I feel it’s fairly safe to assume that many are experiencing a bit of burnout with references to the current pandemic, so I’ll get it if you just skip to the next post. However, the timing of the appearance of this final-generation Volkswagen Beetle a few weeks ago seemed too good to be coincidental, so I decided to just go ahead and write this. Everyone’s situation is different, but this germ-themed VW that was flying down North Sheridan Road in my neighborhood served as a very visual reminder that my decision not to go anywhere for the holidays this year was a well-considered choice.
These will be the very first December holidays I will have spent here at my own place since I’ve lived in Chicago, so I have my fingers crossed that it will be a white Christmas, one of which I haven’t experienced since I left Michigan years ago. The absence of a snowy Christmas Day, which I have often spent in the south, is hardly compensated for by snowy everything-else back home through the middle of March, so I recognize that sometimes it’s about finding your own silver linings and believing in their value.
One could look at the heritage-themed styling trends starting in the late 1990s as having been a kind of pandemic, with examples not limited to output from any one continent. Besides the 1998 New Beetle, off the top of my head I can think of the following retro-styled vehicles that were available here in the U.S., and in no particular order: 1997 Plymouth Prowler, 2000 Chrysler PT Cruiser, 2003 Chevrolet SSR, 2006 Chevrolet HHR, 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, 2002 Ford Thunderbird, 2005 Ford Mustang, 2000 Mini Hatch, 2007 FIAT 500, and the 2008 Dodge Challenger. There are a few more examples I’m sure I’m missing.
I’ll admit that at one point in the middle of the last decade, I had started to reach my saturation point for throwback styling, similar to how I need to watch current sitcoms or the news to bring my mindset back to the present after bingeing on my favorite programs and movies from the past. Much like I like to mix decades-old clothes with current staples (even if nobody can see what I look like, as I continue to self-quarantine), there’s a way to correctly balance the new and the old to present all of it in a fresh, new perspective, in terms of both car styling and how one dresses.
It is my hope that as the Curbside readership prepares to travel or sit tight as the end of this year approaches, that you either make peace with staying right where you are (like me), or that you take the utmost care in getting to where you are going, taking all the precautions you need to. This is because we want you right back here in 2021. You’re a large part of what keeps us writing these things.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, November 21, 2020.
Dennis, if it makes you feel any better this Beetle long-predates COVID… I remember seeing this one quite a bit in my neighborhood at least 3 years ago.
This is what I get to chatting with a Dennis while replying to a Joseph Dennis online.
It’s like me replying to a comment by the other Marc here at CC
No worries, Chris. Answering to “Dennis” is part of my default setting.
Thanks, but I’d prefer not to add to that here!
The feeling is mutual, Joseph.
That’s one bug I don’t want to get 😉
Don’t catch the Bug.
Here’s the guidelines on dealing with this Bug
You play Golf.
So now we know where this nasty bug originated. The Chicago Flu!
Couldn’t remember WHY this thing was driving around, but I just found this older article on it. Apparently it is a rolling billboard to get your flu shot. Not a very good one, if I remember, because it has absolutely no signage or info on it.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20161003/lincoln-square/flu-bug-hits-lincoln-square-lets-put-brakes-on-it/
Definitely not the Love Bug.
Joe, I like your line about finding new silver linings and believing in their value. I’ve reprogrammed my head for the holiday season to enjoy whatever comes my way.
While I’ve never been a big fan of retro styled cars the Mini and Fiat 500 reissues have enough of their own visual merit that I no longer think ‘retro’ when I see them.
Much of my 2020 has been about finding genuine silver linings, so thank you for pointing that out. Of course, this has been nobody’s favorite year, but I honestly can’t refer to it as a dumpster fire. Much good came of my 2020 – along with everything else.
I also like your point about the Mini Hatch and FIAT 500. XR7 below echoed your point on the latter. I still think of both small cars as being retro themed as both possessed styling cues that were loosely reminiscent of their predecessors.
Oh. This is from Volkswagen’s Sign and Die event.
One thing I note of the retro theme, the “new retro’s failed”.
It maybe isn’t fair as we complain about how everything is the same but it sure seems like when an unusual design hits the market it is hard to evolve the product.
Failed “New” Retro: Plymouth Prowler, PT Cruiser, Chevrolet SSR, Chevrolet HHR
Failed Retro: 2002 Ford Thunderbird, what the hell were they thinking?
Failed: 2007 FIAT 500 not really a retro.
Hanging by a thread: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro
Holding on: 2005 Ford Mustang, 2000 Mini Hatch, 2008 Dodge Challenger.
Needed a dose of Midwestern humor. Thank you, Joseph.
We had this thing threatening us in Australia back in 1974.
Its from a strange movie called “The Cars that ate Paris”
Truly terrifying… and really cool. Looks like an art installation piece. Lots of metaphors could be extracted from this.
Speaking of retro objects…am I the only one noticing the building in the background? I do believe I see Bob and Emily out on their balcony…circa 1972…before Bob leaves for his psychology practice downtown – and all of the wacky comic hijinks awaiting him…
You are 100% correct. It’s rare that I don’t think of Bob & Emily Hartley when I see or walk past this building.