GM's picks for its 10 most important vehicles

[Oracle of Delphi]

By The Associated Press

12:04 AM CDT, September 15, 2008

During General Motors Corp.'s 100 years in business, its models have touched the lives of millions. Here is the company's list of its top 10 most important production vehicles:

1. EV1 1996 First modern electric production vehicle

2. Pontiac GTO 1964 First muscle car

3. Chevrolet Bel Air 1955 Icon of new style era

4. Chevrolet Corvette 1953 First Fiberglas-body sports car

5. Saab 9-2 1950 Functional and aerodynamic

6. Opel Olympia 1936 Body and frame were single unit

7. Cadillac V-16 1930 Powerful engine established Cadillac brand

8. LaSalle 1927 First production car by professional designer

9. Cadillac (7 models) 1912 First cars with electric self-starters

10. Cadillac Model 30 1910 First mass-produced closed-body car

Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-...0,1313340.story

[SAmadei]

5. Saab 9-2 1950 Functional and aerodynamic

What?!? GM didn't have anything to do with Saab until 1990. And they were called '92's, not '9-2'.

About half that list is BS, IMHO.

Stephen

[!!!TED!!!]

If GM can do that, I wonder if ford could do something like this:

Mazda Cosmo 1967 First Wankel Rotary powered car

[Drew Dowdell]

Toronado

[balthazar]

>>"What?!? GM didn't have anything to do with Saab until 1990. "<<

This is commonplace- mercedes grabbed all of maybach's prior, completely unrelated history (there was an almost 50 gap between the 2 existances of the nameplate).

The saab mention is completely lame, but at least the other 9 are technically factual and historically relevant. Not sure all 9 belong on a 'all-time 10 greatest GM' list; that discussion could go on forever.

GM has been in 'global PC' mode for a few years now- tiny, irrelevant saab is getting as much mention as Chevrolet, Buick, etc in most GM PRs, and that's complete horse-puckey.

[Camino LS6]

Who was responsible for this list?

Pretty lame overall, but what really raised an eyebrow was that they chose a '55 over a '57 as the Icon of the type?

Please.

I actually prefer the '55, but let's be real.

No '69 Camaro?

How about the first pickup with ABS, or the first 4x4 pickup with IFS?

I'll stop now.

[Camino LS6]

I should have said real IFS. :AH-HA_wink:

[z28luvr01]

Who was responsible for this list?

Pretty lame overall, but what really raised an eyebrow was that they chose a '55 over a '57 as the Icon of the type?

Please.

I actually prefer the '55, but let's be real.

Arguably, the 55 did more for Chevy's image than the 57. It also was the first year for the small block. Plus, there's a 55 in my dad's garage, so 55 FTW

[Camino LS6]

Arguably, the 55 did more for Chevy's image than the 57. It also was the first year for the small block. Plus, there's a 55 in my dad's garage, so 55 FTW

Like I said, I prefer the '55 - but the icon is the '57.

The birth of the smallblock certainly is the watershed event of GM's history in my book though.

[balthazar]

I would agree with #s : 2, 4, 7, 8, 10 as being '10-best' worthy.

[siegen]

Does anybody really care who had the first electric starter? Or the first of just about any of these?

If GM is going to spend time compiling a list like this and proliferating it about the Internet, perhaps they should make a more relevant list that current buyers can relate to. Something to show they are proud of the current product, as opposed to living in the past.

A list like this:

Corvette

Malibu

CTS

Silverado/Sierra

Enclave

Sky/Solstice

G8

Etc

Etc

Etc

[balthazar]

In that we are marking the 100th anniversary of GM this year, these types of 'look-backs' are completely appropriate.

[smk4565]

EV1 was a bust, noble effort but it didn't work, so that should not be on the list, let alone #1. GTO seems high, the Mustang really created the affordable sports coupe/convertible segment. 67 Toronado should be on there since it was the first modern front drive car. Silverado has been a huge seller, although nothing is groundbreaking about a pickup.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

By The Associated Press

12:04 AM CDT, September 15, 2008

During General Motors Corp.'s 100 years in business, its models have touched the lives of millions. Here is the company's list of its top 10 most important production vehicles:

1. EV1 1996 First modern electric production vehicle

ABSOLUTE and TOTAL BULL&#036;h&#33;

Why doesn't GM just print the list in GREEN for the greenies to jack off over. This is so typically, politically correct garbage.

Was the EV1 important? Absolutely. But not this important. And it's shows how out-of-touch GM is with this situation that this car is at the top of the list when the target demographic for it's successor (The Volt) still has images of "Who Killed The Electric Car" dancing through their heads.

2. Pontiac GTO 1964 First muscle car

What?!?!? the bastard child of GM actually gets this much respect? Wow.

3. Chevrolet Bel Air 1955 Icon of new style era

From a technological standpoint, maybe... From an image standpoint, the '57 trumps this entirely.

4. Chevrolet Corvette 1953 First Fiberglas-body sports car

True that.

5. Saab 9-2 1950 Functional and aerodynamic

Umm, what? Saab doesn't even deserve to look at this list, much less be on it, especially this high up.

6. Opel Olympia 1936 Body and frame were single unit

I guess every GM company has a good idea ONCE in a while.

7. Cadillac V-16 1930 Powerful engine established Cadillac brand

68 will be proud!

8. LaSalle 1927 First production car by professional designer

Nice to see one of GMs secondary brands on here.

9. Cadillac (7 models) 1912 First cars with electric self-starters

10. Cadillac Model 30 1910 First mass-produced closed-body car

Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-...0,1313340.story

What about the Corvair?

And BTW, the fact that the Saab whatever-the-hell-it-was is above all of these HUGE Cadillac accomplishments is a little hint to the future about how the ddivisional structure will exist. With the need for 'efficient' cars and the dumbing down of all future Cadillac product, it looks as though GME will get it's wish of cadillac being to Saab what Lincoln was to Jaguar.

Edited September 16, 2008 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[Brougham-Holiday]

Rocket 88? Toronado? 442? Aurora? Curved Dash?

Maybe Oldsmobile never existed?

[regfootball]

citation?

77 impala?

[A Horse With No Name]

As the former owner of a 55 Chevy, I'm just happy to see it make the list.

55 FTW!

Chris

[!!!TED!!!]

citation?

77 impala?

Reading the list, 77 Impala/Caprice came to mind, as well as (FOG mentioned it above) the Corvair.

Including LaSalle, but not Oldsmobile seems stupid.

Curved Dash first mass-produced car made at the first automotive assembly line

1940 Oldsmobile first fully automatic transmission

1966 Toronado first modern front-wheel drive car produced in the US

[Oracle of Delphi]

What? No 1969 Pontiac Custom-S on this list?

[ocnblu]

They may as well not even publish such a list. It's BS, and has omissions.

[balthazar]

>>"Curved Dash first mass-produced car made at the first automotive assembly line"<<

Should be on there.

>>"1940 Oldsmobile first fully automatic transmission. 1966 Toronado first modern front-wheel drive car produced in the US."<<

Cadillac did all the engineering work on the HM- so Olds' claim is easily cut in half.

First modern FWD doesn't do it in my book, tho it's diferrent & the Toro was an engineering tour de'force, it's not so much an advancement as moreso a different way of doing it. I mean- what advantages did the '66 Toro have over the '66 RWD Riviera besides a flat floor?

How about first car with fully interchangable parts... you know; the innovation that every single automaker has used ever since? Mercedes AND Benz were still hand-filing parts to get them to fit on whatever they had that could be called an assembly line, even years after. Tested & proven with the 1908 Cadillac. That absolutely needs to be on there.