If you’re a bit confused by the title of this post, I’ll explain below. But in the meantime, take a good look at the headlight of this car from a screenshot of a Wheel of Fortune show from 1987 (that alone helps). And then start Googling to find a correct match. It’s worth big bucks to CC, so here’s your chance to support your favorite website with your car-spotting skill. Maybe we’ve found a new way to support CC.
A few days back, I got an email via CC from Andrew M. asking me: “What’s the truck at 0:33?” I gave him the (obvious) answer.
Then a couple of days later, another one asking what’s the truck in this screen shot? Easy.
And then today I got Question #3: What’s the station wagon at 0:45 in this WOF show? I gave him the answer, although the fuzzy video made it a bit more difficult than the previous ones.
I also told him: “So you’ve now used up your first three questions. From now on it’s $10 a pop. ? ”
Not more than an hour or so later, I got this: “I’ll Pay for the $10 for What Was Headlights of the 1987 Car @ 15:21″.
Well, this one’s a bit trickier, although I have a few initial thoughts. But I’m right in the middle of a very different train of thought on a post I’m pulling together for CC, so I though I would pass this one to you. And the $10 will go towards the several thousand I’m going to have to shell out very shortly for a complete technical overhaul of the site, which as you’ve undoubtedly notices has been rather buggy and slow and throws Error 503 codes constantly.
I should ad that Andrew has already made his donation via the “Donate to CC” button on the right of the home page. So now we need to deliver.
This is different than a Clue where we don’t want proof of your guess. In order to convince me and our patron/taskmaster, you need to come up with a shot from the web that is solid proof of your guess and attach it to your comment. And yes, the video is not the best. But that’s what we have to work with, and that’s why our future patron is obviously coming to us with these hard questions.
And yes, feel free to give your guesses for the first three, if you want to confirm or contradict mine (#1: Mitsubishi Triton/Dodge D50/Plymouth Arrow; #2: Chevrolet Suburban; #3: Chevrolet Cavalier)
My guess is Isuzu I-Mark. Couldn’t find any long shots in the video to confirm that.
I’m pretty sure the I-Mark always had orange side markers in the North American market.
That;’s my guess too, or a Chevy Spectrum. I know, same car different badge.
I’d like to buy a vowel.
They are $5 each (or two for $8). There’s a Donate button towards the upper right. 🙂
I’m going with Dodge Colt, the Mirage’s separated at birth twin, either 1987 or perhaps early 1988. I suppose Plymouth could always be the answer too…
Either way I’m sure it came equipped with “all standard features and accessories”…
I agree with Dodge Colt. The Spectrum has orange corner lights.
The Colts are white.
Correct on the Sputum, er, Spectrum corner lights (we had one):
The problem with the Colt is that we’ve got a glimpse at the grill opening there, and I don’t remember the Colt ever having a grill like that.
Of course, if I remember right the same basic car was being sold by three different brands at that time if you count Eagle, so maybe it’s one of the lessor known variants.
Pretty sure Wheel of Fortune and Price is Right exclusively gave away American branded cars until at the least the late 2000’s when I stopped watching, so we can eliminate the imports.
They also had a tendency to only give away the most bare-bones trim produced. I would wager 50% of all Escort Pony’s and Sundance Americas ever made were given away on TV….
I will second the Chevy Spectrum guess from above.
So true about the bare bones car giveaways. Back in 1961 a neighbor and good friend of the family won the new car raffle always featured on the last night of our parish carnival. It was a new Olds Dynamic 88, donated by a local dealer who was a prominent parishioner. A total strippo, its only option was Hydra-matic. No radio, manual everything, black walls and hubcaps. Later on a friend of my wife drove a totally stripped Vega that her mother had won on The Price is Right.
I remember the Kinsmen Car Award at out local exhibition.
An acquaintance down the street won a ’73 Mustang Mach 1, same deal, 302, 3-speed, no radio. A ’73 T-Bird was also alwarded, which I had a chance to inspect about 3 years later. Manual windows, AM radio, no AC, it was a stripper, even though it was a T-Bird.
Two years back my wife won this. Mini Cooper with a few options – black roof, stripes.
Same deal with GMs “Hot Button” giveaways in the mid 00s. My mother lucked out when she randomly chose a Buick dealer. The winner got the base model of the smallest/cheapest car in the lineup. In 2005 that Buick was the LaCrosse. When she won it we learned that the car would be a special order so she could choose the color and could pay for any optional equipment (at full MSRP, no less). She popped for a couple of options and paid taxes on it. It was still by far less expensive than buying a new car.
I remember reading your article about that LaCrosse. It was very enlightening.
Let’s Make a Deal was never chintzy with the extras.
Many times, but not always. Barker put the kibosh on “foreign” cars in the 1980s and the show as we know it began in 1972.
That’s wild, I remember a couple Cadillacs and a Corvette on the end of The Golden Road, but definitely no Mercedes in my viewing years. I probably started watching in 1987 or so.
They definitely departed from the “crank-window” specials for the big prize on the Golden Road, the last time I saw an episode it was a big Class A RV.
I stumbled upon these recently after needing to watch Barker and Adam Sandler together. They did a sequel a few years ago.
Another clip I found had The Golden Road. At the end was a Jaguar XJ12 convertible. At over $10k in 1975ish, it was quite the prize!
Just imagine…You’re a schoolteacher form the outskirts of Buffalo, NY. You vacation in L.A. the summer of ’75 and score passes to be in the audience. Then all of a sudden it’s “Come On Down” time for you!
Then it all goes well, Bob gives you a wet kiss and you win the XJ12 Cabriolet at the end. What the hell are you going to do with that thing in Buffalo? Probably drive it a bit until you need to put gas in it, then somehow find the cash to pay taxes on it, then try to sell it for what that market will bear (no internet, no Craigslist, nothing but the classifieds….)
What a curse… At least the Cavalier wagon you could use.
Jim, I went to college for a brief while with a girl who won a Pontiac Sunbird on The Price Is Right in the early 1990s. It was such a big pain for her with taxes, delivery, choosing the color, and paperwork she nearly told them to keep it.
Jason, I wonder if she chose the teal and it now needs a new clutch…:-)
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/used-cars/craigslist-classic-1993-pontiac-sunbird-750-worth-of-excitement/
Man, isn’t that the truth. I’m able to watch the current Let’s Make A Deal with Wayne Brady and half the time in my head I’m like “you really want to pay the tax on that?” Yeah, you can keep that ugly $7k bedroom set. That said, I have seen a BMW 2 series and a Mercedes CLA on the show recently.
Who remembers Sale Of the Century (mid 80’s)? That show had lots of nice cars they gave to winners.
Looks to be a Ford Taurus
That was my first thought.
Definitely a Colt/Mirage. The Spectrum/I-Mark had very noticeably amber corner lights in its’ facelifted, non-sealed-beam versions.
I’m almost getting a Nissan 200 vibe, though the Dodge Colt does look promising too.
Scratch that; wrong model year. I need a nap.
’87 Sentra?
What? There was a car in the opening photo?
My mind was swept away imagining a Caribbean Adventure with Vanna! Unfortunately, My imagination seems to have lost its glasses. 😉
I really want to say it’s a 1988 Renault 9, but that doesn’t make any sense. In the USA, this car was known as the Renault Alliance, but the Alliance was discontinued in 1987 so we never got the 1988 facelifted version of the car in the US. (but maybe Canada?)
The episode in question aired in June 1987. In May of 1987 a contestant won both a Jeep and a Renault Alliance (R9) GTA, the top of the line, sportiest version of the car. So Renault certainly had a presence on the show (as did some fairly high-end makes actually, including Mercedes so it for sure wasn’t just economy cars.
Is it possible (but slightly farfetched) that perhaps in June a Renault was featured on the show as a prop that was not won and not actually ever in production (i.e. the facelifted version of the Alliance (R9)?
The Alliance was produced in the US through June of 1987 but would have had the old style front end. Perhaps some with new front ends were around for promotional purposes or with thoughts of keeping the line open with the new styling? Chrysler didn’t buy AMC until August of 1987 and while they were obligated to keep selling the Medallion (with a quick rebadge for the 1988 model year as an Eagle instead of 1987’s Renault badging), they may have been able to axe the Alliance as they never wanted Renault anyway, just Jeep…?
Show timeline source http://wheeloffortunehistory.wikia.com/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune_timeline_(syndicated)/Season_4
Here’s the Renault in question. The headlight shape checks out, the clear marker light, and the grill too. Just not where it was sold…
I agree, Todd. Found your post when I was scrolling down to post that myself.
Ooops. You are right. I was thinking about European /latín América version
Hyundai excel or Mitsubishi précis is my guess
1987 Subaru Loyale
Subaru Loyale
Sorry for the dual post. Said “Service Unavailable” the first time I submitted.
Fiat Tempra
Things were a lot different back in the Bill Cullen days:
I watched Price is Right back in the ’70s when I was a kid. People got SO excited about the opportunity to win a stripped Vega or Pinto or Gremlin! Johnny the Announcer would always scream about how they had “the bumper protection group and all California Emissions equipment” making them sound loaded! LOL It was a scream!
First thing I did was searching “Renault” to see if anyone posted about the 1988 R9 (facelifted Aliance that the US didn’t get), it really looks like one
Okay….so much for the Domestics only theory, and the stripper car theory:
Here is a December 1987 Wheel Of Fortune; starting at 1:39 you will see that Pat is giving away a SAAB 9000 Turbo.
Even worse, except for being white and for the orange side marker lights it is a fair match for our mystery car.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x370wdw
Olds Calais?
That was actually an early hunch but got sucked into thinking only econoboxes by the discussion. I think you’re right. That featureless flush headlight…
My guess would have to be a Chevrolet Sprint, since the Spectrum only had a monotone grille and the headlights went straight down.
I’m late to the party…Proton Saga maybe?
Interesting! The Proton was based on the Mitsubishi Lancer (Mirage, Dodge Colt etc) and was actually announced by Malcolm Bricklin early in 1987 to be on sale in the US by early 1988. It never happened but the timeline works if it was used as a prop rather than an actual “take it home today” prize. The grille certainly works, I think the mirror does as well, the chrome trim under the headlight is a bit different but maybe there was a version…
I was wondering if it’s something like that. It’s a bit strange that we only catch a glimpse of the car in question – I would expect any car placed on the stage to be promoted, yet the announcer never talks about and we only catch a glimpse of it on the screen. That makes me wonder if it is a case of a car that was going to be promoted on the show, but later they had to edit the promo spot out.
Did anyone say Alpha Romeo Milano?
It is Alfa, not Alpha. Alfa is abbreviation of Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (Lombard Automobile Factory Company). Another common mistake is Qantas (Queensland and New Territory Aerial Service), which is often erroneously written as Quantas.
Sorry, it doesn’t look like Milano due to line between headlamp and grill running at different angle.
Pic…
My first thought was 87 Eagle Premier.
Hi Everyone, I’m The Culprit Who’s Reponsple For It.
See I’m a Big Game Show Fan with Autism & If I Ever Drove a Car I Would Drive the Cars They Offered.
What’s The 1975 Car in This Picture?