CARS THAT MAY DISAPPEAR?

"A time to be born, and a time to die..." (from Ecclesiastes 3:2)

Check out the following article which states that several automobile makes are likely to soon disappear:

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/12/05/automobile-brands-set-to-disappear-forever/?icid=100214839x1214309575x1200963130

The article notes that the Hummer is likely history for a number of obvious reasons (huge, fuel inefficient, ridiculously expensive). Also on the danger list is the Saturn, Dodge, Mercury, and even Volvo. For you Volvo lovers who are about to go into a panic, Volvo was purchased by Ford in the 1990s. Ford wants to get rid of it, but the make MAY be sold to another car manufacturer rather than being completely eliminated. The others, though, are likely "toast".

It's ironic that my friend D.C.M. today forwarded me an e-mail photolog (I may have made up that word) of a 1940 Dodge sedan which had been stored in a barn for over fifty years. It's got well under 50,000 miles on it and is in the condition of a typical four-year-old car. For the person who doesn't care about air conditioning or automatic transmission (or FM radio, for that matter) it would be a "cool" car. I'm sure it will sell for a fortune.

No, they don't make 'em like they used to, and that's why these makes are in danger. In fact, I'm sure you all know that virtually ALL traditional American makes are in danger at this point.

I owned a couple of Oldsmobiles. That's one make thats already gone. I think GM canned it after 2004, because Oldsmobiles were SO similar to Buicks. We also now own a Saturn. I'm actually NOT a big "General Motors" person, but Saturns are great cars. I guess GM doesn't sell enough of them, however. Mercury has always had the problem that it's just a Ford with another name. That's the same problem with Dodge. Dodge and Plymouth used to be IDENTICAL. They even EACH offered the compact "Neon" car. You could buy it as a Plymouth Neon or as a Dodge Neon. Dodge outsold Plymouth by something like three to one, so Chrysler dropped Plymouth after 2001, and now Dodge and Chrysler cars are so much alike that it looks like Dodge will go. Yes, we also own a Dodge- a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan.

I'm old enough to remember Studebakers, as well as Rambler and its successor, AMC. I owned an AMC Concord station wagon. I also remember Edsel. My Dad knew an Edsel dealer and my brother and I actually had toy Edsels (promotional toys for the dealers) in the late 1950s. Can you imagine what those toys would be worth today? I vaguely remember DeSotos. They were built by Chrysler and were often confused with Dodges.

Some serious automotive historians (and I admit I'm a semi-serious one) refer to such makes as "orphan makes". It looks like there will be some more orphan makes very soon!

Don't anybody worry about Toyota or Honda! They're not going away any time soon!