While I am personally not cool, I think I have a reasonable sense of which vehicles are viewed as fashionable or interesting by both car people and the general population. A 1964.5 Mustang is one of those cars that was born cool and has remained cool for its entire life, no matter who you ask. A 2nd-generation Prius was a vehicle that car people hated at launch, but now have grown to appreciate.
What I’m curious about is finding a vehicle that had some buzz when it launched, garnered indifference or even hate, and then quickly turned it around to become appreciated again. Right at the top of the list, for me, is the Hummer H3T. Based on the same GMT355 platform as the Colorado/Canyon (and similar Isuzu trucks), it was launched as a capable and more aesthetically interesting mid-size truck.
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I remember people being excited about this vehicle and how it performed at launch. The Hummer brand appeals to that innate desire many of us have to own a real Tonka Truck one day. While most of them rolled out with the strange inline-five GM used for a while, the one to have was the H3T Alpha with the 5.3-liter V8 and the dual-range transfer case/locking diffs. This was a truck that was immediately cherished but, through its association with the soon-to-be-scuttled Hummer brand, suddenly became a truck without a home… for about 15 seconds.
A used H3T Alpha isn’t a collector’s item, exactly, but they’ve long held their value as a truck that looks cooler than almost any rig from the era. And with 300 horsepower, it’s not exactly slow. Compare that to the H2, which landed with a thud and is not particularly beloved by anyone other than hardcore Hummer fans.
That’s what I thought of, but I’m sure you can do better.
Top image: GM
PEUGEOT RCZ, marketed as an alternative to the Audi TT, and quickly becoming outdated to the point of not being given a successor, it has come back in force in recent years with rising second-hand prices
What about the Honda Cr-Z. I saw one the other day and got SO excited. I mean barely anyone bought one, so if nothing they are rare>
Well, that 1960 Maserati 3500GT Vignale Spyder that I bought in highschool with my money from mowing lawns in 1970 for $2000. Now they sell for about $500,000 – $800,000
Which would be nice if my mother hadn’t sold mine for $2000 while I was in college because she got tired of looking at it.
Probably the most fun car I will ever ever have.
Other cars in the $2000 range at the time were Mercedes 300SLs, and Bugatti Type 35s. Ferrari GTOs were about $3500, too pricy for me.
Also there was a 1932 Rolls Royce Hearse for $750 that I thought would be fun to convert into a sedan delivery, but for some reason my parents were unimpressed with that plan.
The H2 seemed really popular/overhyped when they first came out. They showed up in a bunch of movies, celebrities bought them, they became the default limo, then people piled on the hate but they have always held their value. I thought the hate would make them a cheap gmt800 with the big engine and a ton of space for camping but they are basically 2x the price of a decent suburban.
I would actually say the H2 was very popular at first, then hit a wall and lost popularity and now seems to have a bit of a resurgence in value. With some beefing up of the front suspension they can even now do some overlanding a bit safely. the non-AFM 6.0 is a good old workhorse, but the H2 was always kind of a weird caricature of the hummer namesake.
Pontiac Fiero’s and the Ford Probe are weird things that suddenly people want or seem to love now. they were kind of lukewarm hot at first, died off and now are Youtube darlings.
My favorite though is the Saturn Sky Redline. though I don’t know that they really became unpopular as much as they just became cheap used cars.
The H2/H3 are the cars I would be most embarrassed to ever be seen driving.
not cars, but semantics. But funny coming from a person named after a combine.
If the EV1’s weren’t all crushed (save for at least one that is at the Henry Ford in Dearborn), they would probably be popular cars to tune and mod these days. The uncool part is when GM wrote them all down on the death note.
Muscle cars in general. They were super popular, then became trash you could hardly give away in the 70s and 80s, then they became super cool again with boomers. Now as a bonus, they are on their way out again as boomers age and die and Gen X and Millennials aren’t really interested.
Most gen X and millennials don’t have the money or space for a hobby car like a 60’s muscle car. When I was a kid in the 90’s I absolutely lusted over them, now as an adult I appreciate them, but wouldn’t want to own one at my current place in life.
I recently saw a very nice looking Chevelle resto-mod on marketplace for a reasonable amount that I could afford, I thought about it for a minute and moved on. I have no place to store it (I don’t even have a damn driveway), and don’t need to tie up 25K in something I’ll hardly use.
My aunt and uncles both have classic cars (66 Chevelle, 65 Corvette) that they haven’t even taken out this summer. Both have talked about maybe selling them.
The first generation of Hybrids like the Honda Insight, cool when it came out but the hype faded fast, but now with the K Swaps, battery improvements, hacks, etc it became even cooler.
Moving to the Southeast of the US I never realized how popular the Hummer H3 still is. I see them constantly down here and it amazes me for something we considered hideous/obnoxious when it launched.
The worst part? Now I kind of want one…
They actually make really good offroad rigs. Great approach/departure angles, and they fit 33’s bone stock.
There was even an “Adventure Package” that came with front and rear locking diffs and a 4:1 transfer case, like a Jeep Rubicon. That with the 5.3L V8 might actually be the most capable offroad rig GM has ever made.
I know it doesn’t fit the question, but the car that came immediately to mind has a very different arc, one I can’t explain: the AMC Matador coupe. It is somehow enjoying some sort of renaissance where it is highly desirable, despite being absolutely the most god-awfully ugly American automobile ever produced.
The Matador sedan? Legendary cop car – good enough for Officers McCord and Milner, good enough for me – and with typical styling for the seventies that is neither more nor less attractive than other contemporary full-size sedans. The Matador coupe? If you want to see why that car makes me even angrier by comparison than it does on its own merit, look up a photo of a 1975 Matador coupe, then compare it to a 1974 Javelin. It’s hard to even fathom that the same company made both cars a year apart – the Javelin is all fender flares and swoopy lines, while the Matador looks like a 4-year-old’s crayon refrigerator drawing of the Javelin, with the face of a catfish.
It’s the only coupe in history to make quad round tail lights uncool.
That’s crazy. I think the Matador coupe is gorgeous and it’s on my list of cars to own. I think the Matador sedan has one of the worst grills ever produced and I would turn down a free one. I’m talking the 1978 version.
I absolutely do not understand. But then, it’s a free country, so I don’t have to. Thank God. LOL
Tesla! Oh wait, they’re stuck at step 2..
Australia’s 1998 Ford AU Falcon “The sad arse pasty”
I’ll let ol’ mate Garbage Time explain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1jqvXK-Q4Q
More content here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t04a5-jXNi4
Not a car, singular, but cars. Multiple. The fuselage Chrysler B-bodies. By 1974 they were completely out of public favour because Lincoln and Cadillac had made boxy and ornate the new “in” thing. By 1980 there was an entire generation of brand new drivers who suffered through the Malaise Era, and could afford the six to ten year old Chargers, Coronets, Sebrings, GTXs, and Roadrunners that were in abundance. That’s just a turnaround of six years for the youngest examples.
They’ve never dropped in popularity since then.
Chrysler PT Cruiser. Stupidly popular at launch, ridiculed for its quickly dated looks, and now seen with some nostalgia.
I guess also my car, Lexus GX460. Competitive all rounder, to soccer mom shuttle, to one of the last body on frame v8 Toyota/Lexus product.
I submit for your consideration the 2nd and 3rd Generation Ford Ranger. Started cool, or at least popular, then withered on the vine as an also-ran in the compact truck segment, which more or less disappeared with this generation. Somewhere between then and the “F%#&in Ford Ranger!” they became cool again
The Ranger Splash, FX4, and Thunderbolt were always cool. At least to me.
A guy recently moved in down the street has a 3rd gen Ranger, whenever I see it, I always say, “Ford F&%kin RANGER!!” to myself.
Yesterday I said it as he was driving by, I think he heard me, haha
Chevy Volt – was cool and advanced technology at the start. Then it didn’t have the blazing acceleration of EVs and was not considered as eco-minded as a Prius.
But now it is cool again, kept alive by an enthusiastic fan base. It is also the O.G. of extended range electric vehicles (EREV).
Late 70’s-Mid 80’s GM G body.Everyone loved them then they became clapped out throwaway cars as they aged.Good luck finding a cheap,clean one today.
Nice. Chevy Monte Carlos were definitely a weird anachronism in the 80s, a sorta keeper of the (by then, dim) flame of the muscle car era in a time of turbos and “Euro”. They morphed into lesser cars, then disappeared, but now they speak again to a bygone time.
Same with 70’s & 80’s GM B-body cars. These were everywhere when I was growing up, and now most of them are donks or low-riders
Maybe not the fastest to be cool again, but I have soft spot for low riders
The AMC Pacer has lived a roller coaster existence in the American zeitgeist.
This car went from highly anticipated new model (“no other car can make this sandwich”) to reviled failure for the brand.
It found new life as comic relief in films like “Wayne’s World”, “A Goofy Movie” and “Cars 2” only to become iconic as a result.
Now it’s a welcome albeit quirky sight at classic car shows.
It’s funny how oddball design does wonders for future interest. Nobody really cares about Chevy Vegas (yeah yeah us here and the Cosworth aside) because they now look like just another 70s small coupe.
Matt, please defend the Mustang II. Specifically the 1974, which lacked a V8, TTops, or any cool factors later M2s had.
The DeLorean DMC-12: much early hype, lots of disappointment when it came out, a bump in popularity after Back to the Future (though the company was dead already), then mostly forgotten about by the masses until millennials who grew up loving 80s/90s pop culture had enough expendable income to buy them as a toy.
Now they’re pushing into the $60k range just for a running one, with mint ones pushing $80k+.
Sorry H3 was never cool. How about are we talking models or variations? Mustang was and always will be super cool but became crap in the 70s now maybe cool again. Maybe Beetle was cool coming out then crap but recently started cool again then crap again. Or Camaro. Every two seater 70s convertible, the Ford cop car the model T, any rebrand that took off,
I had a friend in high school (2005-2009) who had a later model BMW E30 coupe. It was in mint condition and had BBS wheels on it. Yet he actually preferred to drive his mother’s turbo/manual PT Cruiser – the Chrysler had a better sound system to boot. I guess this question can be answered by both of these cars – the non-M3 E30 was just an old car in the ‘00s, and the PT Cruiser was uncool in general until very recently.
Those dealer points with the big curved roof seemed to have lived on, often as Cadillac stores. Probably because they were the most recently built of their era.
Two decades later mostly a trivia question answer.
SHHHHH don’t hype up the h3t i’m wanting to seriously buy one!
Less than 3000 produced. Won’t take much hype to get them going LOL.
i didn’t know they were that rare actually. maybe i should reconsider.
I saw one on the highway the other day, it turned my head because I rarely see them. It’s both very cool and odd looking at the same time.
I’d drive one.