With the Chicago auto show opening soon, promoters had the brilliant idea of posting snapshots from shows past. It truly is astonishing to see old iron nags in context of how they were originally promoted. Seeing the near-death AMC Pacer and the virile Porsche 930 sharing floorspace at the 1977 show, for example, is like watching a Cheetah taking down an elderly gazelle on a rerun of Wild Kingdom. Sometimes history rocks harder than anything the future could ever promise.
The Volare Hacienda (pictured), also at the 1977 show — where swarthy conquistadores and ravishing Castilian beauties once flamenco-ed to the pat-a-pat rhythm of an idling slant 6 motor — makes us nearly forget what an unconscionable piece of shit the 1978 Volare was.
Also, it's truly sad that, after all the money spent on creative branding efforts, no one remembers the disastrous 1978 launch of the Ford Phallus.
Chicago Auto Show History [Chicago Auto Show via Core 77]
Related:
The Old Car Manual Project: The Mother Lode for Old-Car Nuts [internal]