The Chicago Auto Show / Chicago Disappointment Parade has concluded it's first weekend. The masses came shuffling in, goggled in wonderment at the concept cars that demonstrate what the manufacturers are capable of when not enslaved by focus groups and budgetary constraints. Then, after asking when they can buy one, they were directed to a "new" production model that looks exactly like the car they drove to the show.
An alternate title for this post was "This isn't your father's Flintstonemobile", but after a slightly furious round of debate around the office, we went with the Oldsmobuick one. The term "Oldsmobuick" came from the Fletch books. he described his divorce lawyer's car that way. It also applies because the car in this ad is so old, I can't guess by looking at it what make it is, or even what country it came from.
Dad used to complain that all cars look alike nowadays. I was incapable of making understand that it's relative. By contrast, I would patiently explain, that any car minted before 1950-something looks generic to me. Humps and tubes, man. They all look like a carton of eggs. I have no idea what I'm looking at. Dad proved my point while thinking he was proving
his, by insisting that he could tell a Buick from a Ford from a Chevy, so long that they were old enough to be fossilized.
This ad kind of backs me up (but not really) by being a Le Baron, which is a model name that I have always known as a Chrysler. Then there's the nutty kitty cat hood ornament. Doesn't England get mad when you put a Jag hood ornament on a yankmobile?
Aaaaah, it's a doggie. It just happens to be in the exact same pose as the Jag ornament. If I were England, I'd still be mad. I'd then have my revenge by pointing out that almost any Jag could run rings around this Oldsmobuick.
This Lincoln Le Baron comes to us from the pages of Fortune magazine, the favored periodical of the horsey set. Here we find Thurston Rufftondale having a pic-a-nic with the St. John-Smythes at the club. Oh gawwwd!
Maybe the St. John-Smythes
do have a special touch with the horses? They've trained their new colt for the season, "Aunt Fanny's Nanny" to carry his own lunch to school. Off he goes! Insert your own joke about equine education and "horse sense" here. I'm too clever to go for the low-hanging fruit.
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4 comments:
Le Baron was, originally, a coach builder. Back in the days, your could order your Deusenberg chassis from the factory, and Le Baron (or others) would build a custom body for your car. WIthout a handy reference library (but most because I'm too lazy to search the web*), I can't tell when or by whom the firm was acquired, but by the time of those Chryslers you're thinking of, it was a named slapped on some production-line tin as an attempt to give cachet.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_LeBaron#The_LeBaron_background
You could tell a Deusenberg from Fordevy, even back in the day.
Thanks, Steve! I knew I could count on you to finish my job for me. I was too busy writing all the "funny" bits. Interested in a position on the P.A.G! Research and Googling Brigade?
[-Mgmt.]
I thought "Disappointment Parade" was pretty funny. Keep on doin' what yer doin' and I'll keep on kibbitzin'.
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