(Photo by Murilee Martin via www.thetruthaboutcars.com)

Happy New Year Otterites!

I was just listening to our latest hoopajoob on cool cars and thought I might take this fine Monday evening to expand on our discussion.

We are children of the 80s, which means our first, hand-me down cars were likely late 70s Detroit barges (even the econoboxes were barges back then) much like my Ford LTD or those Chevy Novas the fellas had. Unfortunately, labor issues, oil price shocks and competition pressures made those cars not very cool really. With some effort, 2 door late 70s Novas could be made somewhat cool, but only in a “Fonzie was still cool even after he jumped a shark on water skis and leather jacket” kind of way.

Of course the early 80s were not much better. Horrific automotive monsters like the Cadillac Cimarron and Buick Skylarks drove down sales and made no one feel cool. Oldsmobiles with diesel engines blighted the suburban driveway. Eventually though, cars would start to turn the corner. Quality improved and performance trickled back. The GM G body cars, especially the Buick Grand National, were beginning to bring the cool back, and cars like the Ford Taurus rescued US car makers from oblivion.

The 80s of course also saw the DeLorean, the Lambo Countach, the Porsche 928, the BMW M3 and much more that turned out really cool. The DeLorean was the star of Back to the Future, but for my money that Toyota pickup Marty fantasized about was the car to have. The Mustang returned with the famous 5.0. The 80s also saw the birth of new luxury brands Acura and Lexus.

The emergence of the SUV in the 90s I guess can be cool. Rolling over in your top heavy Ford Explorer wasn’t cool, and neither was riding around on California freeways at 35 mph with your best friend Al driving after being accused of cutting your ex-wife’s head off. Off road ability is really great, if you actually go off road and not just to a kid’s soccer game. Still, there was something about those body on frame Jeep Cherokees and Toyota 4Runners. You could get “there” in one, no matter where “there” really was. These trucks are making big comebacks and are moving from “used car” to “collectible” pretty quickly.

So Otterites, what drives you? How about our latest hoopajoob.