I’m sure you’ve all heard about the controversy involving Sydney Sweeney and jeans and accusations of eugenics or hellenics heuristics or fennics, or something like that. The truth is, I haven’t really been paying that much attention. What I do know is that this controversy seems to have jeans at its heart, and you’d have to be a fool not to make the connection between public discontentment and the alarming lack of denim-upholstered cars in this current age.
I know what you’re thinking – surely the world has a plentiful and ready supply of denim jeans-upholstered automobile choices, right? I mean, it must, if we’re all to get along and make civilization work in harmony. That’s just how it works!
Well, get ready for some hard truths: there has not been a denim/jeans-themed car available to buy new since 2017. That’s right; it’s been eight long years of no jeans-themed cars, and even then there was only one lone option.
The truth is that there has been a steady decline of jeans-themed cars since their origin and heyday in the 1970s; if we plot the major jeans-themed car releases on a timeline, you can easily see the steady decline:
Look at that; the ’70s were truly the Golden Age of Jeans-Themed Cars, starting in 1974 with the AMC Gremlin Levi’s Edition and the first of Volkswagen’s many Jeans Beetle special editions. And, remember, the 1970s had almost no major social, environmental, or political problems whatsoever. (Not counting Vietnam, Watergate, rampant environmental issues, social/racial/class struggles, the success of Rick Dees, and more, none of which count.)
Things continued into the later 1970s with the Jeep Levi’s Editions, which had both CJ5 and CJ7 versions, and Dodge got into the game with the Jean Machine pickup truck variant of the D100.
From there things started to wear thin; Volkswagen was the lone holdout of jeans-edition cars with denim upholstery in the 1980s and 1990s, with new versions of their Jeans Bug, and it wasn’t until 2007 that we saw entirely new denim-themed cars available.
Mitsubishi had a version of their i-Series cars with the Kurashiki edition in 2007, named for the region of Japan where they produce blue jeans, and then the next year fashion brand Diesel had a special edition of the Fiat 500 with denim upholstery. After that, in 2017, VW had one more denim-themed car, this time based on the second-gen liquid-cooled modern incarnation of the Beetle.
Since then? Nothing.
And the nation, perhaps the world has been suffering. Suffering so much that this commercial with whatshername in jeans is causing all sorts of angst and division and controversy, the discussion of which is not really suited to these electronic pages, and, more importantly, tires me greatly.
So, I have to look past the accusations, past the partisanship, past the madness and vitriol from every corner, and get to the truth of things: this is happening because there are no more jeans-edition cars available today.
The good news is this problem can be solved. Any major carmaker could get a deal with Levi’s or Toughskins or Calvin Klein or anyone who makes denim trousers and make an announcement of a new jeans edition car tomorrow and end this long national nightmare.
Who will be the first to step up? It’s time. It’s jeans-car time, motherscratchers.
Not quite production, but not one-off:
https://bangshift.com/general-news/found-1977-ford-denim-machine-van-for-sale-in-canada/
Then there’s the Ford LLBean collabs, which aren’t explicitly denim, but LLBean makes good denim.
The original Gremlin design was sketched on a barf bag (it’s true, I’m not making that up for effect).
I can envision a Carhart upholstered work truck with a Ridgid toolbox in the bed.
I have the Carhartt seat covers for my truck and I LOVE them lol in fact they’re about due for a washing!
I feel like a denim trim would be on brand for Subaru in the USA.
Denim with flannel inserts
I’m glad the Autopian is here to provide a balanced and reasonable response to this nontroversy.
This post has been up for 20 hours. There are two pages of comments. Not a single Autopian has walked through the most obvious door in this conversation!
Especially given their history with the CJ’s, the fact that Jeep has never partnered with Wrangler Jeans is simply mind-boggling. The two products are even marketed to the same people, using largely the same themes of toughness and capability.
Is the Jeep Wrangler/Wrangler Jean mashup considered too obvious, too easy? Maybe too repetitive? Have a long series of AMC-Chrysler-DaimlerChrysler-FCA-Stellantis CEO’s repeated the mantra, “We’re not doing the Wrangler Wrangler. Stop asking.”?
Wrangler is pretending they’ve never heard of Jeep.
Here we first saw the Renault 5 Blue Jean and the Peugeot 205 Junior Then the Peugeot 106 Kid with a commercial mixing nudity and American police officers
And did someone mention SEAT Marbella Jeans ?
Whatever they were going for, it worked. I had no idea American Eagle was still a thing, I thought they went out in the early 2010’s.
I’m just waiting for the Jay Leno ad to come out, she’s wearing his signature outfit.
I remember wearing American Eagle ‘denim’ in high school…it would make for very sorry car upholstery. Does Penney’s still sell Arizona jeans? That would be great if you want random holes to appear near critical seams.
Penny’s still exist?!?!
I just looked it up, and apparently there’s one in the city where I work! The one that was closest to where I live closed years ago, right around the time that guy from Apple departed (the one who thought remodeling all the stores would fix everything). That store was actually in the middle of a remodel the last time I went; it was awful.
Has quality really fallen that far? I’ve had several pairs of those last for years and years back when I was in the oil rigs, obviously that’s no small feat. hell I’m pretty sure I still have a pair of those somewhere at my parents!
I think it had more to do with clothes marketed to teenage girls not being made of the most substantial material (for American Eagle, anyway). I could never understand the Arizona jeans or even Gap jeans wearing out in super awkward areas, particularly near the zipper. On the other hand, I have a few pairs of jeans from L.L.Bean of all places that are probably pushing 20 years old, and other than the cuffs they look great.
I would suggest that a truck maker do a deal with Carhartt. Just as in the 70s both jeans and Bug or Gremlins were popular expressions of youth, hipness and vitality, today both Carhartts and pickups are popular expressions of people pretending they don’t work in an office.
There was a Carhart edition Silverado recently, but I think there was just a Carhart logo on the headrest.
And people spend a fortune on ill-fitting Carhartt seat covers, might as well offer it factory.
I didn’t know about those. Not surprised.
They’re mostly tan canvas, they look terrible.
That’s why you get the fitted ones like I did 😉
That’s great, but what about those Epstein lists?
We’re releasing the Garfield files. No, not the files associated with assassination of President James Garfield. These files are about the CIA psy-op that has caused Americans to think the Garfield comics are still funny.
You know, the funny thing about Trump being on top of the White House…is that he’s all over the Epstein files
If that is true, why didn’t the Democrat politicians jump on and release all of the Epstein files? We know why: lot of donors to the Democrat politicians are on the list so “mum’s the word” here…
Thing is, nobody who leans left cares if any dems are on it.
Release the list and prosecute all the pedos, regardless of political affiliation. That is the only based stance.
Fun topic riffing on the official designated Distraction of the Week (and counting).
My mother had one of our sofas upholstered in denim in the late 1980s.
Just to note, she did a restoration of a 69 Bronco a while back. She seems to be more of a wrench than many of us are.
I’ve never seen the ad in question here or seen any of her acting work. My daughter did send over a few of her TicTok videos when she was wrenching and that made me happy.
Recall that David Tracy talked the ear off of an unnamed well-known actress at a party when he first moved to LA, not knowing who she was, and many of us guessed it was Sweeney. Knowing that she’s into cars makes that guess way more plausible.
What if she is amongst us? Sidney, if you are there, say hi!
Well you spelled her name wrong! Now she’ll never reply even if she’s here. This whole experiment is flawed!
Just joking of course.
Shoot, you’re right. If that happens, I deserve a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
Hi
Are, uhm, you, you?
Of course.
How do I know? (cue skeptical stare)
I’m wearing jeans rn.
I’m sold. Welcome then, Sydney!
Thanks!
It just struck me, I have jeans, of course, as well as leather pants, but I seem to be missing velour and vinyl, however I note that they are available online. Maybe I should try to match my car’s upholstery. How bad can it be I’ve got AC?
This is the most Torch-esque solution. Why argue about if whatever company made this ad is declaring Sydney Sweeney a perfect representation of the master race (they’re not) when we could unite to demand denim car interiors make a comeback? Every American work truck should have denim, the most American of fabrics, as a no-cost option over vinyl. The platinum/latinum/adamantium trims can offer seats made of denim personally worn by Ms. Sweeney as a $100,000 upgrade. Everybody wins.
Denim was the top trim level of the 2021 Hyundai Venue
This article describes the interior as “generously wrapped in leatherette and denim cloth”, although cautions “the cloth doesn’t immediately strike an observer as being pulled from a set of blue jeans, and is far less cheeky than the beloved Levi edition AMC Pacer”
https://www.hagerty.com/media/new-car-reviews/review-2021-hyundai-venue-denim-edition/
Could be a good article; cars with unusual interiors.
There were some Ford Falcons in Australia with
QuiksilverRip Curl branded neoprene (wetsuit material) seatinghttps://imgur.com/a/TV4HSlD
There were some Quicksilver edition Peugeots back in the early 2000s.
Today I learned there was more than the Gremlin with jeans.
Toughskins. I don’t know how it was for others, but in my youth they marked you as one of the poors. A Chevette Scooter Toughskins Edition would have been a perfect pairing.
STILL nothing as scratchy as the inside of Toughskins jeans. Hated those.
Not suspecting a Disco Duck reference this morning, but then I reminded myself that this is The Autopian.
Toughskins. I don’t know how it was for others, but in my youth they marked you as one of the poors.
Yikes, that cuts to the bone… Though fair play to my mom, the day I got real Levi’s for Christmas (maybe 1976?) it was unseasonably warm so I wore my new Levi’s outside, wiped out on my bike and blew out the knee.
I was on my own from then on..
Even worse; hand me down Toughskins with ironed on knee patches.
I am not so sure that the commercial caused to the angst and division. I think the angst and division were caused by people who wanted angst and division in their lives. If it wasn’t for whatshername (not her real name), they would have found something else and screamed about it and the same people who amplified and promoted the angst and division would make sure we all know and are aware and discussing/arguing about that. Some people just need to get some jalopy, jump in it and take an aimless road trip. Maybe they might meet some fungi and realize the world is not All About Them?
I wonder what car would have the JNCO edition interior?
Had bring up the JNCO’s didn’t you? I’m ok repressing those memories.
A 1998 Pontiac Grand Am with a fart can exhaust, two 12″ Subwoofers, and LED underglow based on my experience with JNCO fans. 🙂
I can smell the interior of the Grand Am now…
If your going automotive, why not market airbags? Are they safer today than they were in the past? Are they all the same size? Are some softer than others?
Surely Sydney could effectively be the face of the campaign.
Ha, Toughskins… I always remembered the commercials with the Toughskins-clad kids jumping on the trampoline because it was an early lesson about truth in advertising, as my parents bought some of my siblings and me some Toughskins only for them to end up ripping much more quickly than the cheaper jeans we usually had (my parents were raising seven kids plus several friends who sometimes spent more time with us than with their own families as well as the occasional long-term guest all on one parental salary so things would sometimes be pecuniarly tight, lol.) In fact I actually tore a hole in the knees of my own pair of Toughskins the first time I wore it. My other siblings’ pairs fared little better.
Thereafter, my parents went back to buying the bargain brands as well as the Levis at Sears and Kmart especially since those actually lasted a lot longer.
As a naive kid I found it all to be rather the eye-opener about the honesty of corporations and truth in advertising especially since those Toughskins trampoline commercials were such a fixture on all the TV stations in my hometown.
As the youngest of 7 most of my clothes were hand me downs. Like a beater car it wasn’t a big deal when you came home with the clothes trashed. Late 70s early 80s was a pretty cool time to grow up. Of course I didn’t know it at the time.
Nobody really wants car seats made out of jeans. What we want is pants made out of MB-tex.
Big Denim is watching you…
Is that immortal material named after you?
No, but I never thought of that. Pretty much been hung up on the coffee and the “financial bank”, which is kinda weird ‘cuz what kind of bank isn’t “financial”?
A blood bank?
No no, MB Financial Bank.
I’m honestly hoping more for a Duluth Trading Co. themed vehicle, complete with lifetime-warrantied Firehose upholstery.
I want Armachillo seats.
And the angry beaver…as a mascot or something.
Norbert or Daggett?
“Ballroom” seats with a gusset for extra room, and optional “buck naked” A/C vent below the steering column. Special Edition comes with an electric bait well / beer cooler in the back.
I’m thinking a Duluth edition of either of the new Scouts would be ideal.