Before stereos, before computers. before the internet...

There were cars. And they changed every year and we knew not only the bodies, but what was under the hood. You were your car, assuming you were old enough to drive. And cars didn't last, if you got three or four years and 70,000 miles you had to pat yourself on the back, you'd done well.

Now Oldsmobile was famous for a few things. Like the Rocket 88 engine. Which led to what many believe is the first rock and roll song ever. And then there was the 4-4-2. But it was eclipsed in the mind of the public by the Pontiac GTO, there was even a song about it by Ronny & the Daytonas (and a good one to boot!) Oldsmobile started to fade into the background, and then in 1966 came the Toronado.

The Toronado was front-wheel drive! In an era when everything else was rear-wheel drive. As for four-wheel drive, there was the Jeep Wagoneer, and a few trucks, like the Dodge Power Wagon, but if you were driving in snow, you grinned and bared it. And ultimately white-knuckled it. Then again, back then everybody switched to snow tires in the winter. More than a few decades back they came up with the "all-season" tire and many now forgo snow tires, which is a big mistake, but you can't convince them otherwise. I could point you to articles about stopping distances, but the truth is so many are cheap, good is good enough, if their lives are in danger...nah, they never consider that.

Now Buick had the Riviera.

These were the old days, when GM was comprised of Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, in that order. You were supposed to work your way up the line. Then the crash of 2008 eliminated Pontiac and Oldsmobile, and the late to the game Saturn. As a matter of fact, sales at GM are down, Mary Barra, the CEO, is fine with that, she's focused on profitability.

Now you may be following the European car market, which is in turmoil. Volkswagen is trying to save itself. Porsche? Killed by the Chinese, they just laid off a ton of people and are now going to raise prices to make their margins. So that 911? Buy it now. As for the Macan, that ruined the image of the brand...it sold, but Porsches used to be exotic performance automobiles (except for the 914-but if you had a six instead of the four, it was a monster; the 944 was a bit better, but never truly gained traction with the public), now it's seen as an SUV brand, and ultimately a fashion statement, the Macan is a girl's car, a girl who can't afford a Mercedes Geländewagen, which is uber-expensive and makes no sense whatsoever unless you're going through a treacherous landscape, it's got a ladder frame and the ride is stiff, but the Kardashians drive them, and now a lot of other women do too. I don't remember any women clamoring to drive 911s. Although they did cotton to the Boxster, which was not a bad car, but mostly seen as a cute little convertible, no man would be caught dead driving one, they don't even make them anymore.

So... The Toronado was marketed to men. Who wanted a two door as opposed to a family sedan. Something sexy. If you were a doctor...

And if you were ever in one, the amazing thing is there were two door handles on the inside, one in the usual place and one in the way back, so those in the rear seat could open the doors themselves, the doors were extremely long, but they did look very cool, the entire Toronado looked cool.

And did I say they had hidden headlights? That was true exotica, expected on a Corvette, America's sports car, before it was neutered by emissions regulations, before it was reborn.

So I'm on the 405 barely moving. And when I finally merge from the on-ramp onto the freeway, the mental debate begins, which lane should I drive in?

I try to avoid lanes with trucks. If for no other reason as they go uphill... It takes a lot of torque for them to get moving again after stopping, they accelerate slowly.

And then there's the diamond lane, but it's only me in the car.

The slow lane... I always think people are getting on and off, not worried about making time, whereas I want to break on through to the other side.

However, go too far to the left towards the center median then it's an obstacle course getting back to the right for your exit.

So I'm working my way across the lanes, I'm one from the diamond, which is kind of risky, but that's the mood I'm in, I'll deal with merging right to get off when I get there.

And you've got a lot of time to think and observe when you're barely moving. And the car in front of me...

Had a unique back, a rear end unlike any of today's cars. Closer to Italian exotica then what is manufactured for the masses.

And it sported a finish of gold flake metallic... People today buy white, that's number one, maybe black, the days of colors that stand out...they affect resale value, nobody wants to buy them (remember the orange Judge?, worth a fortune today).

And I'm flummoxed trying to figure out what kind of car this is when it finally registers, this is a TORONADO! This is the epitome of GM engineering in the mid-sixties, sixty years ago.

They were still figuring out automobiles back then, they were really only about sixty years old, at least the ones for the masses, the Ford Model A was released in 1903.

And I'm thinking about Dr. Meltzer. He was a SURGEON! Surgeons got a pass when I was growing up, whatever their personality, they were doing God's work, they had a higher calling, they were married to their job.

He drove a '63 Riviera.

Which he then traded in for a Toronado.

And I'm thinking about him and his family as the Toronado moves one lane over and I pull up alongside.

Of course a white-haired dude is driving it. Many of today's young 'uns don't even have licenses, never mind care about cars (I have been seeing those new boxy Waymo Ojais out there by the way, cornflower blue, like minibuses). No, he probably bought it to luxuriate in it.

And you see this in L.A. Not only because of the wealth, but with the weather the cars don't rust, don't fade away and not radiate.

And the tires were wide, not the skinny white walls of the era, this was a driving machine.

And then I pulled forward...

And that's when I saw the hood, seemingly longer than some cars out there! A vast landscape of metal. The engine didn't need all this space, sans emissions gadgets there used to be so much room under the hood, no, this was about STYLE!

That's what sold cars back then. I mean how do you drive the damn thing? How can you judge lengths in front of you, how can you maneuver around curves!

But that didn't matter.

Now somewhere along the line, all cars started to look alike. And when people still bought them anyway, Detroit stopped updating them every year. Oh, there might be changes, but very minor, you have to be an aficionado to tell one year apart from the other.

And they're all relatively good. Longevity might be better with a Toyota or Lexus, but now even Detroit iron can be driven a hundred thousand miles. Cars are utilitarian, transportation, whereas they used to not only be evidence of your identity, in the best cases, they were FUN TO DRIVE!

And drive we did. Oftentimes to nowhere, we just got behind the wheel, cranked up the tunes and went.

Now people stay home, glued to their screens. And gasoline is no longer dirt cheap.

So the cars on the highway all look the same. There's a plethora of Teslas, all with a similar body shape (except for the Cybertruck!). And how much innovation can you embody in an SUV? I see those Rolls-Royce SUVs, the Bentleys too, people drive those in L.A., and I wonder why. They don't look cool, they don't look radically different from the econoboxes. Whereas it used to be these brands were a statement, very different from what the hoi polloi were driving.

But not anymore.

So seeing that gold Toronado made my day. Made me feel like I'd lived through something, that will never return, but had value in its day. History.

Put a smile on my face.

And now I'm at home, still smiling.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=828178025010391a0f83cf7802ae715b

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=828178025010391a0f83cf7802ae715b