Automotive Playback: Ricardo Montalban and the "New Small Chrysler"

Ah, the 1975 Chrysler Cordoba as pitched by Suaveness, himself. Passionate. Expressive. Soft Corinthian Leather. Ricardo Montalban was the perfect pitchman for Chrysler's "New Small" car. Measuring just under 18' long (if built today, it'd be longer than the Lincoln Town Car), the new personal luxury coupe debuted at the perfect time.

It was such a sharp contrast to the year before, when Chrysler had introduced the wrong vehicles at the worst possible time. Just a month before the Energy Crisis began in October 1973, Chrysler unveiled its all-new full-size '74 models. Models that turned out to be the biggest cars Chrysler would ever offer - a full 200lbs heavier than their "fuselage style" '73s were. They therefore burned more gas than ever before, just as fuel prices doubled overnight and began to be rationed. While the '73 models had sold an impressive 234,229 units, the longer, lower, wider star-crossed '74s saw sales drop a ghastly 50% to 117,373 deliveries.

To their credit, Chrysler reacted quickly by taking its evergreen B-body midsize car platform and reworking it to produce the Cordoba for the fall of '74. It was the smallest Chrysler since 1964 and had all the chic luxury touches of the day. A chrome stand-up Rolls-Royce-type grille was flanked by Jaguar-like round tunneled headlights and parking lights. At the side, a Landau half-vinyl roof featuring opera windows and coach lamps recalled the classic luxury cars of the '20s. And inside, deeply cushioned seats, offered in velour or that famous "Corinthian Leather" were there to ensure serene cruising, or lots of sliding around on those steep mountain switchbacks.

If all of it sounds silly to you, you have to understand the times. Midsized 2-door "personal luxury cars" were all the rage in the 1970s. Monte Carlos, Torino Elites, and Cutlass Supremes sold in the hundreds of thousands to members of the "Me Generation" who had grown out of their late '60s muscle cars and into higher-paying jobs with better salaries.

Farrah Fawcett had just begun shilling newly declawed Mercury Cougars. So Chrysler took a decidedly more masculine approach and tapped Ricardo Montalban and his illustrious accent to do the work for Chrysler's new car.

And it worked far better than Chrysler had expected. Alone, Cordoba sales in '75 outsold the entire '74 Chrysler line, finding 150,105 homes that model year. It was a good thing, too, as big Chrysler sales fell again, to 101,444 '75s sold. The Cordoba would go on to continued success, selling more than 660,000 examples through 1979. By '80, Chrysler was in downsizing mode, and while Ricardo (fresh from his recent success on ABC's Fantasy Island) was called in to do the pitchwork for the new Jenny Craig'd car, the Cordoba's bloom had worn off and sales fell into the doldrums. Chrysler would quietly drop the nameplate after 1983.

So it back, relax, and experience the Mariachi guitar as it accompanies the mellifluous telling of the tale of a man and his Chrysler in 1975.

Automotive Playback: Chevy Ci-TA-tion Edition

Ah yes, the 1980 Chevy Citation. GM's first stab at compact transverse-mounted front-wheel-drive cars debuted on an all-new platform in April 1979. The Chevy Citation replaced the old rear-wheel-drive Nova in the line, and featured an all-new optional 2.8L V6 for motivation.

Sales were brisk in '80 (over 600k that year alone), but problems showed up early. The front subframe, which held the engine and transmission, had a bad habit of working itself loose. It was probably safer to drive with no rear wheels, as the commercial shows because if you breathed on the brake pedal, and the rear wheels would lock up, spinning you and your 30 bags of groceries out of control into a tree or through someone's hedges. And that new 2.8L V6 had a nasty habit of overheating and blowing head gaskets because whoever designed the cooling system forgot that coolant needs to pass through the engine in order to, you know, cool it. And so the Chevy Citation, along with its Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, and Buick Skylark platform mates, became the most recalled car in history.

But in April 1979, none of that mattered. They had a "thoroughly contemporary driving machine" to replace the aging, oversized Nova. Play the above and savor the pre-catastrophe optimism.

AP Spotlight: 1981-82 AMC Eagle Kammback

The car in the spotlight this time is a rare car, indeed: the 1981-82 AMC Eagle Kammback. If you're under 30, you've probably never seen one in person.

On April Fools Day of 1970, AMC - America's (distantly) fourth largest automaker - stole a march on giants GM and Ford by being the first American manufacturer to offer an import-fighting subcompact car. The truncated AMC Gremlin was basically an AMC Hornet with its tail bobbed and the rear wheels brought forward a foot. And its love-it-or-hate-it styling and tongue-in-cheek name got people's attention quickly. The Gremlin's range of big, smooth, powerful (for the day) inline-six cylinder engines was attractive to Americans who weren't convinced that the imports' inline-4s could provide the power, smoothness, and reliability they'd expected from the bigger American cars they were used to. Six months later, the competing '71 Chevy Vega and Ford Pinto (Chrysler took the easy way out and imported Dodge-badged Mitsubishis, and Plymouth-badged Hillmans instead of making their own American subcompacts), debuted with only 4-cylinder engines, which would prove to be a bit more economical than the Gremlin's big sixes, but far less reliable and responsive. And compared to the - by then ubiquitous - VW Beetle, the Gremlin had similar fuel mileage, with more than double the horsepower, and far more interior space. Despite all of its big-car advantages, it debuted as the lowest-priced American-made car. And sales were good.

In '72, AMC ratcheted up their quality and introduced the Buyer Protection Plan, the first bumper-to-bumper warranty offered on the American car market. It came standard on the Gremlin, too, which also picked up a V8 engine option to catch muscle car buyers turned away by soaring insurance rates. AMC even included denim seats as an option on the Gremlin, as a way to reach out to the youth culture of the day. In ads, they called it "the car that wears the pants". The fun shape, practical design, trusty, powerful engines, and lighthearted advertising worked, and sales were brisk through the first 5 years of the car's run. More than 171,000 were sold in 1974 alone.

But then AMC spent a ton of money on cars that were distinctively styled like the Gremlin, but not as well thought-out - the '74 Matador Coupe and '75 Pacer, specifically. And when those cars didn't make the money AMC needed to keep the rest of its product line up-to-date, the little car company soon found itself in big trouble.

By '78, Gremlin sales were poor having to compete with minimal changes with an onslaught of new Japanese small cars. Only 22,000 Gremlins were sold that year. And so AMC took a little out of their dwindling cash reserves and facelifted it, adding a fastback coupe version to accompany its existing chopped-tail bodystyle, and called them both the Spirit for '79. What resulted was a car that looked much more modern, was well-equipped, and sold better than it had in years. For a time. But it wasn't quite enough to move the needle for the company, so AMC decided to sell a 5% stake to French carmaker Renault that same year to generate some cash.

Why the new Honda CR-Z makes enthusiasts want to CR-Y.

At the 2010 North American International Auto Show, Honda took the wraps off their new subcompact sports coupe - the CR-Z. Scheduled for launch as a 2011 model, the CR-Z is supposed to channel the legendary Honda CRX from the '80s and early '90s. That car was extremely small, had two seats, and could be ordered in a variety of trim levels, from the fuel-sipping 50+mpg HF to the hot Si, which featured go-kart-like handling and a satisfyingly quick turn of speed.

But the last true CRXs were sold to Americans for 1991. And Honda's changed big-time since then. In 1991, Honda offered only four models: CRX, Civic (in 3-door hatch, sedan, and Wagovan bodies), Prelude, and Accord. None of their cars were sold with more than 4 cylinders under the hood. The heaviest car they made was a shade over 3,100lbs. And their reputation for quality and reliability was unimpeachable.

Today, Honda sells us 9 different models: Fit, Civic, Insight hybrid, Element, CR-V crossover, Accord, Odyssey minivan, Pilot crossover, and Ridgeline pickup. They offer fours, V6s, and hybrid models that have been met with far less success than Toyota's have. Their heaviest vehicle is now 4,640lbs, or 50% more than the heaviest Honda of 20 years ago. And since they ended production of the S2000 roadster last year, the Honda lineup is conspicuously lacking with the performance models that once gave the brand sparkle. And, in the first 2 months of 2010, Honda recalled more than a million cars worldwide for various defects.

Enter the CR-Z. For all intents and purposes, it looks like a CRX redux for the twenty-teens. Short wheelbase? Check. Two-seat cockpit layout? Check. Sloping rear roofline? Check. Characteristic glass on the upper half of the hatch fascia? Check. So it's a modern-day CRX.

But hold on a second. The 2000-06 Honda Insight hybrid checked all of the aforementioned CRX boxes, as well. But no one hailed it as a spiritual successor to Honda's legendary Lilliputian. Why? Because the Insight's emphasis was on its hybrid powertrain, featuring Honda's then-new Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system. Its love-it-or-hate-it egg-inspired design was hugely responsible for its awe-inspiring advertized 70 mpg highway mileage figure at launch. And the 2000 Honda Insight got everyone in America talking about hybrids as Toyota was still putting the finishing touches on its first Federalized Prius. What it didn't get people talking about was handling or performance, both of which were lacklustre in the Insight as Honda engineers were tasked with wringing out every last mpg from every inch of its design. Interest started off strong, but sales levels never were stellar. Only 13,889 were sold over 7 model years. By comparison, Toyota sold 334,723 Priuses in the same timeframe.

AP Spotlight: 1993-95 Mazda RX-7

It may be hard to imagine now, as Toyota endures its current safety recall nightmare and Honda loses focus, but as little as 15 years ago, the Japanese auto manufacturers built not just solid, reliable cars, but exciting, soul-stirring sports cars. From 1985 to 2000, the list of Japanese sports cars offered in America - both legendary and forgotten - was massive:

Acura Integra Type R, Acura NSX, Honda CRX, Honda Civic del sol, Honda Prelude, Honda S2000, Isuzu Impulse, Lexus SC300/400, Mazda MX-3, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Mazda MX-6, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi Starion, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Mitsubishi 3000GT, Nissan 240SX, Nissan 300ZX, Subaru XT, Subaru SVX,  Toyota MR2, Toyota Celica, and Toyota Supra.

Many of them had pop-up headlights, high-strung turbocharged engines, all-wheel-drive powertrains, and even 4-wheel steering setups. Back in the day, the odds were that if it was Japanese and had 2 doors, it was a technological and performance tour-de-force. They made the traditional American and European sports cars of the day look positively dowdy, pudgy, and agricultural by comparison.

By the year 2000, though, most of them were either gone or on their way out as their manufacturers stopped running the performance race, but instead raced to the middle to offer buyers bland sedans by the hundreds of thousands. Today, only 6 of the above sports car legends survive in any form. This week's Car of the Week celebrates the prettiest, yet among the shortest-lived (in America, anyway) of them all - the 1993-95 Mazda RX-7.

Of all the major Japanese auto manufacturers, Mazda has always gone their own way. Ever since their entrance into the American market in 1970, the company has positioned itself as a maker of vehicles that had a few things in common with each other: responsiveness, attainable performance, and driving enjoyment best described by their own marketing department as "zoom-zoom".

Toyota: Moving Forward Comes Back to Bite

By now, you've seen and heard about the massive safety recalls that Toyota is undergoing. You know that Toyota has had to recall more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for various safety issues, ranging from floormats to accelerator pedals to brakes and, soon, steering systems. At least 34 people (UPDATE: 56 as of 2/28) have died from these issues, hundreds have been injured, more than a thousand have been involved in accidents, and hundreds of thousands have been inconvenienced and are beginning to see their resale values drop. No fewer than 46 class-action lawsuits have been filed against the automaker, with claims ranging from vehicle loss-of-use and lost value to wrongful death.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration forced Toyota to stop production and sale of the 8 affected models because, 5 days after Toyota announced the problem with no fix ready, Toyota was still building and shipping cars with faulty parts. And from the day the production halt was announced to the ads Toyota is currently airing, the company has been taking credit for that decision when they were legally forced into it.

Not one day of this entire recall/safety debacle has provided the public with facts that have added up. Few people, if anyone at all, seem to be in on what the issue is, including Toyota itself. Toyota has pointed fingers at CTS, the supplier that builds the accelerator pedal assemblies, saying that CTS was building them with flaws. CTS has pointed its fingers right back, saying that they've built the pedals to Toyota's exact specifications. ABC News released a story showing a college professor replicating unintended acceleration through an electronic fault that failed to show up on mechanical diagnostic equipment. Toyota has questioned the professor's methods.

AP Spotlight: 1962-70 Jaguar Mark X and 420G

In honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Jaguar name, this week's feature is the car that would inspire Jaguar design for nearly 50 years: the large, lush, and lustrous Jaguar Mark X and 420G, made from 1962-70.

The Mark X was a milestone vehicle for Jaguar, in part because it set the styling mold in which most Jaguars would be cast for 48 years hence. However, its importance in the Jaguar lineage was underscored by the fact that the independent rear suspension that debuted under it, at the same time as did on the storied E-Type, remained in production for 35 years, until the last 1996 Jaguar XJS rolled off the line. What's more, the 4.2L version of Jaguar's world-beating XK family of inline sixes debuted in the Mark X in 1964, and would go on to power the high-luxury Daimler DS420 limousine until 1992, an amazing 28 years later.