The year 1977 was a watershed moment in the automotive industry. The OPEC Oil Crisis was already over. However, the lessons learned from the crisis began to trickle down into the products North American automakers rolled out.
TweetIt sounds like a myth, but it is true: I was brought home from the hospital in my mother's 1955 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Starfire convertible. A fact that would otherwise be trivial is an indicator of what my future would hold. Let alone a point of historical reference that denotes a heritage of car ownership. Perhaps …
However, some of those vehicles no longer exist. Brands that have been erased from recent memory. Certain models no longer offered due to market conditions. Entire segments of automobiles withered away into dust.
Tweet All Photos by Randy Stern I grew up at the right time – the Malaise Era, to be exact. The industry was in the midst of change. Some of it was instigated by the oil-producing nations across the ocean. To manage change, the industry had to do something to meet the challenges of emissions …
TweetIn 1975, Cadillac took an important step to reclaim lost sales of their larger, more iconic automobiles. They introduced the Seville. The Seville represented a new kind of Cadillac – trim, small, but had every inch of Cadillac luxury inside and out. A 5.7-liter V8 powered this trim new Cadillac, even in the face of …
Tweet All Photos by Randy Stern Not to brag or anything, but some of us have lived long enough to remember certain vehicles in our lives that have been long forgotten by everyone else. Many vehicles have seen their last days, but their most loyal owners…and some desperate consumers…have kept the flames alive past their …
TweetThe first application of Sir Alec Issigonis' engineering breakthrough – All Photos by Randy Stern, except otherwise noted Remember Sir Alec Issigonis? The innovation he created by switching the orientation of the engine, changing the traditional transmission to a transaxle and sending power to the front wheels was a magnificent idea! The Austin/Morris Mini was …
Tweet Victory & Reseda wants to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day! The beauty of doing this work and art is to see the diversity of people involved in this game. Amongst you are mothers – something I've neglected to cover extensively due to a perspective, which are both obvious but will reveal more in …
If this was any other year, I'd be happy to celebrate my birthday on Super Bowl Sunday.
Not this year, I'm afraid. It is not because the Minnesota Vikings went into complete retrograde. Just my interest in the National Football League waned severely this year, thanks to the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the constant frustration with the state of cultural relations with most major professional sports leagues.
Frankly, I could care less who is playing in this year's Super Bowl. If it is your team that will be on the field inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis – good luck!
Still, football was one of sports for the longest time. I recalled some memories from the game – in attendance, of course. In some cases, they involved automobiles.
On this special Super Bowl/birthday edition of Five Favorites, let me log back into time to see what crazy automobile-related events transpired around the pigskin and the 100-yard field.