Topic: Friday Fun: Icons of the 1990s

[Autos_Editor]

Mike Schlee shows us that not all iconic cars are exotics.

Read More...

[Ex-airbalancer]

The dodge ram

When GM change the style back in 87 , that was the game changer, but you are to younge to know that
1990 they bought out the extended cab, that when people start to get a lot of trucks

[OliverD]

The dodge ram

When GM change the style back in 87 , that was the game changer, but you are to younge to know that
1990 they bought out the extended cab, that when people start to get a lot of trucks

Ok, but the GM pickups came out in the '80s, not the '90s. The Ram was a huge deal when it debuted. It even offered a V10. It definitely is an icon of the '90s, although it was eventually overshadowed by the '97 F-150.

[nlm]

Surprised that the 300ZX didn't make the list. In high school this was the halo car for all the car geeks.

[Mike]

I know.  I almost added it too, but then the list was getting a little long and a little too Japanese.  So many great sports cars from Japan in the 1990s.  Also left out was the Mitsubishi 3000GT

[mixmanmash]

Surprised that the 300ZX didn't make the list. In high school this was the halo car for all the car geeks.

Agreed.  It was the Z32 that sent Toyota back to the design board for the Supra.

The 3000GT was just all wrong.  Transverse V6 with AWD, the thing weighed as much as a house. Combined with Mitsubishi's reliability record, it had issues.

[Arthur Dent]

Nice list. I'd only change the NSX picture to one of the earlier cars with the flip up lights.

[Fobroader]

I agree with most of them, but why the New Beetle??? it didnt have any of the cool factor of the old model, it was just a poorly disguised Golf.......

[OliverD]

I agree with most of them, but why the New Beetle??? it didnt have any of the cool factor of the old model, it was just a poorly disguised Golf.......

Your memory of 1998 must be a bit fuzzy then.

[Fobroader]

I agree with most of them, but why the New Beetle??? it didnt have any of the cool factor of the old model, it was just a poorly disguised Golf.......

Your memory of 1998 must be a bit fuzzy then.

In what sense??

[Threader]

predictably I was  over the Mitsubishi Eclipse AWD Turbo in the 90's while driving a 91 Chevy Sprint Turbo.

[Mike]

Because, as mentioned, it lead to the retro car craze that saw the 'new' mini, thunderbird, fiat 500, camaro, challenger and mustang.

It was a big deal for VW at the time.

[Fobroader]

Because, as mentioned, it lead to the retro car craze that saw the 'new' mini, thunderbird, fiat 500, camaro, challenger and mustang.

It was a big deal for VW at the time.

Oh....ok......

[Spec5]

No love for the world's fastest sport sedan made by a non-german company?! Ok ok, so it was 1989 but still - Ford Taurus SHO should get some kind of special mention here as the first true sports sedan for any NA car manf. I believe the only sedan that was faster that year was the M5.

Civic/Teg has to be the winner on this list - pretty much single handedly started the sport compact revolution.

[Fobroader]

No love for the world's fastest sport sedan made by a non-german company?! Ok ok, so it was 1989 but still - Ford Taurus SHO should get some kind of special mention here as the first true sports sedan for any NA car manf. I believe the only sedan that was faster that year was the M5.

Civic/Teg has to be the winner on this list - pretty much single handedly started the sport compact revolution.

No way, the NSX or the Supra. The NSX had a chassis tuned by Senna and the Supra brought the 2J motor over to the colonies, which is singlehandedly the most tunable motor in the world. The Civic/teg were cute and all, but the Omni GLH-S did it all years before them. If anything, the 240SX and the Corolla GTS(AE-86) could be thanked for turning the world onto sport compacts and the JDM market, it became cool and affordable to swap out the dog KA24DE in the 240 to the much superior SR20DET from the JDM market.

[OliverD]

No way, the NSX or the Supra. The NSX had a chassis tuned by Senna and the Supra brought the 2J motor over to the colonies, which is singlehandedly the most tunable motor in the world. The Civic/teg were cute and all, but the Omni GLH-S did it all years before them. If anything, the 240SX and the Corolla GTS(AE-86) could be thanked for turning the world onto sport compacts and the JDM market, it became cool and affordable to swap out the dog KA24DE in the 240 to the much superior SR20DET from the JDM market.

The Supra and NSX aren't sport compacts though. And the AE86/240SX (both of which I loved, and I owned two of the former and one of the latter) didn't really become cool until around 2000 or thereabouts. They weren't iconic in the '90s.

[OliverD]

Because, as mentioned, it lead to the retro car craze that saw the 'new' mini, thunderbird, fiat 500, camaro, challenger and mustang.

It was a big deal for VW at the time.

And even though it might be hard to comprehend now, it was incredibly cool when it came out. Lots and lots of people wanted them at the time. It was a very hyped up car. And it didn't hurt that VW was on a roll at the time, seeing large successes with the B5 Passat and A4 Jetta.

[Fobroader]

No way, the NSX or the Supra. The NSX had a chassis tuned by Senna and the Supra brought the 2J motor over to the colonies, which is singlehandedly the most tunable motor in the world. The Civic/teg were cute and all, but the Omni GLH-S did it all years before them. If anything, the 240SX and the Corolla GTS(AE-86) could be thanked for turning the world onto sport compacts and the JDM market, it became cool and affordable to swap out the dog KA24DE in the 240 to the much superior SR20DET from the JDM market.

The Supra and NSX aren't sport compacts though. And the AE86/240SX (both of which I loved, and I owned two of the former and one of the latter) didn't really become cool until around 2000 or thereabouts. They weren't iconic in the '90s.

You know.....I think you maybe right....there was a time in high school when having a Civic with a fart can was as cool as you could be. The time of the true rice rockets....  I was wrong, the rwd pocket rockets came into their time in the 2000's, when the drift craze started.

[Arthur Dent]

No way, the NSX or the Supra. The NSX had a chassis tuned by Senna and the Supra brought the 2J motor over to the colonies, which is singlehandedly the most tunable motor in the world. The Civic/teg were cute and all, but the Omni GLH-S did it all years before them. If anything, the 240SX and the Corolla GTS(AE-86) could be thanked for turning the world onto sport compacts and the JDM market, it became cool and affordable to swap out the dog KA24DE in the 240 to the much superior SR20DET from the JDM market.

The Supra and NSX aren't sport compacts though. And the AE86/240SX (both of which I loved, and I owned two of the former and one of the latter) didn't really become cool until around 2000 or thereabouts. They weren't iconic in the '90s.

You know.....I think you maybe right....there was a time in high school when having a Civic with a fart can was as cool as you could be. The time of the true rice rockets....  I was wrong, the rwd pocket rockets came into their time in the 2000's, when the drift craze started.

Yup - The Corolla GTS was easily found for $1k all day long. I missed the boat on that one.

[Fobroader]

No way, the NSX or the Supra. The NSX had a chassis tuned by Senna and the Supra brought the 2J motor over to the colonies, which is singlehandedly the most tunable motor in the world. The Civic/teg were cute and all, but the Omni GLH-S did it all years before them. If anything, the 240SX and the Corolla GTS(AE-86) could be thanked for turning the world onto sport compacts and the JDM market, it became cool and affordable to swap out the dog KA24DE in the 240 to the much superior SR20DET from the JDM market.

The Supra and NSX aren't sport compacts though. And the AE86/240SX (both of which I loved, and I owned two of the former and one of the latter) didn't really become cool until around 2000 or thereabouts. They weren't iconic in the '90s.

You know.....I think you maybe right....there was a time in high school when having a Civic with a fart can was as cool as you could be. The time of the true rice rockets....  I was wrong, the rwd pocket rockets came into their time in the 2000's, when the drift craze started.

Yup - The Corolla GTS was easily found for $1k all day long. I missed the boat on that one.

I remember before I bought my Mustang I flirted with the idea of a RWD Corolla, cheapest one I found in Alberta at the time was about $3k, rusted floors and rockers, didnt run but was complete. Anything running was north of $5k.......