American luxury sedans dating from before the 1974 oil crisis. That column was, in part, an elegy for a vanished Golden Age of American manufacturing. In that column, I wrote:
“It is hard to convey, at this remove, how completely American car companies used to dominate the American market. As recently as the mid-70s General Motors commanded almost 50 percent of the American car market, and Ford and Chrysler had most of the rest. Before the Arab oil embargo of 1974, the formula for winning the American market was virtually unbeatable: Build It Bigger. The 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, for example, was 5 feet longer than a top-of-the-line Mercedes of that era.”
That 1976 model year was something of a zenith of American car manufacturing, not just in the size of the cars, but in the share of the market. As often happens, with success came, eventually, complacency. Within a few short years, an auto industry beset by quality issues and poor fuel economy began hemorrhaging market share to Japanese and German brands. I remember an American car being reviewed by one of the car magazines in the late 1970s or early 1980s actually caught on fire due to an electrical fault during their testing and burned down to the frame. As I recall, the magazine’s review was less than complimentary.
By the early 1980s, Ford and Chrysler were in trouble, with Ford narrowly avoiding bankruptcy and Chrysler being bailed out by the Federal government via loan guarantees and other supports. While General Motors avoided those fates, its bland product lines projected none of the assurance and trend-setting style that had characterized its cars as recently as the 1960s.
As the eighties rolled on, there were increasing indications that the Big Three auto manufacturers were beginning to find their feet. All three manufacturers made a major effort to increase their build quality, and Ford’s Mustang line began putting up respectable performance numbers that were reminiscent of their legendary ‘60s predecessors.
In my view, the turning point in American car design was the 1986 Ford Taurus. Ford swung for the fences when it designed its replacement for the aging LTD sedan, and the result was perhaps the most revolutionary American car since the Model T debuted almost 80 years earlier.
In place of the boxy, conservative styling that characterized the era, Ford made the Taurus aerodynamically slippery, and the result was a car that still looks contemporary 30 years later.
The appeal of the car is more than aesthetic, however. Ford put considerable effort into making the car function in a very intuitive way for the driver, designing the controls (such as the windshield wiper switch, the headlight controls and so on) so that they could be operated by feel, without the driver needing to take his or her hands off the steering wheel. “Ergonomics” became a well-known word and concept due in large part to the Taurus.
All that effort paid off for Ford, because as soon as it arrived in dealer showrooms, it sold in astonishing numbers. For a number of years it was the best-selling car in America. Its design has influenced virtually every car sold in America since its introduction.
I suspect that the current era will be remembered as something of a golden age of American cars, particularly when considering their performance.
The 1960s are justifiably remembered as the heyday of the American “muscle car”, but the most powerful cars put out currently by the big three automakers would obliterate those old Mustangs and Dodge Chargers on the test track. And not just in a straight line – while a 1970 Boss 429 Mustang was a formidable drag racer, it was not a car in which one easily could turn at speed without catastrophic consequences.
The most powerful Cadillac of today – the CTS-V model – has a top speed of 200 miles per hour, and set a record lap time for a production sedan at the Nürburgring Nordschleife track in Germany. The Chevy Corvette is even faster (top speed: 207) and is one of the fastest American production cars ever made. Even Jeremy Clarkson, the former host of the hit BBC Television car enthusiast show “Top Gear” – a man famously disinclined to like any car made in America – found himself helplessly babbling praise of the Corvette he drove from San Francisco to the Bonneville Salt Flats in an episode of that show from 2009.
Helped by a healing economy, American car buyers seem to share my assessment: 2015 was a record year for car sales, and 2016 is shaping up to be another banner year. I’m enough of a patriot that I cheer the success of the “home team,” and I look forward to whatever they offer in the near future.

Matt Talbot is a writer and poet, as well as an old Benicia hand.

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