(first posted 12/8/2015) Here we are with another post of Ads and more from R&T.
Starting right away with Triumph’s TR8:
Was it still “in tune with the times” in 1990? Hmm.
I believe the 928 was more “in tune with the times” than the 505, even twenty years after it was first introduced. Just look at it.
Mitsubishi technical as usual.
Quick! Get a tissue box!
Yet another Le Car ad. They’re introducing a new one every issue, it seems.
How many Alpinas have actually been purchased in the US?
Now to your favorite classifieds:
As ever, selected articles will be posted during the rest of the week.
Always fun seeing these old ads. Especially, for me, the Corolla SR5 Sport Coupe, as I once had a white one. Feels good to gaze upon that clean, readable dash again. A cheap car that didn’t feel cheap.
It is nice, but what’s with the “XXX” on the steering wheel?
The emblem for the previous generation Corolla was a letter C with three flowers or stars above it. This appears to be an update on the same emblem.
http://www.autopaedia.com/en/galleries/Toyota/Toyota_Corolla/Toyota_Corolla_2nd_generation_1970-1978_%281970_KE20_sedan_2d_DeLuxe%29_%2801%29_-EA1-.php
I could be wrong, but the “XXX” might be a stylized crown (crown imagery being a “thing” with Toyota, Corolla itself is a type of headdress ,) Though I usually think “booze” or “porno” when I see “XXX” , I doubt Toyota was inspiring DUI. and there’s nothing overtly obscene about a Corolla.
I think the Peugeot 505 was still in tune with 1990. The car still looks good today. A wide open greenhouse, good looking interior. the 505 had a good look to it. It was also still being sold in Europe until 1992 and was still a big seller, so I would guess that it was still in tune with buyers.
I like the 505 too, but the ad has some absurdities. EVERY manufactured artifact has compromises, engineering is inherently that way. You can’t have it all. And, I don’t find international “hieroglyphics” necessarily superior ergonomically; some are, others aren’t. Their main benefit, I think, is to minimize localization costs, a big deal in Europe.
And calling any mass-produced car “built” rather than “assembled” is a distinction w/o a difference. It’s like saying “I have a plan, but my opponent has a scheme.”
I’m not the world’s biggest eurosedan guy, But I always liked the 505. A friend had one, I even drove it a few times. Out of all the new cars in this post, it’s the one I’d take today. (assuming parts are still available) If not maybe the Jaguar!
On the subject of the Alpina ad, I saw a late model 7-series yesterday with enormous Alpina wheels but otherwise it looked stock. My top 3, in no particular order, would be the Peugeot 505, Porsche 928 and the BMW E12, either Alpina modified, or not.
Wow, never realized my old Mustang was rated for 38 MPG highway. It never made it into the 30s when I had it.
The pre-1985 EPA highway mpg estimates were notoriously optimistic. They were done at a steady speed well below even the double-nickel owing to the limits of dyno technology.
Yes, you had to be content with cruising at about 45 mph if you wanted to get anything close to EPA numbers. Flat terrain and great weather would also help.
The Porsche 928 likely gained notoriety in the 1983 Tom Cruise movie Risky Business when Cruise’s character Joel Goodsen out runs some bad guys while driving his Dad’s 928.
The car later falls off a pier into a lake and when Joel takes it to the dealer to get it repaired, the service manager asks after water comes pouring out of the interior….”Who is the U-boat commander?”
I know it best as Tony Montana’s ride.
One thing I never understood in Risky Business regarding it – Why the hell was Tom Cruise doing reverse donuts with it on the joyride scene??? It’s RWD dumbass!
One “bad” guy….Guido the Killer Pimp and his 75 Coupe de Ville, played by Joe Pantoliano.
Love the 928 ad, that was such a pretty car before it was spoiled with, well, spoilers. Those phone dial wheels were the best it ever had as well.
The BF goodrich ad with the Trans am is cool too.
When I was eight years old, my friend’s father had one of the first 928s in the country. He came to pick up his kid from school and cycled the headlights up and down when he noticed me staring at the car. It was pretty different from my Dad’s ’66 Coronet. They were in production long enough that I went 154 mph in a then-new 928S when I got my license, but you’re right that they never looked better than when they still wanted to take flight at 135 mph. I loved the phone dials on the 924S my Mom bought in 1986 too. OTOH, my friend’s father replaced his release-edition 928 with a new 450SL in a matter of months. He hated it.
Love the look of the early 928s. The later ones with spoilers and the flush taillamps ruined the curviness of the styling.
It was the first car I ever rode in that wasn’t just practical and mediocre, so it will always be my favorite car of that era.
The 928 looks to me like a squashed AMC Pacer.
Came very close to buying one back in the mid-90’s, was a late 80’s model. Two things stopped me: Automatic transmission (I swear all the early ones were automatics), and a complete lack of any kind of service support closer than Pittsburgh (75 miles away). Gawd, how I enjoyed that test drive!
Aston Martin Bulldog, the British interpretation of a DeLorean! I’ve had a picture book since I was a kid with this car in it. The mechanicals were based off the Lagonda.
I wonder why the seller of the Daytona is advertising it as a 1970 model?
The Bulldog and Lagonda, proof that a too radical departure from your past never really works….at least in the car business. Though you have to admit that for a short period A-M would have had quite the showroom display.
If Aston Martin had put the Bulldog into production, it could hardly have done worse in the marketplace than the Lagonda: 645 units over 14 years. (And during the last 10 of those 14 years the average car enthusiast would have reaction would have been, “The Lagonda? They’re not still making that, are they?”)
At least the Bulldog was a performance car and not a four-door saloon. At least it looks like something the AM chaps might build — as opposed to something they definitely would not.
Although of course since then the Lagonda has forfeited its title of “Most Inappropriate Aston Martin Ever” prior to the Smartcar-based Cygnet.
The A-M Cygnet is NOT smart-based, but is/was based on the Toyota model that in the U.S. was known as the Scion iq.
As inappropriate as the Cygnet was, the price was truly eyepopping…especially compared to the Toyota.
Actually it was more like Aston Martins Countach…..
These are fun to look at. 1980 was the cusp of a change. Some of the ads/cars seem modern enough, while others scream “1960s holdover”.
I know they have changed the EPA figures to make them more realistic, but 38 MPG for the Mustang? I find that hard to believe. I had an (anemic) ’87 4-cyl Mustang and it never got close to that.
The Vanagon, Pinto, Escort, Lynx, LeCar and a really ugly Aston all on one cover. I don’t know the Porsche 928 very well. Maybe it was the one saving grace?
1980 might very well be peak malaise.
As usual, I’m fascinated by the classifieds. Citroen SM, $12,400! Aston Martin DB6, $13,000! But the ’42 Buick Woodie Special may be the best–I hope it’s still around and in a nice garage someplace, waiting to be taken out next spring.
Ferrari 330GT 2+2.
1980: $15k.
Average price in 2021: $285k.
Aaaah, 1980, when pages were flooded with Trans Ams, and as many Panteras as on the radio!
1. 42 Buick wagon
2. AMX (yellow and black at $1,900!!)
3. Maserati 3500 at 7 x AMX!
Is there an index of Road & Track articles available? I have a collection of R&T that spans the 1950s through 2005. Unfortunately without an index it is not very useful.
Try this:
http://www.brianschreurs.org/www.coltranet.com/zines/roadtrac.html
A street-registered Lola T70 would be an interesting ride!
That Bulldog looks like a high school metal shop project.
When your 1970s CAD software can’t render curves.
David E. Davis Jr wrote about driving the Bulldog in his September, 1980 column. He said that it was created for a sheik whose son had pulled a coup and locked him up in one of his palaces before the car could be delivered. Aston Martin kept the car and put it on the show circuit, because they expected the sheik would regain his freedom and go back to ordering enough Aston Martins that they created a one-off like the Bulldog for him in the first place.
Davis’ driving impressions could be summed up as the Bosch fuel injection wasn’t at a high enough state of development to deliver good drivability, crowds formed wherever the car stopped, and he kept hitting his head on the doors whenever he got in or out of the car.
Maybe I’m just feeling particularly nostalgic today, but I’d love to take a spin in any of the cars featured. Even the Mitsubishi and LeCar. And don’t get me started on that Jaguar. Beautiful.
I’m surprised how many of these ads I remember. This was when I first really got into car magazines and practically memorized them every month.
And look at how literate these ads are. Hardly anyone would take the time now to read that much text.
I think that Le Car better get out of the way of that truck. Although they are trying to make it look like it has passed the truck, it looks like it is pulling off to the shoulder because it stalled again. Or trying to.