The cruel reality of capitalism is that companies come and go almost daily.
Sometimes, they’re the victims of economic downturns. Other times, they can’t keep pace with change. It’s always sad to lose an iconic brand, but it’s particularly shocking to see brands once at the top of their games disappear almost overnight.
Here are five brands I’d like to see return.
Pontiac
Founded in 1926, Pontiac solidified its footing in the 1960s, when cars like the GTO, Firebird and Grand Prix captured the imagination of young America. Pontiac cars combined power, luxury and dynamic styling at prices just above a comparable Chevrolet. By the 1970s, Pontiac’s styling studio turned out some of the most iconic cars of the day.
The Trans Am, with its powerful V-8 and a giant screaming eagle plastered across the hood, became a cultural icon, immortalized as Burt Reynolds’ ride in the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Other bestsellers included the Grand Prix luxury coupé, which touted a long hood, a T-top roof and a plush interior, and the sun-loving Grand Ville convertible, a two-door drop-top that could seat six and was as long as a modern-day Chevy Tahoe.
By 2000, a watered-down lineup and changing buyer demographics saw the division’s audience dwindle. GM tried to rebuild the brand’s youthful image in the early 2000s, reintroducing the GTO and a high-performance G8 sedan, but the cars failed to attract new buyers. In 2009, GM dissolved the division.
Oldsmobile
If ever there was a tale of boom to bust, the rise and fall of Oldsmobile is one. Founded in 1897 by Ransome E. Olds and joining GM in 1908, Oldsmobile spent the better part of the 20th century building classic cars and creating innovative automotive firsts.
Like Pontiac, Oldsmobile found its youthful side in the ’60s, producing high-performance cars like the Starfire, F85 and Cutlass and innovative masterpieces like the front-wheel-drive Toronado.
Credit: Brant Sanderlin bsanderlin@ajc.com
Credit: Brant Sanderlin bsanderlin@ajc.com
Things took off when Olds teamed up with Hurst to create the Hurst/Olds Cutlass, a coveted muscle car in today’s collector market. Oldsmobile sales boomed in the 1970s, with the 1975-76 Cutlass taking the honor of bestselling vehicle in America, a feat it would repeat multiple times until GM killed off the rear-drive model in 1988.
Changes at GM diluted the individual styling studios and combined Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile into a single group. By the late 1990s, Olds’ styling seemed to follow Pontiac, morphing into generic shapes sometimes indistinguishable from other GM brands.
A final attempt to regain some individuality came with the introduction of the 1994 Aurora, a car praised by the press and well-received by the public, but it was too little, too late. In 2000, GM announced plans to phase out the storied division, condemning it to Oldsblivion in 2004.
Mercury
Named for the Roman god of commerce with the winged hat, Mercury was a unique division of the Ford Motor Company. Founded in 1938, the public coveted Mercury’s cars because of their modern designs and powerful V-8 engines.
In the ‘40s and ‘50s, hot-rodders gravitated to the division — a fact later acknowledged in the 1955 classic movie “Rebel Without a Cause” featuring a young James Dean driving a customized 1949 9CM coupé.
By the 1960s, Mercury’s cars appealed to young and old alike. Upwardly mobile middle-class families viewed Mercury as a status symbol, more luxurious than Ford but not quite as opulent as Lincoln.
By the mid-1960s, Mercury’s performance persona brought big, powerful models like the Marauder and contemporary-sized cars like the Cougar, a sleek two-door pony car based on Ford’s Mustang platform. In the 1970s, Mercury continued its popularity with the middle class, building luxury cars to rival Chrysler, Buick and Oldsmobile.
By the mid-1980s, cars like the Cougar and Capri became little more than restyled versions of their Ford counterparts. By the 2000s, the brand had lost its way. In 2011, Ford clipped Mercury’s wings.
Plymouth
Plymouth was the entry-level rung on the Chrysler/Dodge/Imperial/DeSoto ladder for most of its existence. In the 1960s, Plymouth remade itself, with a short burst of fabulous cars that delighted gearheads on a budget.
Cars like the Plymouth Valiant and Belvedere gave cash-strapped families a way to get into a spiffy new vehicle equipped with radical features like a push-button gear selector. On the performance side, racy coupés like the fastback Barracuda (the same car driven by Charlie Cale in the TV series “Poker Face”) ruled the road, joined later by monster muscle cars like the V-8-powered Road Runner, GTX, Sport Fury, Satellite and Duster 340.
Sadly, when emission controls and skyrocketing gas prices of the 1970s arrived, Plymouth’s lineup faded, becoming little more than lower-cost knockoffs of Dodge models. Plymouth had one last flash of brilliance with the 1930s roadster-inspired Plymouth Prowler. After several attempts to find the brand’s identity, Chrysler snuffed out the Plymouth name in 2001.
AMC
Of all the brands I’d like to see make a comeback, AMC ranks first. Its quirky cars, freethinking management style and playful nature would fit perfectly with today’s nonconformist youth market.
AMC built funky and fun compacts, like the Gremlin and Hornet, with interiors designed by the likes of Pucci and Pierre Cardin. They made a Levi’s Gremlin with simulated denim upholstery. Then, there was the Pacer, the fishbowl-like coupé made famous as Wayne and Garth’s Mirthmobile in “Wayne’s World.”
The AMC Javelin and AMX rivaled the major manufacturers’ muscle cars. AMC built the first practical all-wheel-drive family wagon, the Eagle, a concept later adopted by Subaru and its popular Outback.
Ultimately, an inability to change with the times, poor quality and an aging fleet saw AMC fall on hard times. Chrysler purchased it in 1987, but only for the Jeep brand, which was part of AMC. After 1990, Chrysler swept AMC into the automotive dustbin.
Joe Tralongo is an automotive writer for Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, based in Missoula, Montana. He has been covering the automotive industry since 2000.
The Steering Column is a weekly consumer auto column from Cox Automotive. Cox Automotive and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are owned by parent company, Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
