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Old 04-06-2015, 08:27 PM   #41
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I had forgotten about El Caminos. I had a girlfriend with one, and it was a lot of fun. I also remember flying down the road in the back seat of a Subaru Brat. I don't think those open back seats would be allowed these days, but it was a blast back then.

Suburu recently had a "Baja" model, which had a bit of the old "Brat" feel, but I don't think the Feds would have smiled on the open rear seats of the Brat. But, heck, it had handgrips! "Hold on tight back there, I think we're gonna roll over."
The Brat took advantage of a loophole in crazy US import tariffs of the time. From Wikipedia:

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US versions also had carpeting and welded-in rear-facing jumpseats in the cargo area—serving actually to circumvent a tariff known as the Chicken tax. Although the BRAT could fairly be called a truck, the plastic seats in the cargo bed allowed Subaru to classify the BRAT as a passenger car. This both left little cargo space, and it also caused a few fatalities and serious injuries in accidents.[3][4] . . . Passenger cars imported into the US were charged only a 2.5% tariff, compared to 25% on light trucks.
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Old 04-06-2015, 08:44 PM   #42
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I'd like to see Chevrolet come out with a 1957 Bel Air 2 door hardtop body with current technology high performance drive train, suspension, and brakes.
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Old 04-06-2015, 08:51 PM   #43
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I'd like to see Chevrolet come out with a 1957 Bel Air 2 door hardtop body with current technology high performance drive train, suspension, and brakes.
That would be nice, and you can buy one already built that way at one of the Classic car auctions.

One problem with GM or any manufacturer copying an old classic body style is that the early cars would have trouble meeting the safety rules, especially the bumper standards. It could be done, though.
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Old 04-06-2015, 09:39 PM   #44
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One problem with GM or any manufacturer copying an old classic body style is that the early cars would have trouble meeting the safety rules, especially the bumper standards. It could be done, though.
It will make old car buffs cry to see it, but the IIHS did a 40 MPH offset crash test between a 1959 Bel Air and a 2009 Chevy Malibu. Really eye-opening results.

Video


In the crash test involving the two Chevrolets, the 2009 Malibu's occupant compartment remained intact (above left) while the one in the 1959 Bel Air (right) collapsed.
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Old 04-06-2015, 09:46 PM   #45
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^^^^^ Ouch! How to ruin a perfectly good 1959 Chevrolet! (and it's occupant)
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Old 04-06-2015, 09:53 PM   #46
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My Dad had one of these small 4 cylinder pickups of the early 1980s....be nice to see them come back again:

Datsun_620_truck.jpg

Little 4 cylinder, light, good fuel mileage, zippy, fun to drive, handy, what else? Where did they all go?
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Old 04-06-2015, 10:08 PM   #47
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My Dad had one of these small 4 cylinder pickups of the early 1980s....be nice to see them come back again:

Little 4 cylinder, light, good fuel mileage, zippy, fun to drive, handy, what else? Where did they all go?
My Dad had a little Datsun truck like that. It rattled quite a bit, but was reliable, ran well and was good on gas. Very fun for a teenager out in a wet parking lot. I'm guessing they were deathtraps in a crash. So, I worked on not crashing it.
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Old 04-07-2015, 12:08 AM   #48
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I too like these little pick-up trucks.
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Old 04-07-2015, 07:54 AM   #49
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+1 on the VW Van mentioned above - I would buy an updated one in a heartbeat. Also was sad to see the Element disappear although I never owned one. Looked like a great dog car.

I currently own an FJ Cruiser which was a "revision' itself and love it. Too bad it is discontinued.

One I would like to see is the BMW 2002. I had a '76 and loved it.
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Old 04-07-2015, 01:09 PM   #50
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Modern tri-five Chevy would sell good.

The problem with any retro styled vehicle is having it pass crash and pedestrian impact rules, while still being enough retro.
Doesn't the reintroduced Beetle meet these criteria?
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Old 04-07-2015, 01:10 PM   #51
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I had a number of these back in the day.

(The CAR)
So you're saying you wouldn't want a newer model?
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Old 04-07-2015, 02:31 PM   #52
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Jaguar MarkII 1964 with a modern FI engine.



What I have now



Photo is of identical to what mine is. 95 xj6.
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Old 04-07-2015, 03:01 PM   #53
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Ford Pinto. Just kidding. My first car was one.
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Old 04-07-2015, 03:32 PM   #54
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That 64 Jag looks bad with the modern wheels.

Jay - the new Beetle may meet the criteria, but a tri-five Chevy (55-57 for those unfamiliar with that term) would be very difficult to meet without the design being very compromised.
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Old 04-07-2015, 04:12 PM   #55
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That 64 Jag looks bad with the modern wheels. ....

.

Agree, the weels are butt ugly on that car.
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Old 04-07-2015, 04:30 PM   #56
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^^^^^ Ouch! How to ruin a perfectly good 1959 Chevrolet! (and it's occupant)
Forget where, but I saw one with a Ford Model A. That was worse - the car all but exploded.

"The good old days" weren't all that good in many ways.
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Old 04-07-2015, 04:39 PM   #57
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^^^^^ Ouch! How to ruin a perfectly good 1959 Chevrolet! (and it's occupant)
at least it was a 4 door - luv the 58s and 59s tho
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Old 04-07-2015, 05:27 PM   #58
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Agree that more utilitarian minivan like the VW transporter would be desirable, especially if it had good towing capacity and a quality camper version a la the Westphalias. Or maybe a larger version of something like the Chevy HHR.
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Old 04-07-2015, 06:03 PM   #59
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Ford Pinto. Just kidding. My first car was one.
Send that one to the Onion as a story idea: "Ford Brings Back Another Famous Badge From the Past. Sales expected to be hot, hot, hot!"

They were pretty neat little cars, for their day. And the competitive Chevy Vega had some fairly innovative (if trouble-prone) engineering under the hood to make things lighter.

You could buy an add-on to keep at the airport to make your Pinto airworthy. (See AVE Mizar). It, too, turned out to have some minor glitches . . . (a wing collapsed in flight, which pretty much ended the program). Still, at least when flying you were unlikely to get rear-ended and have that pesky fuel tank cause problems.
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Old 04-07-2015, 06:23 PM   #60
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Ford Pinto. Just kidding. My first car was one.

AMC Gremlin, AMC Hornet....well, maybe not.
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