Ever heard of the Pontiac Acadian? The Mercury M100? The Acura 1.7EL?
If you have, you're probably in Canada. Or you're a slightly bigger dork than me.
For years, carmakers have gone out of their way to make their model lineups in Canada different than the ones sold to us here in the Colonies. That's still the case ... in fact, it's about to be more evident than ever. But first, a few examples from history.
Most of the unique models for Canada were created on the cheap ... to create the illusion of model differentiation. The Mercury M100 was created by putting Mercury badges on the Ford F-Series pickup. The Pontiac Acadian was a Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova with slightly different front and rear treatments ... later to be the Canadian version of the Chevette. Incidentally, our friends in Canada didn't get the seminal Pontiac GTO at the height of the muscle car era. Their high-performance GM midsize car was the Pontiac Beaumont SD396 ... with a Chevrolet engine rather than the Pontiac 400. No, it's not nearly as good-looking.
This has continued, for better or worse, pretty much to the present day. The Mercury Bobcat -- the Pinto with the Marquis grille -- showed up in Canada a year before it made its way across the Ambassador Bridge. The Pontiac Tempest lived on for a few years as a re-grilled Chevy Corsica. And because Honda decided that Canada couldn't handle the Integra four-door, it instead shipped something called the Acura 1.7EL ... a Civic EX four-door with the wood-n-leather treatment. In the 80s, Hyundai tried selling the big Stellar four-door sedan in Canada as a companion to its frangible Excel, because (I guess) the Koreans thought Canada would have more of a sense of humor about the thing.
But now, some carmakers have decided to take the Canadian market more seriously. Word from Nissan is that the rugged X-Trail soft-roader, which is based on the Altima platform, will be out in Canada before the end of the year. I checked one out in Australia last year, and found it to be roughly Ford Escape-sized, with a decent driving position and a sleek look.
Not only that, but DaimlerChrysler has decided to sell its Smart City Coupe ... my vote for the coolest city car EVER ... in the Great White North by the end of the year. The Coupe will be the first wave of a whole raft of Smart products headed to North America in the coming years ... followed by the fourmore small SUV for the USA in 2006, and (possibly) the Smart Roadster, seen on the auto show circuit (and in Swimmerpup's dreams) as the Dodge Sling Shot.
Canada has given us so much to be thankful for: Labatt's Blue, the Kids In The Hall, Tim Hortons, and Terrence and Phillip. Wouldn't it be nice if Canada could also bring us some cool new cars for the 21st Century? It'd almost make up for those silly daytime running lights.
If you can't beat em ... I'm sorry to report that road rage has taken hold of both the BF and myself recently. I found myself actually yelling at a driver the other day, behavior of which I'm not proud. However, the BF has come up with a slightly different way of expressing his displeasure with another motorist. "I wish we had a big old beater car ... and when someone does something boneheaded in front of me, I could just run into them," he said.
Well, I got excited, because it's the first time this year HE's brought up buying a car ... so we started talking about the ideal urban demo-derby car. I came up with two alternatives.
My first: a Pontiac Grand Ville. Built on the C-class (Olds 98/Buick Electra/Cadillac de Ville) chassis. Massive grille and bumpers, sculpted cloth, the finest fake wood ... 70s chic.
The second, as we drove past a lot specializing in these: an '00 Ford Police Interceptor, with bull bars still installed. Flat black with no hubcaps. Less "McMillan and Wife", more Jake and Elwood.
Before anyone writes in horror: No. We're kidding. But still ... hasn't anyone else wished they could do that?
A shout-out. One of the things available to TypePad users is a way to see which sites brought visitors to our blogs. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a few people clicked through from a website called OuterLife. I visited and found an erudite page of commentary on everything from jobs to cars ... which lists the Carblog as one of the "better blogs" on the Internet. Mr. OuterLife ... whomever you are ... thanks. Stop by anytime.
Before I go ... a sobering prediction for motorists everywhere, courtesy an inside source at CNN: Gas could hit $3 a gallon this summer. It's already nearly $2 around me. Nothing kills an economic recovery like higher energy prices, folks.
Next time: How Jim Rockford taught me to drive.
Swimmerpup has a confession.. I miss my 1985 Olds Custom Cruiser for all the reasons you have wanted a beater. This car had solid metal chromed bumpers.. and is a ramrod compared to todays plastic wraped overhangs which take their place. When there would be orange cones and barrels I used to bump them out of the way if they blocked my course. Now before you all drop dead of shock, no, I did not choose this car as a purchase.. it was my family's car from about 1990 until 1996 when The Grand Caravan arrived, the 240SX went, and the Oldsmobile was handed down to me.
How would such a gas-guzzling, 8-passenger carbureted beast be attractive to me today? While looking for a spot in the parking garage or lot, it may just clip that polymer bumper on the Explorer in the "sub compact only" parking spot. While driving through my condo complex, oops.. "I thought I felt something"... as my rearview mirror confirms the scraped "Durangaroo" parked in front of the "no parking" sign. And then there's that "Trailblaster" who's enjoying tailgating me... suddenly, though, they get an imprint of the wood paneled fanny in their front bumper as I brake for what I "thought" was a bunny rabbit.
Yes, secretly I've lusted after an Ameri-barge with its gleaming chrome bumpers. After all.. aren't bumpers made for bumping? :)
Posted by: Michael | March 05, 2004 at 11:13 AM
You just might wan your Readers to go to where they can actually View those Mercury M-100's http://www.mercury-pickup.net/gallery/merctrucks instead of the Ford F-100's.
Posted by: Colonel Sir Harry Flashman VC | March 02, 2005 at 12:56 AM