“One summer never ends, one summer never beganIt keeps me standing still, it takes all my willAnd then suddenly, last summer” – Martha Davis, 1983
I was a Motels fan before I even knew who they were. Rather, I should say I was an accidental fan. At some point in my adolescence and years after it had been a bit hit for the band, I heard their song “Only The Lonely” on a local soft rock station and diligently set about trying to tape it off the radio. I had mistakenly thought it was sung by Laura Branigan, another artist whose work I admire. I think Branigan and Motels lead singer Martha Davis have similar vocal timbres, but with Davis coming across with more grit, befitting that of a frontwoman for an L.A. rock band. Branigan had always sounded more pop, more along the lines of what Donna Summer and Irene Cara were also doing in the ’80s.
Before the days of Shazam or even the internet, I had fruitlessly researched Laura Branigan’s discography at the Flint public library and at many music stores to try to find the one song I absolutely needed to have, regardless of whatever else was on that cassette. Years later and by the time I was purchasing compact discs, I learned that this song was actually the first top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a group called The Motels, and I was on my way.
I immediately purchased one of their earlier greatest hits package and found many other songs to like, none of which really had a sound similar to “Lonely”, except for maybe their second (and, to date, final) top-ten hit, the one after which I’ve subtitled this essay. Five years ago, I got to see The Motels perform in downtown Las Vegas as part of a retro ’80s concert that included some other great acts. (I was most excited to see and hear The Motels.) The backing band has a different lineup today than that which played on the hits and album tracks you remember, but Martha Davis still looked and sounded fantastic, and the rest of the group more than held their own. It was a highlight of that entire vacation.
I had first seen the 1959 suspense film Suddenly, Last Summer many years ago, which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, but the Motels song has nothing to do with that flick. Davis’s lyrics seem a bit cryptic, but the song seems to be more of a mood than anything, so it all works:
“It happened one summer, it happened one timeIt happened forever, for a short timeA place for a moment, an end to dreamForever I loved you, forever it seemed”
I had taken these pictures in the summer of 2022, when I had first discovered and fallen in love with Montrose Beach in Chicago’s Uptown district, one neighborhood south of where I live. After almost two decades of life in Edgewater by that point, I had never ventured this far south on foot along Lake Michigan to enjoy a different beach than the ones within a few blocks of my home. This ’76 Corvette was the second classic I had spotted on that Friday before Labor Day, with the first being a Mandarin Orange ’74 Cadillac Sedan DeVille I had written about shortly thereafter.
Montrose Beach, with its facilities including a vintage beach house with changing stations, a full-service restaurant (The Dock), a snack bar, volleyball courts, and a few other amenities, seems like a direct throwback from any number of teen-themed movies from my ’80s childhood. I can almost hear Bananarama playing in my head right now just thinking about it…
This is where this ’76 Corvette comes in. I wouldn’t say it possesses a timeless shape in that it looks like it could have been introduced as a new, modern design in multiple decades. I’d cite the Avanti as an example of this, its relatively upright windshield notwithstanding. Rather, the C3 seems timeless to me just because it hung around forever, with a new example of this basic design available for purchase over the span of fifteen model years. The wild contours of its fiberglass shell were simply always around while members of my age demographic grew up.
“Sometimes I never leave, but sometimes I wouldSometimes I stay too long, sometimes I would”
I’ve sometimes been one of the last patrons to keep going to the beach after Labor Day until it’s just not warm or sunny enough to really enjoy it. Similar to this, the C3 stayed in the marketplace for a super-extended season before the modern C4 was introduced in the spring of 1983 as an ’84 model. Nineteen seventy-six would mark the last year the Stingray appellation would be tacked on until this name would return for 2014. (It’s also hard to believe that was already ten model years ago.)
Sales of over 46,500 units for ’76 would represent a high-water mark for Corvette sales at the time, and an increase of over 20% from the prior year. (Over 49,200 Corvettes would find buyers the next year, setting another record.) Two 350 cubic inch V8s were available that year: the base, 180-horsepower L48, and the high-performance L82 with an 30 additional horses on tap. Based on the few, minor cosmetic imperfections on the front and rear bumper covers of this one, I’d wager that it has the base engine; The custom wheels and aftermarket exhaust tips might indicate a few extra goodies under that long hood, though that’s anyone’s guess. (UPDATE: There’s an L-82 badge on the hood.)
I prefer to think of the C3 and myself as both being resilient and steadfast, versus overstaying our respective welcomes – after beach season, in the marketplace, or otherwise. As for The Motels, they released five studio albums between 1979 and 1985, earning RIAA Gold certification for two of them for shipments of at least 500,000 copies in the United States, and reaching the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart seven times, with four of those songs reaching the top 40. How slightly strange it feels to look at these pictures in the first quarter of 2024 and realize they’re from an entire year and a half ago. Summer will return, though, with rays of sunlight as warm as the factory Bright Yellow finish of this ’76 Stingray. Its style will seem no more and no less dated this upcoming summer than it was on this particular Friday before Labor Day a couple of years ago.
Uptown, Chicago, Illinois.
Friday, September 2, 2022.
“Suddenly Last Summer” single cover art ©1983, Capitol Records, Inc.
Hello Joseph,
excellent write up. As for the motels, I´ve never heard of them, so I looked on youtube and lo and behold I know the tune “last summer” but I totally forgot about it. But i agree with you, she really sounds a bit like Laura Brannigan.
Thank you! And I’m glad I’m not the only one who hears the similarity.
I also did not recognize “The Motels”, but after a bit of google and youtube I realized I recognized the songs. For someone of my generation “Only The Lonely “ means Roy Orbison.
I often feel as if I missed the music of the 80s. I was traveling all the time for business and it was much harder to listen than it is now with internet etc.
There seem to have been an influx of legacy- / throwback-sounding bands and music in the early ’80s (I’m thinking of Marshall Crenshaw, to name one example). Going only by the song title of “Only The Lonely”, and if I wasn’t familiar with the song, I might have assumed it was a remake of the (terrific) Orbison tune and skipped over it. The Motels song is a wholly different thing, entirely.
I’m currently rediscovering pop music of the 2000s through the lens of hindsight – feel like I missed some of it only because I was listening to other things at the time – and it has been a fun, little trip.
As regards the engine, does it not say L82 right on the hood? L48 didn’t have a badge, I think.
Appliance Industries ‘Wire-Mag’ wheels not very nice but the tires nicely fill out the wheel openings.
Well, what do you know? It absolutely says “L-82”. A detail that someone like me would have missed (and did) entirely.
Excellent post, as always Joseph. It is weird how the C3 was essentially the only Corvette you and I ever knew growing up. By the late ’70s and early ’80s, the C2 was already old and collectible (and therefore exotic and unaffordable as a used car).
I was born the same year as the C3 (1968), so the C4 was quite literally the first new Corvette in my lifetime when it came out in mid-1983. I would have been almost 15 at the time. It is almost impossible to overstate how big a deal the introduction of the C4 was at the time.
Thank you so much, Tom. The C4 seemed so much more special at the time of its introduction for the reasons you state. I loved not only that it seemed so futuristic, but also that it was instantly recognizable as a Corvette. I honestly don’t recall seeing any C2s around when I was a kid. I bought a die cast toy of one around ’87, which is the earliest I can remember having paid attention to them.
The 1976 Corvette was the first Corvette I knew about, when I was 11 and my folks took me along to shop for cars. There was a Corvette in the showroom, although we were there to look at the other ‘Vette (Chevette), I also learned about Corvettes from the Consumer Guide auto test book and car magazines. Corvettes of the late ’70s weren’t at all like modern ones which are bargain-priced supercars. A late C3 Corvette had performance only a little bit better than a V8 Monza or Camaro; the hi-po engines from early C3s were long gone. The interior ambiance wasn’t all that different from a Monza’s either. What the Corvette did excel at is looking cool; the perfect car to be seen in while throwing on some gold chains and unbuttoning your shirt as you pull up to the discotheque. It was, we were frequently reminded, America’s Only Sports Car. That somehow was supposed to excuse everything, but it didn’t. The real mystery for me was, what was under the rear deck where a trunk lid would normally be? C2s had a trunk, and later C3s had a fastback rear window and a luggage hold there, and eventually a hatchback to access it, so there clearly was some unused space under there.
This post sent me listening to old Motels songs, and I only now learned that their record company rejected the album that became All Four One for being too un-commercial. The band wound up rerecording the whole thing in search of a slicker, more polished sound. I normally don’t like record labels mucking with an artist’s intended sound, but they got this one right – the added studio gloss, synths, and the obligatory late-’70s/early-’80s sax solo turned it into a terrific, catchy tune that many of us know and love (I wish I didn’t relate to it so deeply). Even though I prefer the later hit rendition, I’m glad the original version was released a decade ago for comparison. It was done in the style of their first two albums, with a significantly different melody on the chorus; overall a much darker, stripped down, sparser, rawer record that’s appealing yet I don’t think it would have landed in the Top 10 done this way.
So much I appreciate in this comment. So true that by the late ’70s, the Corvette was the only game in town in terms of being America’s Only Sports Car. I actually love the flashy, cushy, almost personal luxury leanings of the machine by that point. (“The other ‘Vette'”… LOL Yes!)
As for “Only The Lonely”, I’m 100% with you that the rerecord version that appeared on All Four One is vastly superior, but I do like this version, too. I like its raw, rough, rock edge for the same reason I like “Total Control” and some of their early songs. For a new wave band, the commercial single sounds almost adult contemporary – much like the later C3s appealed to that same age group.
I took a long time to enjoy The Motels. The lyrics were just too weird, in the same way that Rush’s vocals were too weird.
But time went by, I got used to both groups, and enjoy them mightily now.
The C3 was stunning when new and when equipped with a real engine. Not only did the car overstay it’s welcome, I even got tired of Motor Trend’s articles about the “replacement” which was “just around the corner” each year for what seemed like ten years.
I’ve never, ever had a ride in a Corvette, let alone driven one. Spent some time underneath a C3, though. Had a wiped-out differential that the owner didn’t bother to fix. Diagnosis only.
I was definitely more into the Motels sonically than lyrically at first, but with the benefit of a few more miles on my own odometer, I can relate to their lyrics a lot more personally than before.
I read old articles about the mid-engined “Aerovette” and wonder just how frustrated true aficionados of the car were getting as the years dragged on with few significant changes in the basic designs. I’d also guess there were some who liked the familiar car and were happy as a clam that it was still in production.
At this point I tend to feel like the Aerovette would have dated quickly and taken a long time to regain appreciation, not unlike the various less Italian exotics of the period.
The C3’s styling I think aged pretty well even beyond just its familiarity — its selling point was that it was always a bit outside the mainstream, so it never entirely lost its concept car swagger. I can’t say it seems like it would be very pleasant to live with, but the same is true of its Italian contemporaries, and I guess that’s part of the trip.
“Concept car swagger” is a perfect descriptor.
Ah, yes, the C3, my “first” Corvette! I wanted mine to be an 4-speed L-82.
I knew the pre-1973 C3s were faster, but I like the 5-mph front bumper look more on the 74-79 cars, and during the late 70s, a Corvette was still a pretty quick car.
In summer of 1982, I landed a great (for me) summer job: car stereo installer (and car radio pick-up/delivery driver, or car porter, or errand boy as needed). One of the cars I got to porter was a chrome/small bumper, 454 C3. It didn’t have power steering, it was a BEAST to park, and I remember thinking, “I don’t care if this is a Corvette, no way I could own “sports car” like this, this feels like a truck!”.
The world of car stereo shops and installers! That always seemed exciting to me. Flint had Duke’s Car Stereo on Dort Highway, and there were all kinds of cool vehicles parked there. I also like the post-’73 / ’74 models with the “rubber baby buggy bumpers”, as those were more current when I was a kid. I also like the chrome bumper versions, but that appreciation came later.
Driving a 454-equipped C3 without power steering would have given one’s arms quite a workout, I imagine! Like a truck… LOL, for sure!
Interesting analogy. Although I suspect Martha and the Motels are forgotten by many, I think the song and especially her phrasing, were innovative and new sounding (in pop music, perhaps not jazz) for the time. Coupled with her voice, the song is timeless. The C3 Vette, looked cool to me as an 11 year old, even though was familiar with Mako Shark. But within just a few years, between getting old, and getting weakened with 150 hp small blocks, it was a parody of itself. And other than its historical aspect, not a hugely interesting car today, at least to me. I remember riding in one in the early Eighties and it felt like an obese version of my Vega. My 1981 TransAm felt more sophisticated.
Funny you should mention the Vega, because if I recall correctly, the ’77 Corvette got a four-spoke Vega GT steering wheel to give the driver a bit more space. And I love Martha Davis’ expressive phrasing. I always thought the band should have been bigger / more commercially successful.
There are few cars that look right in bright yellow, but this is one of them.
A Lambo Huracan is another, and of course, a VW Beetle gets a pass as well. 😉
Like you Joseph, these Vettes were always around as I grew up, and because I was 7 when they hit the market, and 22 when they finally went away. The C3 is what a Corvette should look like to me, lack of performance notwithstanding.
That said, I am so willing to accept new things, and I love the new C8. Up until recently, I would want one of those in that bright blue color, but saw one the other day in white, and was blown away. While white cars aren’t my favorite either, that car was perfect in its lack of color.
I’ve had only one yellow car; it was a 1975 Rabbit that looked very similar to the pictured Golf. I think bright yellow is fine on a sports car or small car.
Completely agree with you that bright colors work on those types of cars because both often have a “fun quotient” by being either inexpensive or capable that suits those shades. The first-gen Golf / Rabbit is still a great-looking little car, but I’ve got to admit I’m #TeamFiesta.
The new C8 always shocks me visually with just how modern and exotic it looks. I would miss the utility of the hatchback on the last front-engined car, but I see one of the new ones (saw a gorgeous one in metallic mocha brown recently), and I start to think that my reaction in 2023 / 2024 is how people saw the C2 and early C3 when those cars were brand new.
Obviously the owner doesn’t own a hacksaw! I wish that people would trim those chrome tips before screwing them on.
Growing up during the ’60’s and ’70’s these are the archetypal Corvettes of my imagination. As I’ve said before, the “Corvette” name was still pure magic at this time. Like most car guys of my era, I dreamed quite a bit of a world where I had one of these parked in my driveway. A lot of time has passed since then, and if I really wanted one of these Vettes ( a used one, of course!) I could have bought one, but I never have. I once went to check out a C4 at the dealer, but was really turned off when the door slammed shut with a sound that reminded me of slamming my kitchen “junk’ drawer. There have always been cars that I’d now rather own than a C3 Vette, but who knows what the future holds?
The sound of slamming the kitchen “junk drawer” is such a vivid description. I can imagine just what that sounded like within the context you describe – a second of ratting door glass, metal parts, etc.
Your last sentence brings it home for me. I love the C3 and would want a nice example, but for the money and what else is out there, would it really be at the top of my list? I remain a fan of these cars and for now, having pictures and a few scale models / toys is enough for me.
It’s because of this generation of C3’s rear-quarter view I own a Miata RF.
I love that connection.
Just never liked these after they took the bumpers off.
I like the chrome bumper versions, too, but the ones with the body-colored bumper covers are the ones I remember as new cars as a young kid, and are thus definitive C3s in my mind, even if they’re the ones from late in the game.
I love this song, and I’m not big on ’80s music at all; I have it on a mix CD I made probably 15 years ago. Not so big on rubber-bumpered C3s, but I get the appeal. When I was a small kid, one of my uncles had a black one, ’78 or ’79. My only recollection of it was walking around it as it was parked in the street in the dark outside my grandpa’s house, but I have no idea if that is an actual memory or an exaggerated one. 🙂
Aaron, I’d like to think your memory of walking around your uncle’s black C3 actually did happen. What’s that definitive point in one’s life when memories actually start to stick with increased accuracy?
I still marvel at how we could go from the once proud 275 hp 350 V8 of say 1970 to a 165 hp, 4 barrel base Corvette engine. Sheesh!
Well, the drop was not as drastic as it looks. The base 350 for 1970 was the L-48 rated at 300 gross hp, with (on paper) a 10.5:1 compression ratio.
In ’71 the compression dropped to around 8.5:1 as the industry prepared for lower octane and eventually unleaded fuel. The L-48 that year was rated at 270 gross hp.
In 1972 the industry went from gross hp ratings to net hp ratings, and the exact same engine was now rated at 200 net hp. As the ’70s progressed and emissions regulations tightened, more and more controls were added, timing got less aggressive and so on.
The real killer was ’75-no more dual exhausts plus a primitive catalytic converter and now your L-48 is try to exhale through a straw.
Hence 165 net hp. It wasn’t pretty back then!
‘Only the Lonely’ is one of those songs I was essentially indifferent to when popular but, now, really like it when it comes on unexpectedly over the radio. It’s a good song and nostalgia for a better time certainly doesn’t hurt.
But the mid-seventies Corvette? Not so much. This reminds much less of The Motels song and more of an open neck, gold chains, leisure suit, white belt and shoes, disco era car (with the Datsun 280ZX coming in a close second).
I think that songs and artists that hadn’t been overexposed in their original timeframe are best at bringing the nostalgia, and I think that the Motels fall into that category. Always thought they should have been more commercially successful. Great songwriting, melody, and hooks among many of their non-single tracks. And then there’s Martha Davis’ emotive voice and phrasing.
I’d forgotten The Motels, and the title song, or Only The Lonely, both of which I liked back when I had eyesight and joints. But a quick listen just now reminds me that I could never do an album of them, as Davis rather quickly starts to sounds to me like the Alaskan malamute next door to us when it got sad.
Maybe that old dog would’ve started up his broken-voiced crying if he espied this era of Corvette: if not, I would train him to. The original was most lovely, but this isn’t. The car reminds me of some music celeb performing The Star-spangled Banner at a big event: now THAT’S an anthem, and it’s a great tune, but it’s notoriously grandiose in range as it is, and starts to sound a bit risible by the time the performer had thrown onto it every over-done musical curlicue they can manage.
Your photos, however, Mr D, do what justice can be done (especially the first one), and your typically fine words likewise to the times and places.
Thanks, Justy. And now I have to look up an Alaskan malamute to see what one sounds like, though I can imagine the comparison you’re making.
I never really got into the Motels. Total Control got a lot of airplay here, then they seemed to disappear. Of course that was about the time I met my wife-to-be, so I might not have been paying as much attention to the radio. That’s why my recollection differs from Justy’s. And we might have been listening to different radio stations; probably were, as I was really getting into folk rock.
Corvettes though, are another matter. By ’76 the C3 was looking decidedly retro, at a time when retro wasn’t really cool, unless we were talking about early rock and roll a la Happy Days. And the power drop made it look feeble on paper. Yes, I know all about the primitive emissions tuning, but really! That 2-into-1-into-2 exhaust system was a joke. Let the poor thing breathe, it needs all the help it can get!
Not quite the same yellow, but here’s my C3, a ’75.
Funny you should mention “Total Control”, as it was a big hit in Australia (hit No. 7) and in New Zealand (No. 11), but only “bubbled under” the Billboard Hot 100 here, reaching No. 9 (equivalent of position No. 109). Good for you that you had other priorities when that song was on the radio. 🙂
Beautiful scale model, BTW. I’m imagining a diorama including it, and set in a version of Montrose Beach that day.
I think the 80s was one of the best decades for pop music. The Motels sounded fresh at the time, but alas the C3 was not fresh at all, even as early as 1976. That said, I have warmth to almost the point of enthusiasm over these. But I would absolutely play pop music from the 80s over what was hot when this car was made.
I like it all, JP, but you already knew that! ♪♫