July 17th, 2005

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Technology
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Where are the New Big Convertibles?

I recently saw an old convertible Buick Skylark. It got me thinking: why has the auto industry built bigger and bigger SUVs, but no large convertibles?

I know that, originally, the SUV was sold to aging yuppies with images of untouched wilderness. Why couldn’t the Skylark (or a similar convertible) use James Deanesque images of rebellion and youthfulness? Clearly we have no aversion to large automobiles, yet I haven’t seen a new big, ol’ convertible for years.

On a related note, I really feel like I’ve seen few Humvees around Vancouver. I live in a neighbourhood where people spend stupid money on cars, and would frequently see the absurd Hummers around town. Usually I see one or two a week. Yet, over the past month or so, I’ve only seen one. Have Hummer owners traded them in because of the rising price of gas? Or perhaps the changing popular opinion of the vehicle?

On another related note, John Dvorak points to a diesel-electric Hummer hybrid.

Comments: 8 Responses so far

Jose Cruz
July 18th, 2005
10:20 am

I think people are starting to realize that Hummers are a waste of money, they’re impractical, and they don’t belong in the city. If anyone has been near an Army base , they will know that Hummers are used as utility vehicles. Hummers that dealers sell are just painted a shiny colour and have a nicer interior. To pay 3x more is a wate of money.
Hopefully people who drive other full size SUV’s realize this as well. Unless you have 4 kid’s and haul gear around, you don’t need a big SUV. I laugh at the young single guys that drive around in their Expeditions and Yukon’s. You’ve heard the saying, the bigger the car, the smaller the *****.

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Darren
July 18th, 2005
10:33 am

It’s okay, you can say penis. In fact, you can pretty much use any language you want in the comments. I may object to the content, but not your diction.

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Derek
July 18th, 2005
2:07 pm

An archeaologist friend of mine told me that he tried a Hummer (the original military-derived model) once for the serious (_serious_) off-roading he did in the BC Interior, and that it was totally unsuited to the task. Too wide, not enough storage, bad sight lines, not good in tight logging road-and-tree conditions. He much prefers Nissan off-road vehicles, and large Ford diesel 4×4 trucks.

Not that any of the majority of people who buy Hummers would ever notice that, of course.

One reason there might not be many large convertibles is that people expect better engineering and safety from them than they used to. The roof of a car provides a surprising amount of structural stability, and more so on a large vehicle. In the classic days of the ’50s, and as recently as the ’80s and ’90s, convertibles were known in automotive circles as often rattly, vibration-prone, and leaky. People won’t accept that today, and I think it’s probably easier to design smaller, sportier cars like the Mini, New Beetle, Mustang, and so on so that they behave well with either kind of roof, and with it up or down.

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Dean
July 18th, 2005
3:30 pm

I hung around the serious off-road community for a while, and the general consensus was just as Derek suggests. Hummers are the most poser of poser vehicles, purchased simply because they are expensive and everybody knows it.

Re: convertibles. Another good point, Derek. Those old convertibles were all body-on-frame, and I wonder whether it might not be significantly more difficult to build a unibody version of a large convertible.

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Andrea
July 18th, 2005
10:10 pm

Have you been seeing fewer Hummers all year or just since the spring? Lots of car enthusiasts have summer and winter vehicles. The Hummers might be on the blocks while they bring out the roadsters…

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James
July 18th, 2005
11:34 pm

Perhaps this website (http://www.fuh2.com/) has something to do with the dearth of hummers?

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Todd
July 24th, 2006
6:39 am

If you hear of any new large convertibles, I would certainly be interested in one. Also, what is your take on after market convertible conversions.

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Juan
April 19th, 2007
8:38 pm

I have a big 67 cadillac convertible. I love it, my kids love it and my wife has fun. If they came out with a big convertible I would be first in line. As for the Hummers, we rented one for a week, got our fix. No interest in a Hummer.

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