by Don Kincl
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: Pontiac Parisienne Wagon – Far From The Parisian Woods
– Posted on December 15, 2020
by Don Kincl
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Kids moved out, husband passed away, all I have left is our wagon. My husband really loved his Pontiacs.
I had an ’87 Safari, the Americanized Parisienne. Man, I miss that car.
That is a very evocative photo. If you had a “photo of the year” award for the Cohort, this would probably get my vote.
This depressing picture sums up the experience of millions of elderly people like the driver, where the minimalist social safety net leaves people vulnerable.
Living in poverty, fixed income, struggling to survive and being forced to drive the most mangy derelict car imaginable. Yes, younger people also drive dystopian disasters but there’s the possibility their youth and hard work can lift them out of dereliction and into something nicer.. But this pic suggests no such optimism. The car becomes a metaphor for the slow spiral downwards towards life’s inevitable doom.
Wow, thank you for that!
It’s all this lady’s own fault that she drives this heap. She wasn’t born privileged and didn’t inherit wealth. She also has no trust fund and should have made better choices. I shouldn’t have to spell this out, but I think that in today’s world I should. This comment is pure sarcasm.
Looks like Clark Griswald’s stunt double.
Looks like it was in a front end collision and somebody pulled it with a chain and a tree. Not bad for a DIY repair.
Powerful photo, has a hanging-by-a-thread quality about it.
Owns Rental Properties all over town. A “fancy” car might give renters the “wrong” idea?
Net Worth – $10 million.
Hahaha. That was kinda my thought, too. She conducts business in the heapmobile, her lawyer probably lets her park it behind his office at night, and she drives home in a S-class.
Once again another beautiful photo by Don Kincl. Someday he needs to make a coffee table book of his unique vision of old cars.
Either of these stories could apply here. Not to make light of seniors that have to make ends meet with a fixed income. There are a lot of people struggling in our communities. On the other hand, once you reach a certain age, you quit buying into the idea that status can be inferred by the type of car you drive. There’s a lot of freedom to do whatever you want at that stage of life.
Back in the 70’s Anton Myrer wrote about “The last Convertible”, which I guess was supposed to be a 1976 Cadillac….though there have been convertibles since then, in a way I guess it was right, these were the last full sized convertibles produced.
Someone probably wouldn’t wax that poetically with these, but in the same vein, they were the last full sized wagons…not sure which year was the last (1988?) for GM or Ford (Chrysler I think stopped making theirs in the late 70’s). It is really amazing how quickly minivans took over for these…just 4 years or so.
Something similar seems to be happening to hatchbacks…because of crossovers or mini-SUVs, they seem to be disappearing (though they’ve frequently been scarce)…guess cars in general are disappearing, we’re all supposed to get the memo where the replacement is, well, no longer a car. Maybe minvans themselves will disappear, at least American ones we are down to just Chrysler.
I don’t really like the diminished choices, but I’ve never been much of a mainstream person, I want to buy what I like…actually in my older years, something like this wagon would probably be ideal for me…I like the higher seating (but not too high) and don’t need or want all wheel drive, nor the space or complexity that having that entails.
There was a story a few days ago about the late 70’s or early 80’s Corolla, which they offered something like 3 models of coupes in the same year…that seems impossibly in a different world…I know it is expensive to have too many models, and certainly the ones that sell in lower volume are not as attractive to the manufacturers, but seems the way we are going, eventually everyone will be either driving a pickup or an SUV…nothing specific against them, but to me that’s kind of like going into my toolbox and making me pick 3 tools I’m most likely to use and the others taken away…there’s a reason for variety, even though it undoubtedly costs (maybe eventually will have to pay Mercedes or Bentley price to get anything different from the current norm).