1993 Chevrolet Lumina

General Motors was once the largest, wealthiest and most admired company in the world. What went wrong in the years leading to the company's 2009 bankruptcy? Many, many things went wrong. And those mistakes are reflected in surviving copies of GM's products.

From curbsideclassic.com: "Despite its name, the Lumina failed to bring any light to those dark years at GM when it arrived. The Lumina was a desperate effort to play catch-up with Ford’s runaway hit Taurus as well as to parry with the Camry and Accord; the result was predictably dim. It instantly joined its smaller brother Corsica as the very icons of  fleet queens, a title its W-Body successors defended right to the present. Did they have redeeming qualities? Undoubtedly; but I’m hardly the one to ask. Try Hertz."

"GM’s W-Body started out as the GM10, which got off to miserable start with the 1988 Buick Regal, Olds Cutlass Supreme and Pontiac Grand Prix coupes. The whole GM10 program was quite likely the single biggest boondoggle of the Roger Smith era; their development cost a mind-boggling $7 billion ($13 billion adjusted), and the goal was to build these cars in seven plants at 250,000 units per year per plant; in other words, a 21% share of the total US market. What were they smoking? Soon enough, GM would be fighting for a 21% market share for the whole company, never mind mid-sized cars.

The enormous sunk costs and subsequent pathetic sales meant that GM was losing some $2000 per car on these at the time the Lumina made its belated appearance for 1990. The old saw that GM lost money on its small cars because it had to build them to meet CAFE targets isn’t nearly encompassing enough. When asked by Fortune why GM10 was such a catastrophe, Smith replied, “I don’t know. It’s a mysterious thing.”(wikipedia)"

How long has it been since you've seen a mid-90s Lumina on the road? Quite a while, I'm guessing? And how long since you saw a mid-90s Toyota Camry? Probably this morning?

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1938 Chevrolet half-ton pickup

The '38 Chevy pickup was significantly updated from the '37, having been reworked by Chevy's new Art and Color Department. I've no doubt many in 1930s were surprised that work trucks had anything to do with "Art and Color".

* Man is that cab ever tiny. Hard to believe you could work the gear shift with two adults in there.
* This design would carry Chevy pickups through 1940, when they were replaced by the AK series. That design would run through mid-1947, when they were replaced with the all-new Advanced Design Series, the classic Chevy pickup everyone knows.

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1970 AMC AMX

Previously known almost exclusively for boring compact cars, American Motors in the mid 60s was expanding in all kinds of different directions. One of those was a two-seater sports car concept called "American Motors experimental" or AMX. In 1968 the AMX got the green light and 19,000 cars were built over the next three model years.

From cubsideclassic.com: "The AMX was a true performance car—its chief rival was the Chevrolet Corvette—which cost over $1,000 more—and was capable of speeds up to 130 mph, with engine options topping out at 315 hp and 425 lb./ft. of torque.  The AMX incorporated a number of industry-first, safety-minded features that were recognized by the American Society of Automotive Engineers when they awarded the AMX the "Best Engineered Car of the Year" award for both 1969 and 1970."

This final model-year AMX features the 1970-only functional cold ram-air induction system.

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1973 AMC Javelin, Pierre Cardin edition

From Automobile Magazine: "The Cardin Javelin is arguably the most fully realized of all the designer-branded cars of its early era. The interior is truly a spectacle, with pleated upholstery stripes in plum, orange, white, and silver against a black background. The environment is flamboyantly psychedelic, although in a tailored way. In period print advertising for the car, Monsieur Cardin (AMC included a phonetic spelling of the name, Kar-dán) commented, "People should feel like they’re sitting in a living room instead of sitting in a machine." That is, of course, if your living room is done up in space-age style on par with a discotheque in Saint Tropez or perhaps a movie set from "Barbarella." The decor package was optional for all 1972 and ’73 Javelins for a mere $84.95 and included exterior badging."

This Javelin appears to have every factory option, including AMC's ferocious 401 c.i. V-8.

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The Beautiful 1957 Ford Thunderbird... and the Hideous 1958

Ford replaced the two-seater Thunderbird in 1958 with a four-seater that looked like a mutated catfish. And it was wildly successful, far outselling the previous model. Unbelievable.

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1950 Willys CJ3A Jeep

In Jeep's early years, the civilian CJ was identical to the military model.

* A little history. Willys-Overland was one of America's oldest car makers, dating to 1903. It survived the Depression (barely) making compact cars. Although it did not invent the Jeep and did not actually own the design, it was the largest builder of Jeeps during World War II and managed to secure the design rights after the war. After that, nearly all of its products were Jeeps and other four-wheel-drive vehicles. Willys was purchased by the Kaiser Corporation in 1953, Kaiser-Jeep joined American Motors in 1970, that company was purchased by Chrysler in 1987, and Chrysler was purchased by Fiat in 2009. Jeeps are still made on the same Toledo, Ohio factory grounds as Willys cars were a century ago.

* To the right of the driver, the first lever is the gear shift. The second takes the front axle in and out of four-wheel drive. The third shifts the transfer case between high-range gears (good for driving on pavement) and low-range gears (good for driving off-road).

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