Okay, enough with all of that Japander crap we've had on Classic Ad Watch the last three weeks. I'm tired of those no-good furrin' cars, coming over to America and stealing our jobs and marrying our sisters with the help of Eddie Murphy and Michael J. Fox.
It's time to get back to our patriotic roots! And nothing is more American than this: the AMC-Renault lineup from the mid-1980s. Wait, what?
I've been thinking about AMC since Monday night's presidential debate, in which Mitt Romney mentioned (as he has many times on the stump) that his father was the head of American Motors. The elder Romney departed to focus on his political career in 1962.
But by the late 1970s AMC was on life support, and one last defibrillator shock came in the form of an deal with Renault. This combination of French engineering and American malaise-era management led to one of the most schizophrenic lineups of all time.
On one hand, you had awesome products like the AMC Eagle and the Jeep Wagoneer and Cherokee; on the other, you have the Renault Alliance, which I wouldn't sell to my worst enemy.
Don't take my word for it: check out this promotional video set to the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited," which gives us taste of everything the Francomerican car company had to offer in 1985. Some of those are considered classics today; others are hard to find even in a junkyard. At least Jeep survived into the modern day. Let's be thankful for some small favors.
Which of these cars would you put in your garage?