Ten Memorable GM Cars

The Top Ten General Motors Cars We Shall Always Remember Fondly

In these tumultuous days of constant discussion in the news of the possible demise of General Motors, I would like to offer this list of the company's crown jewels of its illustrious past.

10. 1964-72 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser - Yes, I know it was just a big old, generic GM wagon with three extra windows cut into the roof, but dadgummit, it was attractive and clever, and That '70's Show would never have been the same without it. You could even get it with vinyl bucket seats!

9. 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible - How could we ever forget the best tailfins in automotive history? When Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer were hiding out from gangsters in Into the Night, what more inconspicuous car could they have chosen?

8. 1984-89 Celebrity Eurosport - I can't help it. I love this car for its sheer level of incomparable goodness and practicality. I wore out three of them, and each was as likable the last day as the first. Just what American commuters need for everyday transportation: a front-wheel-drive Beemer without all the cost and maintenance hassle.

7. 1963-65 Buick Riviera - The Riv would continue for several more generations, but the cache held by the early models was never regained. The Riviera was GM's first reply to the new personal luxury car breed invented by the Ford Thunderbird of 1958, and continued more successfully in a larger format in 1961-66. Like the T-bird, the original Riviera shared no body panels with other GM models, and these heavyweights with bucket seats and floor shifters would set a trend that is still with us today.

6. 1986-88 Pontiac Fiero GT - What a controversial little sweetheart! By the time the V-6 engine and flying buttresses were added to give it that air of a Maserati Merak, the poor baby had already been unfairly branded as a four-cylinder, putt-putt, girl's car.

5. 1987-93 Cadillac Allante - Yes, Maybelle, Cadillac tried a long time ago to sell a competitor to the Mercedes SL crowd on Rodeo Drive. Like other Caddys, it was a lot cheaper and more reliable than the Germanic variety, and prettier, too! A little more than 20,000 were built.

4. 1961-1969 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport - The Impala SS is the car that brought bucket seats, floor shifters, consoles, and decently stiff suspensions in a large-wheelbase format to the masses. The earliest models featured the rare 409-cubic-inch engine that inspired a household cleaner and the later ones offered the Corvette's 427. The great majority were powered by the ubiquitous 283, 327, or 350, with the most common big-block being the 325-hp 396.

3. 1964-70 Pontiac GTO - Long before there was a DeLorean car, there was John helping to invent the first official musclecar. Stuff a 389 into a Tempest and let Road & Track coin the term. I have always been partial to the '66 model for the best styling. Purists like the straightforward originality of the first models and some collectors cherish the '70 Judge.

2. 1969-2002 Pontiac Trans Am - From the very rare '69 Convertible to the end of production, there have been few true, red-blooded American icons to rival it. Does anyone ever get tired of watching Smokey and the Bandit?

1. 1963-67 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray - Although the 1967 is generally considered the ultimate of the breed, I have always been partial to the first big-block model, the 1965 396, built only for the last part of that production year. The one pictured here has the optional wheels and those gloriously obnoxious sidepipes.

See Also: Plastic Ozone Daydream: The Corvette Chronicles
Timeline of America: Sound Bytes from the Consumer Culture