Vaguely Exotic California Municipalities

It’s the ubiquitous GM A-body from the mid-70s. WooHoo!. Not only is this every Oldsmobile Cutlass, Pontiac LeMans, Buick Regal and Century you’ve ever seen, it is, down at your neighborhood Chevy Dealer, the Malibu, the El Camino, the Laguna and the Monte Carlo (yeah, not Cali, but the same climate). Why love it, besides […]

Crosstown VW/Jag, Before They Completely Sucked

This is what happens when dudes in polyester leisure suits wrest design authority from the pipe smoking tweeded twits with the leather patches on their elbows. If you took every bad “I have a large penis and lots of money. And I am athletic, see?” styling cliche of the 70s, couple it with the worst […]

1983 Oldsmobile 98 Regency — Go for Baroque

God, I loved these cars. Everything that was so right, and so wrong about American cars and GM, all bottled up into one effete and ponderous whale for everyman.

The Seville (v. 1.0 and 3.0) “notchback” roofline
The half Cutlass Supreme/ half tailfin taillights
Bumpers that announce that your penis is made of steel.
The plump assed French hooker rear end of the car, from delicate wire wheel covers (sometimes actual wire wheels) and the real men wear fender skirts to the subtle wedginess.