About a decade ago, the idea of “world cars” suddenly got a lot more press and airtime, which was kind of weird because it wasn’t a new notion; it’s easy to rattle off a pretty substantial list of cars made and sold in substantially similar form all over the world—Valiants, Volvos, VWs, and a great many et ceteras. Fine. But it’s interesting, isn’t it, how differently a given car can be positioned and regarded in different markets. A 1965 Chrysler engineering paper (very interesting reading, it’s this one) mentioned that in the UK a Valiant cost the same as a Jaguar. A Mercedes E-Class is a luxobarge in America and a taxicab in Germany. And the reason why today’s Buicks are so nice is that in China the brand is cross-shopped with Mercedes.
Today’s feature film is a Mexican ad for the 1994 Chrysler Spirit. Spirits were introduced in Mexico for 1990—carbureted ones that took leaded gasoline. Fuel injection and available turbochargers came in 1991 when Mexico adopted grownup emissions regulations. Turbos went away after ’92 in the US and Canada, but remained available in Mexico right through to the very popular Spirit’s end in ’95.
So here we have an ad for a four-year-old model in its next-to-last year. If any ads ran for this car that year in the States, they probably droned gamely but lamely about great value or something. But in Mexico, well, hold onto your hats, damas y caballeros, it’s…the ’94 Spirit! Praise! Glory be! Can I get an ay-men! Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the myoo-zik!
But if we wind back the clock to 1989 when the Spirit was released in America, well! …No, sorry, this doesn’t even make the “gamely but lamely” category, it’s just lame:
Nobody but a deluded person would mistake the Spirit, turbo or no turbo, for a European or Japanese car. Not in 1989, and not now. Of course, there’s no shortage of deluded people—just read the news—but c’mon. It was an incrementally better American car than its predecessor, and compared to its direct competitors it was somewhat better, but it was equally American as them in all the ways that matter.
No way that choir in the Mexico commercial was white…. lol. Too much “sweet stuff”. At least not white Americans… Loved the music!
The shuttle thing- more lame posturing. ugh.
Oy! I wanted to like these so much when they came out. Took the future Mrs. JPC to look at one (a Plymouth Acclaim) when she was considering trading her 88 Accord following some significant hail damage. She took one look and said “no thanks.” I reluctantly agreed. Where the Accord was modern and youthful, the Spirit and Acclaim looked from every angle like they were designed for 50 year olds trading in Delta 88s and Crown Victorias.
Just wait’ll you see what I’m fixin’ to dig up for the CCC on the Plymouth Acclaim…!
Find a gray one – that was the color our 1990 Acclaim was. A wonderful car. I lost my photos of it.
I’m still looking for a photo of the Chrysler Imperial Lamborghini Edition. Only built one.
I’ll take the Mexican advert any day, por favor! Hideous to think anyone would turn their back on a space shuttle landing for this car. Mexican ad has some fun to it, the space shuttle ad is just absurd.
When I saw this advertisement with space shuttle landing, I remembered our first ever transcontinental road trip in the United States. My family travelled with 27-foot Pace Arrow motorhome through the American Southwest in 1977.
We were at the Edwards Air Force base in California when the Space Shuttle Enterprise took its maiden free flight off Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified 747.
When we arrived the night before, there was about ten or so motorhomes and a few cars scattered around the designated area at the base. Next morning, half of California showed up and took up every available parking slot as far as the eyes could see.
My late father had filmed this event, and I plan to convert all of Super 8 to digital format this year.
Saw the Challenger shuttle make what turned out to be it’s final intact landing on November 6th, 1985 at Edwards AFB. It blew up on my birthday, 1/28/86. I was working in a VW dealership in Santa Maria at the time, and one of the engineers, stopping by to get parts for his VW, worked at nearby Vandenberg AFB and told me they already knew the cause of the explosion (o ring burn through on booster rocket) and also knew that the planned process of having shuttle launches fro Vandenberg would never be allowed following the explosion due to safety concerns to the public living in this area. Sad day.
And 35 years later, my Dad and I were just off the runway threshold for Dulles’ Runway 1R to see Shuttle Discovery’s final flight to its new home, where it replaced the Enterprise on display at the Air & Space Museum.
There is no way anyone in that crowd would’ve taken their eyes off of Discovery to see a glorified K-Car.
I took this picture of the SCA “NASA 905” as she was on short final…