The Chicago Auto Show Wayback Machine

by Derek Kreindler

February 25th, 2014 11:04 PM

Courtesy of TTAC reader Bryan comes these photos from the 1989, 1990 and 1991 Chicago Auto Shows. A truly glorious era of cigarette advertising in motorsports, interesting concepts from Mitsubishis, plastic paneled import fighters and a body-on-frame small block sedan crowned as Car of the Year. Cars may get 5-stars in a crash test, 30 mpg on a highway and put down low 14 second quarter mile times for $25,000, but that doesn’t mean we can’t lament how much more soulful they used to be.

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Zach on Feb 27, 2014

That base model Saturn SL1 sedan? I still wonder the logic of letting Saturn rot for most of the late 90's early 2000's.

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- 28-Cars-Later on Feb 27, 2014
  
  AFAIK there is not a single reason for doing so but there were several contributing factors: -Saturn was the brainchild of Roger Smith who left in 1990 just as the brand came online. -Saturn was never accepted by most on the GM board at the time. -Saturn was seen as a threat by the more established GM brands. -Saturn drew resources away from other GM brands and budgets in order to develop its own unique models. -Saturn body panels were very expensive and complicated to produce. -GM lost money on every Z-body Saturn from what I have read. -The cars gained a reputation for burning oil early on. -The cars had very cheap interiors, perhaps too cheap given the competition. -Most of the competition in the 90s were building truly excellent small cars, not merely "acceptable" ones. -Gen 2 cars were notorious for problems with power windows and locks. -GM failed to properly capitalize on the real love of the uniqueness of the brand, and instead began selling copies from other GM brands as early as summer 1999. I'm sorry I don't have more citations for these points, its more stuff I have picked up over the years about Saturn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_S-Series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_L-Series
  
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- Zach on Feb 27, 2014
  
  @28-Cars-Later Thanks 28 , So it wasn't my imagination that my 1987 Accord LXI was superior interior wise to my GF's 1994? Saturn (even though it had leather interior) that was about 10 years ago.
  
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Zach on Feb 27, 2014

I love the white wheel covers on the sub $10K AWD Subaru.

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