R.I.P. to 14 cars and trucks for 2012

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/r-i-p--t...-for-2012.html

 

A sad day for Ford indeed ...

I still remember my rides in the back of a CrownVic POS during my college days, puking my guts out from an excess of booze at some sorority party .....

 

As a hobbiest for many years, it is entertaining some times to actually review the brands of cars that no longer exist and some times what came of them, or the company they were. The Pierce Arrow for example, had it last Hoorah as Carling Black Lable beer.
One of the reference books I have lists alphebetically 5000 makes of cars manufactured in North America up through the copywrite on 1971 included is 70 pages of trucks, many of which are long gone.
I mean, think of the excitment caused when you wheeled home a new Wichita Combination Car or a Twombly?
There was a time when status was indicated by which of the three P's you drove home in. Peerless, Pierce or Packard. And the last of those went away in 1958. As to Saturn? They came and went in less than 20 years, the last of those were assembled cars from propietory parts bins much the same as many historical cars from the past. So Sad it Seems.
I owned for a few years a Model A Ford. The replacement for the Model T. It had a 3 speed transmission and a clutch which had become standard rather than the 2 speed planatary transmission shifted by pressing a pedal on the floor. There were 3 pedals on the T. One for the transmission going forward, another for the reverse gear and one for the brakes. Two wheel, back only. Speed was controlled by a hand throttle. That was a design that went from 1908 or so to 1928. The model A had a 200 cubic inch 4 cylinder engine that generated 40 hp on a good day. And then in 1932 the infamouse flat head V8, a standard manufactured up through 1953. Times change, some times even for the better. But not always.

 

I like the HHR with the 2.4L may look for a nice used one as time goes by.

 

I've got an 06 HHR, and its a great car, the only thing that's broken on it in five years was the thermostat.

 

I like the HHR also, it would have to have the 175hp 2.4L in it. 145hp 2.2L is a bit weak for the weight, and I have no desire to maintain the turbo.

 

It looks like some of the manufacturers are making other countries their focus. I would think China has a big market. But they probably want cars made there.

I am sorry to see the crown vic go. I think it is a mistake, but I don't have to sell them.

I wonder what cars like Packard and Studebaker would look like today if we still had them.

 

my dad had like a 2000 Crown Vic he totaled by bending the frame hitting a very stationary object (no one knows to this day what it was). (Aside: dad now has advanced Alzheimer's)).

Red exterior with a grey landau roof; leather inside.
Total pimp mobile (aside: my father was not a pimp).
It was heavy, had those mushy ford brakes, and the road feel of a mature slug, but it moved when you put your foot down -- and your passengers stayed cushy

 

derf, that car was fast
My grandfather got the crown-vic right after they re-did the body style (98 I believe). To this day the rest of my family thinks he had the police interceptor engine in it, cause that car hauled *** like none other