Do You Miss Pontiac, Plymouth, Mercury, Saturn, Buick, Or Any Other Recently Defunct Car Brands?

[Razors Edge ★]

I don't, but I really liked the Saturn Sky/Pontiac Sol convertibles.  I see one every one in a while, and say, "Man, those were actually pretty neat and Chevy should have rebranded them as their own."

[JerrySTL ★]

Not recent, but my first car was a Studebaker Hawk GT. I wish that I'd never sold that car.

[Further]

Buick is still very much around

I miss Studebaker  

[Page Turner]

...I mostly miss Studebakers.

 

[Ralphie ★]

Nope!

[Further]

The International Travelall 

[Longjohn ★]

When I was working the garage someone brought in an Avanti for state inspection. That thing was cool. A car way before it’s time. It had had a warning on the dash telling you to keep the windows rolled up at speeds over 200 mph.

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, Longjohn said:

It had had a warning on the dash telling you to keep the windows rolled up at speeds over 200 mph.

HAD to be 200 kmh!

[Longjohn ★]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

HAD to be 200 kmh!

[Kzoo]

Do you miss the AMC Gremlin?

Me neither.

[Further]

Just now, Kzoo said:

Do you miss the AMC Gremlin?

Me neither.

Pacer

[Further]

Just now, Further said:

Pacer

A staple of monster truck diets for years

[Kzoo]

2 minutes ago, Further said:

Pacer

I had a coworker I shared driving with that had a Pacer.  Strange car.

[jsharr ★]

The Supercharged Avanti was a bad mofo.  It could get close to 200 mph 

http://www.danjedlicka.com/classic_cars/studebaker_avanti.html

[Longjohn ★]

2 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Do you miss the AMC Gremlin?

Me neither.

My FiL had one that the carburetor kept falling apart. You had to remove the carburetor to fix it because the screws went up from the bottom. The second time it fell apart I doped the threads up with the permanent locktite.

[Ralphie ★]

2 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

My FiL had one that the carburetor kept falling apart. You had to remove the carburetor to fix it because the screws went up from the bottom. The second time it fell apart I doped the threads up with the permanent locktite.

We used to use a Briggs and Stratton as a starter for the kart engines, and it would keep running as the intake manifold vibrated off.

 

[Kirby]

I had a Saturn at one point.  When it snowed, the car would slip back on the big hill leading to my home.  I don't miss that car.

[Ralphie ★]

4 minutes ago, Kirby said:

I had a Saturn at one point.  When it snowed, the car would slip back on the big hill leading to my home.  I don't miss that car.

I remember in the early days of being online, prodigy had the best service in my area. There was a quite active community of Saturn owners that I thought was pretty cool. 

[maddmaxx ★]

I fear I've been the death of car brands or models.  I've owned an Opel Manta Rally (Buick), a Vega (purchased with intent to convert into a race car, never happened), a Pontiac Sunfire and a GrandAm GT.  The latter car was the subject of a class action suit with over 100,000 people involved.  I can understand how Pontiac went under.

[Ralphie ★]

41 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I fear I've been the death of car brands or models.  I've owned an Opel Manta Rally (Buick), a Vega (purchased with intent to convert into a race car, never happened), a Pontiac Sunfire and a GrandAm GT.  The latter car was the subject of a class action suit with over 100,000 people involved.  I can understand how Pontiac went under.

My Pontiac story. My dad had a knack for picking up cars cheap because of some flaws. He bought a station wagon, maybe Bonneville dirt cheap for two main reasons. Number one, the inside filled with awful fumes!  Number 2, the paint was awful, all bumpy, like it had been egged all onver!  So my brother and I used it as transport for kart racing. I think it had a trailer hitch for our four kart trailer. So it could pull Four karts AND haul loads of people, providing they cold tolerate and live through the fumes.

We later found out a third reason it was so cheap!  You had to get it up to aboot 70 to get the auto to shift to third!  But my best memory was I loved the dashboard!  Three gauge pods sticking out, just what a teenage kid likes.   

And I loved the exterior styling also.   Like a poor man’s GTO with those over under headlights and subtle tail fins. But man, did it stink!  But overall, the styling won oot and won my heart. I need to find a pic to post.  

 

[Forum Administrator]

I liked my Aztek. I don’t care what you think. 

[Ralphie ★]

And the ad is classic Pontiac gto for sale.

 

[Ralphie ★]

This is it!  Same colour and everything!

https://images.app.goo.gl/yxmhzdxSQU3fjR5Z6

[Zephyr]

Never owned a car made  by the big three.  And hopefuly never will

[BuffJim]

9 hours ago, Further said:

Buick is still very much around

I miss Studebaker  

We had one we inherited from my great uncle Spud. It had moss growing in the back seat. My Dad traded it for a Corvair. 

[maddmaxx ★]

Back in the day when I raced I had some limited Dodge sponsorship, mostly access to parts.  I was a loyal fan and I still have some 50 year old jackets and things with all the proper logo's.  I always purchased American cars, even the Opel was an American product at the time (Buick).  Our last three cars are/were Japanese.

 

There's a reason and a message there.

[Kzoo]

8 hours ago, Forum Administrator said:

I liked my Aztek. I don’t care what you think. 

Nominated 

[Airehead]

Is Buick really defunct?

 

[Kzoo]

Just now, Airehead said:

Is Buick really defunct?

 

Not according to the ad on TV last night.  Pontiac and Olds are gone.

[Wilbur ★]

2 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

There's a reason and a message there.

The Japanese jackets are nicer?   

[maddmaxx ★]

6 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Is Buick really defunct?

 

No.  In my case they dropped the Opel Manta and immediately dropped parts support at the same time.  As far as I was concerned, for me Buick was defunct.

[maddmaxx ★]

3 minutes ago, wilbur said:

The Japanese jackets are nicer?   

They build better cars.  They do it to the point that one or more American companies aren't going to build cars to compete anymore.

[team scooter]

When we made the decision to go topless, we looked at the 2017 Buick Cascade. Almost pulled the trigger. We liked some things about it, others not so much. I was concerned that a car of that size only had a 1.6T motor, etc. Sales guy was a bit sad we didn't put down a deposit before we left to do some research. Turns out the Cascade is an Opel, in Buick's clothing. Sales man never mentioned that. We ordered our Miata the next day. Our Miata is a Miata, in Targa clothing.

 

Buick Cascade v

 

[MoseySusan]

My family had a green Rambler station wagon. I was of the age to ride in the way back. I liked it. The rubber soles on my sneakers would turn green from rubbing against the floor mat. 

But my dad became a Ford man afterwards. Mr. and I have only purchased Honda. 

[maddmaxx ★]

11 minutes ago, team scooter said:

When we made the decision to go topless, we looked at the 2017 Buick Cascade. Almost pulled the trigger. We liked some things about it, others not so much. I was concerned that a car of that size only had a 1.6T motor, etc. Sales guy was a bit sad we didn't put down a deposit before we left to do some research. Turns out the Cascade is an Opel, in Buick's clothing. Sales man never mentioned that. We ordered our Miata the next day. Our Miata is a Miata, in Targa clothing.

 

Buick Cascade v

 

Given Buick's previous handling of Opel customers that was probably a wise choice.

[Ralphie ★]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

Given Buick's previous handling of Opel customers that was probably a wise choice.

Not to mention that the Mazda is kick-ass!

[groupw]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

No.  In my case they dropped the Opel Manta and immediately dropped parts support at the same time.  As far as I was concerned, for me Buick was defunct.

It’s hard when you own an orphan car! I had a 1973 Capri. The German built ones. In my opinion, better looking and without debate abetter driving car than the Mustangs of the time. The V6 Capri was faster than the V8 Mustang! Ford leadership wouldn’t have it! They knew the Capri was vastly superior to the Fox chassis. Rather than make it better, they stopped importing the German Capri and made an American Fox chassis version. 

Parts support for the German cars ended immediately. 

[Ralphie ★]

5 minutes ago, groupw said:

It’s hard when you own an orphan car! I had a 1973 Capri. The German built ones. In my opinion, better looking and without debate abetter driving car than the Mustangs of the time. The V6 Capri was faster than the V8 Mustang! Ford leadership wouldn’t have it! They knew the Capri was vastly superior to the Fox chassis. Rather than make it better, they stopped importing the German Capri and made an American Fox chassis version. 

Parts support for the German cars ended immediately. 

My high school friend had one of those in red.  It was a nice car!

[Page Turner]

14 hours ago, Kzoo said:

Do you miss the AMC Gremlin?

Me neither.

...my stepfather had one. When he died I inherited it. I gifted it to the neighbor next door back in DC.   Don't know what he did with it.

[Kzoo]

1 hour ago, Page Turner said:

...my stepfather had one. When he died I inherited it. I gifted it to the neighbor next door back in DC.   Don't know what he did with it.

Might it have turned into a pile of rust a plastic?

[Chris...]

My old neighbor, lived directly opposite me. Scroll down to Jim Lange

http://www.studebaker-info.org/aoainl/aoainl10062015.html

[Page Turner]

1 hour ago, Kzoo said:

Might it have turned into a pile of rust a plastic?

...might. My conscience is clear.

[late]

18 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I don't, but I really liked the Saturn Sky/Pontiac Sol convertibles.  I see one every one in a while, and say, "Man, those were actually pretty neat and Chevy should have rebranded them as their own."

Love the way they look, but they didn't get good reviews, even consumer reports panned them.

[Square Wheels]

Sadly, I never owned a Yugo.

[Page Turner]

7 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Sadly, I never owned a Yugo.

...I have never regretted buying an Alfa Romeo Spyder instead of a Fiat 500 when I lived in Italy.  Not even once.  

[Further]

[Tizeye]

On 7/27/2019 at 4:22 PM, groupw said:

It’s hard when you own an orphan car! I had a 1973 Capri. The German built ones. In my opinion, better looking and without debate abetter driving car than the Mustangs of the time. The V6 Capri was faster than the V8 Mustang! Ford leadership wouldn’t have it! They knew the Capri was vastly superior to the Fox chassis. Rather than make it better, they stopped importing the German Capri and made an American Fox chassis version. 

Parts support for the German cars ended immediately. 

I had one of those little pocket rockets in college. Sweet car...except when the shift lever broke. Actually used vice grips to grab the nub, hobbled to the Ford dealership in 3rd and 4th as couldn’t make the crossing for other gears with the vice grips.  Ford wouldn’t work on it because there was a Mercury dealer further across town so my journey continued.

Another obsolete car...even at the time of owning it...was a Triumph Spitfire. Got to know The Roadster Factory in PA as they had remaining OEM parts for MG and Triumph. Their catalog was actually BL part numbers. The last obsolete at the time car I had was daughter’s first/high school car a 1972 VW Sunbug. She learned to drive with a stick that serves her today, but wouldn’t trust it out the city. When she left for college, sold it (didn’t trade) and bought a new Honda Civic EX white a stick which lasted her through her PhD and sold it as she left the country.

[groupw]

8 hours ago, Tizeye said:

I had one of those little pocket rockets in college. Sweet car...except when the shift lever broke. Actually used vice grips to grab the nub, hobbled to the Ford dealership in 3rd and 4th as couldn’t make the crossing for other gears with the vice grips.  Ford wouldn’t work on it because there was a Mercury dealer further across town so my journey continued.

I bought one from the original owner in Texas about 15 or so years ago. In Texas, it was licensed as a Capri. In Nebraska, they needed the make. Told them likely as a Mercury, but could also be under Ford. She couldn’t find in her records so had to call the state office in Lincoln. She was on hold for about 30 minutes. While she was on hold another clerk asked if I needed help. Told her the other lady was trying to find out if my car in the parking lot actually existed. The lady on hold nodded in agreement!

[Razors Edge ★]

On 7/27/2019 at 8:29 AM, maddmaxx said:

No.  In my case they dropped the Opel Manta and immediately dropped parts support at the same time.  As far as I was concerned, for me Buick was defunct.

We had a very fun little Opel GT.  When I see one nowadays, I always smile.

[Ralphie ★]

6 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

We had a very fun little Opel GT.  When I see one nowadays, I always smile.

We always called those mini- corvettes!  Cool!