Re: IML: Is it a Old Man's car or Prestiage driving?( long read)

["M. Esposito" <cadmat@xxxxxxxxx>]

There seems to be a lot of factors that have brought this about. Styling, the taste of the public, quality, and especially marketing.. and it didn't happen overnight. It's as if American cars in General kept missing the mark on all of these points over time. and Foreign cars kept getting it right in each of these areas.. in the late 70's American Car quality, was really hurting, they were for the most part ponderous and very inefficient, and people's perception of "luxury" and prestige had changed.. personal luxury was coming into vogue.. and American cars mis-interpreted that for the wealthy.. Mercedes had the SL, fast, sexy, and made for 2.style introduced in 1972 that went all the way to 88.. nothing american even came close ( I'm talking 70's here) the best they could do was hope the public still wanted big, so all the big four door sedans came as 2 door.. as if that would  compete.. the Europeans and Japanese had been dealing with expensive gas and tight
 parking for years before it ever became a concern to Americans.. and when it did in 74 and again in around 1980 European cars were ready with smaller designs and better mileage, as well as fresh looks. by the early 80's German luxury was already taking hold in the US with over engineered cars that had incredible quality and could go way faster comfortably then the 55mph limit American cars were designed for. GM's flagship responded to that with self destructing engines, that underpowered overweight cars that were always a few years behind the taste of the public.. Chryslers luxury cars of the early 80's 
( new yorker) although handsome still got terrible mileage.. plus the nation was in a major recession in 81 and gas had went crazy again price wise.. The Imperial, could have been a big hit, but it wasn't marketed.. nobody rich on popular TV of the time drove American Luxury cars,or Imperials.  Hart to Hart, Knots Landing, Dynasty, The biggest show on TV at the
 time was Dallas.. everyone young hip and stylish on Dallas had foreign cars except the old "patriarch" who drove a Lincoln. 

By the mid to late  80'sand early 90's American Luxury cars were starting to get better, but again, they were behind the times Cadillac came out with a car that finally did catch up with the "new" elegance and prestige of the Mercedes from 72..but it was 1988, and the Mercedes was about to outdo even themselves with another ultra luxury ultra engineered car  that instantly dated  GM's best.. Ford had  really made a great go it with the Lincoln Mark , by making it very un-American, stiff suspension, fast motor, total departure from traditional style... and it was placed on TV  with people seeing rich stylish folks driving it ( main character on Dallas, another on Knotts landing etc..  

Funny thing is, that just as American cars were finally getting it right about European taste in style and feel of cars, and were
 abandoning their traditional American Car attributes,  there was a resurgence of Classic American style being in fashion. Gas was cheep again, and the economy was robust.. so all of a sudden around 89 big quiet, supersoft luxury was back in style.. Hence the introduction of Lexus, and Infinity. But all the American Car companies had to sell when this trend hit were the leftovers form the early 80's and those were pretty dated then.. ( Brougham, Town car,) it was at this time Chrysler re-introduced The Imperial, again on an old car platform.. but (IMHO) they really hit the mark with the classic Styling Que's. 
Furthermore, it is that very attention to the "old ways" that I think attract most of us to these cars, unlike the come and go fickle taste of most of the driving public, and even many old car hobbyists we, as Imperial aficionados, prefer big, solid, soft classic, atomic age push button convenience and old time classic elegance to a fast chromless jelly
 bean  with over sized wheels of todays (youthful) luxury set. 
So, IMHO, I think these cars are considered old people cars because they hung on to similar "definitions" of luxury, and didn't really veer from the overall style of these cars for several decades. ( boxy lines, formal roof line, prominent grill, long hood, puffy seats, vinyl tops etc) 

Sorry to be so long winded, but I love this kind of discussion.
> Matt