Car manufacturers are already announcing next year’s models. Meanwhile, dealers are desperately pulling out all the stops to get folks interested in this year’s models.
When I was a kid, next year’s cars weren’t revealed until sometime after school started in September. And we couldn’t wait to see what was new, different, exciting, and better than last year.
The names were easier to remember too. We owned Fords and could choose from a Custom, DeLuxe, Tudor or Fordor. That was it. Our neighbors bought Chevrolets – either Bel Airs or a Fleetlines.
I got thinking about that and checked out some car names from the past. Buick, known to be big and docile, offered the Roadmaster and the Electra. Later they added Skylark, Riviera, Century, Regal and Grand National.
Cadillac had the DeVille, the Fleetwood, the ElDorado and something called the Special. American Motors, which was cobbled together from several other car companies, offered the AMX, the Pacer, the Javelin, the Ambassador (a holdover from Nash), and the Hornet, which was a leftover from Hudson. Studebaker kept it simple with the President, the Champion and the Commander.
When BMW started naming their cars, they went the numbers route – the more convoluted, it seems, the better. Notably, there were the 3.OS/3.OSi/3.3L models plus the 5 and 700 series.
Austin, over in Jolly Old England, liked numbers too, but got stuck on the number seven. They offered the Seven Ulster, the Seven Long, the Big Seven and Seven Ruby.
Dastsun (Nissan) tried their best to cheer us up with the Sunny, Violet, Cherry and Bluebird models. Volkswagen, meanwhile, was always the Beetle in America while reserving the Golf, Derby, Variant and Kombi for European buyers.
One disappointment: Aston Martin boasted 28 different models. Not one of them was the 007.
