I've been reading old car reviews to learn more about auto history/evolution. I just read a few BMW 2002 reviews written in '68 and '72, during the USA muscle car heydey. It's interesting to read that, even back then, auto cognoscenti considered Detroit cars ...a bit overdone.
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The BMW 2002 tii, exquisite penance for the unrehabilitated car addict. No matter how you try, you can't help but like it. It is the essence of motoring truth: no strobe stripes, no phony teardrop racing mirrors, no triple turret taillights. Just finely honed machinery in the simplest steel and glass case.
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In the suburbs, Biff Everykid and Kevin Acne and Marvin Sweatsock will press their fathers to buy HO Firebirds with tachometers mounted out near the horizon somewhere and enough power to light the city of Seattle, totally indifferent to the fact that they could fit more friends into a BMW in greater comfort and stop better and go around corners better and get about 29 times better gas mileage.
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1968.
Read The Car Review That Every Autojourno Has Tried To Copy
1972.
1972 BMW 2002 tii Archived Road Test – Review – Car and Driver
I am starting to understand the Euro-centric disapproval of the Detroit car market.
- Detroit 50s to mid 60s. Overdone cartoonish styling with space fins.
- Mid 60s to early 70s. Musclebound steroid bodybuilders who can't tie their shoelaces.
- 70s-80s Malaise-Era cars: USA emissions, underpowered, bloated designs, unmaneuverable, poor build quality.
- 80s were ugly, boxy, and cheap ...with bad electronics, for good measure.
Is that the general sentiment of the anti-Detroit car buff?
So, it seems Japanese beat Detroit on the economy front,
and Germans beat them on the performance front (Porsche turbo, Bosch fuel inj., AWD Quattro, etc)
What are your thoughts on the history of Detroit vs. Euro?