Something about this juxtaposition tickles me. Maybe it’s the wild contrast between the design philosophies of GM in 1969 and Nissan in 2013; maybe it just hits home that hip or cool is entirely in the eye of the beholder. Whatever; if one must be stuck in traffic, having this pair ahead of you is a bit more entertaining than the usual Camry/F-150 combo one tends to see in this area.
I will cast my vote for the big Oldsmo. Nothing really wrong with the Cube, but I already have a white Honda Fit, so the Cube feels just a bit too familiar to be really hip.
That particular generation (1969-70) of Olds 98 always made for a really attractive convertible. I could be quite happy with one of these. Would it make me hip? Not sure it is quite that effective. 🙂
Well Huey Lewis told us it was: “hip to be square” so point for the Cube.
However a 98 in that condition would be an honor to own. I’d be sorely tempted to letter “S.S. Ransom E. Olds” across its flanks and just smile and wave as I motored along.
Left lane option, please. I was never a fan of the Godzilla school of automotive design.
I’ll go for the OIds…..of course.
Though the that donkish rim and tire combo goes straight to craigslist.
Really not a fan of the Cube, or any of the other boxy Soul/Xb/whatchamacallits.
Heh, then there’s the other question…Dallas or Galveston?
The Olds is definitely Dallas. The Cube seems uncertain.
The Cube is Austin……
Dallas for me, in the Olds. The Cube’s headed east on I-10 I think.
The photo was taken in Houston on that certain part of U. S. 59/State Highway 288 heading north where these four lanes had split from the main lanes and will merge traffic onto Interstate 45 going either north to Dallas or south to Galveston.
Due to fairly benign weather Houston enjoys a fair number of nicely kept older automobiles though driving them in modern traffic with their period brakes and suspension can be exhilarating. One of the biggest problems I had when driving my older cars on the freeways was other folks who were 1) busy looking at my car while traveling at 60mph or greater and not paying attention to other things around them and 2) not having proper appreciation for the limitations of (primarily) the brakes on a 40+-year-old car.
I was thinking the same thing! The 98 definitely fits the image of Dallas — the Cube is funkier like Austin or Houston (where I assume this picture was taken). I like both cars (and all 3 cities.)
Forget Texas. The Cube belongs in Seattle or Portland. Bay Area works too.
Well maybe the Cube would be useful in Texas would be a useful transport “about the property” just as long as you didn’t take it out on the main roads.
The last time I was in Houston (spring 2008 before the gas spike/economic downfall), my rented Mustang coupe was a rowboat among a bunch of dreadnaughts. I’ve never been around so many other huge vehicles anywhere else in the USA.
Hip? I’m a middle age balding conservative. Just the target market for that 98 back when, and it still works today. 455 4 barrel please….
I’m a middle-aged bald liberal, but I’d still take the Olds.
I’m “left” behind you Thomas, in my own Olds.
“Oldsmobile – We Bring People Together.” Too bad they aren’t still around to try a new slogan. 🙁
“Olds: Where left meets right without a collision.”
“It IS your father’s Oldsmobile, and now you’re grown-up enough to appreciate both it and him.”
I’ll take the Olds, and it isn’t even close. I can’t see many people lusting after a Cube when it is 40 years old.
I understand that there’s some distortion due to perspective, but my main reaction is how HUGE the compact Nissan looks compared to the full-sized Olds.
A little Web research indicates that the Nissan is almost a full foot taller. Not necessarily a bad thing — I like the upright seating position available in even small cars today — but those low rooflines of the 60s and 70s made for much sleeker looking designs.
Even my ’77 Chevelle looks dwarfed by a new Taurus. It’s the Lower, Wider, Longer school of design on the pre ’77 cars.
Its rather amusing to park that big car next to new cars and realize how short in height it is to say a Corolla, but yet it still has tons of headroom, it just sits low to the ground.
Speaking of a late model Corolla, I was on a freeway the other day where one was getting passed by a 71-72 Mustang Mach 1. You know, the Mustang that everyone endlessly complains about being positively gigantic to the point of making supercarriers seem small? The Corolla positively dwarfed the Mustang in both height and width. I wouldn’t be surprised if length too, but couldn’t see that from behind. Should have grabbed a pic but was too busy marveling at the sight and the ramifications.
The ’71-’73 Mustang is one of those cars that only appears ginormous to me from an “inside-the-car” perspective. I felt like a dwarf behind the wheel of the one I was fortunate enough to take for a spin. It was a very interesting experience (Q-code Sportsroof with 4-speed, manual steering, and manual brakes). As good-looking as these cars are…I don’t know how anyone could stand driving one on a daily basis!
When the new Taurus was new about 10 years ago, then called 500, I saw one sitting next to an Explorer. I was amazed at how the Taurus was nearly as tall as the Explorer and equally as wide (maybe wider.)
I’ll pass on both, the 98 is simply too big and ostentatious for my tastes and the Cube too bizarre. Every time I see a Cube it reminds me of Salvador Dali’s surrealist artwork, like some of his sculptures of human figures with pull out drawers.
The Nissan Cube is an odd duck, its the only production car that I can recall that’s glaringly asymmetrical with the mismatched “Lady Gaga” D pillars on the rear. Its an interesting and polarizing answer to the question how do you distinguish your cube from that of Toyota and Kia.
You sometimes see asymmetry in race cars and vocational trucks but its usually a case of form following function.
These have almost nothing in common except for having four wheels and being automobile.
My wife likes “hamster cars”, probably from watching the tv commercial, and is irritated with me when I lump XB’s and Cubes et al into the “hamster car” category, where they belong as far as I’m concerned.
Yes, the 98 for me, please.
Hamster Cars = this decade’s version of sixties’ ponycars. Perfect.
From thoroughbreds to rodents; the next chapter in the decline of western civilization.
Its the “thing” musclecars in the 60’s, personal luxury coupes in the 70’s, minvans in the 80’s SUV’s in the 90’s, and now the little lunchbox car.
I’ll have to say that I wouldn’t mind having both. The big convertible would make a good weekend cruiser, and I don’t mind the unusual asymmetrical design of the Cube. You can’t accuse Nissan of just throwing together another cookie-cutter design with this one!
I’ve noticed that RHD Cubes have the big window on the left, and LHD Cubes have the big window on the right. It makes me wonder about the additional tooling costs! I suppose it makes sense to have the the windows on the passenger side, since the driver’s door mirror is a lot more useful to the driver than the passenger side door mirror.
Had a 66 98 vert, and it was WAY cooler than the hamstermobile…
I’m with Actually Mike.
The Olds, while not my favorite year, is a heckuvan awesome car for warm evenings and weekends. I’d put a paper bag over my head until the clown rimz that Carmine somehow detected were dumped via Craigslist though.
The rear styling of the Cube just does it for me…the taillight and license plate setup is sharp. I think I’d enjoy having one of those as a daily driver. Just drive it until it is no longer driveable.
The tailights remind me of 1978-1982 GM A-body station wagons.
No I hated Those. I was Just defending .admiring the taillights as 62 Buick Lesabre- ish….and set the size off well . i wondered how handy, might be perfect for my needs,despite odd look. That might make it cheap sooner on used car market. Especially in an off color.
i even understand the patch to set glasses on well.
I love The asymetrical line/ Love That There Is No Blind spot in that corner, 7/8th N Scale to HO Trains IMO. The Whole car is cute, yes it will look silly as it ages without copycats…
wish i could own both and many more… time to make a couple new lists.
You’re right, those taillights really do resemble a ’62 Buick!!
The 78 & newer G-body taillights remind me of the wacky 80’s Imperial rear ends — “upside-down”
We have a Cube and it is a great daily driver. My wife picked it out as her new car and I really hated It until she suggested a much more expensive alternative; I wisely decided it was going to be her car so what did I care.
Fast forward 2+ years and I drive it all the time. It is great on gas, holds tons of stuff, and the upright seating is almost as good as my SUV. Plus it is great to tow behind the motorhome (’87 Bluebird). Although we’ve knicknamed it the Toaster (because it pretty much looks like a toaster and is about as sexy) it really is a great utility car.
Like most of my favorite vices I had to learn to love the Cube, but now am glad we have it. As a bonus my wife has never said ” I told you so.”
Convertibles are like pizza, even bad ones look/taste good. In stock form, I am hard pressed to think of any convertibles that are truly bad. Often dropping the top makes even marginal designs look halfway decent.
Its hard to make a rational comparison, though because the typical buyer of the Cube is probably more limited in his circumstances (financial and otherwise) than the Olds 98 buyer, even in 1970.
Of course most of us would choose the 98 over the Cube, simply because its a lot closer to our wants than our needs.
Color me twisted; but I’ll go get Cubed. The Olds was for the rock-solid conventional, white-shirt-and-narrow-tie suburban commuter of the 1960s. If he was really daring, it would be a convertible…but the top seldom dropped; his fedora would blow away and subject his bald pate to a sunburn.
I’m not so different from that picture as I might like (except for the bald pate, which hopefully never happens) but I still hold a teenage rebellious hatred for full-size American cars. They’re for squares!! I wouldn’t be caught DEAD in one!
And so far, I never have. Except for driving an Impala taxi for a time, never-never-never.
The Cube doesn’t really tickle me; but I recognize the deal: the stylists waxing whimsical on a very-utilitarian two-box design. Think of the Scion xB blown up 20 percent.
Very nice. I haven’t driven a Nissan lately; but if they kept their traditional quality up, I’m sure it’s a fine investment. And it certainly reflects a sense of humor and a thick skin…
As an old-school traditionalist, I choose the Olds by a country mile. I already own a ’72 Delta 88 Royale convertible, so it’s not much of a stretch.
I’d definitely have to ditch the rims though.
Something must have been seriously mentally wrong with me when I was an adolescent. Instead of lusting after the typical teenage dream rides ( Porsche, Corvette, Z-Car, etc. ), I instead wanted a Lincoln Mark IV, Cadillac Eldorado, or Chrysler Imperial. Thirty years later, that hasn’t changed.
You’re not alone. My two dream cars from conception to high school were a ’69-’70 Cougar XR7 convertible and a ’70-’71 Thunderbird Sportsroof. A close third was a Mark III Lincoln. #4 was any ’65-’69 big Chevrolet…
A Zodiac blue ’73 Delta 88 Royale convertible lives in my basement and will be one of the last vehicles I would ever get rid of. It’s a mess of course but it’s beautiful to look at (and stack stuff on).
The Olds is much cooler, and I was born 13 years after it came down the assembly line.
But the Cube is far more practical for what I actually use a car for. Plus, it’s available with a stick shift.
Back then we were “Oldsmobile people” (to use the line from A Christmas Story), and at various times we owned a ’69 and two ’70s. To me, this was the end of the line as far as build quality goes; these were generally solid, trouble-free cars. We ended up keeping the ’70 Ninety-Eight almost eight years – unheard of at that time – and when it was traded in late ’77 with over 80,000 miles, it had one small rust spot on the trunk lid, and the interior still looked almost like new.
Ironically, I grew up to be a somewhat loyal Nissan owner, although I’m not particularly fond of the Cube. Others have noted that in many ways, Nissan fills the niche once occupied by Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Hopefully it will not go the way of those two marques.