Yesterday we asked about your favorite American car that affected an accent and pretended that it was from ‘The Continent.’ Lots of U.S. cars – from Chevy Celebrities to Dodge 600 Es’s made the black-out trim, alloy wheel, trans-gender switch, and no one car seemed to build a consensus as to being the best. That’s probably just as well because upon reflection, they were all mostly crap.
But what about the American cars that people in Europe are stupid enough lucky enough to buy? There’s currently a number of American-built iron plying both the dealer lots (space enough for two cars!), and motorways of the continent from which many of us derive. Of course, they don’t get the dregs – the last-gen Foci, the Chevy Imapla that’s so wide, it would scrape both its mirrors on your average English country lane’s hedgerows, But they do get the supposed cream of our crop – the CTS-Vs, Corvettes, and Mustangs that provide the V8 panacea for a world of $9 a gallon 91 octane.
So what do you think is the best representative of American conquest of the European continent? Is it diesel-powered Chrysler minivans? Jeep Cherokees that are Grand? Or maybe, its something built here and shipped back, but isn’t what you’d exactly call all-American? Which recidivistic car gets your vote?
Image source: [gminsidenews.com]
Hooniverse Asks- What's the Best American-Built Car Sold Outside the U.S.?
By Robert Emslie
Apr 5, 2011
Jeff Glucker
I'd have to say that they were lucky to get oil-burning manual-shift Mopar minivans and SUV's…if you call owning a Mopar lucky, that is.
A few years ago I was driving behind a 1st-gen Chrysler minivan with Netherlands plates, in the city where I live here in TX (WTF?). I couldn't get close enough to tell if it was a diesel or a stick-shift, but it did have amber turn signals on the back.
Edit: Like this one:
<img src="IMAGE URL" width="600">
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v338/VadGTI/van2.jpg">
Holy crap…. I am 99% sure I saw that exact same van in Long Beach last year. Same Euro spec van, same color, Swiss sticker and I couldn't figure out where the plates were from. Where did you find this?
Found it posted on VW Vortex… it was in L.A. parked at the Philippine embassy. I saw it leaving the Japanese Classic Car Show at the Queen Mary, so it makes sense now, heh.
Yeah, I just did a Google image search. That must have been a thread on VW Vortex about U.S. cars in Europe, 'cause I got a lot of search hits off of that same site. Search term "Chrysler minivan European".
The best American cars are made and sold in Oz. 'Strewth.
By far.
BMW X5.
Toyota Tundra, for comedy sake.
<img src="http://jeepwranglers.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/jeepwrangler.jpg">
This may just be my Toledo roots showing.
*IMG from jeepwranglers.net
Depends on what it's used for. For trail-running and unpaved roads, you bet (albeit in SWB form). As a "car", these are awful.
A few years ago, I saw a comparison test between a Land Rover and a Wrangler done as a long feature in Auto-Motor-und-Sport, the major German magazine. The Wrangler crushed the Landie, and even the notoriously national chauvinist Germans had to admit the Wrangler was a desirable and outrageously American vehicle. Our best export car has to be the one that shows our best side to the outside world, and that's the Wrangler.
How about a French Hemi 'cuda, sold through Chrysler-Simca dealers?
<img src="http://camtecs.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/10/chrysler_france_cuda_bleue_blanch_3.jpg" width=500>
<img src="http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/002/621/034/20080301/dyn009_original_708_488_jpeg_2621034_a9afb24a6ae183f3811d1b46573b2049.jpg" width=500>
<img src="http://camtecs.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/15/hemicuda_mont_ventoux_1972.jpg" width=500>
<img src="http://camtecs.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/16/hemi_cuda_belbeuf_hillclimb_1972.jpg" width=400>
http://www.hemicuda-france.com/hemicuda/
Le WTF!
!!!
(Thought you were Scroggs for a sec…)
Sacre bleu!
This is fabulous. I'd love to be able to turn up at a muscle car meet in a Barracuda with "Simca" plastered all over it.
<img src="http://www.mopar-owners-club.com/images/articles/french_racing_cuda/75_sport_moteur_l.jpg">
Yeah, I am going here again:
<img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j129/hoopd87/7ea0dabf.jpg"width="500" >
Who said the Europeans didn't get to scrape their door handles on every turn?
<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2698/4314377181_69aca1d8b8_z.jpg" width="400/">
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Buick_Park_Avenue_1.Version_front.jpg/800px-Buick_Park_Avenue_1.Version_front.jpg" width="400/">
It is the best. Just because.
i really like the rear end on that. The ambers looks so much better than just red all the way across.
They're a little clumsy-looking, though. They'd look better split horizontally. I do wish that American cars had rear fog lights, but that would confuse most Americans, who would wonder why everyone is riding their brakes.
That's because most Americans can't seem to grasp the idea that rear fog lights are only to be used in conditions of seriously reduced visibility, such as very heavy fog, not whenever the driver feels like it. They're not intended to be ornamental and are inconsiderately bright in most circumstances.
I've got factory rear fogs on my MG Metro and have used them exactly once, for about five minutes, in the last two years. That's with year-round driving here in bright, sunny Puget Sound. Your mileage may vary.
I took the cheater's way out, and re-wired the rear fogs in the Corrado to kick in when I applied the brakes, so I had two lights on as running lights, and five (much brighter) lights on as brakes. I rather like the HOLY FUCK BRAKES look of it, and figured I'd probably never use the rear fogs anyhow.
i wholly approve of this. the corrado kicks ass in general– be it vr6 or G60. might as well wire up the rear fogs. I don't know if they did this up north, but in the US, the rear fogs were essentially blanks, the wire leads were capped and there was no bulb/fixture. that lead to many interesting interpretations of what "should be there".
I replaced mine with the LED lights, with the clear turn-lights. Makes the car look far less… OLD. Since they were made for the european market, the lights are all there, so it was just a matter of wiring them up to the third brake light.
nice. my brother had to fake "fixtures" that he could remove every time he took it in for Cali Certifications… though… his was done up by a shop that kept stock VW setups for smogging… if you had your car tuned by them, you could go back and get everything swapped out for regulation testing.. and after it passed… they'd put everything back on… nice little deal… my t-bird was still faster though… 😉 (brother couldn't believe the way it pulled itself through corners/off the line)
I'm going to have to go ahead and pick the low-hanging fruit. It's been sold in virtually every version, and been successful pretty much every time. And the bang-for-the-buck is still off the chart, even when converted to Furrin moneys. It's tough to beat.
<img src="http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1960-1969/1965-Ford-Mustang-Fastback-Cammer-SA-1024×768.jpg" width="600">
Here's some more low hanging fruit…
<img src="http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3195/3941/32986970008_large.jpg">
Except that the question is “BEST” American car.Sorry, I know, some were decent, but I just find them to be hateful, awful cars for the most part. I thoroughly respect the most recent Corvette, but I don't really in any way “like” it. I know, I'll get all the generic, “how can you not like a bazillion horsepower V8 wonk wonk wonk” responses, but the cars are ugly, with the exception of the '63 split-window. I drove a '73/'77 (can't remember which year it was anymore) and a '96 Corvette, both quite a bit, and just had off-the-chart levels of DO. NOT. WANT.
And that's how the War of Canadian Aggression got started, son.
See? I always knew you were a commie.
Socialist, dammit. There's a difference! A small difference, but a difference nonetheless!
You know who cares about the difference? Communists and socialists.
I think pretty much just the socialists. Communists are trying very hard to get more people into their camp, so they'll say anybody is a Communist.
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/nlbcdx.jpg" width="400/">
Sonofabitch, I'm a communist, and never even knew it.
If you weren't so god damn cute and fluffy, Mitch, I'd probably hate you more than I already do for knocking the Corvette.
You're a good person and King Awesome of Awesometown, but you got no culture.
I believe you mean, "You ain't gots no culturing."
Nope. I'm not south of the Mason-Dixon line.
I could give a rats ass about the Corvette's interior bits and lack of "refinement", whatever the hell "refinement" means in a car like that. I hear people bitching all the time about style, interior, pushrod… blah blah blah. You reach a certain point with a 'Vette that you stop giving a shit about looks and whether or not your ass is hot or cold and just drive the damn car.
If it had the same driving dynamics with a 4cyl, it would be just as fun. Get behind the wheel of one and see why everyone is all "wonk wonk". Sometimes you get behind the wheel of an M3 and go "No wonder people drive and look like douchebags to own these things" because its a good time.
Edited because weather means sky stuff and whether is expressing doubt. Excellent wordsmanship on my part.
I'm with you about 80% on that one. With the current Corvette, I agree 100%. Still don't like them, but I totally respect them, in the same way I don't like the Subaru STi, but I sure as hell respect them. With the older ones, though, I just can't understand the love for them. To my eye, they were just not attractive at all — but then I love the looks of the AMX, which should say something right there — and their driving dynamics were… just poor. Lots of power, but squirrelly all over the place, and terrible cornering.
I've defended the new ones quite a few times here, so I can jump on board with the mentality of having a great car, and not giving a rat's ass about the refinement or the fiddly bits that will come flying off under full power. DON'T CARE MOAR POWER! I still say if you want a VW/Audi interior, why are you looking at a Vette? Buy a VW/Audi. If you want Vette power, buy a goddamned Vette. If you want both, buy an Aston Martin. What's that? More expensive? Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
Having said that, I still don't want one at all. But that's not a slam against the Corvette. I have no interest in a Ferrari either, and they're from very similar design schools. And they just don't appeal to me.
The doctor's car returned to Mexico after 13 years absence, but has been a staple in China since then.
<img src="http://image.automobilemag.com/f/new_and_future_cars/2010/12816694+w440/0901_05_z+2010_buick_laCrosse+front_three_quarter_view.jpg">
3rd Generation F-body tax evasion pickup truck. The white color truly brings out the hideousness of the fibreglass rear deck extension that gave the "bed" enough length to qualify for tax-exemption.
<img src="http://www.minunauto.com/files/imagecache/picture_592x445/files/images/24840/P9110378.JPG" WIDTH="500">
Honestly good? Not counting pickup trucks used as commercial vehicles? Chrysler Voyager was and is probably the best selling post-war American car across the continent. Lack of real success comes down to simple numbers: They're more expensive than comparable Euro cars to buy, more expensive to register/insure and once you leave the major cities servicing becomes more of a pain in the ass.
i read your comment and thumbs-upped you… before i realized who it was. i do agree that it looks jaguar-esque. though i still feel a bit hurt about the hipster comment a while back.
I apologize, it was too good to pass up. If it's any consolation my friends call me that all the time and I'm only half sure what it means.
I will thumbs up a few of your comments in hopes of sorting this whole mess out.
don't worry about it man.. we all have days of the sort (personal sarcasm meter fails… etc…). i do appreciate the apology though. thanks man!
I saw several of these in Norway when I was there over 3 years ago. I thought it odd considering gas was near $10/gallon there at the time. But, they were there!
<img src="http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/2007/02/medium_jeep_crd.jpg" />
I am enjoying the photos posted here, mainly because I'm a nerd for automotive lights and I enjoy seeing the different Euro-spec lights that many American exports have (normally to add amber turn signals to the rear).
GM brought the Tahoe here as a 'Grand Blazer' and it was fitted with a MWM 4.2 I-6 diesel.
Turbodiesel Cherokee! The 2.5, not the Renault. Nowhere near the reliability of the good ol' 4.0, but similar torque and 30-odd MPG.
Also, the Cherokee "van"!
<img src="http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/456895/original/327489_20060218040208_1.jpg"/>
That is freakin' awesome.
<img src="http://www.lvmgroup.co.uk/images/www.lvmgroup.co.uk/Sintra.JPG"/>
Not one of the best, but interesting: Opel/Vauxhall Sintra, built in 'Murica with Opel engines and transmissions and RHD for the Vauxhall.
freakin' awesome. I love that generation suburban… and hope someday to purchase one and customize it beyond belief in to a station wagon… it'd be even cooler with a holden grille… now that i know it exists, i will add it to my list o' stuff.
It actually looks like it's just Chevrolet grille with a Holden badge that fits over where the Bowtie would go.
Note also that it uses the separate hi- and low-beam sealed beam headlight clusters used on the upper trim-level 1988 and '89 pickups; the GMT400 Suburban/Blazer/Yukon came out in 1992, two years after the corresponding trim level pickups switched to composites (The cheap ones still had the square headlights and unique grilles.).
honestly (from my experience) the probe GTs with the mazda 6 cyl. were actually decent cars… peppy, handled well, and available with a row-your-own…
(also driven by two very attractive female friends of mine…… which only adds to the appeal…)
They were a blast. I had one with a glass pack for a muffler on it for some reason and it sounded like 10,000 bees going down the road. It was a good time. Insanely quick and the interior was really comfortable and functional. That was a great car.
it`s a opel and on the back it has GT on it