Curbside Classic recently reposted a comment from a guy named Rob who had a “soul-crushing experience” driving a 1959 Rambler American to high school hangouts (Niedermeyer, 2023).
For example, in 1968 he was turned down for a date by a woman who instead went out with another guy who had “the keys to his parents’ far cooler 1966 Chevy wagon.” Rob concluded that the Rambler American “may have been a good car” but that he had never “known a car with a more negative image among driving age teens” (Niedermeyer, 2023).
Getting turned down for a date is a drag, but this instance raises the question: Did Rob actually dodge a bullet? The girl may have been popular, but she sounds like someone with a rather vapid case of classism. And so do any other classmates who shunned him solely because of his wheels.
I wonder whether the Rambler American was seen as so uncool partly because of the relative lack of even-weirder-looking imports in Rob’s neck of the woods. He went to high school in a small farming town in Wisconsin during the late-1960s.
Also see ‘Compact cars became the neglected stepchildren of U.S. automakers’
What’s ironic about Rob’s complaint is that the 1958-60 Rambler American was arguably the closest that a postwar U.S. automaker ever came to offering a small car akin to the Volkswagen Beetle. As we have discussed here, the VW completely ignored Detroit’s styling conventions in favor of economy and utility.
Automakers have tried to link cars to teen social status
I should acknowledge that it’s easier to say that Rob dodged a bullet because I’m more than 40 years removed from the pain and suffering of being a teen.
It’s also true that bonding with one’s peers is a key part of teenage psychological development. So too is inaccurately sizing up the riskiness of situations, which can be both physical and emotional. Here it is important to consider how brain development impacts the ways that teens think and act.
“According to Dr. Gurinder Dabhia, teenagers have brains that are only 80 percent developed. This causes them to make big errors when it comes to assessing risk. If it seems like your teenager just isn’t thinking, well they aren’t — at least not like an adult. They still have a prefrontal cortex that isn’t fully developed. Not only does this make them try risky things, but it also makes them even more susceptible to peer pressure.” (Crossroads Health, 2018)
Over the years automakers have exploited teen psychology in a variety of ways. Consider, for example, the “muscle car” boom of the late-1960s and early-70s. Advertising tapped into peer pressure among males to compete with each other.
The basic pitch was that buying the coolest car with top-end performance gear would increase your status. Having all of that big-block power inevitably led to road races. They may have felt like good clean fun, but this was also a way of establishing the social pecking order. Even “winners” and “losers.”
Of course, a certain amount of risk went with car racing — which isn’t an ideal match with the teen brain. So in hindsight maybe Rob might feel grateful that his puttering little Rambler American wasn’t powerful enough to endanger his life.
My experience was different in 1970s Los Angeles
I have a hard time relating to Rob’s experience. The main reason why is because the culture of my high school was very different than the one he described. I attended a school in a Los Angeles suburb toward the middle of the 1970s.
I never noticed any car-related snobbery at my school. That may have partly reflected the sheer diversity of cars driven in L.A., which was a haven for obscure imports, customized vans and well-preserved older cars.
Also see ‘1953-73 Chevrolet Corvette ads gingerly showed changing gender roles’
In addition, our high school was big enough that the social pecking order was weak. The place had a “choose your own adventure” vibe. As a result, I can’t remember a single prom queen or football jock. I do remember the streakers.
This essay has only two data points, but it leads me to wonder whether car snobbery in high school could vary greatly by where you lived, what time period you were a student, and what types of groups you hung out with.
This leads to my question for Indie Auto readers: What was your experience?
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Crossroads Health; 2018. “Peer Pressure Can Impact Teen Development.” Posted May 17.
- Niedermeyer, Paul; 2023. “Comment Classic: The Soul-Crushing 1959 Rambler American.” Curbside Classic. Posted Jan. 23.
ADVERTISING:
- wildaboutcarsonline.com (Automotive History Preservation Society): Ford Capri (1971); Oldmobile (1969); Plymouth GTX (1968); Pontiac GTO (1968)
- oldcaradvertising.com: Studebaker Lark (1959)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Rambler American (1959)
Late 1960s large (5000 students) all boys school in Chicago. I was monitor in the student parking lot in 1966 to 1968. The parking lot was eclectic mostly downscale used cars. Looking back and considering the large percentage of “shoppies” in the school, there was a distinct lack of rodded cars or muscle cars. Go figure.
“What’s ironic about Rob’s complaint is that the 1958-60 Rambler American was arguably the closest that a postwar U.S. automaker ever came to offering a small car akin to the Volkswagen Beetle. As we have discussed here, the VW completely ignored Detroit’s styling conventions in favor of economy and utility.”
The Beetle was about economy, yes. And simplicity, low cost of ownership and being one with the driver, especially with the engine in the rear. But utility was absolutely traded off for style. Yes they were tall, but their short rear overhang, forward-sloping rear and rounded front are what gave them their enduring appeal… at the expense of utility.
VW offered vehicles with better interior packaging in the Sixties but none charmed the market like the Beetle did. It is an historic design exemplar, as is the Porsche 356. The ’58-60 Rambler American was something else entirely, part of a long list of uninspiring cars throughout history that couldn’t get redesigned soon enough.
Paul, I said the closest that a postwar U.S. automaker came. . . .” Of course the Rambler was originally designed to put stylishness ahead of efficiency. And of course its engineering was much cruder than the Beetle’s. My point was that by 1958-60, the American’s styling was hopelessly obsolete — and uncool — so like the VW it had to sell purely on its practical merits.
Aside from the Studebaker Lark, I can’t think of another American small car of that era which paid so little regard to then-dominant styling conventions. For example, the original Ford Falcon and Chevrolet Chevy II may have been fairly utilitarian in their basic designs, but they still looked contemporary.
Steve, my point is that the Beetle in 1960 was selling on more than just its practical merits. Turns out it was one of the century’s great aesthetic designs. It may not have been Detroit styling but it was styling nonetheless, and still relevant.
The American was very Detroit in it’s 3-box layout, and a very poor version at that. I would put the ’60 Falcon closer to the Beetle because the Ford had much better styling than the American, and styling was part of the small car segment’s appeal. To see the Beetle as strictly a practical appliance is to misunderstand the wholeness of the Beetle… imho, of course!
Paul, I wasn’t arguing that the Beetle was only bought for practical reasons, but that it violated all of Detroit’s basic rules about styling at that time. Also note that VW advertising made a big point about how the Beetle was only changed to improve how it functioned rather than how it looked. That was the opposite of Detroit’s approach back then (go here for further discussion).
I also wasn’t arguing that the American looked better than the Falcon; quite the contrary. The Falcon was a simple design but it was entirely contemporary. That was the opposite of the American, whose basic look was almost a decade old (even older than the Studebaker Lark or Checker). Remember, at that point in time the annual model change was dominant, so continuing to produce such an old design was a violation of Detroit groupthink.
Paul Niedermeyer would probably have been much better off had he been driving a Beetle.
You know that I don’t like labels in the auto industry (or anywhere else, ftm) but if Groupthink must be used, the Rambler fits it perfectly because its 3-box proportions were clearly forced on it, Mason abandoning the fastback simply because the rest of Detroit was moving in that direction.
I doubt that Ferdinand Porsche would seen much similarity between his Beetle and the ’58 Rambler. He designed his car as a revolt to the front-engine, rear drive cars that Rambler represented. The only thing they had in common in 1958 was a somewhat similar price, which countless used cars of the day shared. Which gets to the heart of the American: it was nothing more than a new used car. The Beetle was rather more.
Paul, I’m starting to wonder whether you scanned the story too quickly to fully understand what it’s all about. For one thing, it wasn’t about Niedermeyer, but rather a Curbside Classic commentator. For another, you continue to wildly distort the comparison that I made between the Rambler and VW.
I see no need to repeat myself, so I’ll just suggest that your commentary illustrates the strawman fallacy. This “occurs when someone takes another person’s argument or point, distorts it or exaggerates it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme distortion, as if that is really the claim the first person is making” (Excelsior University).
I appreciate your thoughts here at Indie Auto and also have no idea what else to say in response to your current string of comments.
Sorry, Steve. I failed to respond to your primary message and question, which is a very interesting one. I took a city bus to get to high school and often walked the two miles home, but sometimes took the bus or bummed a ride. There was such a mixed bag of vehicles in play in the late 70s/early 80s. I liked both the old and new. Most of us didn’t have much money so cars were mostly not part of the pecking order. What I disliked most was the baby blue Ford Fairmont that was used for driver’s ed. Garbage through and through. But for going out purposes, pretty much anything that rolled was good enough. There were some in school who drove hot cars but they and their cars were worlds apart from my little world. We lived in the city, they in the burbs. Now we are all one, high school reunions seeing to that. All’s well that ends well…
I attended a public high school in a Pennsylvania small town. I can’t recall any student who drove a brand-new car. The son of the local Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth dealer was allowed to pick a brand-new Mopar for his personal car, but that was AFTER we had graduated from high school (this would have been 1980).
Students either drove their parents’ cars, or what they could afford by working at a part-time job. Muscle cars and pony cars from the 1ate 1960s and early 1970s were the most desirable, but just having your own car was the big deal, regardless of the make or model.
The oldest car in the parking lot was a 1958 Studebaker Champion, followed by a 1963 Studebaker Lark four-door sedan. Hardly cool, but each was owned by the respective student who drove it, and that is what mattered. If either Studebaker had been the family car, THAT would have been “uncool” by 1978-80.
Interestingly, I can’t remember a single VW Beetle in the school parking lot. The only Japanese car was a 1975 Honda Civic hatchback driven by the step-daughter of a local doctor. Given how hard she drove that car, I’m still amazed that it was running by 1980!
Our driver education car was a 1978 Dodge Aspen four-door sedan. It was nothing to write home about. The principal of our high school was one of the first people to buy a Chevrolet Citation. He bought the five-door hatchback in May 1979, and had traded a 1975 Chevrolet Caprice Estate Wagon for it. One wonders how long it took him to regret that decision.
For me, I attended a late 1960s co-ed public high school in the very upscale area of Bethesda, Maryland. Like Kim M. said above, it was a large school. But in our case we had a very diverse student population. And did I say it was co-ed? Yeah, co-ed.
Students were not allowed to drive to/from school until 11th grade. My first car was a 1948 Packard eight, a real beauty with only 18,000 miles on it. Of course the jocks laughed, but more than a few ladies liked it. My next car for senior year was a supercharged 1957 Packard Clipper. Those same jocks didn’t laugh as hard once I raised the hood and showed off an immaculate Studebaker 289 with the big McColloch supercharger sitting on top of the engine. Towards the end of the school year I ended up trading the Clipper into the local Chrysler-Plymouth dealer on a near mint 1966 Plymouth Fury III convertible, bright red, with the rare Sonic Commando 440 V8. That car cost me a whopping $900. I recently found the Fury in central PA, but it’s severely rusted, including the frame, and too far gone for me at my age.
but the family car that attracted the most attention was my dad’s new Porsche 912 with 5-speed, in white. My parents were in Europe for a week, and after disconnecting the speedo cable [dad wrote the mileage down before they left!] I dared drive the Porsche to school one day. Not a single student had anything close to that Porsche in 1969, and they were pretty rare on the roads too.
Damn auto-correct; The engine in the Fury was a Sonoramic Comando, not a Sonic.
I graduated in 1983 in Citrus Heights California a bedroom community of Sacramento. I saw car snobbery, but nothing really bad. Most kids were driving their parents spare car, mine was a 1963 Dodge Dart 270 4-door. It was black and in near perfect condition. By my senior year I bought a 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury 383 for $650, I still have it. The only kids that made negative comments were guys I considered to be losers, so it never bothered me. One popular car with four girls at our high school was 1971-72 Cadillac Fleetwoods. Apparently their dads wanted them driving the biggest car they could find. Almost no cars newer than mid-70’s. Late 40’s Chevy/GMC trucks were the oldest vehicles.
When I was in high school driving, 1966-1969, Southport in Indianapolis, IN, the guy who had the coolest ride was senior (and later TV actor) Terry Lester, who was given a brand-new, fully optioned 1966 Mustang coupe for being selected as governor for Indiana Boy’s State. The late Mr. Lester was tall, lean, muscular, blonde, blue-eyed with a gorgeous face made for the soap operas in which he would later star. Yet Terry was one of the most outgoing, unaffected man I ever met. He even befriended a dorky dweeb like me. He was “Joe Cool”. Interestingly, there were very few hot cars driven by S.H.S. students, even though the township was considered relatively affluent. A few guys drove late 1950s and early 1960s Beetles. Perhaps the most interesting student- driven car was a green 1958 Morris Minor chauffeured by a very eclectic friend. The Morris came with a second 948-cc engine, so when the oil-burning got too excessive, the engines were swapped and the smokey engine rebuilt. My high school car was a 1960 Dodge Dart Seneca four-door sedan with a reliable 318 and Torqueflite. My younger sister and her cliche of friends called it “The Green Booger”. Her senior year while I was in college, she traded the Dodge for a silver 1968 Chevy Camaro with a 250-six and a three-on-the-floor. She and her friends did not wish to be seen in the Dart with the oxidized and fading green paint. The Camaro, on the other hand, had the class and style she sought. 55-years later and a total restoration complete with a new 350 crate engine in place of the six, my sister and her husband still have that Camaro !
My experience in high school was from ’69-’73 at a well regarded co ed Catholic school. I was one of the misfits but I had a few friends likewise, misfits. I suppose if you were in one of the status clicks there might have been some hierarchy established, but it seems that the cool kids were the cool kids, what kind of car they drove didn’t matter. A couple of kids drove new cars that their parents bought them, some drove cars that they bought for themselves. There were some Camaros and one girl in my class occasionally drove her parents Mercedes Pagoda coupe. I started riding motorcycles as a sophomore, and traded up to bigger bikes every year after that. I ended up with a Kawasaki Mach Three as a senior. Still didn’t get any girls. College was much better.
It’s awful hard to make out in the back seat of a Kawasaki.