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Great American Cars, 1950-Present By Chuck Hawks I tell my friends that I prefer performance cars because, as a motorcyclist, I don't really like to drive and I want to get where I am going quickly! At present I am driving a 2011 Chevy Camaro SS. Previous personal daily drives that fit that basic philosophy have included a 1959 Triumph TR-3, 1965 Dodge Dart GT (Commando), 1971 Plymouth Sport Fury, 1991 Honda CRX, 1996 Ford Probe GT, 1999 Ford Mustang Cobra SVT and 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo SS. What constitutes a "great" car is definitely subjective and I do not pretend to be an automotive expert. I am just an average American of my generation whose formative years were influenced by the annual Fall unveiling of Detroit's new cars and popular car and motorcycle songs. The Beach Boys' put "409," "Little Deuce Coupe," "I Get Around," "Don't Worry Baby," "Shut Down" "Little Honda" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" on the pop/rock charts. Jan and Dean contributed their big hits "Dead Man's Curve" and "Drag City" to the popular car culture. Bruce Springsteen was not afraid to record car related songs, including "Racing in the Street," "Born to Run," "Thunder Road," "Darlington County," "The Promised Land" and "Something in the Night." Do you remember "Riding With Private Malone" (David Ball), "Hey Little Cobra" (Rip Chords), "Hot Rod Lincoln" (Johnny Bond), "No Particular Place to Go" (Chuck Barry), "GTO" (Daytonas), "Born to be Wild" (Steppenwolf), "Bat out of Hell" (Meatloaf) and "Mustang Sally" (Wilson Pickett)? There are dozens of car songs that influenced teenagers like me and New Country artists are recording new car related songs for today's youth. It is not surprising that, experts or not, we all have our favorite cars. This list is not restricted to, but favors, high performance automobiles, since that is my predilection. It also favors two door coupes, since I have never had any use for the extra weight, bulk and decreased structural rigidity of four door automobiles. ("Four door sport sedan" is an oxymoron.) American automakers have tended to produce "generations" of their various models. For example, the first generation, two seat Thunderbird was sold in the 1955, 1956 and 1957 model years. To prevent unnecessary duplication, I have tended to include only the first or significantly improved models from each generation. Thus, of the first generation, only the 1955 T-bird is included in the list below, although my personal favorite is the 1956 version. Certainly, the 1955, 1956 and 1957 T-birds were all great cars. Note that where more than one car is listed for a particular year, they are in alphabetical order. I welcome suggestions for additions to this list. E-mail suggestions to: chuck@chuckhawks.com
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Copyright 2011 by Chuck Hawks. All rights reserved.
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