Ad Break: Classic Chevrolet Lineup Reveals Huge Model Diversity
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These days, automakers are streamlining their offerings by killing off almost every single model outside of the core profit-earners. That includes Chevrolet, which recently discontinued models like the Volt, the Cruze, and the Impala. However, back in the 1970s, the Bow Tie brand’s model lineup was hugely diverse, as evidenced by this classic Chevrolet full-length ad.
Whoa! Look at all those different cars! And not a single crossover in sight, to boot.
All we see is a huge lineup of sports cars, sedans, and wagons. It’s a real car lover’s dream. In total, there are 45 different model variants crammed into this single ad, making all that classic Chevrolet styling easy to soak up. It’s almost like bedroom poster material for a Chevy fanatic.
We also love the text in this classic Chevrolet ad, which gives a rundown on the brand’s lineup while talking about how each car makes it easy to participate in that all-American phenomenon known as the road trip. “There are sports car Corvettes for the two of you. And sporty car Camaros for the four of you. Thrifty Vegas also hold four,” the ad declares. “Chevrolet also builds wagons for four, six, eight, nine, twelve – and one that can be equipped to sleep six.”
Putting aside the feasibility of sleeping six people in any vehicle other than an RV, this poster is a good indicator of how much the auto industry has changed in the last several decades. The sheer variety of models that were available in 1972 is staggering. With so many different body styles, wheelbase lengths, performance levels and seating arrangements to choose from, there really was a classic Chevrolet for everyone.
Truth be told, it makes us a little nostalgic for the “good old days.” And while modern cars are faster, more efficient, more comfortable, and much, much safer, there’s something to be said about having so many choices and such a broad lineup.
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Forget about the crossovers, outside of the El Camino, there isn’t one pickup truck on the poster. I guess it shows not only a shift in taste, but also how the trucks were marketed back then.
I think the early 70’s, and probably the 73-87 Chevy pickups, were about where pickups started to become used as more of a personal vehicle.
Note as well, that we no longer have the option to buy a body on frame car or wagon that has any real towing capacity, limiting choices to pickups, and the few body on frame SUV vehicles and maybe a full size van, but not many people buy those for personal vehicles any more.
They often call this the Malaise era right up until about 1983. Quality control, foul emission controls that affected drive-ability, low power output and panel gaps that would make a modern Tesla seem impressive. Gas shortages. It was the worst of times and the best of times. For progress has brought us virtually maintenance free cars for 100K with but oil changes, brake pads and air filters needing replacement. They have much better performance, reliability, safety and ride/handling/braking are vastly superior. The problem is that progress has also cost us a great deal too. Gone are numerous choices as above, style, color, interior configurations like bench or split bench seating, 3rd seat wagons or 2-3 seat cars with pickup’s grafted out back ala the ElCamino. As for styling w e seem to be using the same designers at various car companies cribbing similar ideas from each other with many models looking very similar, especially the plethora of CUV’s that have all but displaced the modern mid and full size car. I for one would love to see the day where we could combine the 2 era’s in certain ways but today’s radically changed function over form world would mostly prevent that.
Back when they didn’t have something called “foreign competition” they could afford to produce all sorts of body types. Now, with smaller margins due to competition, added safety and tech, and more R&D, they cut costs by merging platforms and reducing number of body styles needed to test. It could also be said that certain body types have gone out of style, like 2-doors and wagons, and personalization is more about interior, wheels, and add-on accessories now.
It’s funny that in the 70s, they were still giving different model names to different trim levels of the same car, like the Brookwood, Townsman, and Kingsman – something done decades before when they only had one or two platforms.
Yep, right before the 1973 oil crisis and the domestic automakers horrible reaction to it. And this was only Chevrolet Motor Division! GM now is only an embarrassing shadow of its former self. Back then, GM wasn’t only about engineering and assembly, but was also a marketing juggernaut. GM made sure to be ubiquitous in the mind of the consumer, older readers will tell you of this. It wasn’t just the huge amount of models one could choose but the interior colors and materials! You could pick choose and refuse a myriad of colors and material patterns in leather vinyl or Morrokide! Don’t even mention engine choices for Chevrolet’s main stream cars. You could get a Chevelle with a choice from the Turbo-Thrift 250 V6. Turbo-Fire 307 V8, Turbo Fire 350 V8, Turbo-Jet 400 V8, to the fire breathing monster 454 Turbo-Jet V8!
Chevrolet didn’t kill the Volt, Cruze and Impala. GM killed the cars and neutered the divisions. Gm has always shared platforms but it was their engines, engineering and strong division managers that made each one unique.
Back in the 1960’s when GM was at its pinnacle and John Delorean was running the Chevrolet Division, in his book “On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors”, he wrote that the Chevrolet Division was larger than the entire Ford Corporation. Ford own Philco and several other companies at the time. By the late 1970’s GM at one time had 43% of the entire market, now it’s around 17-18%. When your business model is shrinking, so does your business model.
At one point in the early 1980s, GM sold over 60 percent of all cars built in the USA. They had nearly killed Ford and Chrysler with the latter only staying afloat due to loan guarantees backed by the US government. Both companies had reacted too slowly to the demand for smaller cars and could not compete with GM’s virtually all-new lineup of trimmer models.
GM had embarked on a very prescient and ambitious plan to downsize their entire fleet in the early 1970s. New full-size cars rolled out for 1977 that included 10 revamped models ranging from a new Chevrolet Impala to a new Cadillac Fleetwood. The following year, eight more all-new models were introduced as revamped mid-size cars launched for 1978 including a fresh version of America’s best-selling car, the Oldsmobile Cutlass. For 1979, GM’s most prestigious and profitable cars were scaled-down and replaced as new E-Body personal luxury cars debuted. In 1980, GM replaced their crown jewel product, the Cadillac Seville with an all-new and radical product. Also launching for the 1980 model year were four all-new compact cars, the X-cars, featuring a then rare front-wheel drive configuration. When the calendar turned to 1981, GM showed-off five more new front-drive small cars. This it was the sub-compacts, the J-Body. An all-new third generation F-Body Camaro and Firebird were revealed for 1982.
Ford and Chrysler were simply left in the dust by this aggressive product offensive. They scrambled to try and re-body old products to make them look new but GM’s fleet was, in fact, truly all new and, importantly, more fuel efficient at a time when consumers were increasingly concerned about gas mileage. As a result, buyers flocked to them and GM reaped the reward.
The company also had a Diesel engine that was offering consumers previously unheard of fuel efficiency in larger cars. It later proved unreliable but up until the issues surfaced, it was greatly contributing to GM’s sales success.
At the twilight of Reagan-era in America, GM was on a high thanks to their foresight. This resulted in GM’s Mark of Excellence being affixed to more than 60 percent of the cars hailing from the USA.
Sadly, GM then embarked on Round II of downsizing and they went too far. The second time around, buyers felt the cars were too small and too similar. They used a transverse-mounted engine and FWD even on high-end luxury cars and the collapse began. They’ve never recovered from the disastrous encore act of downsizing. Round I though was a rousing success and nearly made The Big Three just The Big One.
I miss those day of choice. The Big Three were still profitable and with so many options to choose from. Each year they changed body styles to entice the buyer to trade up and we looked forward to the changes. Now they all look the same and very little body changes for years. They sure are advanced in engineering but I’ll take the old style Impalas or the Chevelle’s and Novas any day.
GM to customers, “We will sell you anything you want as long as it’s an SUV.”
That’s the mindset of today. That’s all You ever see advertised. People don’t seem to be excited about cars as they used to. I’m just not one of them. I like coupes and stick shift cars . I’m outnumbered and old fashioned I guess. Probably will get a lot of thumbs down but that’s ok.
Contrast the vast range that GM had in 1972 with what Mercedes-Benz had. They had the Grosser 600, the S-class, the E-class (or rather its equivalent) and the SL/SLC. Ignoring the 600 variants, there were six body styles.
Now contrast how few GM variations you currently have and the vast range from Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Whose market share expanded and whose declined? You need to give the public choice but you also need to advertise that choice.
I saw my first GM car in the ad: the Chevy Vega Kammback Wagon (mine was a 1975 model that had HEI and a newer front bumper and grille). I added a rear window wiper before it was common on wagons. I also added a tachometer and raced against fellow workmates with souped up but smaller engines than my 2.3 L I4.
The Vega was badmouth for having rusting and other issues but my Vega never had any. It survived a collision from a school bus and only the front left fender was affected. I sold it in 1985 to a racer who liked how strong it was and migrated the V8 engine and transmission from his crashed Camaro. He later won several races with the wagon, since it was lighter.
Looking now the only thing that’s missing today is a compact car and a full-sized car when (if?) Impala passes.
You probably thinking “yea right” but I can give a brief rundown. Downsizing begin in the 60’s contrary to belief with the introduction of the Covair and Chevy 2. Malibu came after buyers demand thier car was no larger then the 55-57 models (in which GM modeled the 60s midsize cars after dimensionally).
Closer to the point the writing was on the wall for the full-sized wagon when the 73′ Suburban debut with it’s 4-doors and superior capabilities compared to the big-wagons, Camaro killed the Chevelle/Monte-Carlo as a performance Chevy coupe, the Celebrity/Citation killed the Nova and rwd Malibu for good in the 80s and Tahoe murdered the rwd sedan from Chevy in the 90s. Now CUVs, crew pickups and SUVs are mostly replacing cars altogether.
I’d love to see a Alpha based Impala and Malibu to plug the holes in the current lineup.
Love the old ads and commercials from my childhood. This made me think about the vast amount of models Buick had when I started with that dealership in 1988.
Skyhawk. 2dr coupe, 2dr hatch, 4dr and wagon.
Skylark 2 and 4dr.
Century 2 and 4dr and wagon.
Regal 2dr at first, then a 4dr.
Lesabre 2 and 4dr.
Estate wagon.
Park Avenue 2 and 4dr.
Riviera 2dr.
Reatta 2dr (late introduction).
That’s 17 different models/trims. Then I recall a time not so long ago where Buick only had 3 models total! Today they have 8 (if I’m counting correctly) and that will soon drop due to LaCrosse and Cascada going away. Times, they are changing!
Dan Berning,
That was when Buick was truly an American brand and their slogan was ‘The Great American Road Belongs to Buick”. All those 17 models you listed were built in the USA. Today’s Buick is mostly just a repository brand to sell globally sourced GM products to the American market. Encore is from Korea, Envision from China, Cascada from Poland, Regal from Germany. Most are really Opels with no real Buick DNA. LaCrosse and Enclave are the only genuine Buick’s left and LaCrosse will soon be gone.
As I see it, the Buick we once knew that catered to that Great American Road is as dead as Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Hummer. Unlike those defunct brands, the Buick name is still around but it might as well be gone too. Buick’s recent lineup could’ve more appropriately been branded as Opels.
I was reading an old article online from the New Yorker entitled ‘The Downsizing Decision’. It’s a fascinating look at GM in 1980 (the original publish date was April 27, 1980) and tells the story of their decision to reimagine their entire fleet. There is much in the article that offers context for today. In 1980, most cars sold in the US were built here and of those, GM was building 65 percent of them. GM had gambled big on shrinking their lineup and their winnings from rolling those proverbial dice were equally big. They’d nearly destroyed Ford and Chrysler, the latter driven to the government for loan guarantees to stave off bankruptcy. Comparing that colossal juggernaut to the GM of today is utterly shameful. It’s a mere shadow of the company that existed that spring at the start of the penultimate decade of the 20th Century.
There’s been a long line of inept folks running GM since those days but the sad fact is Mary and Mark are no better than Roger B. Smith. They still seem to believe that they can shrink GM to profitability. To me Buick is really just an example of the much larger problem at GM that has been going on for 40 years.
It’s fascinating to look back at the old ads, read old articles, or, as you outlined, remember the old lineups but it’s also quite sad for it illustrates vividly how much of General Motors has been lost. As you said, the times are a changin’.
The auto industry is well over 100 years old and as in any old industry, companies will fall out or be reduced in size as it ages. What we are seeing automobile companies investing in EV and autonomous vehicles to reinvent themselves to remain alive and profitable. Also, to win over the young buyers who grew up with a cell phone number and a smart phone that will feel more normal to have a screen for a dash board.