How time flies… now moving on to 1988, and more Ads & stuff.
Here we go:
Can you say: “loooooooooong”?
Much like my beloved Mazda ads of the time, Nissan’s were also appealing to me, and did their best to make you get the SUV and take a trip.
RIP Dale Earnhardt.
I’m see “Exxon”, and straight away the Valdez springs to mind.
Who here installed this in his\her cars?
And here’s one of those ads I like so much.
Now for the classifieds:
That’s it.
Actually, I do mean IT- this is the last “Ads & More” post you’ll receive from me. As it happens, this is the last issue of R&T that I have, so you can understand there’s not much (well, not at all) to go on. I’ve enjoyed sharing those magazines with you, and I thank Paul for letting me do so. Of course, I do my best to continue contributing to CC. I think this is one important website, maybe one of it’s kind- I personally learned many things here, and I’m sure this will continue.
Of course, look for some more articles from this issue during the rest of the week. For now, I think it might be fitting to return to the first post in these series, and compare that 1978 issue to this 1988 one. So much has changed…
Ahugh! The Infamous Oldsmobile Ad!!!! Kill it with fire!!!
Yeah, really… “Your Father’s Oldsmobile” could’ve been something WAY COOLER than the pictured car, like say a 1968 to 1972 Olds 442 Convertible perhaps…
Aint that the truth!
“Sterling, the inevitable British road car”…..borders on inscrutable.
It’s a tossup between that and “Hyundais are rarely seen at this elevation.”
This is 1988 we’re talking about here!
As in, “Don’t bother putting it on the hoist, just send it to the junkyard.”
OK so my favorite page is the second-to-last one: Market Place. If you could travel back in a time machine, which one of the cars would you buy (pick only one)?
Purely based upon best investment, I think that the $18K Pantera looks pretty darn good.
I think the XK-150 is the buy of the group.
The MB G-Wagen speaks to me. Sitting on wide wheels with beefy tires…THATS where its at! So much better than seeing them blinged out and rolling on 20″+ clown shoes and bologna skin tires….
Thanks for doing this series, It’s been a fun trip down memory lane.
Hoping you post that Mustang/Probe article, both have been discussed several times the past few weeks.
Ditto on both counts!
I definitely want to see that article!
The Cadillac ad was interesting. The 4.5 V8 upgrade sure made a big difference in these cars and was long overdue. Seville did 9.3 seconds to 60 and the Deville did 9.5 seconds according to Cadillac estimates. Compare that with just one short year before with the more anemic 4100 with 130 HP and those times were in the high 11’s.
” If you could travel back in a time machine, which one of the cars would you buy (pick only one)?”
Back-to-back: the Bristol ($8K!!!) would edge out the Brubaker Box.
Looooooooong overhangs or not, I still like those 88 XR-7s with the Mustang turbine wheels! 😀
Thanks so much for this series, I loath myself for throwing away so many of my old car mags, they can be so much fun to look back on like this.
You know I never noticed how long the overhang was on those until I started hanging out here.
I wonder what the BMW M1 would go for? Also whether this car was actually raced or if it just had all the pieces added.
Those wheels are WAY cool. If I had a foxy body anything, Id want those on it.
Those Cougar overhangs are WAY overdone. Am I the only one that sees a Gremlin trapped inside a bigger car in the side view?!!
I prefer a few aspects of the 87-88 restyle, but I think the 83-86 were much more graceful looking in profile. The sloped trunklid and slightly shorter roofline really make a big difference in the proportions, the 87-88 C pillar ends too far past the wheel centerline, giving it a gremlin with a trunk appearance, not at all helped by the exaggerated upswept windows(which I like the look of otherwise)
I somehow missed that road test highlighted on the front cover: Reatta versus Allante. After looking up the specs, I was surprised to learn they were very close in specifications (horsepower was 165 vs 170, wheelbase was an inch shorter in the Buick, and curb weights were quite close as well)…..but the real surprise was that the REATTA outsold the Cadillac by nearly 2 to 1.
I wonder if the price difference had something to do with it. Reatta was basically half the price of Allante. That’s a much wider gap from Buick to Cadillac than Electra –> DeVille or Riviera –> Eldorado, making the Reatta look like a bargain. (at least as much as the word “bargain” applies to this type of car!)
Iron block V8 muscle any day. I have seen the abuse they can take.
Ooh, those wheels on the Bonneville…sssss!
The 1988 FWD Caddies had a better drivetrain and were actually pretty competent on the road, with a very roomy and comfy interior. But they still had that shrunken, boxy body that just didn’t look right. If only they’d had more of a daring Art & Science look back then, they could have blown the competition away. After all, the division was still building the big rear-drivers, and selling lots of them, so they could’ve afforded to do something really different. Guess they were just too stuck in their old ways.
IMHO, Buick pulled off the 1985 “C” Body the best of the three, I do agree that “something” different from Cadillac would have probably blown the competition away, But what is often forgotten, for all the criticism we give these, (me included!) the FWD Cadillac “C”s were actually a sales success, So there’s that…….
That Mercury is so ugly.
Wow, I’m not a FoMoCo guy, But I actually liked those…..
This issue’s ads feature the two cars which, in time, helped kill the Prelude: the Integra, which always had a better engine and power-to-weight ratio (until the Prelude VTEC came out) and the Accord (which was a more appealing value proposition and during the 88 and 89 model years, fit the bill as sleek, economical personal transport). This still irritates me (not as much as Toyota’s pricing and cancellation of the Celica All-Trac/GT4). In fact, the cover story is also relevant: the two-plus-two, front-drive “specialty coupes” of the era are a phenomenon I sorely miss, even if today’s large, powerful hot-hatches and more affordable RWD sport sedans make them irrelevant.
I’m really surprised that Ford put so much effort into marketing the Tempo/Topaz (another issue recently poster featured a Topaz) without upgrading the engine. Ford could’ve surely come up with something. Speaking of engines, why did Audi never offer a turbocharged engine in the 90 and coupe?
They could’ve followed SAAB and kept that trend alive across all model lines. It’s easy to forget just what an appealing car the 9000 was at the time. It was a sensation in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and seems forgotten compared to its smaller siblings, not to mention the BMW E34 and Mercedes W124. There was nothing like it at the time, however, and it was deservedly loved by all the buff mags. It was loaded with gadgets, fast, quiet, roomy, safe, and handled better than a lot of large cars–most are in junk yards now.
NEVER liked the Ford Tempo!!
Ugly, ugly, ugly……..
The Tempo was a ‘who cares?’ product for a long time, dumped into fleets or dirt cheap. Only one re-skin in a decade. And the 92’s just had the black trim painted body color. The Escort was improved over time, but not the ‘old lady car’.
One of Ford’s “deadly sins” and I’m a Ford guy!
As the kids say… Dat Bonneville… Wow!
Or… Dat Cougar! Wowow!
The Buick Regal ad is fascinating as they were the last I can remember that were NOT photography. This is more than a decade after Van and Fitz left the scene and photography had been the norm for a long time. At the time, I thought it was a great throwback to the Van and Fitz days, but I knew it wouldn’t last.
Oh, yeah, Dat Cutlass International Series… Woooh!
There are an amazing number of Suzuki Samurai around here (Coastal SoCal). I first drove one on Maui and could not imagine it on a mainland freeway.
Until recently, a Bonneville SSE of that same generation parked in the same lot as I do at work. Same color, even, but it had gold BBS-style wheels instead of these body-color aero pieces. It was a very cool throwback; I hope that either the owner found different work or the car has been retired to occasional status, as opposed to it falling victim to scrap. It was in “well used” condition but appeared solid and un-rusty.