• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

The Saddest Commercial I've Ever Seen

Other than the Corvette, what Chevys would you consider exciting and inspiring? One of Chevy's most popular models was the Nova -- even in Spanish-speaking countries! GM sold a lot of them. I drove a 1977 Nova for about five years. It was generally dependable transportation, but dull and uninspiring would be just the adjectives I'd use to describe it.

Although the naming of the car ("no va" translates into "no go" in Spanish but they are pronounced differently) is an urban legend the Nova was an engineering disaster. The main problem with that car was its engine; an aluminum block with cast iron sleeves. A year one engineering student already knows that those two metals will heat and cool at vastly different rates, hence rapid cylinder wear, oil burning, overheating issues and a mountain of warranty claims. I could name a bunch of other GM cars with equally disastrous engineering including the Cadillac Cimmaron, Olds diesel, Pontiac Fiero, Chevy Vega and Citation. I have left another long list out.

My last GM vehicle was a brand new 1978 Chevy Blazer 4X4. It was delivered with the body askew on the frame. Unbelievable!

I won't touch a modern GM vehicle for the same reason I don't own a Mercedes-Benz or anything from Fiat-Chrysler.
 
Other than the Corvette, what Chevys would you consider exciting and inspiring? One of Chevy's most popular models was the Nova -- even in Spanish-speaking countries! GM sold a lot of them. I drove a 1977 Nova for about five years. It was generally dependable transportation, but dull and uninspiring would be just the adjectives I'd use to describe it.

The late 60's and early 70's Novas were considered cool cars to soup up until they were redesigned in the late 70's and eventually became a rebadged Toyota Corolla in the 80's. And there were also the Camaros and Chevelles. I had a Beretta at one that time that looked great but it only had a 4 cylinder engine, but I liked it and kept it until it starting having problems at around 165.000 miles.
 
Last edited:
The late 60's and early 70's Novas were considered cool cars to soup up until they were redesigned in the late 70's and eventually became a rebadged Toyota Corolla in the 80's.

Aside from the very few super stock Nova's that ran the NHRA schedule you saw almost no "souped" Nova's on the street. There were far more Chevy II's, American Motors Javelin's/Machine's/AMX's and even hot-rodded Beetles than Nova's. Even all these were dwarfed by Pontiac Judge's and GTO's, Dodge Chargers and vintage Chevy Bel-Air's.

My personal favorite was a 1950 Willys Jeepster hiding a big block (flathead) tank engine under the hood. It was the ultimate sleeper but could not keep transmissions in it. We figured it made a tick over 300 hp at about 4,100 rpm and had a sound that I have never heard from any other engine.
 
Don’t forget, GM does incredibly well in China...at one point, Buick was the #1 foreign auto marque by sales out there. Last time I checked, one or two of our Buicks are made in China for export to the States!

Making money hand over fist in Asia/Middle East allows GM to soften the blow of softer markets like Australia (Holden no longer makes vehicles in their home country) or the US, where the heavy duty truck market pays the way for a fleet of ‘meh’ cars/crossovers and genuinely terrible commercials that are routinely parodied and mocked.
 
Chevy, in particular, has always sold primarily on price and if price is all you care about then Chevy is your car.

I don't own any Chevy's myself but am trying to understand the logic. Let's see if I have this straight: You personally had a bad experience with a particular brand 41 years ago and accordingly, feel the brand isn't, or shouldn't be doing well? That's really long term anecdotal data!
 
I don't own any Chevy's myself but am trying to understand the logic. Let's see if I have this straight: You personally had a bad experience with a particular brand 41 years ago and accordingly, feel the brand isn't, or shouldn't be doing well? That's really long term anecdotal data!

That was not the sole reason I detest GM products but it is indicative of their lack of quality control at that time. According to reviewers who look closely at the product line today it hasn't improved a whole lot - hence they sell on pricing.

On the other side of the coin I once owned a '65 Corvair. Raced it (still have the trophy) on dirt and on ice and it was a blast to drive. Even towed all my belongings in a U-Haul from AZ to Noo Yawk with it. Little sucker had some grunt. I abused that car like nothing else I've ever owned and it kept on going.....until one Halloween evening I parked it between to giant boulders going about 50 in a 15 mpg curve. Never drove in a straight line after that but still ran. Corvair's suffer universal disdain but that wasn't my experience at all. I still think the '65 through '69 Corvairs were among the prettiest cars ever produced.
 
No matter how hard GM tries to market Buick to a younger crowd, they will always be known as old person cars.

When I was a kid in the 50's most cars had a niche where they advertised and sold to a rather narrow client list. For GM it went something like this:

Cadillac - Top of the line for those who had money to waste and wanted the envy of their neighbors.

Buick - The appropriate car for professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers (who didn't want Chrysler products). Buicks eschewed 'responsibility'.

Oldsmobile - Didn't have much defining history. Tended to share client base with Buick until going the performance route in the muscle car era.

Pontiac - For upscale buyers who wanted some 'spit in your eye' performance. Buicks without the culture.

Chevrolet - Transportation on the cheap.

Both Chrysler and Ford had their lineups as well. A few post war independents were also selling to the identical strata and trying to compete with the Big 3. Hudson was at one time the performance machine. Packard tried competing with Cadillac and Buick. Studebaker went after the economy buyer but had some definitely different performance cars in the Hawk line (personal performance?). Imperial was Chrysler's attempt to compete with Cadillac as was Ford's Lincoln. Those were independent car lines then and not just models with sheet metal differences.

Over time the model lines melted together and one car model became pretty much indistinguishable from another. Options like power windows, once the purview of the top of the line models became available on every model. Body parts and trims were standardized and engines became interchangeable. (Remember the big lawsuit by the guy who discovered his Pontiac actually had a Chevrolet engine in it?) Lincoln and Imperial became models instead of brands. Pontiac and Olds, once past the muscle car period, lost their uniqueness among buyers and then lost their reason to exist.

Now there is practically no difference between the various GM brands except the amount of crappy options they can cram aboard to raise the price. Cadillac's frequently wind up below Chevy's on the reliability totem pole because of this. Marketing hasn't changed much though. Chevy's are still marketed to families, Buicks to dual wage earning couples (and notably Blacks) and Cadillac's as the premier and in-your-face marque (Hello Escalade) even though its ratings do not justify it at that level.

American culture has changed so much since WWII that the target demo's are largely no longer clear. When a Youtube "rappuh" can cruise around town dressed like a top movie star of old why would he/she choose a mere Chevy when they can ride in an Escalade? GM would probably love to think that people see its Escalade as the old timey Dusenberg but alas and alack, not even close.
 
man, did this thread derailed from the original topic of saddest commercial.

now to get back to the topic of saddest commercials, i give it to that Nationwide insurance ad from the Super Bowl a few years ago of the kid who could had been anything, but instead, he died. that ad was sad and a real buzzkill on Super Bowl Sunday.
 
man, did this thread derailed from the original topic of saddest commercial.

But the real question is......did you learn anything from it or enjoy reading it? If not then you could have just passed it by. Most threads begin with one subject and morph into one/many more. If you don't enjoy the direction then just leave. No harm, no foul.
 
But the real question is......did you learn anything from it or enjoy reading it? If not then you could have just passed it by. Most threads begin with one subject and morph into one/many more. If you don't enjoy the direction then just leave. No harm, no foul.

I enjoyed some of the auto posts. When I grew up in the 60's and 70's we were a Ford family, but our parents best friends were a Chevy family. I remember the back and forth friendly arguments. I am sure this argument was re-created millions times over throughout the country.
 
I enjoyed some of the auto posts. When I grew up in the 60's and 70's we were a Ford family, but our parents best friends were a Chevy family. I remember the back and forth friendly arguments. I am sure this argument was re-created millions times over throughout the country.

Just as in breakfast cereals and farm implements you either like Cheerios or Wheaties and farmers either wear John Deere or International Harvester hats. We all have our favorites. Sometimes it gets serious.

I can remember clearly during the 60's and 70's when I was involved in drag racing the announcer would wind up the crowd with "let's hear it for Chevy!" then "who loves Mopar!" until the crowd was in a frenzy and ready to start throwing fists at each other. Like the "America's Team" designation that the Dallas Cowboys tried, most partisan attempts don't go over well however I had an uncle, since deceased, that would not buy anything but a Ford. I still have a neighbor who does the same. Coke versus Pepsi. The "battle" seems to stir interest in potential customers and ends up being good for sales of both whereas both might be ignored if not for the manufactured hullabaloo.

They are both wrong. And for the identical reasons.
 
This thread got me thinking about old car commercials. Please feel free to visit "Classic TV", a sub-thread within this TV grouping!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom