Memories + "Uncool" Cars

[knightfan26917]

It's sometimes ironic what will trigger a memory.

On Halloween, I went with my sister, nephew and friends to watch the kids trick or treat.  One of the houses we visited was the one in which my grandparents lived during their "retirement years".  Standing in front of it, I "flashed back" to scenes from Halloweens long ago of my sister, our cousins and me as kids eager to show Gram and Gramps our costumes ... and, of course, to get candy.  As we walked away from the house and walked past the driveway and the telephone poll that damaged my 1981 Monte Carlo Sport Coupe, I caught a glimpse of the garage behind the house ... and almost immediately flashed back to a few "uncool" cars ... that sparked different types of memories.

I have plenty of memories of/with "cool" cars, including...
...Dad's 1968 Impala...
...my parents' 1976 MC...
...our neighbor's 1972 Impala coupe and 1976 Buick Regal sedan...
...my aunt/uncle's 1970s LTD...
...my grandparents' 1972 Impala sedan...
...(and) my MCs and Caprice Classic...

...BUT here are a few with some "uncool" cars....



1978 PLYMOUTH HORIZON hatchback sedan, FWD, orangish
= Grandparents purchased new, right before they retired and moved to Elgin
= replaced their "blue Chevy" (Gram's nickname for it), a 1972 Impala sedan
= Somewhere, I have a pic of this car with my parents' ("my") 1976 MC that Gram took while we were all in Wichita KS one summer.


1982 CHEVETTE hatchback sedan, RWD, tan
= Parents purchased used, September 1984
= replaced "my" 1976 MC...and thus, I hated this Chevette.
= When I got my permit to drive, I had to drive this car [not the 1981 MC SC that I wanted to drive], if I wanted to drive at all.  I soon grew to like it....
= I was a bit disappointed when they traded it in for a 1990 Corsica.


1987 CELEBRITY Eurosport sedan, FWD, silver
= next door neighbor purchased used, early 1990s
= replaced a light green 1976 Buick Regal sedan
= I washed/waxed this car every summer.  A 1998 Lumina sedan replaced it in the early 2000s.
= The FWD Celebrity sedan and coupe (which replaced the RWD Malibu, ~1983) were replaced by the new FWD Wbody Lumina sedan and coupe.  The Lumina sedan had 2 generations (1990-1994, 1995-1999) before the "impala" name took over, 2000-today.  The Lumina coupe had one generation (1990-1994) before the "monte carlo" name landed on the FWD Wbody platform, 1995-2007.
...HONORABLE MENTION:
"Blue Bandit" 1988 CELEBRITY WAGON owned by college friends.


1988 TOYOTA NOVA / Ch#$r%*et COROLLA sedan, FWD, light blue
= Grandparents purchased new
= replaced their 1978 Plymouth Horizon
= Just about every car my grandparents had purchased were ones that my grandfather wanted.  This time, Gram got to choose...and she wanted her Nova.  I couldn't persuade her to buy a MC....
= I cleaned this car every year.  Once, the day after I cleaned it, they were hit in a local grocer store parking lot.
= We took this car to Pine-Apple Orchard in Maple Park IL a few years in a row and to Milwaukee WI one summer.
= My parents bought this and kept it for a few years before it died completely.


1990 CORSICA LT hatchback sedan, FWD, malachite metallic (green/grayish)
= Parents purchased new
= replaced their 1982 Chevette
= During our 1991 road trip to California, Oregon and Washington, we traveled through, among others, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, and I did MOST of the driving.  At the top of the drive through Glacier National Park, it was quite foggy.  Someone behind us was right on my tail the entire drive up, so I pulled over at the top to let that car by ... and then we traveled SLOWER with them leading than we had with me leading...!


1997 Corsica/malibu sedan, FWD, "old man tan"
= I purchased new, late 1996, so my 1979 MC could be stored during the winters
= Perhaps my fondest memory of this car was a road trip my sister and I took, headed to PA for the family reunion.  Through Chicagoland, the car got an orange "dust" on it.  In PA, we were stuck on the Turnpike for over an hour due to an "overhead erection".....



3 of the cars mentioned above are in this pic:
http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/collection/DSC07708r8_jpg.html

...1 is in this pic:
http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/collection/DSC07705r8_jpg.html



What memories do you have with "uncool" cars?




Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |* 06/2011.RT=us66+NW USA*
** RE-LAUNCHED 3rd gen MC (1978-80) FORUM! ** > http://thirdgenmontes.proboards.com/index.cgi
"A dead end street is just a place to turn around" ... Wynonna ... 'Rock Bottom'

[Ultra]

I love Horizons and Chevettes.  The GLHS Omni/Horizon is a riot.

[knightfan26917]

The GLHS Omni/Horizon is a riot.

Indeed!


It is interesting to me how some "uncool" cars from "back in the day" ... seem "cool" now.  For instance, I HATED my parents' '82 Chevette since it replaced "my" 1976 Monte Carlo.  Yet ... I wouldn't mind having one now.....



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |* Chicagoland Meets, 2011?
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Will I be merry or will I be blue?" ... Deborah Allen ... 'Rockin' Little Christmas'

[DynaMike]

Oh yes, I hated my parents' 1971 Opel Kadett (B) after they had a 1958 Hillman Minx and a 1965 Hillman Super Minx... I even was  quite glad when they bought a 1976 Mazda 616 LN... Brrrr....

[Allemano]

In 1976 I was waiting for my Dad to come back from the lokal OPEL car dealer.
We had a (unreliable) 75 HP OPEL Ascona 1.6 S (A) before which I loved. It was something competitive back then (160 km/h !).



One of my buddy's dad was silly proud of an incredibly slow Ford Knudsen Taunus 1,3...

Unfortunately the new purchase was a green Opel Kadett C-Coupe (looking back a pretty car) with a lame 1200cc engine and 52 HP. As I read that most important spec V/max 136 km/h I was mildly shocked and refused to ride with for weeks...



Thank god my father had a heart and the following was a OPEL Ascona B (in "Jamaica Yellow" and vinyl roof) and everything was fine again:

[pnegyesi]

Compare this with our Trabants and Dacias. Once we had a Dacia which had a tendency of flipping its bonnet open during regular driving

[Arthur Dent]

I've owned quite a few uncool cars but the current one is a Datsun 210 which likely as uncool as it gets. My aunt had one in 80s which I always liked the look of.

[Allemano]

In Germany of today the Datsun 210 would be definitively a cool car!

[Vincent Vell Vet]

Me, my brothers and our greaser car freak cousin allways thought most anythng past '72 was an insult to our tastes and even the World.
Big girder 5mph bumpers that stuck way out, paper thin recycled steel, chease-ball interiors made of hard plastic that desinagrated in the sun, fake "tooled" leather interior details, and meager hp ratings through poorly thought out emissions systems.

It was a little more than just memories of un-cool cars I guess, it was an era of big dissapointments.
An era where even the lowliest sedan had SOME readeeming value (hey, this 4dr '68 Coronet with a 383 option is the same darn thing as a Road Runner!)
To an era where everything was a crule joke.

That's when we started to buy SAABs and Benzs'.

[knightfan26917]

It was a little more than just memories of un-cool cars I guess, it was an era of big dissapointments.

Sadly, enough ... yes.  Another reason why I think I was born in the wrong decade...LOL!



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |
** RadioShow.CDshowcase.HOLIDAY | Friday | 12.24.2010 | 12:30p-4:30p.CENTRAL = www.WRMN1410.com **
"May your days be merry and bright" ... Irving Berlin/Bing Crosby ... 'White Christmas'

[Bezor]

We never had cool cars.  My parents friends, they had cool cars.

And what's with the Kadetts?  We had a '71 (I think) baby blue Kadett Wagon.  I'm thinking the fastest it went was the day my sister and I knocked it out of gear while we were jumping around in the car.  It rolled down the drive backward and into a rock. 

We had a '72 Olds Cutlass 4 door that was metalic green.  We had a '74 V.W. Bus.  We had a '79 Olds Cutlass Diesel Wagon that was brown.  My dad then went on to buy a few more forgetable cars of which obviously I don't recall what they were. We had '82 Honda Accord 4 door, that was brown.  However, it was a 5-speed, and actually that was a fun drive.

     

[knightfan26917]

We had a '72 Olds Cutlass 4 door that was metalic green.  We had a '74 V.W. Bus.  We had a '79 Olds Cutlass Diesel Wagon that was brown.

I know a few people that might disagree and say those are actually some cool vehicles ... .



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Can you make these big wheels burn?" ... Ronnie Milsap ... 'Smokey Mountain Rain'