In the automotive fashion cycle, some cars go from hero-to-zero faster than junior-high socialites.





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At first charm, the Chrysler PT Cruiser appealed to the latent street-rodder. But with familiarity, the PT was exposed as cute, and cute has limited shelf life.



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Volkswagen beat the retro drum harder than anyone with the New Beetle, and for pure nostalgia it sold well until everyone who loved "Herbie" had one.



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Scion's hippest urban box, the xB made all the papers in a major way, but its "my shoes came in this" vibe has lost its newsy punch.





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In the Pontiac Solstice, General Motors delivered a sports car that's more sporty than sport, thanks to oatmeal power and an aversion to storage space.



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A retro hit at introduction, the two-seater Ford Thunderbird flashed its poodle skirt to eager sales applause, but almost as quickly buyers realized they wanted something more forward-thinking.


During the 1950's in America, whitewall tires and fins were easy marks when it came to gauging automotive fashion. Overt capitulations to style, both were expected to rise and fall with fashion. But the same is also true of entire cars. Whether it's for some iconic new design trend, or just the fickle winds of fashion, entire vehicles have gone from glory to ignored about as fast as they could reach 60 mph.
Today, the lead time required to build a car is out of synch with society's attention span. Thanks to the information revolution, both rules and perceptions change even before the metal can be shaped. The public, you might say, never had it so fast. Let's look at some modern machines that burned bright and faded fast, plus some icons that continue to shine.
Hummer H2
It had its fling with polite society, a soiree combined from the macho family resemblance to the military-derived Hummer H1 and the housebroken underpinnings of a Chevy Suburban. Hot when it first landed, thanks to the shift in the environmental winds, the H2 is now the redneck's parade float.

 

Yee Haw Millie, let's take the float into town tonight and look fer some trouble!!!

What was the source of this article. PS. The new VW Beatle is a peice o crap. Did ya ever ride in one??? Consider the source?? The H2 was never thought up to replace all other SUVs? It was aimed at a more specific purpose.

 

i got this from msn

 

Glad to be a proud member of the redneck parade. We are going to do a parade this weekend from coast to coast hunting for road kill.

 

msn SUCKS!!!!!

 

lol dam im a dark red neck lolol i mean spanish lolol

 

NO! The others were unique at first but know you see them everywhere, they've lost their uniqueness. While were seeing more and more H2s, they still have their original presence. You dont look at them any different (with the exception of the environmental issues). Also with the exception of the T-bird the other cars listed were extremely cheap in comparison to the H2, So your average soccer mom was picking them up left and right, a job previously held by a minivan. I personally dont want a vehicle that is the "rave" of soccer moms everywhere. This has hurt their mystique and uniqueness that was pushing these retro cars sales in the first place.I dont think of the H2 as "retro" I look at them as original. MSN Sucks! This whole story is based on vehicles with huge introduction #s that have slipped. Many people still see the H2 as unaffordable or they have looked elsewhere because of the bad environmental rap. This reflects nothing on how badass they still are! They should ask an actual car guy what vehicles are heros to zeros. Sorry for the rant, Oh OK one more time MSN SUCKS!!

 

Lame article. Solstice has a high power engine that gets good reviews. XB was just redone and relaunched. H2 gets a new engine, new interior and is slated for diesel power. These automakers are good at dropping cars that don't sell anymore and they keep the ones that sell. Just because they don't get the PR associated with a new launch doesn't mean the demise of the vehicle is at hand. [/align]

 

IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECKIM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,IM A REDNECK,....BUT I DONT HAVE AN H2,,DONT ASK,ITS BEEN A LONG DAY AT WORK

 

What's a redneck?