.
Fully agree! There were plenty of visionary car companies that did not survive and car culture would be better to have them around. GM divisions had way too many thinly veiled clones. Saturn was the exception at the beginning but ended up the same. I have a 56 Olds I love but what would the big 3 be doing with Olds or Pontiac or Mercury or Plymouth now? Making the same SUVs but with different grills? We want independent companies like Duesenberg back. We would know a Tucker if we saw it or Delorean. Inovative and styled to set them apart. Too many cars have looked the same as each other for too long. We are starting to see that change though; it’s getting a little more interesting to see what’s coming down the street.
Have owned 3 Olds, I agree. Also, no one named DeSoto. I think it had many good looking 50s models with the 57 the prettiest of them. Also, a hidden gem with a small block hemi in the Fireflite series.
And not a mention of Plymouth, either!
Yes…my thoughts exactly.
Or American Motors Corporation but did choose the Scion? AMC created some hot rods back in the day with the AMX, the Javelin, and the Rebel.
Seems to be what unfortunately happens when AI is used in helping writers with articles.
Hi Jeffery, thanks for reading. We don’t use AI here.
In order to verify that you’re an actual human, which of these photographs contain no visual reference to a 1934 Hudson Terraplane?
As the current owner three Matras (Bagheera, Murena, Rancho), I can attest to their innovation, great looks and satisfying performance. I’d love to add an Espace and an Avantime to my fleet, but the importing effort would be enormous. And when I need heated seats, I leave the Matras in the garage, and drive my Saab Viggen.
Don’t miss any.
They had their times. While I’m a Pontiac fan I am glad they died vs just being a SUV division like Buick.
Time gave changed and customers are mostly wanting safe, affordable and utility. So that is whst they are building. Anyone say Trax?
Pontiac should have been the home of GM sport coupes, sedans, and SUVs, building excitement. They also made sedans that looked like coupes up to maybe 2003. Own and weekly driver a 2001 Grand Prix GT coupe at 180k miles. My last Avis management car. Keeping it alive for as long as I can.
Three words: Pontiac Solstice Coupe. A fourth: gorgeous! OK, a fifth: they made <1300.
But that was an Opel/Vauxhall
I miss Saab the most yes they were just rebadged GM cars in their later years however they were quite innovative and advanced for their time and they are really nice cars something affordable like a Volvo
Imagine if Saab was still making cars it would’ve been cool to see them benchmark their fighter jet technology and design into their cars and it would’ve been nice to see another Swedish brand among Volvo and Koenigsegg
While Saab liked to tout their aviation ties – “From Jets ” – in truth Saab aviation and Saab automotive split early on. Quite a bit earlier than Rolls Royce if I’m not mistaken which did likewise. They encouraged people, including owners, to maintain that assumption. Good cars but two totally separate entities with no ties between them and no shared technology. Even claiming ” aviation inspired ” was stretching the truth. When asked about this (obviously quite a few years ago) the head of Saab North America said something like – ” Well …we like to think the same spirit still survives.”
“From the speedway comes their stamina; from the skyway comes their style.”
Studebaker built radials for B-17’s and jets for the B-47, and had an airline as a subsidiary.
Packard made Merlins, put the first diesel in an airplane — and Selfridge was their CEO’s back yard.
Are you the Paul Murray from VA? The man that can stretch mileage out of semi trucks?
I have a vast car collection including a first gen 2003/2006 Scion xB. IF I had to give up everything and only keep one car. My choice would be the xB. Most that hate on them have NEVER ridden in one to fully appreciate them. The second gen xBs have been Americanized and are bigger fatter and only get 26 MPG.
My tastes have changed as I get older. Gone is the I want to pull the front wheels off the ground in an AMX. because I can. I don’t desire hey look at me. I don’t plan on purging my 401K for instant gratitude on something I don’t need.
Now all I want utility and economy with superior reliability wrapped in fun. Can your car haul two people AND a new washer and not have to adjust the front seats into the windshield? A local has one with over 400,000 miles. Original untouched driveline. 38 MPG with A/C on. Great sound system and power amenities. Did I say plenty of room? The only vehicle I wish I could buy new. In fact the only car my wife and I used to fight over wanting to drive.
It’s the only one I wish to own until the end. Toyota how could you?
I wish Toyoder would go away, too.
Anyone who refers to the world’s most successful auto company by an infantile nickname has opinions that aren’t worth airing. If you want people to take you seriously, express yourself like an adult,
You knew you were going to offend some people, more than some, perhaps intentionally. Saturn but not Olds- mo- boogie? “Old Chevrolet” ? – “Dang” – Are you serious? You miss the days of running Uncle Gumpys and Dag Pa’s shine out in the back woods while chompin’ on a bucket of the colonels finest? Then why not the old photo of your Chevelle SS at the local ‘Stuckeys’. To pick one out of a long ‘possibly could have’ list. Packard. Would have been nice to see a true high end luxury brand carry on like Rolls and Bentley, even though I’m not a luxury car guy.
I was a strictly American Made until I got to drive a Jaguar. I do also miss Pontiac but I also miss Oldsmobile. And also the old Chevys.
Saturns have their following but they were the definition of unexciting
Saabs cut their teeth on being quirky looking cars, and when the styling started mellowing out, they just didn’t really stand out from the other brands any more
Saturn was the car GM should have been building to compete with Chevy VS Toyota. But they even screwed this up as the lack of quality and lack of investment killed them.
By the time Lutz brought in the compels it was too late as Opel was dying in Europe.
Now Ford is losing billions so selling GM Europe looks good now.
Sorry hyperv6, I think you’re wrong. My Saturn SL is one of the highest quality cars I have ever owned. Performance it is not, but it just keeps running ,and running, and running.
Loved my SL2 Saturn I do not remember why I sold it. I called it GM’s Toyota.
Not sure if I can narrow it down to one brand. I never personally experienced a Packard, but with all I’ve read, and as much as I like the styling and innovation of the ’55 & ’56 models, this might be my # 1. Then there’s Checker, I like that they’re boxy utilitarian functional. Saab? My parents owned a ’72 99E. To me, an incredible car with very solid yet unconventional engineering. Mmm, tough choice!
Definitely Pontiac and the old Chevy’s.
STUTZ
America needs a sporty luxury car.
Indianapolis racer, builder of the immortal Bearcat (perhaps the best model name ever). Raced at Le Mans, and was an American Bentley at a sub-Lincoln price.
For awhile they were even marketed as “The Safety Stutz” due to some innovative features (better brakes and safety glass).
How forward was that?
We deserve something better than over-guilded Lincolns and gangster wannabe Cadillacs.
Come to think of it, we need Packard too.
I like the way you think, JohnB!