Car Lust

Angry Cars--Current Generation Chevrolet Trucks/SUVs

Car: Current generation Chevrolet Trucks and SUVs

Condition: Downright peeved

Possible Motivation: Bean-counting cost reductions sap all the joy of engineering and any happiness from being the best-selling car-maker in the world. Nobody's buying trucks because gas prices are high, but when gas prices drop the economy disintegrates!

Defining Overblown High-Testosterone Action Movie Quote:
Chevy SUV: "I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last."
(from Commando, 1985 )

--Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame

Subaru WRX STi 22B

To a logical and fair observer, the United States seems like a great place for automotive enthusiasts.  Compared to the rest of the world, we are fortunate to have long stretches of fantastic, sparsely populated driving roads; cheap and plentiful gasoline (for now, at least); decent rural speed limits; and of course muscle cars. Most enthusiasts, however, cannot be accused of being logical or fair on this topic. You see, the vast majority of us have felt the sting of longing for a car that, for whatever reason, is not available in the U.S. And if I can speak for the rest of the sufferers, this experience is completely maddening.

Enthusiasts across this otherwise-great country have felt the heartbreak from unrequited love for unavailable supercars, higher-horsepower derivatives of otherwise accessible cars, Kei cars, Australian muscle cars, and even European Fords. I speak from experience, because I have desired all of these.

Longing for the unattainable isn't particularly novel with any form of lust, of course--if anything, it increases the frenzy. Such was the case for me with the Subaru WRX STi 22B--a car so incredibly desirable and so completely unavailable that it nearly drove me insane in 1998.

11/19/08 Roundup

Minivans Uber Alles

We spend most of our time here at Car Lust discussing and lusting after old cars, but when the topic turns to new cars there are two recurring themes:

1. As much as we love older cars, they can't compete with the technology of modern cars. Modern cars are good at everything and, compared with older cars, are almost without compromise.
2. Minivans are awesome--and don't even bother pretending they aren't.

Chrysler LeBaron Coupe/Convertible

When discussing the topic of government bailing out struggling American automakers, the mind turns naturally to Chrysler. After all, the smallest of the Big Three famously received $1.5 billion from the government in loan guarantees in 1979. Powered by Lee Iacocca's charisma, a solid if unspectacular small car platform (the ubiquitous K-car), and brisk sales from its innovative minivan, Chrysler managed to survive and even thrive in the 1990s.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Chrysler tinkered with the K-car platform and the equally ubiquitous 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine like a small child tinkers with Legos--crafting endless combinations of disparate creations from essentially the same set of parts. As with the kid with the Legos, some of the results were wonderful--and some weren't. But only one was truly beautiful--the LeBaron.

I can hear the snickering already, so let me clarify--after all, as Oldsmobile did with "Cutlass," Chrysler throws the LeBaron moniker around with wild abandon. I'm not talking about the Dodge Diplomat clone (though that's a pretty wagon), the Dodge Aries clone, or the Dodge Lancer sports sedan clone (certainly a future Car Lust in its own right). No, I'm talking about the Chrysler-specific personal luxury coupe that debuted in 1987 and broke new ground with its smooth, stylish lines.

Now the snickers are turning into belly laughs--that's fine, laugh it up. Those of us with more refined tastes will be cruising around in our LeBarons.

Bailout Challenge

We periodically run challenges here at Car Lust--for example, we have challenged readers to identify the most interesting used car available for less than $5,000 (challenge, results), the most interesting used car for less than $25,000 (challenge, results), and the best first car for a teenager (challenge, results). This time I'm going to take a slightly different tack.

My boss and I were discussing the potential bailout for the struggling American automotive industry this morning, and we agreed that if the automakers are going to request help from taxpayers, the taxpayers should have the right to make that help contingent on the automakers changing how they do business. After all, it makes little sense to throw billions of taxpayer dollars into what appears at the moment to be a broken business model.

So, assuming you could present a list of take-it-or-leave-it conditions to the automakers, what would they be? Silly, serious, semi-serious--it doesn't matter, I want to hear your suggestions. I would only ask that the discussion not get partisan--remember the comment guidelines and be respectful of each other, or I will need to shut down comments and suspend the challenge.

My thoughts in the comments section.

--Chris H.

Our Cars--"1914" Stutz Bearcat replica

Submitted by John Boyle

I am the owner of one of the replica 1914 Stutz Bearcats built for the 1971 TV series Bearcats! by custom car builder George Barris.

I bought the car in 1998 and spent two years restoring it while I was living in Abilene, Texas. I had never owned a unique (that's a good word for a Barris car) car before so I went into the restoration with blind faith and a lot of luck. Luckily, I had just finished helping a friend restore my 1977 Jeep CJ-5 Levi's Edition Renegade, so I was much less a "babe in the woods"automotively speaking than I would have been a couple of years before.

AutoWeek No Longer Weekly

Some sad news, as seen in Autoblog--AutoWeek is no longer a weekly publication. This news obviously prompts lots of naming-themed humor, but Autoblog's headline sums it up pretty nicely:

"AutoWeek going bi-weekly, won't change name to AutoBiWeekly"

Crain Communications, AutoWeek's publisher, is obviously spinning this as a positive--and there is real potential that this could be a good thing. While the awkwardness about the name illustrates the peril of naming your publication by its distribution schedule, AutoWeek's character has always been defined by its publishing cycle. It never had the in-depth car reviews and testing that, say, Car and Driver did--though the AutoFile content was an interesting take on the idea.

1977 Chevrolet

To those Car Lust regulars who have read many of my posts and comments, this may seem an odd choice of lust for me. While many denigrate the styling excesses (and overexcesses ) of 1970s American cars, I revel in them. Not the performance, obviously, but the look: the long hoods with their intricately curved quarter panels, huge grills, curves sweeping back to often shortened rear decks, humongous doors and wheels, all promising a smooth, powerful, luxurious ride. . .well, two out of three isn't bad.

Is it genetic? Well, my dad certainly loved these things, and even though as a teenager I would have abhorred the idea of actually agreeing with him on anything, I discovered later we had very similar thought processes regarding proper automotive design. Cultural, perhaps? We all tend to romanticize most things in vogue during our formative (i.e., mid-late teenage) years, and I am no exception to that rule.

Whatever the reason, I love those highly -- one might say obscenely -- stylized cars with their advertising as over the top as many of the designs and will defend them to my last dying breath. So why on earth would I lust after the quintessential American car that, more than anything, signaled the end of excess and a return to simplicity of at least exterior design? Three words: Change is good.

The Exner Files

My two postings on the 1970s Stutz "revival" cars (original article here, follow-up conversation with Stutz owner Jim Milliken here) led to a rather momentous event. Appearing in the inbox at Car Lust World Headquarters was an e-mail from none other than Virgil M. Exner, Jr., the son of the legendary automobile stylist Virgil M. Exner.

 

Mr. Exner's father designed the Stutz Blackhawk, of course, but he is best remembered for the Chrysler "Forward Look" cars of the 1950s and 60s. (He also designed the first postwar Studebakers, the timelessly cool Diablo concept car, and a few others you might have heard of.) Mr. Exner, Jr., who has had a distinguished career in design in his own right, had some interesting things to say about the design of the Esquire/Renwal "revival" cars, the stillborn Deusenberg, the Stutz, and just about automotive design in general. I've reproduced his letter below the fold, followed by my reactions and those of some of the other Car Lust contributors.

Seen at SEMA

Last week our group was off-site at the SEMA trade show in Las Vegas, working tirelessly to bring Amazon customers the best possible selection of high-quality automotive parts and accessories.

Okay, shill over. One of the many great things about SEMA is the sheer array of gorgeous automobiles--muscle cars, customs, exotics, import street performers, flashy trucks, and various oddities. Many of them are rare, some are heavily modified, all are breathtaking. There aren't nearly enough bad cars at SEMA for my taste; after wading through scores of priceless, perfect rides, I'm craving a faded Maverick Grabber or something.

There are a whole bunch of sites that cover SEMA in-depth--this is not one of them. I had an actual job to do there, and SEMA is much too big for me to cover in my spare time. If you're interested in serious SEMA coverage, I'd check out Autoblog, Jalopnik, or Popular Mechanics (best of show, worst of show).

Still, I grabbed a few pictures when I could, concentrating on some of the more interesting offerings. You won't see many of the identical Porsche 911s or flashy trucks, but there were a few quirky cars around. I take pride in my photography, but this is some of my worst work. The lighting at the show was poor, I didn't have my tripod along, I was having to shoot through a crowd, and I was in a hurry. Now that I've set the expectations appropriately low, on to the content. Thanks to the rest of our contributors for carrying the load this week.