Another post of Ads is here, this is 1987’s last issue.
The magazine started with this folding-pages-array of Tempo ad:
We’ve now come full circle from those late Seventies Civic ads.
Another two-part ad, the Acura gains from Honda’s F-1 wins.
Looking at this makes me sad- “Oldsmobile who?”
Another one of those “He’s lying” ads.
Turn the page and witness this:
GM pushed this Quad4 engine hard in their ads. Also in that Aerotech ad above.
Ah, the Corsica. My brother in law had one of these. It was about seven years old at the time and felt as if it was about to dismantle itself any moment;
The interior rattled vigorously, the seats lost any support they ever had, the ride was insufferable, and the doors closed with the feel of a guillotine. Eventually, it did one decent thing and set itself on fire following a short circuit from the cigarette lighter socket.
Now for the classifieds:
Is it just me or does the ad with the strong arms holding up the quad 4 engine seem a little communist. Probably part of Olds’ five year plan, if not a good fit for the actual cars Olds was selling.
A representation of what doomed the Quad4. Too many hands in the pot. How come 6.7 million miles of testing didn’t reveal poor head gasket sealing and how noisy it was? Don’t worry, we’ll repair them and offer a new version with a counter balance shaft after the damage is done.
GM’s old way was to expect customers to “trade up” to bigger car, when their “small cars” fell apart.
“My Quad 4 needs a new head gasket”
“You should have gotten a Delta 88”
Roger rabbit Smith did more damage to GM than any bean counter ever thought of!
$22,000 for a ’65 Shelby Mustang? Peanuts today…
There’s a lot to like here…the Mark VII ad, the Cabernet Red 5.0 GT doing a burnout on the cover, Glidden’s Pro Stock T-Bird, even the early Corsica ad (before GM let them become stale by ’96).
Those old Good Year ads with race cars paralleling their street versions were always fun, too.
I did enjoy those Goodyear ads. It also reminds me how much I liked the look of the 80’s and early 90’s IMSA racers.
$4000 for that ’69 Firebird?? Probably well worth over $25k today in that original condition. If I only knew then what I know now! LOL
Oh the eighties, seems like the whole purpose was to make seventies cars look good!
The Ford Tempo ad is roll on the floor ridiculous…..”Driving Ambition”, more like driving you away.
And the poor Merkur Scorpio: planning for it’s future….but it didn’t see the collapse of the Merkur brand that was about 12 months away.
Laying in a supply of parts before the L-M dealer throws all the Merkur stuff out…
I have a 1990 Ford Tempo with 92,000 original miles. Bought it 9 years ago and it had every receipt for work done on it down to the oil changes. Have had to have repairs done, normal stuff nothing out of the ordinary on a 26 year old car. It is my wife’s daily driver, 15 mile round trip to work and back. Less than 4,000 miles a year have been put on this car in it’s 26 year existence. My wife loves it, she would rather drive it than our 15 years newer Taurus that I bought for her thinking she would like a newer car. My daughter who recently moved back in with us with her 2 children drives this one after wrecking her car. Also have a 1995 Taurus wagon as a backup vehicle. I learned over 40 years ago if you are going to run older cars you need a backup but I have run 3 or 4 cars over the years for 1\4 the cost of running one new car. Also never paid more than $1,500. for a car in my life. CACO
It was interesting that the word Merkur didn’t seem to appear in the Scorpio ad.
Also that Nissan say their pickup is ugly while the quite similar-looking Ranger is said to look good!
The Aceca, Cobra, Allard J2X and turbo Alfa GTV 2000 all look pretty interesting.
Here’s a question. ‘Who has ever seen a Celica Turbo All-Trac ?’ I bet that was a blast to drive.
As an aside I just spotted this unlikely duo in the parking lot. ( There happens to be a white Nissan Leaf hiding behind the Buick as well).
1 = Taurus and MR2 Supercharged
0 = Mustang GT, CRX Si, Merkur Scorpio, Mazda RX7 Turbo II
B =
E = Acura Legend Coupe
S = Civic Si
T = Acura Legend Sedan
Does anyone recognize the trim panel in the B?
Is it a Corolla?
You’re probably right. The 4-door sedans had louvers like that, but I can’t find a photo of one fancy enough to have chrome trim.
I wonder what their selection criteria were that led them to have the Corolla and the Scorpio on the same list.
Here’s one;
http://consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/90812041990301.jpg
10 Best Cars has always been the ten that were the best at their intended mission as experienced by the C&D staff, so you get a grab bag of cars ranging from the cheapest you’d find in a press fleet to what might be called mainstream luxury (they employ a price cutoff – $35,000 in the late 80s iirc – to keep the really expensive dream cars out).
This is Road & Track though. I don’t think Car and Driver started talking about which cars were best for their intended missions until recently, If the best cars were all in the same segment, then they would have no problem including the Taurus, Camry and Accord on the same list, or the Civic, Corolla and the Golf/Jetta on the same list. They added all the category manipulation when they got serious about retaining Detroit advertising.
I’m pretty sure the Acura Legend and Merkur Scorpio were similarly priced and placed, although one was a huge success while the other didn’t find a market for various reasons. I’d love to know how they justified the Scorpio’s inclusion on this list. It wasn’t terrible in every way, but it lacked strengths and had prominent weaknesses.
Lol, I forgot that GM considered the V6 Corsica a sports sedan…..euuuh weiii!
Well they were equipped with a V6 engine upgrade, sporty blackout exterior trim, up level suspension and larger tires and sportier wheels so it at least wasn’t just a logo affixed to the rear deck and a larger alloy wheels like the new Corolla S that still uses the same anemic 132 HP 1.8 it’s had for years.
I think the Honda Civic would have been the only car I might have wanted back then. The Tempo would drive you to replace it with a better car, while Hyundai should have just left, period. The VW ad is hilarious, the tag line should’ve read:
“Another Radical Idea From Volkswagon. Cars That Don’t Break Down All The Time and Cost A Fortune To Repair!”
And people think ’70s cars were bad!!!
Of the cars featured in these ads, I would have chosen the Mark VII 10 times out of 10. Except, of course, that I could never have afforded it, just like I can’t afford a brand-new ATS coupe today. Of “realistic” cars pictured, the Impulse Turbo would have been fun, but the Civic would have been the best rational choice.