So today I actually used my brain and went to the grocery store before 10. Believe me, you do not want to be in an Aldi or Hy Vee on a Sunday afternoon.
Once I got home I decided I was staying in the rest of the day. Which I filled by living in the past. To wit: watching Season One of The Streets of San Francisco (great show, but they should have called it The LTDs of San Francisco, ha ha) and going through my old car brochures and magazines.
I especially focused on a copy of the August 1973 Motor Trend, featuring a King of the Hill test against the 1973 Fleetwood Eldorado and Continental Mark IV.
But I was also taken with the advertisements. My God, there was so much more variety back then. Sure, they rusted, they blew up, they broke down. But there were so many choices!
The comboverization of our country today sucks. I could go on, but as the title suggests, I’m being lazy today. So just view, enjoy, and feel free to chime in in the comments.
And now, I need to boot up another episode of Streets of San Francisco and make a new cocktail 🍸. Cheers!
Wow ;
What a fun day .
Some of those cars were awful .
I like the adverts .
I’m off to drive in the rain .
CHEERS
-Nate.
Tom, Aldi???? A literary, supper club fellow like you meets the criteria of being a Whole Foods shopper..,. 🙂 🙂 anyway the old advertisements are great, so what if they were undependable, rusted directly from the factory, and had very little occupant protection. The foreign cars of that era were at least interesting and came in colors, not just 100 shades of gray. And General Tyre was reaching the truth, what Cadillac owner that lives in a house with a main gate Luke that first drives a four year old Cadillac, let alone drives it 40,000 miles. I thing General Tyre was doing a little brand association in that print advertisement.
You mean Whole Paycheck. None around here, and I have less than zero interest in a California commie concern. 🤪
I like Aldi’s coffee, particularly their Donut Shop coffee.
Aldi is great. It’s either Aldi or Lidl that owns Trader Joe’s. In the spirit of the post, I’m too lazy to look it up.
That sounds like a great Sunday.
Great fun.
I remember reading those King of the Hill tests years later in the library with great enthusiasm. And yes, in the current automotive world, there really is no variety.
@Tom, I’ve been mulling something over that you could likely help with. If you will allow me that Cadillac was once, and for a pretty long time, the Standard of the World, what was the last car that could honestly be described as such? As a current Cadillac owner, it’s a decent car, actually a fine car of apparently good quality, but not a Standard of the World.
I’m wondering if the cheapening that went along with the 1971 redesign was the beginning of the end. Regardless of the fact that the BMW types wouldn’t agree, the Cadillac made cars at least through the 60s that were as good as anything from Rolls Royce. Likely better, to be honest. And while the big Benzes were more driver focused, I’d bet on a 1970 Fleetwood in its day over an equivalent 6.3 for long road comfort and reliability.
Anyway, I’d appreciate your thoughts.
Erik
Erik, if I may chime in. I agree that Cadillac is no longer the standard of the world. Look at the CT5, a midsize car assembled in Lansing that starts less than 40k. It is really a Olds Cutlass, perhaps more disserving a row of international flags than a Salon, but a Cutlass.
I don’t really think there is a standard of the world anymore. The reason I think is that next increment of sales available is no longer in the USA but in the far and mid east. Designing for those buyers will inevitably compromise design choices. In the old days, the prospect of selling more in the USA greatly improved Rolls. MB, Jaguar, or BMW.
Well, I guess it depends on WHAT you want the standard of the world for. If it’s reliabiltiy, probably the Toyota Camry just for sheer never-breaks-down-ness. For unadulterated sheer over the top luxury and gadgetry, damn the cost, damn the reliability, I’d guess Mercedes? For pure horsepower performance never mind that no one over 40 can squat down into the car and it’ll beat you up, I guess Lamborghini or Ferrrari. For total whiz-bang gee-whiz the-very-latest-technology never mind if it’s unsupported five years from now or requires you to surrender all your privacy, I guess it’d be Tesla.
Even in the day, I suggest Cadillac wasn’t reallly “the standard of the world” for luxury cars; as far as I’m concerned that title’s been held by Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Duesenberg, Stutz, but not ever really by Caddy.
Wow my son just mentioned the lack of diversity in todays cars while we were at Cars and Coffee on Saturday. Said his high school lot is just the same few cars and trucks over and over. The car marque was McLaren and after looking at all the plastic on them we went back to looking at the other cars made of real metal. He was floored that my high school parking lot had Chevettes, Pintos, Mustang 5.0’s, Renault Alliances, Cavaliers, 944’s, Horizons, Volvo wagons that were all at the C&C. Let him know there were other brands that he has never seen so I showed him all the Joe Isuzu advertisements just so he could see their truck and an Impulse.There really was a diverse bunch that is lacking today. Come to think of it the advertising was more creative too!
I love the Opel ad. GM brags about being number one in Germany and then bends our German friends to their will, by broughaming up a Manta with glorious and color keyed velour for the Buickish Luxus model.
The basic but not for long Pinto couple has quite the nice garage doors, bet they needed frequent refinishing.
It was the Fall of 1974. It was time to buy a new car. The car magazines raved about the Mazda rotary engine. It was a choice between the Opel Manta or the Mazda RX-2. I almost bought a 1973 RX-2 but parents wanted to see what a Mazda was so found a 1974 RX-2 near my hometown. I had the Mazda 18 months, serviced it religiously on schedule but the Wankel seals went after I traded it in on a Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt. Dodged the bullet on that one but I really paid for getting cars very 18 months. Should have bought the Opel, but a better choice probably would have been a used car.