Question Of The Day: What Brand Of Yesteryear Deserves A Tomorrow?
by
Steven Lang
Published: July 2nd, 2012
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Checkers wasn’t always a game. Ajax wasn’t always a cleanser. Edsel… was not ever quite a hip name. Even back in the day. Although Ford spent several billions of real dollars trying to make it so.Sometimes brands deserve to die. Just going down the proverbial list shows about a 95+% rate of, “What were those?”, followed by quite a few, “Yeah, I remember those. They sucked.”Then you have a few that seem surprisingly contemporary. A Saturn can still be a futuristic machine if some manufacturer decided to resurrect the brand and invest in new distinct models. Pontiac was a place. An Indian tribe, and a brand that sold well over 20 million vehicles, and included dozens of memorable model names.Truth be told many of these old names sound far better than the current ones. An Eagle sounds like a better name for a sporty car than a Dodge. Mercury sounds more hip than a homely Ford. Even the stillborn Amati brand was a far more melodic muse than that guttural Mazda moniker.Car brands. Car parts. Even certain auto service companies, like gas stations and repair chains, had names that are still easy and fun to remember.Do any of them deserve a tomorrow? Let us know. Oh, and before you ask Derek and Brendan, Canada apparently does qualify.
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Franklin. Why? Because I love the idea of an air cooled car with a front-mounted straight 6. Plus they were pretty cutting edge for their day, my '28 boat tail has 4 wheel hydraulic brakes and an aluminum body and some of the best steering put on any car for many years after (so good hotrodders in the '50s would install Franklin steering on their cars).
By risk of getting burned. I think Hummer needs to start building H1s again. The company was very profitable and had no issues when American General was just selling Hummers to rich people. When GM took over they ruined it with the H2 and H3. Niche Brand, JUST Sell the H1 and/or a civilian version of whatever new Military truck they are producing. There will always be a market for those types of trucks. Just not those soft pickups that look tough...but are actually Chevy colorados... I'd also say that there is a market for one of those super high water American brands (not a Zimmer or some shit) but like Duesenburg or Auburn or Studebaker -> but they couldn't be modern takes on the classic (unless they can pull off a Morgan look) they need to be completely modern higher than Rolls/Bentley handbuilt machines. Something around 400k and the rich will want to buy one. sell 50 a year, fast comfortable coaches.
Pontiac. That company fueled my automotive lust since I was a child watching Smokey and the Bandit, and Knight Rider. Funny story: most of my friends (myself included) have multiple tattoos. We sometimes have a game where someone will throw out something specific (say, a filmation cartoon character) and we will see if someone has a corresponding tattoo (Ex-girlfriend with Snarf from the Thundercats was the response) After a while, it got to be a competition, where people would try to name something no one has tattooed on them. I won one day with "Who has a defunct american car brand emblem tattooed on them?" That would be me. I have the Pontiac arrowhead tattooed on my go pedal leg from knee to ankle. Having owned multiple Pontiacs (77 T/A, 89 Firebird, 85 Fiero V6 4SP, 86 Fiero 2.5 3 Speed auto, and small stints in an '87 Grand Am, and a '67 Catalina) I can attest to the sometimes questionable build quality, but what GM product hasn't had those issues? (I'm a realist here) . It seemed to me, that Pontiac was supposed to be the performance arm of GM, which may have been what caused it's demise. When all car companies started "watering down" or "decontenting" in the mid nineties or so, there was not really a place for Pontiacs to "shine" and stand out from other offerings from GM. I personally would love to live in a world of turbo 3.8 Fiero's (they were reportedly testing one when they decided to scrap the nameplate) But the unfortunate truth is that a Turbo 6 Fiero would likely run circles around what the Vette could lay down at the time, and we all know that GM would not allow an "underling" company put out a quicker product then their sportscar flagship...
Bring back International Harvester... The world needs more Scouts!