But, at the same time, I can’t look at this commissioned artwork meant to make me want to buy a 1964 Oldsmobile Super 88 and not know what garbage these things were in snow like that. Big, rear-drive, front-engined cars with all the weight as far from the drive wheels as possible, sitting there on what look like all-season bias ply tires with no chains; that big red beast is going to spin wheels and pirouette slowly around, getting absolutely nowhere. Luckily, I’m sure all the fictional people there will have a good time at that ski lodge, even if they’re going to be stuck there until spring. Also, you had to know how to drive. Japan got “crew cab” car-based trucks. I think lighter duty crew cab trucks in general were sorley missing from our land until the 2000s. GM ran two dealer channels in the Benelux countries at the time; Vauxhall-Chevrolet-Oldsmobile and Opel-Pontiac-Buick. This led to the GM Ranger in the early ’70s, a rebadged Opel Rekord with a Vauxhall Victor grille, offered only as a coupe or 2-door sedan, because there was demand for Euro D-segment 2-door models in the Low Countries but none in the UK so that left Dutch Vauxhall dealers with a model gap. I can only enlarge so far before it gets too pixelated. My uncle actually had one of those Olds. Ginormous trunk. It was a massive car, but actually good to learn on. Weak brakes, big inertia and only lap belts means you drive super careful. Required maintenance no modern asks of you (manually adjusting drum brakes), regular fluid checks on everything. I miss the experience of driving it, but I do not miss the overall ownership experience.
