Michigan Metal

Retro-styling or hard reality? Which car best represents the future of the United States automotive industry?



I saw a new Mustang GT convertible on the parking lot today. What a beautiful car, its styling sleek and stylish. One could think of the original Mustang of 1964 and its descendents until the Mustang mystique was squeezed into a Pinto body as the Mustang II in 1974. Although it still looked like a Mustang in many respects, everything about it was a jazzed up Pinto, and folks have said something about putting lipstick on a pig?

Michigan’s unemployment rate is over 10%. Things aren’t much better in Indiana and Ohio, two states with a heavy interest in the automotive industry. Through out the country, automotive factories have closed down. Here in Baltimore, the Chevy plant died when GM discontinued the Astro van, but the writing was on the wall when they stopped making the midsized cars of yesteryear when beautiful Malibu’s, GTO’s, Cutlass’s, and Buick Century’s rolled off the assembly line.

Your writer was born in 1953. I was a very little boy when I was first blown away by Michigan Metal, our neighbor had just purchased a white 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 convertible with a red interior. They said it had a Thunderbird engine. A few years later the doctor who lived across the street got a giant Chrysler 300 convertible then a 1963 Corvette Stringray, the one with the split rear window. By the time I was in 6th grade, I loved building car models. My model building started with the 1964 automotive year and continued through 1968. In ’66 to ’67, I built every single model that AMT and another supplier had that represented everything from a Ford Falcon to Chrysler Imperial. I subscribed to both Motor Trend and Hot Rod going crazy over the sneak previews of the next year’s autos. Each summer, I went to Pontiac, Michigan where my grandparents lived. How I loved the trips to the Pontiac plant where they build both full-sized and mid-sized Pontiacs, such beautiful cars in the mid 60’s and Dearborn where Ford assembled the Mustang and Cougar. If we were out there too late for that model year, the plants would be closed, but we’d see the haulers out on the Ohio and Pennsylvania turnpike rolling the new cars for the next fall east. Though they tried to cover them with tarps, we could get glimpses of the front and rear styling and occasionally the side sheet metal. A lesson in Michigan geography was a lesson in the General Motors product line. Flint was the home of Buick and some Chevrolets. Lansing was the home of Oldsmobile. Detroit built Cadillac’s and Chevrolets. Guess what they built in Pontiac? Well, they also built some GMC trucks and buses. Dearborn was synonymous with Ford. There was also the city with in the city, Hamtramck, where Chryslers were built by a largely Polish ethnic community.

Latee ach September, my father and I would start off a Saturday morning at the start of the big north Baltimore commercial drag, York Road, work our way down into Towson stopping at every dealer. We had them all except Cadillac which only had two dealerships in the Baltimore area. My dad would scold me not to get too excited at the Chevy dealer, but it was okay to drool over the Corvette. He was a Ford man through and through. He only bought two cars that weren’t Fords or Mercury’s my whole life, a Morris Minor as the family’s first second car. Lots of people were getting Volkswagen’s but he’d have no part of that. Briefly, he had a 1966 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88’s, a beautiful car, that replaced the Morris Minor while mom was driving the second of two Ford Country Squire’s the deluxe mommy mobile of the era. The 1964 Squire was briefly my first car. I could fit the whole gang in it, and for a buck’s contribution from some of the passengers we could drive forever with gas at $ .27 a gallon even though that big steel machine got around 14 mpg. From cars around 1955 to the early 1970’s, there were so many classics. Is there any young man even today who can’t recognize an original Thurnderbird or 57 Chevy?

In 1971, Chevrolet introduced the Vega and Ford introduced the Pinto. How could we have ever known that these stinking little “subcompacts” were the first signs of the decline of the American automotive industry? They were priced to obliterate the Volkswagen Beetle and there were a few little Toyotas and Datsuns starting to show up around town. The midsized cars were becoming the most interesting cars. Meanwhile, the full-sized cars were getting so large and bloated and the revision of the “pony cars” lost the simple beauty of the originals. Gas mileage didn’t matter when gas was below $.30 a gallon.

Washington started to have its say in the late 60’s but most of the original regulations made sense. The 1965 Corvair was a lovely looking little compact car, but Ralph Nader came out with “Unsafe at Any Speed” showing what the news media failed to cover. They were bombs on wheels with the gas tank in front of the passenger where there was no protection given it was a rear engine car. Likewise, cars had no pollution controls and those who can remember driving along the major expressways in urban areas particularly in the industrial parts of down, the air pollution was choking even smarting the eyes.

Nobody saw it coming unless traveling in the Middle East, but the unthinkable happened in 1974 when the surrounding Arab states invaded Israel only to be defeated horribly with Israel taking territory from the surrounding countries in response to create a little safety zone, but the Arabs realized the power they had was their oil. They could punish Western nations who supported Israel but cutting off the oil supply. Over night, gas prices skyrocketed, and gas was in short supply. Gas lines extended for blocks on every major street in America. Some states rationed gas and began lowering speed limits. The Feds responded by lowering the national speed limit to a measly 55 mph, a measure few citizens obeyed and eventually common sense would set in and the law was revoked. The government started setting mileage standards for the auto industry. Detroit responded by bringing out new smaller cars and downsizing existing models. Suddenly, the Pinto and Vega were in high demand, but as more people drove them, the obvious was clear, they were terrible cars in every respect. Vega engines had an awkward problem of blowing up, but worse, Pintos would explode when rear-ended. In 1977, General Motors downsized its full-sized cars for the first time. All of a sudden, everything from a Chevrolet Impala or Caprice to Buick LeSabre were shorter and narrower than their midsized counterparts. Even the elegant Cadillac DeVille got shortened. GM then downsized its midsized fleet. What was the hottest selling car in Detroit, the Olds Cutlass Supreme, was miniaturized into a faint shadow of its former self. From Malibu’s to Century’s the code word was BORING, but they were also cheap, shoddy pieces of junk. Not to be outdone, Ford responded with the introduction of the Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr, and downsizing the LTD, Mercury Marquis, and all Lincolns. Their midsized line became totally ambiguous as familiar lines vanished and failed to stabilize until Ford finally got it right for many years with the awkward looking, bar of soap cars, the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable.

Almost overnight in the mid-70’s, Datsuns, Toyotas, and Hondas were every where. The ultimate of cheap, but a very high quality cheap, was the Honda Civic. Quickly, Toyota Corollas, Honda Accords, and Datsun 510’s were everywhere. One of the sexiest cars on the market was the Datsun 240Z. As model confusion and crappy quality dogged the mainstream domestic midsized market, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord became the most popular cars in the country.

Somehow, despite all that happened. Detroit never got the message. Chrysler was mortally wounded but somehow sprung back with Federal loans and Lee Iacocca’s vision. Ford seemed to stay a little ahead of the curve in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It would be hard to notice due to their largesse, but General Motors was perhaps the most self-destructive of all. Can anyone remember the second round of downsizing of the Cadillac Deville? How sad. They had almost none of the traditional Cadillac elegance, but by 1991 they were able to cosmetically restore it to something that was worthy of the Cadillac crest. Many cars had wretch paint jobs that would start to oxidize after months. Quality issues and design defects by all three automakers were so widespread that almost any American car buyer could expect at least one or two recall notices. American Motors quickly folded and became part of Chrysler, but they had one product that would be a huge influence on Detroit’s future, the Cherokee.

Somehow, despite gas going as high as around $1.50 in 1979, the 80’s, 90’s and into the new millennium saws relatively cheap gas with only minor spikes in fuel costs such as during the first Gulf War. In 1991, Ford saw the potential of the Jeep Cherokee ditching its small sized Bronco II and introducing the Ford Explorer. Soon the Mini-Van, Detroit’s economical answer to replacing the mommy-mobile station wagons were obsolete as the mid-sized SUV took off like gangbusters. Eventually, even Lincoln and Cadillac would be in the SUV market with models based on their company’s Ford and Chevy large SUV’s based on the fullp-sized pickup chassis. Meanwhile, all of a sudden, even yuppies needed full-sized pickup trucks.

The Detroit cash registers were starting to ring again, but General Motors and Chrysler were still failing. The Japanese automakers continued to encroach on market share while the Korean Hyundai became mainstream and soon the KIA would follow.

Surprisingly, by the late 90’s, Ford and General Motors were actually building darned good cars. Their quality rivaled their Japanese counterparts, but car buyers had lost interest. Many baby boomers hit car buying age right as the downsizing fiasco started in the 1970’s and became accustomed to Japanese cars right away. Boomers didn’t feel the prejudice against Japanese cars as those manufacturers had built the weapons of war that killed thousands of American soldiers in the Pacific in World War II.

However, the glow of Michigan Metal had other factors causing it to rust away into dust. Through out the 60’s and 70’s, times were good. An auto industry strike against one of the big three could cost vital market share against its competition. Detroit had no sense of what the future could or would bring never realizing that even if everything continued rosy, they were building a model that was unsustainable in legacy costs. Auto workers were given incredible pension and benefits for life. The obligation on such costs were enormous and would escalate as the employees from the “Great” generation retired and the baby boomers settled in, but what would happen when the boomers started to retire?

Detroit’s workforce has contracted enormously since the 1970’s. Entire cities in the rust belt are essentially ghost towns in 2009. Flint, Michigan as one example, is a virtual wasteland. Here in Chesapeake country once proud factories in Baltimore, the famous “Chevy” plant, and Norfolk, the venerable Ford “F” series pickup are gone.

Nothing points to the changing face of the auto manufacturing landscape better than looking at NASCAR’s Sprint Cup. The body styles featured are the Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Impala, Dodge Charger, and Toyota Camry. Once the rules were American only, but they first had to bend a little when Dodge became a product of Daimler-Chrysler, then a German company. How could they keep Toyota’s fat bankroll out of the sport? Lots of good old boys were now driving Toyota pickups, and gulp, even full sized pickups as Toyota introduced its Tundra. Here’s the stark revelation. Look at where the cars are built. The Ford Fusion is built in Mexico, down in the land of drug lords and civil chaos. The Chevrolet Impala and Dodge Charger are built on the north shore of Lake Ontario near Toronto in Canada. The most American of all, the Toyota Campy built in Kentucky and Indiana!

The recent upsurge in fuel costs doomed Detroit’s remaining cash cow, the SUV and pickup truck market. Look at how much Ford depended on that market as most of their automobiles seem destined to fleet sales, company cars and the rental industry. Ford still builds the Crown Victoria but none are available to everyday consumers. They are built exclusively for fleet sales, mostly as police cruisers. What’s the small town sheriff department to do that maybe only has one to five cars?

The legacy cost of each American car is huge, a differential Detroit has to overcome to compete head on with the Japanese and Korean vehicles. How unfair can it be for those already retired who counted on a stable pension as part of their career compensation who never gave a though of having to save for retirement given the promise of steady income now wondering what will happen if any of the big three should fold or the workers of today sellout their processors to hold on to their existing jobs. Almost certainly, they would get some support from the government, but not at the level they were promised.

Today, most parking lots are full of virtually indistinguishable cars as a Mercedes doesn’t look that different from a Hyundai, and Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda, General Motors, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Kia vehicles all look so similar. How is it that so many cars now are painted shades of gray and what few colors are still available, red, blue, and green are such dark muted colors? BORING! Only the retro VW Beetle and a few other small cars dare to be colorful even to the point of late 60’s tackiness.

The days of September excitement are gone as cars change so little over the years and almost none of them have any flare for style. Give Chrysler credit for pretty bold styling for its newest incarnation of the Chrysler 300. Perhaps its huge grill is supposed to be a “retro” touch to the big Chryslers of old.

How perfect the new Mustangs look. They are cars of the new millennium in almost every respect, but so recognizable as Mustangs of old. They are beautiful cars. Dodge responded with its retro Challenger which is likewise so faithful to the original. Soon Chevrolet will do the same with the reintroduction of the Camaro which goes back to the original design, mostly after the first body’s initial revision. All of these cars are so damned gorgeous, but all of them are essentially one or two passenger cars so as much as they fill a niche, they’re not the staple that cars like Impalas, Taurus’s, Malibu’s, Camry’s and Accord’s represent. The newest Camry is just plain ugly!

Are the new “pony” cars a glimpse of the potential the future could bring or just a little baby boomer sentimentality? Given what’s happened in Washington the last few months, one has to wonder as millions of taxpayer dollars have gone to General Motors and Chrysler just to meet their current expenses. So far, Ford avoided taking the dip, but all is not rosy in the land of the blue oval.

Government assistance means more government control, and given the recent energy price surge brought on demand for more fuel efficient standards and the current regime, the Democratic party, will surely seek pollution standards that will darn near demand emission perfection, Detroit’s ability to build quality, appealing cars will be further challenged while Toyota and Honda seem able to adjust at the snap of a finger.

It’s so easy to love the full-sized pickups and the pony cars, but is doing so living in the past? Given a camel is supposedly a horse designed by a government committee, we hate to think what Washington’s role in forging Michigan Metal could create. Given our seemingly irreversible march to socialism, the retro pony car could soon become a Trabant.