My faithful dash-cam captures another CC. This time it’s the glorified Chevy Lumina, howling a pensioner (who else?).
I don’t mean to disrespect pensioners, of course- it’s just that I’ve yet to see a Lumina (or Grand Prix, or LeSabre for that matter) of this vintage driven by anyone under 65. And it must be said, here in Israel this is the age group that bought the Lumina in the first place.
I’ve left the original audio playing from the car stereo for your pleasure. Have a guess who it is.
Back in the 1990s, the Lumina was marketed in Israel as somewhat of a pseudo-luxury car. As the Americans among you will know, this is very different to how this car was marketed in the US. In Israel, American cars were always perceived to be an upmarket vehicle, if only for their size, which was usually larger-than-most-European/Japanese cars. Add to that the “amenities” these cars were imported with to Israel, such as original stereo, power locks/windows, not to mention power steering, auto gearbox and powerful 3.1 V6 (some cars were imported with the yet more powerful 3.8 unit).
So the older folks who wanted to ride in “an American car”‘ got a package that fit them like a glove, and as you can witness in this video- still do. Many of them regard these as the last real American cars, not counting the Cruze or Sonic as such. The pensioner that lives in the flat above mine still regrets selling his LeSabre, replacing it with a Citroen C5, as he told me.
As for the Lumina itself, I can only do harm by adding to Brendan Saur’s elaborate post, which you can read here.
Regarding the stereotypical pensioners and their plain vanilla cars, I saw elderly lady driving a loud blue Audi RS7 with her equally elderly husband in the passenger side. They looked more like to be in the 70s or 80s. Thinking the sight was so curious, I wanted to take photo of them, but the traffic lights changed before I could get my iPhone out for a proper front 3/4 view…
No idea why the thumb photos are always upside when uploaded from iPhone or iPad, but they display in correct orientation when clicked for larger size.
um….no it didn’t…
Umm, yeah it did.
Just yesterday I saw a very little old lady driving an absolutely beautiful mint condition black Lincoln LSC. Her equally elderly husband was in the passenger seat. Not the sort of Lincoln I would have expected two senior citizens to be driving, at all.
They were both younger once, and he may have been/could still be an enthusiast. Might be hanging onto the best car he ever owned.
Genesis?
Yep, “and then they were three”.
The only person I ever knew who bought one of these fit your profile. He was an elderly retired police officer who bought one as his first new car since the 1950s.
To show how younger people viewed these, his son (a man in his 60s) who had been a staunch Buick loyalist until some Acuras and an Avalon would not touch it with a fork after his Dad quit driving. The car had a bargain-basement stench to the son, despite the fact that it was very nicely equipped and was in beautiful condition with low miles. Such is Chevrolet’s problem here.
After the debacle of the 1980s, and the success of the Taurus, you would think GM would have risked the rewards of more imaginative and innovative cars for Middle America.
Hence the bankruptcy.
Wasn’t the Holden Commodore badged as a Chevy Lumina in the middle east as well? Or was that only after the US version was gone?
For your information Holden Commodore was badged as chevy caprice downhere.
Still badged as Lumina untill recently I saw a 08 version here not long ago
One of these was my driver’s ed car in 2007. (At least it wasn’t a Cavalier!) Every other Lumina I saw was a driver’s ed car, a government fleet car, or owned by…well, someone over 65.
I think it depends on the pensioner. My two favorite aunts were sisters and could not have been more different in their cars.
The last two cars my aunt Vi had were a Bonneville SSE and a Jaguar S-Type. My aunt Bet…a Acadian (chevette) and a Ford festiva.
As usual, thanks for your comments.
:thumbs_up:
What about the music?
I answered your comment above.
😉
Album, yes. Song, no.
You’re right. Here’s a live version:
Thanks. Missed it.
Nice music.
Back in the ’90s and mid 2000’s GM had some of the worst looking, cheapest interiors in the industry. Chevrolet and Pontiac were the worst.