SoapLand - The Battle Of The Cars - The Result

Emelee

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There are so much old prejudice, stereotypes and stigmas that lives on when it comes to cars. If you see a Buick or a Chevy, you think it's an old man that owns it. A towncar is probably used by a housewife when she goes grocery shopping. A Mercedes is driven by a rich person who is a bit of a prick. Same goes for BMW owners. Rolls Roys are for old rich people, while the younger rich people prefer Bentleys. Middle aged men in life crisis chooses an Italian sports car, preferably Ferrari. And then there are brand where you immidiately think it's a family with small kids that owns it, safe and reliable cars, but slightly boring.
 

Willie Oleson

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And the DEUX CHEVAUX for the bohemian folks, or the single & free-spirited mother with aubergine dyed hair and a Julien Clerc collection. The names of her children are Fleur and River, and I can sense a difficult relationship with her wealthy, conservative parents.
 

Toni

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1- Pam´s silver Porsche (Dallas Dream Season)
2- Bobby´s red Mercedes (Dallas Seasons 1-9)
3- Angela´s black Mercedes (Falcon Crest)
4- Jack´s "explosive" sports car (Dallas Dream Season)
5- John Ross´s car (TNT Dallas)

upload_2019-7-7_13-55-55.jpeg


...And also this one!!​
 

Emelee

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It always made me smile when I saw rich people driving SAAB on Dallas. Not really the brand rich people would choose. We had a SAAB when I grew up, and I know I always wanted a more posh car, like an Audi.
 

Falcon Crest I

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1. Bobby's first red Merc SL, as seen in the Dallas mini-series
2. Jock's enormous silver Lincoln, which he drove from the mini-series until his second honeymoon with Miss Ellie
3. The black Merc limo driven by Chao-Li, from Falcon Crest
4. The white Rolls Royce, as seen in Joan Collins opening credit of Dynasty
5. Lance's black Corvette, from Falcon Crest
 

Mel O'Drama

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2. The Blue Saab Cabrolet that Cliff drove in JR Returns
3.Lucy's Saab cabrolet (season 12 DVD)

Gosh - I can't even remember these. But then it's many a year since I watched those last seasons.


It always made me smile when I saw rich people driving SAAB on Dallas. Not really the brand rich people would choose. We had a SAAB when I grew up, and I know I always wanted a more posh car, like an Audi.

It's certainly not the obvious marque for any of them to be driving (though Cliff could get away with it).

I'm finding it hard to place how Saabs are viewed in the UK, I've known a few people who drove Saabs over the years. The ones who drove new Saabs liked the safety and the tech that they seemed to be loaded with. One used to boast about his car having heated leather seats back when such things weren't as commonplace as they are now.

But then the people I've known who drove older Saabs are quite quirky and alternative.

They certainly had road presence, but they're hardly what one would call sexy. Even Cliff's looks just wrong without a couple of child seats in the back.

When I think of Saab, this is the first thing that comes to mind:



I'm still more than a little disappointed it wasn't me that won. Or, more specifically, my Mum. She'd have been the envy of the school run Mums.
 

Emelee

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They certainly had road presence, but they're hardly what one would call sexy.

They are normally 0% sexy. Lucy Ewing driving a SAAB is just wrong. I couldn't even understand why Jerry on Seinfeld chose a SAAB. George I could understand, but not Jerry.

But....... I have SAAB prejudice. When I think SAAB, I think of dad's old car. It was one of these:




I never think of good looking SAABs, even though there are a few models that look nice. Like this one:

 

Daniel Avery

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But since you're the American, can you explain to us humble Europeans what's wrong with this car?

Station wagons (in the style Chase, Karen and S'wellen drove onscreen) were quite common in the mid-1970s. We were all driving larger cars like that with little concern for the price of gas, at least until the second oil crisis in 1979 when gas prices went through the roof. (Obviously these TV characters were rich and no amount of OPEC instability was going to bother them) The US was already in an economic slump and when OPEC had us by the short-and-curlies, people started looking toward smaller Japanese and European cars. This caused more problems, since the US car industry was intertwined with our status as a superpower. They couldn't just suddenly start making the smaller cars--those take a while to design, and the manufacturing plants would need to be refitted and workers re-trained. Once the Big Three automakers turned the ship around, they were in unfamiliar territory...especially Chrysler, which had to declare bankruptcy and re-organize via government bailout. They didn't go willingly toward smaller cars--they were forced to.

One of the main changes that occurred in the "family car" segment came out of the re-organized Chrysler, which had up to then been most closely-tied to the gas-guzzlers. They introduced the minivan, which they marketed as the successor to the old-style station wagon. It had better fuel economy (though not by much) and many more safety features and lower emissions than a station wagon. It also bridged the gap between full-sized vans and family cars. The more upwardly-mobile yuppies with families flocked to minivans, and thus the people "stuck" with the old-style station wagons looked dated and/or old-fashioned. If you were still driving one of the larger models by the mid-1980s, you were either old (or just old-fashioned) or too poor to afford an upgrade. Many still had to burn leaded gas (thus the "lead sled" crack) and were seen as causing added pollution. Karen seemed to ditch hers around the time she married Mack. It's not that anything was "wrong" with station wagons per se...they just fell out of favor as something new came along.

An argument could be made that the minivan eventually helped Americans transition to SUVs, since they had many of the same advantages that sedans lacked, including that large cargo area in the back that station wagons had. Mack MacKenzie was a trendsetter by driving a Jeep SUV years before they became stylish (and ubiquitous). But then, he married a car dealer, so maybe he had the inside track.
 
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Karin Schill

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I love driving SAAB's. My parents have had SAAB's since I was about 6 years old. So it was the first car I ever learnt to drive! :)

It sucks that they've stopped making them now though. :(

Also I think SAAB was considered more luxerious in the US than in Europe. Obviously in Sweden we don't think of them as a fancy car. It's just a usual car. :giggle:
 

Daniel Avery

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Oh, they stopped making them entirely? I just assumed they were no longer offering them in America. SAAB left the US around the same time of the 2008 Recession when GM, Ford, and Chrysler dropped countless makes and models of cars, and stopped doing international "deals" to carry certain other cars in the US. We lost Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Plymouth, Saturn, etc. and all the models they carried under them.
 

Willie Oleson

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Vroom-vroom, look who's arrived with the results.
Me!

1. Bobby Ewing's car (Dallas) - 35 points

2. Angela Channing's car (Falcon Crest) - 26 points

3. Jock Ewing's car (Dallas) - 10 points

4. Mark Graison's car (Dallas) - 9 points

5. Fallon Carrington's car (Dynasty) - 8 points

Congratulations, DALLAS!
 
K

Karin Schill

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Oh, they stopped making them entirely? I just assumed they were no longer offering them in America. SAAB left the US around the same time of the 2008 Recession when GM, Ford, and Chrysler dropped countless makes and models of cars, and stopped doing international "deals" to carry certain other cars in the US. We lost Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Plymouth, Saturn, etc. and all the models they carried under them.

SAAB was bought up by GM in 2010. Then they left it to Spyker in 2011 that went bankrupt. In 2012 the estate was bought up by a new company that I actually didn't know existed until I googled on SAAB. It is now owned by National Electric Vehicle Sweden. They made a few new SAABs between 2013-2015.

They haven't produced any new cars since but are apparently developing a new electric car that will go into production soon. However not under the label SAAB. So SAAB as a car no longer exists. Too bad they chose not to use the SAAB label on their new electric cars as SAAB as a trademark is well known and would help sales more than the new NEV label.

Also I know this is OT. But just wanted to answer your question that yes SAAB cars is no longer in production. :(
 
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