The list of dead car companies is damned long. Some of the names are infamous like Yugo. Some of the names are legendary like Duesenberg and nearly all of them are lamented by legions of devoted followers. We’ll throw a little, “what if” at you for this question of the day. “What if” someone slid you a cool billion dollars and directed you to bring a dead car company back to life with it. There is no geographical limitation here so it could be an American company, English company, Yugoslavian company, whatever.
Would use choose a small specialty manufacturer that burned out quickly but left a lasting historical mark, or one of the domestic companies that was around at the dawn of the automobile but slipped under the waves during the Great Depression or during the decades after it? It is your billion, so whatever the hell you want with it!
Question: What dead car company would you bring back to life with one billion dollars?
Dusenberg. Imagine it. The 2014 Dusenberg MK IV. I just threw that name
Out there but that would be epic!
Tucker. I would guess this co would have surpassed the Big 3 if it had survived.
Looking at what automotive newcomers have succeeded at getting established in the USA in the past 30 years and which have bombed, there’s a pretty clear pattern. Hyundai’s the only company that has been able to crack the low end of the marketplace without being bought out (Hyundai took over Kia) or going out of business. But several small niche players have been able to hang on. Also, one billion would probably not buy enough capacity to get the sort of economics of scale needed to compete in the cheaper end of the market. So, that rules out trying to revive something like Plymouth or AMC.
That budget would, however, work for a plan to pick up a small assembly plant, buy off the shelf drivetrains, and turn out something for rich buyers who want something exclusive. I’d go with Auburn, and initially develop two models: A Boattail Speedster two seat roadster with exotic performance levels for those who want a car to see and be seen in, and a Cord 910 sedan, where as the name hints at, would be continuing the art deco style of the coffin nosed 810.
I was going to say Cord with the same reasons, Auburn works just as well.
Pontiac. Let them make some distinctive models again and engine designs.Be outside of the box from building a copycat Firebird Camaro and come up with something that stands alone.Start something with more bang for the buck and corner that market for todays youth like in the sixties.
I agree, but only if they were focused on sporty, exciting cars and not just rebadged Chevies they sell primarily to Avis rent a car.
Pontiac! GM needs some excitement. Ford and some of the foreign guys have more interesting rockets for the kids these days. They aren’t going to buy a Buick ’cause grandpa has one. Their mom and everyone else has a Chevy. They can’t afford a Cadillac or a GMC. GM is really missing the mark. BBOB is right; they need to bring back Pontiac with a very limited offering with very individual looks and great handling. Don’t make them all V8 monsters that we can’t afford… a couple V8’s would be nice, just not all of them!
Sadly, a billion isn’t enough money to bring back any car company, except as a tiny niche player.
I have to agree there.
HUDSON, PONTIAC, STUDABAKER , KAISER, FRAZIER OR JUST AN AMC.
HUDSON is my first choice.
Pontiac. The fact that so many places are making Firebird, TA and GTO models out of the new Camaros should tell you something.
I’d bring back borgward with a better boxer.
Hummer. All the other companies listed are quite worthy, but none would do such a thorough job of distracting the greenies from doing anything more than bring back Hummer.
And the first rig would be a H1v2 (it’d be twice the size of a MRAP, and have baby seal skin seats).
HUMMER, everyone loves a hummer
Correction . Nobody .. including their owners as well the the Military personnel that had to deal with them loves a Hummer ! The things are worthless … on and off road … and a mechanical mess waiting to go very wrong underneath .
As one Infantry commander once told me ” If they’d let me I’d buy a fleet of JEEP’s out of my own pocket rather than having my men deal with those POS Hummers “
I think ya missed the sarcasm there, Slinger.
Vector sports cars would be fun to take a run at. Make them twin turbo LS or LT powered.
That’s all well and good, but the transmission was Vector’s problem. They couldn’t get near the speeds they advertised using that transmission…
Oldsmobile for sure cause they never should have been closed
Plymouth….
Why? We need a low-buck, down & dirty, no-frills muscle car like the original 1968 Road Runner. It seems the current choices (Mustang, Challenger and Camaro) all have power windows, power door locks, tilt, air, cruise etc. Gimme a 2-door coupe with a bench seat, a clutch pedal and V-8 power for less than 20 grand out the door and leave all that other unnecessary crap in Detroit.
NOW you’re talkin! Stripped down muscle cars is what the kids today need to experience.
Kids? Who said kids? I want one for ME!
LOL!
Hell yea, we do need a 2013+ version of the Plymouth Road Runner, a stripped down bare bones muscle car with power nothing, I’ll be right behind you in line to buy one myself.
YES YES YES!!!! Where do I get one? The road runner in the 60’s, the mustang LX 5.0 in the 80’s. I want one. No power anything. V8, light weight!!! The factory couldn’t keep up with demand…. We need this car today!
A cheap version of the Challenger would be great.
A cheaper version would be nice, but what they really need is a LIGHTER version. That thing is way, way, too heavy.
i would bring a old ford dealership back because ford is awsome
HUDSON IS MY CHOICE, MAINLY BECAUSE I HAVE A 37 TERRAPLANE ROD 2DR SEDAN WITH TILT FRONT END, 454/400.
It just happened recently to two of the biggest car companies in the world. The government should have let Chevrolet and Dodge just go out of business.
Im surprised no one said DeLorean yet….. That and put a REAL motor in it…. BUT were all just dreaming, right? *shrugs*
AMC and only make AMX’s and Scramblers with some form of new engine.
Remember a while back when Hot Rod pulled an April Fools joke issue showing all the new AMC’s that were supposed to be coming out as some Private Investors bought the name and were bringing it back?
Kaiser frazier or just Kaiser. way ahead of the times with their cars back in the late 40’s & early 50’s, just short on power was the biggest problem.
Duesenberg and Tucker are already mentioned, so I’ll take Stutz. At one time or another the company produced the world’s most expensive cars and the world’s fastest cars. There’s a market for both right now.
Best thing about Stutz is they were never bought out by any of the Big 3 and still exist, though the company does not currently manufacture automobiles so being “brought back” is a true statement.
Extra special bonus — based in Indianapolis, the Crossroads of America.
Opel, a new retro Opel GT with modern upgrades & wide body.
need the new Opel GT built like this
Olds and Pontiac ,they could just do Cutlass for Olds and Firebirds and Grand Prix for Pontiac and have all sorts of neat cars.
Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Triumph
Packard.
What would an updated Hawk look like?
Or the Panther?
Perhaps an updated Balboa?
I wanted a mileagemobile and a savvy pal said the first gen Saturns won’t die, they have be killed. Not long after I found a really clean SW2, bought it and love it. A shame the Saturn division folded, the regrouped Saturn cars after 2002 are doggy doo I understand.
PACKARD !!!
Bring back Packard!
Didn’t we just do that with Government Motors???
A billion dollars isn’t nearly enough. That’s about what it costs to develop a new platform, if there’s a new engine involved, add another biillion.
I’d build a car simular to a viper ( motor in the front ) and put a Falconer V 12 in it ( based of the BBC ) Cause while every one knows the viper is a redneck rough around the edges vette knock off that is just brutal…..it can’t be brutal enough….power wise. And it would sound a whole lot better than that 3/4 ton derived milk truck sounding V10 they have. Oh yeah……I forgot that part about what company to bring back. I dont think it would matter what you called it so…. lets call it a Stude Hawk. Yeah.
Studebaker, simply because i’d much rather hear the tappet tap and blower whine from a R-2,3,4 than the rattle of a cheap GM interior and the noise of yet another SBC belching from beneath Murica’s favorite, fiberglass rolling mid-life crisis.
I hate to admit I looked up who Murica was. I might as well turn in my redneck card.
Just drove an Avanti to Carlisle PA swapmeet last year. Turned 30k on the drive up and seemed to be a nice driving car for the 1 1/2 I got to rive it. http://nosleepatall.com/avanti-driven-to-carlisle/
Aside from that my Great Grandfather had a horse drawn Funeral Coach firm and Studebaker wanted to purchase it but my Great Grandfather thought the Automobile was a passing phase and turned them down 🙁
Olds or Pontiac, for sure. Could a billion do it? On to another recurring theme, face it guys, there will be NO stripped down, cheap muscle cars anytime soon, at least from the big 3. Those days are gone.
Probably AMC, mostly because the precedence is already there for the mixing of components across the OEMs for major driveline parts. They have following that is significant but not so large there will be mass protests like there were about the Caviler XLC, aka GTO. Additionally you have some market entry along the lines of what they have done that is very “with” the current market. As Eagle will probably love to opine long on, the crossover and AWD passenger car really started with AMC with the Eagle lineup. This time I’d work the reverse, have the Eagle be the “halo” like Audi’s Quattro cars and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo but offer pedestrian versions of the same thing in FWD or RWD as the case may be. Source the driveline from an OEM, FORD seems like a good one for FWD/AWD parts, the engine from either GM or Ford (the Ford EcoTech line would be great but the GM V8’s would be hard to beat), and then make the interior something unique. Draw in enough cues from the past without going overboard, because AMC rarely had the styling thing as their key selling point, and do much like Chevy has done with the Impala, make it all things to all people depending on the trim package. If I had to throw in something that probably doesn’t make much economic sense, make each “series” a complete lineup. That means Coupe, Sedan, and Wagon. If you could keep the engineering from killing you, sedan deliveries and utes wouldn’t be completely out of scope for limited orders; though the high roof deliveries like the Transit Connect, Sprinter, and NV4500 pretty much mean no more cool long low roof commercial vehicles unless it’s a hearse.
There you go, my reasonable attempt to spend money on reviving a brand and yes the AMX would be back as THE Halo car but not as a muscle car, it’d be chasing WRX’s.
For me it’s gotta be Packard. They had amazing engineering skills and built quality, durable cars with luxury and style. The ’55/’56 models were AMAZING for their times and the V8 engine was tough as nails, too. (The off-the-shelf auto trans not so much but we can do better today).
I’d steal the design of the Packard 352 V8 (we’ll assume that we bought the rights to it), back it up with a good modern trans (maybe a 6 speed option in the Caribbean (sp?)) and a Dana 60 rear. We should discover and fix any ongoing issues with the 352 though I understand that they were pretty good. Add EFI, of course. Have Art Morrison or someone build frames and bend our own sheet metal in an elegant yet sporty configuration.
Packard did not need to die. It was killed by poor management and a “show profit this quarter and to Hell with the long term” view. We can make it go – all we need is the billion $$.
Dan
I love the AMX idea or even the 60’s Chevy II – Simple small block engine with HEI and a simple carburetor – zero computers – easy to maintain and “tinker” with… what is the maximum number that can be built per/year before you are considered a “manufacturer” and come under all of the EPS and safety regulations?
oops – EPA and safety regulations