Car Lust

1985: It Was a Very Good Year!

It was "Morning in America," a time when men were real men, women were real women, and hair was real big. Ronald Reagan had just been sworn in for his second term after winning one of the most lopsided Presidential elections in American history. and the "national malaise" of just a few years before had been replaced by a mood of confident optimism. Technology was on the march: personal computers now had floppy drives and 12 MHz processors, fully-functional mobile phones were down to the size of a box of Girl Scout cookies, and used DeLoreans were being retrofitted with aftermarket flux capacitors. On the big screen, besides the one with the time machine, we had Out of Africa and Witness and The Breakfast Club and Rambo: First Blood Part II. On the small screen, you had The Cosby Show and Hill Street Blues and MacGyver.

On the radio was Springsteen, Madonna--this was way before Nirvana--there was U2, and Blondie, and music still on MTV. The cars then were old school, and you might think them uncool, but this post will be occupied with cars of Nineteen Eighty-Five.

January 16 Weekly Open Thread

Not sure where you are? There's no shame in stopping at the Car Lust Garage to ask for directions, and after we get you re-oriented to your surroundings you can stick around for some hot cocoa and get lost in conversation on whatever topic you like.

Speaking of getting lost...

Great (?) Commercials--Subaru of America's "The New Look" (1969)

In the grand cinematic tradition of the action-packed Corvair in Action!, the romantic Koers Amerika met de Holland-America Line, the harrowing Death to Weeds, the insanely comic Inside Story of Modern Gasoline, and the groundbreaking classic Your Name Here, comes director Malcolm Bricklin's 1969 magnum opus, The New Look:

My comments come after the jump.

Subaru 360

Remember that cute but dorky (or is it "dorky but cute"?) imported subcompact with the air-cooled engine mounted in the rear? Didn't seem like much, slow and Spartan compared to the full-sized Detroit dreadnoughts and fire-breathing musclecars it shared the road with, but they sold enough of them to get a foothold in the US market. It proved to be the humble start to something much bigger: today, the manufacturer is an established player selling well over a quarter million vehicles in North America each year--building a goodly number of them in its ecologically friendly US "trans-plant" factory.

And no, I'm not talking about Volkswagen and its iconic Beetle, though there's a lot of parallel between today's topic and the Bug, in appearance, engineering, and purpose.

The subject of today's lesson is the first car Subaru sold in the US, a car you might think of as the "Japanese Beetle": the Subaru 360.

January 2 Weekly Open Thread

The tree's been taken down, the lights and the ornaments have been put away, and the Car Lust Garage is ready for the new year. Join us in the back room for conversation and hot cocoa.

A few random items to get the conversation started:

• The day after Saab met its demise, two business school professors released their autopsy report. It makes for some interesting reading.

• Meanwhile, over at The Truth About Cars, Paul Niedermeier delivers the Saab eulogy.

• Speaking of dead car companies, the original General Motors--the post-bailout GM is a new entity formed in 2009 that, technically speaking, bought assets of the original from its bankruptcy estate--anyway, the old one was formally dissolved on December 15.

• Did Santa leave you a new ride under the tree? Well, if it's a bit higher performance than your old set of wheels, Car Lust recommends that you don't go all the way out to the edges of the performance envelope on the first drive. Go easy and get used to it first before engaging in full-bore hoonery so you don't end up like this guy.

• Over at Cars in Depth, a bit of history: "How Japan Won the West."

• To end on a more upbeat note, regular reader and commenter "jjd214" sends along this photo of Car Lust's imaginary staff member "Carl":

That Carl--such a comedian!

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

Car Lust Classic--1986-1992 Saab 9000 Turbo

Originally published by Chris Hafner on December 30, 2008.

When Saab debuted the 9000 in 1986, it raised some eyebrows. It's not often that a car garners attention because of its normalcy; but such is the case when a noted oddball carmaker like Saab introduces a car so seemingly bone-stock conventional as the 9000.

Saab had always been known for cars with profiles that could best be described as quirky. From the early 92 and 95, to the swoopy Sonnetts, to the swollen and hunchbacked 99 and 900, Saabs looked different than normal cars and were seemingly proud of that fact. By contrast, the 9000 was clean and attractive but otherwise unremarkable by the standards of 1986. The aero headlights and the smoothly contoured sides were handsome and aerodynamic, but reminiscent of the ground-breaking Audi 5000 and Ford Taurus. Without the Saab grille and insignia, it would be difficult to identify the 9000 as a Saab--while the 900, on the other hand, showed its Saab heritage clearly and proudly. Only the five-door hatchback bodystyle betrayed Saab's quirky tendencies.

In another break from non-conformity, the 9000's platform was the result of a joint development effort with three other European carmakers. The 9000's chassis and, in some cases, body panels, were shared with the Alfa Romeo 164, Lancia Thema, and Fiat Croma. Sharing a platform with the likes of Alfa and Lancia doesn't exactly raise the spectre of awful and irrelevant clones like the Cadillac Cimmaron or Mercury Bobcat, but its conventionality was a bit worrying for this slavish Saab-ite. Had Saab sold out and built a bland every-car?

Click here to read the rest of the original post, and to leave your comments.

Car Lust Classic--1986 Saab 900 SPG

Originally published by Chris Hafner on August 28, 2008.

This is the big one, the big Kahuna, the lustiest of my Car Lusts. One year and nearly 300 posts into this blog, we've finally reached my favorite car. I've made a point of only writing about cars that genuinely inspire my passion, and in the process I've repeatedly bared my various automotive psychoses. Well, this car cuts right to the quick of everything I am. It is an inseparable part of my very soul.

Yes, it's a Saab 900--best-known for its center console-mounted ignition key switch, and slightly lesser-known for its quirky unreliability. To unbiased observers, the Saab 900 has a weak chin and a truly curious hunchback profile that looks oddly lumpen and mollusk-like. Like a stranger Renault Fuego, if that's possible. Sure, Saabs of this era were known for their durability and winter traction, but what makes them even remotely lust-worthy?

To read about what made the 900 SPG Lust-worthy, and to comment, please visit the original post.

Car Lust Classic--Saab 99

Originally published by Chris Hafner on September 6, 2007.

... Back in the 1960s, when huge, rear-wheel-drive American cars ruled with their blunt-object V-8s, Saab was serving its miniscule cult of fans with tiny front-wheel-drive cars powered by two-stroke engines (envision the smoky, ZING-ZING-ZING engine in your weed whacker). Even once Saab decided to go conventional, the company replaced the two-stroke with a V-4--a design so odd that virtually no other semi-modern manufacturer has dared to use it....

Everything changed for Saab with the 99--the car that launched the company into its own modern era....

Click here to read the rest of the original post, and to leave your comments.

Car Lust Classic--Saab Sonett III

Originally published by That Car Guy (Chuck) on February 24, 2010.

... I'd like to pay tribute to the Saab that I hold dear and true. From my high school days of wanting a true "image" sports car, as well as getting away from all the same cars my friends had, I chased after the Saab Sonnet III more than once.

Its styling has been called Italian-inspired, and for good reason. These cars were, and still are, stunningly beautiful to the eyes. What other car could wear this shade of lime green and get away with it? In fact, the color and the car seem to compliment each other, in my opinion. This is the Euro version; after 1972, we got some really nasty bumpers on them ...

Click here to read the rest of the original post, and to leave your comments.

"Yes, Virginia...."

DEAR EDITOR:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Car Lust. Papa says, "If you see it on the Internet, it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Car Lust?

--VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong....

The Last Saab Commercial

Among the projects Saab still had going at the end was a new crossover, the 9-4X, to be built at a GM plant in Mexico on a platform shared with the Cadillac SR-X.

MFX is a Swedish commercial media production company which has done the photography for Saab's advertising and promotions for some time. In an attempt to help its ailing customer, MFX offered to produce a promotional video for the 9-4X for free. Saab loaned MFX the prototype, and MFX spent a full rich day shooting footage of the car in and around the city of Gothenburg. It was edited together into this video for use by dealers in promoting the launch of the 9-4X.

Since there now will be no 9-4X, MFX released the video as a tribute to Saab. The music bed is "Make Yourself Heard" by Dutch singer Tara Teresa.

Considering the haste with which it was filmed, the video is remarkably good, and makes the 9-4X look pretty Lust-worthy.

We'll return to happier topics on Friday, with what you might think of as "a very Car Lust Christmas."

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

It's the end of the Saab as we know it...(and I feel fine...)

The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Truth About Cars, Saabs United, and various Swedish news outlets are reporting that Saab filed for bankruptcy on Monday. Unlike the last time Saab stood on the brink of doom, there is unlikely to be any last-second rescue this time around the way there was in January of 2010. I'm sure Chris Hafner, Car Lust's resident Saab enthusiast, will have more to say on this when he gets back from vacation; in the meantime, I'll try to fill the gap.

December 19 Weekly Open Thread

As usual, the back corner of the garage is reserved for hot chocolate and random conversing.

I recently discovered an interesting phenomenon: the "B.E.C." The acronym stands for "Bike-Engined Car," an entertaining bit of mad science in which a small, light subcompact is repowered with a large motorcycle engine. Fitting a relatively low-torque bike engine to a car in a manner that actually powers the drive wheels in a practical manner is a complex exercise in seat-of-the-pants mechanical engineering. It pretty much requires you to be a certified machinist with your own personal CNC machine--or at least know someone who is a certified machinist with a CNC machine, and who owes you some favors.

Some examples of BEC's include a Miata repowered with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine, a Toyota Starlet driven by a Hayabusa, and the "Angry Hamster," a Honda Z600 with a mid-mounted Honda Magna V-4 and an RX-7 suspension, built to run at a a 24 Hours of LeMons race.

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

Cyclekarts

Modern vehicles are increasingly sophisticated, with digital engine and suspension controls and ever more complex mechanical systems. This has given us a world where the humblest entry-level Hyundai hatchback boasts a level of efficiency, reliability, and safety that was once unimaginable in even the most prestigious high-dollar luxury battleship. This is, of course, a good thing--but as we've sometimes lamented here at Car Lust, all of this sophistication also means that there's not as much of a place for the do-it-yourself mechanic as there once was.

The same is true of motorsports. These days, racing is something it usually takes serious dollars to get into. NASCAR "stock car" racing, once the home of self-taught "good ol' boys" who race-prepared Hudson flathead straight sixes by the seat of their pants in corner garages, no longer has much (if anything) to do with "stock" cars--that is, cars you can actually buy at your local dealer and drive on the street. Today's NASCARs are purpose-built racing vehicles costing millions to design and build. Indy cars, F1, endurance racing--these are even less accessable to the non-professional. There's little room these days for the hot rod assembled from junkyard components, the dirt track racer built in someone's garage--hell, even Soap Box Derby cars have been commodified and standardized and come in easy-to-assemble kit form!

So what's left for the backyard automaker? Is there still such a thing as entry-level motorsports for people who design and build their own iron and don't have a degree in mechanical engineering or corporate sponsors writing checks for them? Is there a class of competition cars that can be built by motivated amateur craftsmen of average skill using ordinary materials, hand tools, and kitchen utensils found in the typical American home?

I'm happy to say that there is still such a thing, if you know where to look for it. One example is the sport of cyclekart racing.

December 12 Weekly Open Thread

The weather outside may be frightful, but here in the back of the garage it's so delightful--a perfect climate-controlled 72 degrees Farenheit. C'mon in and join the conversation.

The Car Lust Global Operations Center mailbox, carlustinfo@amazon.com, like any publicly-posted e-mail contact, gets its share of spam. We got one last week that was amusing because the spammer's e-mail bot interpreted "carlustinfo" as someone's name and headed up the solicitation with a cheery "Hey Carl!" I guess the bot thinks "our" full name is "Carl Ustinfo."

I found this particularly amusing because just a day or two before, I saw a news story about another website which lists as its "Editorial Director" one "Susan Lee Ward," a woman who does not actually exist. Despite being wholly imaginary--they admit on their "staff" page that Susan is a "composite character"--she is credited with writing much of the site's content, and has a nicely-done professional headshot to go with her biographical blurb.

She's not the first imaginary executive to rise to a prominent position in a media organization. The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show listed the wholly ficticious "Ponsonby Britt" as its Executive Producer in the closing credits.

Still, it got me thinking. What would Car Lust's "composite" executive, "Carl," look like? What would his job title be? What kind of car would he drive?--or not drive, seeing that he doesn't physically exist and all that.

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

November 28 Weekly Open Thread

It's been an unseasonably mild November, but now that December's almost here the Car Lust Garage has laid in a supply of hot chocolate, cider, mulling spices, and cinnamon sticks. C'mon in and grab a hot beverage and talk about whatever's on your mind.

On the annual Thanksgiving trip to see the mother-in-law, I came across the '55 Packard Patrician you see here. It looks to be a pretty good candidate for a restoration. The major mechanical pieces are all there, the glass is intact, and the body is solid (apart from the great gaping hole in the floorboard). It'll make a nice show car someday.

And yes, that is a Chevy II Nova next to it.

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

"A little driving on a Saturday night..."

Not too long ago, I was driving along at night listening to the radio when the oldies station played one of my favorite one-hit wonders, "Driver's Seat" by Sniff 'N' the Tears. Suddenly, it was once again a May evening in 1988...

Face Off--Car Lust Film Festival

Car Lust is devoted, above all else, to the chronicling of the "irrational emotions" we have for our automobiles. In the past, we've talked about how that emotional connection has been exploited to sell us those automobiles, and even traced the practice of what might be called "Car Lust advertising" back to its point of origin (which is somewhere west of Laramie).

It's been a while since we've done one of our "Face Off" interactive polls. For this edition, we invite you the readers to be the prize jury at the Car Lust Film Festival. Vote for which of the following five commercials best communicates the Car Lust ideal. You can view them on embedded video after the poll and the jump, along with my comments on each.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Chevrolet: 100 Years Deep

Today is the exact 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company by race car driver and engineer Louis Chevrolet, former GM executive William Crapo "Billy" Durant, and investors William Little and Edwin R. Campbell. This seems an appropriate time for a little reflection:

Cars of the Comic Books

In the course of researching my post on the Facel Vega Excellence, I came across some scans of European "graphic novels" (comic books) featuring Facel Vegas, posted at the website of the Amicale Facel Vega owners' club. Seeing those got me to wondering what other Lust-worthy cars may be lurking in the back issues at your local comic book store. Turns out there are quite a few.

We'll start with the Hot Wheels comic, which ran for six issues in 1970. As you probably already figured, it was a book with car-centric action-adventure stories and not much else. Though the people were drawn a little "cartoony," the cars themselves, like the Cord 810/812 that made the cover of #5, were rendered realistically, with fanatic attention to detail. This particular cover was drawn by illustrator Alex Toth, who had a long career in comics and animation. Among his many accomplishments, he designed the character of Space Ghost for Hanna Barbera.

As I was writing this post, I remembered actually reading this particular issue of Hot Wheels back when it was published--either one of my playmates had it, or it was one of the comic books the barbershop on Mahoning Avenue had lying around so you could kill time while waiting your turn to get clipped. That was when I first learned of the existence of the legendary "coffin-nose Cords," and it was the beginning of a life-long fascination with those particular cars.