Why?

To appeal to baby boomers.

By the late-'90s, they were starting to reach retirement age and retro-styling of cars like the Prowler and PT Cruiser made them feel young again. Retro-inspired styling would grip American car design for the next 15 years.

Because PT Cruiser

The boomers wanted one last hoorah before the retirement home.

WINGA DINGA
WINGA DINGA
ME AND MY BABY OUT ON A SATURDAY NIGHT
WINGA DINGA
WINGA DINGA
WINGA DINGA

That boomer nostalgia market which is why the car lasted as long as the last Ford Thunderbird and the fucking PT Cruiser

...

WINGA DINGA
WINGA DINGA
WINGA DINGA

...

reminds me of that cringe shit like overhaulin and kount's kustoms.
Why are they all dressed like that?

Thunderbird had potential but they gave it that absolutely SHIT V8 that make it intolerable to drive.

>yfw those reality TV faggots dress and act like shitty faggots
>but have millions of dollars more than you and can literally afford everything you want but instead they buy retarded old faggot cars to make into retromods with skulls and spikes and flames painted on the hood

it's horrible. I'd buy jap shitboxes with period correct 3 piece discontinued jojo simple mods

Anyone who was old enough to own a car in the 50s would be well into their 80s today so I have no idea who these people think they're fooling

I kind of like the SSR. There was a time when I considered getting one. It's certainly distinctive. Plus, think of the trunk space.

I liked the look of that series Thunderbird but slapping the poorfag Ford branding on it ruined it for me. It probably would have sold like hotcakes if they just kept the styling the same but branded it is the new Lincoln Mark IX Convertible, I shit you not.

Its what morons literally think people in the 1950s looked and acted like. I ran this by my dad (he's 71) and he said its all a crock of shit, the only people who had tattoos back then were either crusty ex-sailor guys from the Navy and ex-cons. Also only teenagers and younger people wore jeans back then besides farmers. Even the thot-type women of the era still never left the house w/o full makeup, some dress with heels and nylons etc. The rockabilly look is 1000% anachronistic

>PT Cruiser vs HHR
What's worse, having your own bad idea or copying someone else's?

isn't this look mostly older Gen X faggots like that diners driveins and dives queer? probably because they're so soft, no real wars or trouble. cozy rich boomer parents, still had fairly cheap college, easy job market...this style of dress is their way to rebel and harden a comfy existence

They didn't copy someone else's idea, the guy who designed the pt cruiser also designed the HHR.
autotrader.com/car-news/fact-the-same-person-designed-the-chrysler-pt-cruiser-and-chevy-hhr-266079

True fact: The designer that came up with the PT Cruiser for Chrysler also drafted the HHR for Chevrolet once he changed jobs.

>He got paid twice for the same fucking design

I thought it was/is fun.
Have to admit, though, I'm just this side of being a baby boomer.

I've always admired Thunderbirds, although Ford execs certainly did weird things to them at times.
Have never driven one of the retro-ey 1990s ones, but Iike the way they look and think it was a good concept. Everyone I have ever talked with who has driven them, though, was unimpressed with the engine and found the transmission disappointingly mushy.

For the most part yes, plus they were the normies that were too pussy to really adopt an edgy subculture so they decided to make a joke out of the 1950s culture instead. I am a late Gen X (1980) so I thought the 1950s revivalism is stupid AF. Being a little kid seeing 2 hours of Happy Days reruns on daytime TV during the week will do that to you.

80s and 90s styling resurgence when

they were made by the same designer

The whole idea of it was to cash in on the retro-styling fad by coming out with a modern version of the original T-Bird design. Unfortunately I guess they stuck with re-creating the 1st-year car a little too closely.

You could be right that Lincoln badging would have helped sales, though.

Right but if they sold it as a Lincoln Mark 9 it'd have no preconceived notions to be held and compared against and for that it would have probably have stolen a lot of SLK/Crossfire/Cadillac XLR/Lexus SC 'vert customers.

So far as I am aware nobody at FOMOCO was thinking about the project along those lines at the time (or at least not saying so publicly), but in hindsight what you described seems true. I can see that.
My guess is it would have made too much sense to have been given much consideration by the decision makers at the company.

On this note I do know that there was a contingent within the company fighting boldly for a sportier version of this car that was intended to be of interest to Corvette and Viper purchasers, but the idea was nixed as being too costly and risky.

>he convinced two different companies to make the same piece of garbage

fucking how?

That's my point. GM called the guy that made the PT Cruiser and said "Make us one of those" instead of having him come up with a new idea.

GM specifically head hunted him to make a knock-off PT Cruiser. He didn't have to sell them on it, it's literally what they hired him to do.

I figured he bailed on Chrysler thinking he'd be sacked after PT Cruiser sales tanked and then sneaked a squared off PT to Chevy out of pure laziness or just to fuck with them

>We will never get 80s/90s retro-styled cars due to safety regulations

No, GM intentionally hired him to cash in on the retro craze.

Sales

The PT cruiser sold pretty well so GM wanted to cash in on the boomer craze as well

ex-coworker of mine had one.. his had a 5.3 in it..

Just learned that today, user. I only knew he designed both cars but none of the specifics, just the PT being the first of the two

>may never see another brand new body on frame fullsize wood paneled american station wagon

the chevy or the miata?

What do you think the Toyabaru is?

Q predicted this

Q magazine?
Please forgive me if I'm way off base.

This car is a disgusting Chevy pt loser knockoff banging a silvarado.

Also just saw I was mistaken in calling them 1990s cars. They were the 2001 to 2005 model years.

>hat kills its driver in a 15 mph collision with a telephone pole
seems way more alpha than driving a giant car cause waaah I'm scared of dying

The actual 90s T-Birds were pretty fun cars. Four wheel independent suspension and either a supercharged V6 or a Windsor V8. Most people who owned one will tell you a story about it that ends with "and then I hit the tree".
The retrofuture reboot was a softened up boomer cruiser on that glitchy Lincoln/Jag platform.

I've always heard from people those '90s coupes were very fun to drive.
I had a '77 and it was a great car. By far my favorite of any I've owned.

>tfw I like all of them
At least they were funny, I swear the shitboxes from the 2000s here in germany are total trash for the most part.
Bland, mistreated and just nothing special-

I don't see any of the new Thunderbirds around any more. Are they that unreliable or are the boomers just keeping them in the garage (and then died without telling anybody)?

>PT Cruiser was a bad idea

You have no idea how many of them were sold, do you?

Doesn’t mean it’s good.

Doesn't make it a good car. Shit cars routinely sell in high numbers. Now they're a rolling joke and a thesis on why Chrysler went so wrong.

They didn't actually sell that many and the ones they did had a lot of the same problems as its sister car the Lincoln LS.
The 02 T-Bird had 63 technical service bulletins and was notorious for ignition problems.

00s was a weird time

I fucking love it

A spiritual successor in name only that is 100% 2010s car design.

>cause waaah I'm scared of dying

Lost

1996 Thunderbird LX master race

anyone know the specifics of GM hiring the designer for a solo car? does he get paid a lump sum for delivering the HHR and then leaves GM? or does he just get a nicer salary and benefits for coming over to GM and part of his job description is to get a team together to make a PT cruiser-type car? was he a part of any other noteworthy GM cars until he retired?

Never because of pig fat and regulations that cover all due to the lowest common denominator of drivers.

< Looks in the direction of insurance industry lobbyists.

boomers. Also, gm made this in the mid 2000’s, knowing that they would soon face bankruptcy. Who the fuck authorized a niche vehicle while there company was failing?

The kind of guys who put the world's 3nd largest car company on the brink of bankruptcy in the first place.
I mean fuck it, they still got their bonus and stock options. At that level of management there's zero penalties for fucking up your job, they just cut people from the bottom to make up the difference.

Reee I want my low beltline back

A sales failure.

>I will literally never ever have a new pic related style car
it hurts.

The distinctly horrible aesthetic of the early 00s era of blobby retro throwbacks has actually kind of grown on me with the passage of time.

This even the fist and focus are 1200-1500kg cars now
No shit i bet some dribbling gen z will grow up loving the horrible 2008-2016 shite

I was a kid when the PT Cruiser was new. Likely due to the vaccine-induced late-onset autism brewing in my skull I thought they were the coolest new cars on the road.

Bryan Nesbitt, the Thomas Midgley Jr of automotive design.