Most significant common cars of, lets call it the "Modern" period
- Thread starter wings&wheels
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How about Subaru with there AWD!!!
Why the F150 and not say GMC or Ram? I see about as many of each around here in private ownership but I will say the Fords are most popular in commercial use. I am not disparaging the Ford at all, I just don't have much familiarity w/ pickups.
We did discuss the Prius and Tesla and the Prius probably deserves a mention here. I'd say the Tesla is still niche at this point...need to see how many they are selling.
Fun discussion.
We kicked around both of those, because we had all owned at least one of them. The B was the last of the British roadsters and by the end needed to be put out of its misery...and I say that as a devoted fan. We thought Beetles were also a niche, but there is certainly a good argument there.
Now, related, the Datsun 240Z was up there. The car that showed that mass market sportscars could be reliable and useable, not highly strung, marginally built temperamental Italian and British things that put the ammeter in the red if you ran the headlights, heater fan and wipers....
Keep the thoughts coming!
Predates your time slot slightly but the flathead 1932 ford and OHV 1949 Olds Rocket V8 brought us enough affordable power to make the Interstate highway system a thing.
Clyde Barrow wrote Henry Ford a famous letter on the subject.
The 1986 Ford Taurus was revolutionary. I remember seeing a wagon and having my mind blown by the roundness of the rear side windows. Most wagons were square boxes at the time. We compare the car, now, against modern cars that look like it. But when it came out there wasn't anything else like it. Was also among the first cars with aero headlights, everyone else was still sealed beams.
Clyde Barrow wrote Henry Ford a famous letter on the subject.
The 1986 Ford Taurus was revolutionary. I remember seeing a wagon and having my mind blown by the roundness of the rear side windows. Most wagons were square boxes at the time. We compare the car, now, against modern cars that look like it. But when it came out there wasn't anything else like it. Was also among the first cars with aero headlights, everyone else was still sealed beams.
The Mini of course...and the Maxi.
The Renault 16 did beat them to the concept, but the Austin Maxi was a 5 door hatchback with a 5 speed gearbox, and the rear seats folded down in many combinations, just like a modern car, but in 1969. We loved to hate it, but it was the beginning of useful vehicles.
The Renault 16 did beat them to the concept, but the Austin Maxi was a 5 door hatchback with a 5 speed gearbox, and the rear seats folded down in many combinations, just like a modern car, but in 1969. We loved to hate it, but it was the beginning of useful vehicles.
The lowly Ford Taurus took car design in the “bean with wheels” direction in the mid 80’s. It was also an early adopter of fuel injection in family cars.
The original Honda Accord, which proved a nicer, slicker, somewhat more expensive Japanese small car could be a sell-out for years in the US. People forget how radical that was then (circa 1976).
VW Rabbit set the standard for common small, space-efficient small cars that followed. The earlier Fiat 128 would've except that it was never common in USA, and was not a hatch.
I agree with some others that have been mentioned, including Mustang, Camry (specifically the mid-90s generation), original Taurus ...
VW Rabbit set the standard for common small, space-efficient small cars that followed. The earlier Fiat 128 would've except that it was never common in USA, and was not a hatch.
I agree with some others that have been mentioned, including Mustang, Camry (specifically the mid-90s generation), original Taurus ...
The Beetle is IMO one of the most icon cars of the 20th century, the base for every early Porsche inc the 911, add to the list the Citroen DS another car that still lives on today in the technology it pioneered and is still being used by other companies.
The original Mini, MB W123, the Lotus cars, the Unimog and Toyota Hilux (if people insist of throwing trucks in the mix then why not),
Land Rover, Volvo P1800 (one of my all time favorites since ST1), Saab 99.
The original Mini, MB W123, the Lotus cars, the Unimog and Toyota Hilux (if people insist of throwing trucks in the mix then why not),
Land Rover, Volvo P1800 (one of my all time favorites since ST1), Saab 99.
The Chevy S10 lead the way for the SUV craze, had two of them and had good luck but many others did not.
Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav4.
Dodge Caravan/aka Chrysler Caravan or Voyager, I hated them because I knew how poor the quality of Plymouth was, after being taken in when I bought a new 1976 Volare, and essentially Plymouth and Chrysler and Dodge were the same company making the same vehicle sometimes with a few small things changed to give them a slightly different appearance, but they were a low cost family vehicle that parents used to hull kids everywhere. There low cost enabled a lot of families to buy them, besides bad transmissions and bad AC systems, and engines that the owners had to constantly add oil to, it seams that most of them had at least one rim that would always have a slow leak which is a pia in the winter. Unfortunately, even if you were smart enough to never own one, if you had a relative who owned one there was a good chance you would get suckered into helping keep it on the road.
Car companies can sell vehicles based on one of two reputations, 1) they can build quality vehicles that cost a lot and have a name that people who want a quality vehicle are willing to pay a lot for, or 2) like Dodge, they can build a cheap low cost vehicle that has problems but is known for having a low price, and people who can not afford to by vehicles made by the first type of company will flock to the second type and they will sell a lot of vehicles.
Dodge Caravan/aka Chrysler Caravan or Voyager, I hated them because I knew how poor the quality of Plymouth was, after being taken in when I bought a new 1976 Volare, and essentially Plymouth and Chrysler and Dodge were the same company making the same vehicle sometimes with a few small things changed to give them a slightly different appearance, but they were a low cost family vehicle that parents used to hull kids everywhere. There low cost enabled a lot of families to buy them, besides bad transmissions and bad AC systems, and engines that the owners had to constantly add oil to, it seams that most of them had at least one rim that would always have a slow leak which is a pia in the winter. Unfortunately, even if you were smart enough to never own one, if you had a relative who owned one there was a good chance you would get suckered into helping keep it on the road.
Car companies can sell vehicles based on one of two reputations, 1) they can build quality vehicles that cost a lot and have a name that people who want a quality vehicle are willing to pay a lot for, or 2) like Dodge, they can build a cheap low cost vehicle that has problems but is known for having a low price, and people who can not afford to by vehicles made by the first type of company will flock to the second type and they will sell a lot of vehicles.
no the m5 was already around for years and the carlton was demolishing ferraris before the first 500e left the factory
GM Europe made the first real super sedan.
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OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Great list!
Ford Taurus: Affordable and Semi-dependable. I had a Sable which was a the sister of the Taurus. I drove it until it had a meltdown after 12 years.
Tri Five Chevrolets
Pontiac GTO
Datsun 240Z
Toyota Celica/Supra
Chevrolet Suburban
Jeep Wrangler
67-72 Chevy/GMC trucks.....First trucks with "Upscale" Interior & Trim packages
Pontiac GTO
Datsun 240Z
Toyota Celica/Supra
Chevrolet Suburban
Jeep Wrangler
67-72 Chevy/GMC trucks.....First trucks with "Upscale" Interior & Trim packages
The original Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V are the most influential and impact-full vehicles released in the last 25 years. Being released within a year of each other in 94/95 they provided the template that nearly all SUV's and cross-overs would copy in the future. In the mid 90's the SUV craze was taking off, but as many customers where switched from cars they liked the high seating position, 4wd, etc but they complained about the poor handling, unrefined suspension, and bad fuel economy. Honda has the additional problem of not having a truck body on frame platform to build an SUV on, and developing one just for one model (that would mostly sell in the US) was cost prohibitive. The RAV4/CR-V solved all these problems at once by taking existing car unibody chassis's adding 4wd, beefing up the suspension and building an SUV from that. The original RAV4/CR-V were too small to compete with the Explorer and Grand Cherokee (the dominant SUV's of the day) but the template was quickly adopted by other manufactures, scaled up to bigger models, and eventually became so dominant that even truck based SUV's like the Pathfinder and Explorer switched to car based unibody chasis's.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
Mk1
VW Golf (Rabbit) GTi
VW Golf (Rabbit) GTi
Probably going to get some flack for this but I say Nissan Leaf. Before Tesla was a thing Nissan Leaf was the first volume BEV to get some traction and become mainstream.
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