May 12, 2025 • 28 mins
Unlock the fascinating stories behind the car companies that time forgot. Discover the innovative yet short-lived brands that once captured the automotive industry's imagination. Learn why these once-prominent names could not withstand the tide of market consolidation and evolving consumer tastes despite their unique innovations and contributions.
Everett J.
#autolooks
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it was a sunny afternoon and I
decided to stop by the library we're going
to just kill some time as we're waiting for
my daughter to finish dance and my son and
I went in and we're starting to look around
at some books, and I found this one just
sitting at the end of an aisle.
It was about the automotive industry
throughout the entire 30s.
Well, as I've already talked about in our
podcast, 30 years on, all the differences
(00:21):
the beginning of the 30s to the end of the
30s.
The 30 years on, all the differences the
beginning of the 30s to the end of the 30s,
the differences in the automobiles.
But I started looking and seeing all the
different car companies that existed back
in this timeframe.
There were tons of them.
Why?
Because every single automotive company hit
a specific part of the market for a price
point.
It's not like today, where car companies go
from the bottom end of the barrel all the
(00:42):
way to premium or even luxury within one
singular brand.
No, they had a multitude of different
brands that did this, but there's a lot of
them that people don't remember.
They were big and they were good for their
time and they served a purpose, but they've
fallen off the wayside and disappeared into
the past.
Today, autolux is going to be looking at
not just these car companies from the 1930s,
(01:03):
the 40s, the 50s.
No, we're going to be talking about the
entire generation of the automobile, the
forgotten car companies that came to make a
stance but never live life to the fullest.
(01:23):
Welcome back to the Autolux Podcast.
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, mr Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
autoluxnet.
If you haven't been there, stop by, check
it out.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the Corporate Leaks website page.
Big or small, we have them all car
companies from around the globe, all
available on the autoluxnet website.
(01:46):
And while there, like I said, check out
some of the other stuff.
Find more of our previous podcasts where we
talk about all kinds of things across the
automotive industry, from manufacturing to
vehicles made in specific countries, to
even just products and actual car companies.
We do it all.
The autolux podcast, where we review
everything within the automotive industry.
The autolux podcast is brought to
everything within the automotive industry.
The Autolux podcast is brought to you by
(02:06):
Ecom Entertainment Group and distributed by
podbeamcom, if you'd like to get in touch
with us, send us an email over at email at
autoluxnet.
So, like I said in the intro, forgotten car
companies.
There's a lot of them and even, like some,
that just recently passed away, we've
already forgotten about how many people out
there listening to this podcast right now
remember Scion.
(02:27):
If you're an avid automotive enthusiast
like myself and hell, you just love Toyotas
then you remember Scion.
You remember it was brought in to bring a
more youthful generation into the Toyota
brand because Toyota, by the late 90s and
early 2000s, was seen as your father's or
your grandfather's vehicle.
You didn't want to get into it.
There was no fun hell, by this time it was
(02:49):
literally just the celica and m or two that
were kicking around.
There wasn't a lot of fun in the toyota
brand.
Well, they brought out the scion brand to
try and rejuvenate it in the north american
climate.
Now scion wasn't available everywhere, but
in north america it was here and it brought
Japanese dedicated products to North
American shores.
But the funniest thing about it is that
Scion only died out a few years ago and yet
(03:10):
we have already forgotten about it.
When it was here it was one of the biggest
things around.
When you saw an XP on the road.
It was like whoa that is cool, or you're
the other type of person, like whoa that is
ugly as a toaster on wheels.
It was one or the other, it wasn't both.
But it was a brand that added so many
personalization factors to it that the
(03:31):
market they wanted to go after they catered
to everything they wanted.
So why did it fail?
Well, toyota became more youthful.
They added better designs and more sport
aspect into their products.
Trd and GR became more of a mainstay in the
Toyota branding so they didn't have a use
for Scion.
Essentially, by the end, scion were just
Toyota products.
Look at the IM.
(03:51):
It's essentially a Corolla hatch.
That's all it is.
But we've all forgot about it.
But why is that?
Why do we forget about these big car
companies?
Like, go back to the beginning of the
automobile industry.
Do you remember DeSoto?
Some big car fanatics like myself will
remember DeSoto.
It was essentially made for between Dodge
and Plymouth.
It was a big car company and in the 50s it
(04:13):
was starting to outrank Dodge in sales.
Desoto was a big name for Chrysler
Corporation and they carved themselves a
niche out within pricing.
But as pricing became expanded across the
entire Chrysler Corporation lineup, the
need for DeSoto and even Fargo far exceeded
their uses to the automotive company and
when they died out they had no wow factor.
(04:35):
That's what really kills off a lot of these.
If I say to a lot of you, do you remember
Mosler or Vector Automotive or, hell, even
Panos?
You'll probably say yes, some of you will
remember it.
Some of you will hear the name and think,
oh, it sounds familiar.
And then you go online you see the Vector
M12 and you're like, oh yeah, I remember
that car.
That was cool, that was a 90s car, that was
(04:57):
amazing.
The Mosler M900.
Hell, it was vying to be America's supercar,
right up there with the Saleen S7.
Now the Saleen name doesn't disappear
because Saleen is still kicking around in
the aftermarket industry.
But their automotive is all but gone and
we've forgotten all about products like the
Saleen S7.
The Mussolini 900.
The Panos S Frante or AIV Roadster.
(05:18):
Like Panos was big Hell, they raced in Le
Mans.
But now that they're gone, why do we forget
them?
Why do we not remember who these car
companies are?
Well, they weren't big.
Delorean is remembered today only because
of Back to the Future.
Think about it.
Take the DeLorean and that movie completely
out of the equation.
(05:38):
Do you remember the DeLorean Motor Company?
Or do you remember the Time Machine?
Most people only say yes to remembering the
Time Machine.
They just remember that it's a DeLorean
Motor Company.
Or do you remember the Time Machine?
Most people only say yes to remembering the
Time Machine.
They just remember that it's a DeLorean
because they love the movie so much and
they're like oh yeah, that's a DeLorean
from Back to the Future Because that's what
it's referenced as even in the movie.
And if that movie hadn't been as big as it
was, delorean wouldn't be as big as name.
(05:59):
You gotta remember they had one car, they
lived a very short lifetime.
And remember they had one car, they lived a
very short lifetime and when they died they
died with a bang, literally with a bang.
So unless you grew up in the 80s and you
remember the court cases against John Z
DeLorean, or you remember all the people in
Northern Ireland pissed off that this
factory was closing.
They're losing tons of jobs yet again, you
don't remember any of that.
So for you, delorean is just a footnote you
(06:21):
have to remember without the movie we
wouldn't have remembered it.
Hell Tucker, without his major court case,
most of us wouldn't remember it either.
You have to remember, tucker only built 50
vehicles, basically to prove to the courts,
to the government and to his finances that
he can make a car and he can make a go at
it.
But really after the 50s, until the movie
(06:42):
was made in the early 90s do you remember
Tucker Automotive?
A lot of people won't.
It was a very groundbreaking vehicle.
It showcased so much to the world and yet
it didn't produce enough and after its time
it literally disappeared because it wasn't
in her face.
Like I said, there's some car companies out
there.
We remember De Tomaso was never super big,
(07:03):
but when they disappeared we still remember
them, because everyone remembers the
Pantera and they also remember the fact
that Elvis Presley had a Pantera.
A big celebrity with an amazing car Hell
Fisker Automotive.
Doesn't matter how many times they come
back to life and die out, we all remember
them.
It was one of the first things that Usher
gave Justin Beaver when his first record
(07:23):
took.
He gifted him a chrome-wrapped Fisker Karma.
Now that car is still in existence as the
Karma, but Fisker's gone.
Yet again, ten years from now, will we
remember Fisker?
Yes, because Heinrich Fisker has set his
name into the automotive footnotes of
history.
Did companies like Gio or Asuna do that.
No, gio and Asuna were essentially brought
(07:44):
out to try and create Korean entry-level
products with an Americanized name.
Gio was for the American and Canadian
market and Asuna was only for the Canadian
marketplace.
With dealerships requesting this, they got
their products.
They got their entry-level little products.
Both of them had little Halo sports cars.
We have the Gio Storm and the Asuna Sunfire.
(08:06):
They also had the Gio Tracker, but if you
remember, the Tracker was also a Suzuki and
a Chevrolet and hell, there's even a
Pontiac model.
So we don't remember the fact that it was
the Geo Tracker because it wasn't a
dedicated model.
But the Asuna Sunfire and Geo Storm, those
were their products, but we don't remember
them because they didn't leave their mark
on history.
There are car companies out there that'll
(08:26):
leave their mark on history, and setting
yourself as a footnote in automotive
history will get you there.
Saab was there.
Saab was groundbreaking.
We all remember Saab vehicles, but ever
since the end of their existence from
General Motors, we have slowly forgotten
about them.
But why is that?
Why has Saab literally disappeared into the
(08:48):
forgotten companies of the past?
It's because near the end of their lifetime
they started producing very generic
products reminiscent of both Subaru and
General Motors vehicles.
Only the 9-3 in the end was their own
product.
Hell, the new 9-5 came out, gave Saab
something new for themselves, but
unfortunately it was too little, too late.
(09:10):
People had forgotten about it.
You see, when you lose your cutting edge,
you disappear.
And these forgotten companies came in to
take the market by storm.
They either created, ran or just lucked out
at the very end of some of these markets,
and there's a lot of car companies like
that.
Like I said, scion came in at a time when
the last major generation of youth was
(09:31):
getting into automobiles at a young age and
Toyota wanted to get in on the action and
with only having sedans, suvs, minivans and
trucks, they didn't have anything to get
people into their vehicles.
So they created Scion, these little economy
vehicles.
They saw how Gio and Asuna worked for
General Motors back in the 1980s and 90s.
(09:52):
We don't remember the car companies, but it
got us into the bigger car companies and
that's where a lot of these came from.
One of the ill-forgotten ones that you
really think of was another General Motors
one.
Gm has a lot of these car companies that
have literally disappeared into the
background, like Oakland.
Now Oakland fit a point just before Buick
they also had Viking Hell.
(10:13):
How about LaSalle?
Lasalle sat higher up than Cadillac.
It was the Rolls Royce of General Motors,
but then Cadillac moved up into that
category and LaSalle moved down.
By the end of LaSalle's existence all it
was was just another Cadillac branding.
See, a lot of these car companies kind of
just get mashed in with other products from
(10:33):
the range.
If you notice, a lot of these car companies
we've talked about, except for Tucker, have
all been part of other car companies.
They came here to serve a big purpose.
General Motors didn't just create Saturn
because they wanted to.
They created Saturn to go up against the
Japanese imports.
Gm was losing ground to the Japanese in the
(10:53):
1980s.
Essentially, it's what forced the American
government to put massive tariffs in the
1980s on Japanese-built vehicles, forcing
these car companies to build manufacturing
plants in the United States market.
Now, with NAFTA eventually coming out, they
were able to choose both Canada and Mexico
as well to build their vehicles for the
North American climate.
But Saturn was created to go up against the
(11:14):
new Japanese invasion, as they called it in
the 1980s, the Asian invasion.
That's what Saturn was here to do.
It was here to go up against those car
companies and it lived a long life From the
late 80s and all the way up until the early
2000s.
Saturn lived.
It essentially died when it just became
another General Motors product.
(11:35):
By its end, only the sky and the ion were
the only things that look completely
different than anything else.
Because you have to remember even the
Saturn Aura it was new for North America
but it was an Opel.
They were made by European product line.
So essentially in the end Saturn just
became Opal Vauxhall of North America.
It lost its way and it lost its two-door
coupe.
(11:55):
The SC1 is essentially what kept Saturn
going through the 90s.
They had a little sports coupe, an entry
level product, priced just right that it
sat at the bottom end but at the top end of
the bottom end and it did that so it can
get more people in.
But once people got into Saturn and started
realizing it's a General Motors product,
(12:15):
they got more faith in General Motors
vehicles and they would move up into other
divisions.
This worked well from General Motors as it
slowly curbed their loss of market share in
the North American product.
So it was great.
Saturn was a great idea for them, and if
you want to know more about Saturn, you
should actually go onto our podcast page
and actually look for the Saturn podcast.
(12:35):
We did one about the car company from how
it was created to how it ended.
It's a good story to listen to.
Same with Saab.
Saab was essentially a great story to
listen to as well, and that's from our
first season.
So some of these forgotten companies are
here, but one of the bigger forgotten car
companies out there is one that, unless
you're really into owning vehicles from the
(12:56):
fourth American car company, you would
never even think of American Motors.
Now we can't really say they're a forgotten
car company because everyone remembers
American Motors.
When they research stuff from Jeep, they'll
find out about them.
When they search stuff from Chrysler,
they'll find out about them.
You have to remember, and there are so many
different divisions that became part of
them.
But they are somewhat forgotten because we
forget that America had four major car
(13:17):
companies.
Hell, even in today's climate, america only
has two main car companies.
You can't even consider Chrysler an
American car company now because it's been
owned since 1999 by a european counterpart
first mercedes or daimler-benz, then fiat
and now part of the stellantis group, which
is essentially puso citroen.
So they're not really american.
(13:38):
For 20 years chrysler hasn't even been
american.
Sure, they started here and they still
build a lot of their stuff here, but
they're not american.
Hell, new jeep products aren't even being
brought over to the american marketplace.
The brand new avenger and compass aren't
coming here.
Hell, even the recon isn't coming here.
They're making them for offshore
marketplaces.
But amc, like I said, really isn't a
(13:58):
forgotten car company.
It's not as forgotten as the biggest small
car company america ever had.
That was checker motors.
Oh, and we have a podcast about electric
checker that you might want to listen to.
It's about, you know, trying to bring back
checker and kind of gives a little history
about checker motors.
Now, checker essentially got started out
building cabs in new york.
They became the main cabs now.
(14:20):
All the way up until the 50s they got a
brand new design and that design stayed on
all the way until the late 80s when the car
company eventually died out.
If you go back and watch any movie from the
1980s hell, I'll give you one right here
Ghostbusters, the first one.
Or even go back and watch an old school
movie from Robert De Niro called Taxi
(14:40):
Driver.
The taxi he drives in that is an old
Checker Marathon.
Now Checker also sold these vehicles as
sedans and station wagons for personal use
as well, and then they also had limos,
ambulances and a couple other features.
But we only remember them as the cabs.
We don't remember Checker as anything more
than the yellow cab from New York City, but
they were a car company as well.
(15:01):
They built production vehicles for people
to buy, but when you go to car shows nobody
remembers them, kind of like the Studebaker
Avanti.
Avanti Corporation existed for so long.
Studebaker's last vehicle, the Studebaker
Avanti, was so advanced for its time and
its design was so cutting edge that a group
of investors could not let that car go.
(15:22):
They couldn't let it die.
With Studebaker Only a few years after
coming out, they literally just couldn't
let it die.
So they bought the rights to it and kept it
going, kind of like how Ineos has bought
the original Land Rover Defender platform
to keep it going.
When Land Rover decided to redo the
Defender completely, straight down to every
(15:43):
nut and bolt, ineos said no, everybody
wants the original.
All they want it is with new features.
So let's give it an overhaul like you guys
did in the 80s.
Land Rover Jaguar said no.
So Ineos bought the rights to it.
These capitalists bought the rights to the
Studebaker Avanti and kept them together as
the Avanti Motor Corporation all the way up
until the early 2000s.
(16:03):
Yes, the Studebaker Avanti the last vehicle
you got to remember Studebaker died out in
the 60s and their last car survived until
the early 2000s.
It's a forgotten company.
Nobody remembers that the Avanti became its
own car company and survived for so long.
Hell, it even had a sedan version built in
the late 80s and early 90s.
(16:24):
It had one built where Bugatti was
considering on building one back then, but
it became forgotten.
We lost touch with those things.
We forgot that the Studebaker Avanti was
still around and that's what eventually was
their downfall.
Kind of like Asia Motors, it became part of
Kia and then Kia utilized its products to
build its own and with that, asia Motors
(16:45):
eventually just became absorbed by the
Hyundai Motor Corporation and completely
dissolved.
The only remnants you could find of Asia
Motors anymore is Kia's military products,
and even today they don't market them as
Asia products.
Asia Motors was one of those ones that just
disappeared.
Hell, the original Skyline nameplate, if
you go back to it, was its own nameplate.
(17:06):
It wasn't the Nissan Skyline, it was just
the Skyline.
But then again Japanese markets it wasn't
the Nissan Skyline, it was just the Skyline.
But then again, japanese markets.
Mazda tried so many of them AutoZone,
affini, hell.
They even tried to create the Mani Luxury
Division.
A lot of these products made it out, but we
don't remember them.
They were rebadged and just look like
standard Mazda products, kind of like the
Merkur.
(17:26):
We saw it over here and Merkur tried to
make a name for itself, but essentially we
all just saw it as a Ford Focus.
It was nothing more.
Plymouth did this when they brought the
Valiant out.
Similar to how Chrysler moved the Imperial
onto its own nameplate and Lincoln did it
with the Continental on its own nameplate,
plymouth did it to the Valiant name as well.
It existed.
(17:46):
There are so many weird brands out there
that existed, were so big, and then we all
forgot about them.
Now the Asian marketplace.
Before Kia and Hyundai absorbed each other
together, there used to be four main car
companies there.
There was Sasyong, hyundai, kia and Daewoo.
Now Daewoo is more in a financial and
mechanical, more in machines, televisions,
(18:07):
electronics and all that now.
But they built vehicles for a short amount
of time, eventually getting bought out by
General Motors.
And now today, daewoo all it is is GM Korea.
Daewoo came to our North American
marketplace for a very short lay of time.
They did find sales in the North American
marketplace and they were here, but all
they had were these little sedans and
hatchbacks.
They didn't make a name for themselves, and
(18:29):
that's where a lot of these car companies
have issues.
Hell, what about Troller?
Troller was on the news in Brazil, globally
saving people from floodwaters A few years
ago when the Amazon overflowed extensively.
It saved the country.
These Troller T4s were going in to the
rainforest and saving people.
(18:49):
Where are they now?
Ford bought them out and shut down the
plant so they could sell more Broncos and
Rangers in Brazil and not have to compete
with something.
But Troller was a Brazilian car company.
But do you remember them?
No, you don't, and they were here since the
90s.
Troller was a big SUV company and it was
originally built off Jeep platforms, kind
of like the Stark as well, the Tac Stark,
the and it was originally built off Jeep
(19:09):
platforms, kind of like the Stark as well,
the Tac Stark, the Agent, rocksta, the
Daewoo, crando all Jeep counterpart
vehicles built for their select markets.
But a lot of those car companies just
disappeared.
They came in here with a cape on as a
savior for cars.
They made their mark, but unfortunately
there was no follow up, and that's the
problem.
Some of these car companies were just too
good for their own good, essentially, and
(19:31):
some of them just got absorbed by other car
companies, or we just completely forgot
about them, or the market contracted.
They all have their place in history.
Hell, companies like Byton and Koda were
there near the beginning of the electric
industry.
Koda was just a rebadged Geely product for
the North American climate.
It was one of the original electric cars.
It was sold before Tesla even had the
(19:53):
Roadster on the road, but only sold in
California and sold in very small numbers
because there wasn't a lot of charging
stations.
But Koda was there.
They were big in their marketplace but then
died out.
Byton was going to showcase to the world
changes to our automobile.
They pioneered the massive touch screen
across the entire front end of a vehicle
(20:14):
and before the m bite even was released, it
faded into the memory.
There's a lot of car companies out there
that have done amazingly great things.
They've been here, but we all forget about
them.
My favorite forgotten car companies there's
two of them and these two were really big
in their home markets and today most people
don't even remember them.
I'm talking about McLaughlin Motors from
(20:34):
Canada and Pierce Arrow from America.
Now people remember Duesenberg, packard,
studebaker, lasalle's, but nobody remembers
Pierce Arrow.
Pierce Arrow actually set the standards for
high end luxury for both North America and
European marketplaces.
They were out doing Rolls Royce.
They were one of the most luxurious things
(20:56):
you could buy on four wheels in history.
But when the market collapsed in the 30s
they couldn't maintain and they died out.
But Pierce Arrow should have been a name we
all remembered, kind of like Locomobile, a
steam-powered.
They were the only car company to ever
professionally make a steam powered vehicle
in mass quantities for people, but we don't
(21:18):
remember them.
Detroit Electric one of the biggest
electric vehicle car companies in the early
history of the automobile.
They lasted over a decade making electric
cabs for big city marketplaces and electric
vehicles for homeowners, but we don't
remember them.
They pioneered the evolution of the
electric vehicle industry.
Pierce Arrow pioneered ultra-luxury
(21:40):
vehicles and McLaughlin McLaughlin was one
of the most revered luxury makes in the
North American marketplace when they
existed.
You couldn't sell products like Pierce
Arrow, cadillac or even Lincoln in Canada
because of the McLaughlin.
Its name was so big at that point in time
that everybody automatically knew what it
was.
They got so famous for building cutters and
carriages in the early days that by the
(22:02):
time they made automobiles, people trusted
them more than anyone else for perfection.
But when they tried to get more mainstream
they started to fail and with it, became
part of General Motors.
The funniest thing is is McLaughlin Motors
is the reason why General Motors exists
today.
Anybody out there can fight me on this all
they want, but they exist only because of
(22:24):
McLaughlin Motors.
Now McLaughlin Motors.
Robert McLaughlin's son, sam, was good
friends with William C Durant and he had a
meeting with him right after he was outed
from General Motors.
He used his own stock and his own buying
powers and GM to essentially get William C
Durant back on the board and basically sold
part of the assets of McLaughlin Motors and
(22:52):
technical information to General Motors to
help them compete against the big wigs of
both Ford and Chrysler.
But in today's world nobody remembers
McLaughlin Motors.
Unless you go to Oshawa, ontario, you don't
know McLaughlin.
You never really heard of them.
The only thing is if you watch the Royal
family you might understand McLaughlin
(23:12):
Motors, because even when Prince William
got married, that old classic car they rode
around in was a McLaughlin that was gifted
to his grandparents when they toured Canada.
Mclaughlin was a big name but they're old
but forgotten.
You see, a lot of these car companies
become as big as possible but, like I said,
1930s brought a lot of these American car
(23:32):
companies that were so big and were too big
to fail, made them fail and the ones that
didn't fail during those times eventually
just died out in later days when they
weren't able to make back their market
share.
Some of these car companies lasted so long
with an original product that people loved
that by the time that people wanted and
demanded a new vehicle, they didn't even
know how to deal with TA's technologies.
(23:54):
Checker essentially died because they
couldn't make vehicles in today's market.
American Motors died out because it had
trouble getting financing to overhaul all
of their plants.
El DeSoto was killed off because there was
no need for an extra division, kind of
saturn, plymouth, scion.
They were all just kicked to the curb.
A lot of these car companies just nobody
wanted around anymore.
(24:15):
The companies like scion, edsel, saturn,
amc hudson, willies, dkw, yugo, wolseley,
tbr not all of them have been completely
forgotten.
Yugo just announced that they're going to
be coming back.
Tbr has been coming back for a while and
keeps themselves their name out there.
Hudson really came back with the Cars movie
and AMC.
Well, like I said, search for it, you'll
(24:35):
find it.
But Edsel Edsel was one of the biggest
follies of automotive history.
It outranks Tucker.
Tucker got taken down by the big three
where Edsel was created by one of the big
three had amazing promotion but when the
vehicle vehicle came out it was the biggest
lunch bag let down of all time.
The company still was pushed and they still
tried to sell them, but unfortunately with
(24:57):
a poor design.
Nobody wanted them.
But you can't say they're a forgotten
company because people remember their
blunder, kind of like tucker, the car
company that should have been attacking the
big three today but didn't make it.
There's a lot of little companies out there
that we all forget about, but there are
some.
There were divisions and products of some
of these bigger car companies that existed
(25:18):
for a long period of time but when they
faded to memory they literally faded out.
They shut their doors and were forgotten.
It's like somebody who's your best friend
at work.
You don't go out and hang out after work,
but they're their best friend at work.
You could talk about and do everything with
this person while you're at work.
They get another job and move on and within
a few months to a year you've forgotten
(25:39):
them.
Hell, people in your family, you all get
together and remember them when they pass
away, but really do you remember them a
year later when you see a picture or hear
something about it?
You might remember them, but they're not
top of mind for you.
That's what a lot of these car companies
are.
They were big, they were there, they served
a purpose, but when they faded to memory
they literally faded out of existence and
(26:00):
today we've just all forgotten about them.
It's nice that some of these car companies
are coming back with the new
electrification into the world.
Alpha Motors Company is now the new AMC,
which is rejuvenating interest in the old
AMC brand.
The Cars movies brought people back into
finding out about Hudson Motors.
Hell, the Simpsons kind of kept the Geo
nameplate alive, poking fun at it.
(26:21):
There's a lot of them out there and a lot
of them that should get a little bit more
credit for what they did for the world.
They might not have an amazing supercar
like DeTomaso or Vector or Celine, but they
were here.
They sold thousands of vehicles, they made
a name for themselves and everybody saw
them.
But today we just don't remember them.
We can't understand why we don't remember
them, but, like I said, it's a lot like old
(26:42):
family members Over time we just lose touch
with our memories and they fade away.
Not everyone can live a life of luxury like
DeLorean.
So if you like this podcast, please like,
share or comment about it on any of the
major social feeds or streaming sites that
you have found the Outlooks podcast on,
from iTunes to Spotify to Amazon Music, we
are there.
You can find the Outlooks podcast anywhere
(27:04):
on any major streaming site from around the
globe.
We are there for you to listen to Spreading
the word of the automotive world to fans,
friends, family, well-wishers, anyone who
is willing to listen to us, and, after this,
stop by, write a review, send us a comment
or even send this podcast out to your
friends, your family, your well-wishers,
your boss person at the end of the cubicles.
(27:27):
You're not too crazy about Send it out to
them.
Ask them about any of the forgotten
companies that they may remember.
Be like oh, have you heard of this car
company?
Oh, no, yeah, I remember them.
They were like the biggest thing when I was
a teenager and then they just disappeared.
Can't believe you know them.
See how many people.
You can freak out about this and then send
us an email or a comment about it.
We love hearing stories from all of our
fans.
We've learned so much stuff from you.
(27:48):
Keep sending them in and send the emails to
email at autoluxnet.
If you'd like to get in touch with the
autoluxnet website podcast or even Mr
Everett James himself, send the email over
to email at autoluxnet.
The Autolux Podcast is brought to you by
Econ Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbeamcom.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
(28:08):
us an email over at email at autoluxnet.
So from myself, I'm Richie, the autoluxnet
website and the Ecom Entertainment Group
strap yourself in for this one fun wild
ride that these forgotten companies are
going to take us on.
Thank you.
Well, it was a sunny afternoon and I
decided to stop by the library we're going
to just kill some time as we're waiting for
my daughter to finish dance and my son and
I went in and we're starting to look around
at some books, and I found this one just
sitting at the end of an aisle.
It was about the automotive industry
throughout the entire 30s.
Well, as I've already talked about in our
podcast, 30 years on, all the differences
(00:21):
the beginning of the 30s to the end of the
30s.
The 30 years on, all the differences the
beginning of the 30s to the end of the 30s,
the differences in the automobiles.
But I started looking and seeing all the
different car companies that existed back
in this timeframe.
There were tons of them.
Why?
Because every single automotive company hit
a specific part of the market for a price
point.
It's not like today, where car companies go
from the bottom end of the barrel all the
(00:42):
way to premium or even luxury within one
singular brand.
No, they had a multitude of different
brands that did this, but there's a lot of
them that people don't remember.
They were big and they were good for their
time and they served a purpose, but they've
fallen off the wayside and disappeared into
the past.
Today, autolux is going to be looking at
not just these car companies from the 1930s,
(01:03):
the 40s, the 50s.
No, we're going to be talking about the
entire generation of the automobile, the
forgotten car companies that came to make a
stance but never live life to the fullest.
(01:23):
Welcome back to the Autolux Podcast.
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, mr Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
autoluxnet.
If you haven't been there, stop by, check
it out.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the Corporate Leaks website page.
Big or small, we have them all car
companies from around the globe, all
available on the autoluxnet website.
(01:46):
And while there, like I said, check out
some of the other stuff.
Find more of our previous podcasts where we
talk about all kinds of things across the
automotive industry, from manufacturing to
vehicles made in specific countries, to
even just products and actual car companies.
We do it all.
The autolux podcast, where we review
everything within the automotive industry.
The autolux podcast is brought to
everything within the automotive industry.
The Autolux podcast is brought to you by
(02:06):
Ecom Entertainment Group and distributed by
podbeamcom, if you'd like to get in touch
with us, send us an email over at email at
autoluxnet.
So, like I said in the intro, forgotten car
companies.
There's a lot of them and even, like some,
that just recently passed away, we've
already forgotten about how many people out
there listening to this podcast right now
remember Scion.
(02:27):
If you're an avid automotive enthusiast
like myself and hell, you just love Toyotas
then you remember Scion.
You remember it was brought in to bring a
more youthful generation into the Toyota
brand because Toyota, by the late 90s and
early 2000s, was seen as your father's or
your grandfather's vehicle.
You didn't want to get into it.
There was no fun hell, by this time it was
(02:49):
literally just the celica and m or two that
were kicking around.
There wasn't a lot of fun in the toyota
brand.
Well, they brought out the scion brand to
try and rejuvenate it in the north american
climate.
Now scion wasn't available everywhere, but
in north america it was here and it brought
Japanese dedicated products to North
American shores.
But the funniest thing about it is that
Scion only died out a few years ago and yet
(03:10):
we have already forgotten about it.
When it was here it was one of the biggest
things around.
When you saw an XP on the road.
It was like whoa that is cool, or you're
the other type of person, like whoa that is
ugly as a toaster on wheels.
It was one or the other, it wasn't both.
But it was a brand that added so many
personalization factors to it that the
(03:31):
market they wanted to go after they catered
to everything they wanted.
So why did it fail?
Well, toyota became more youthful.
They added better designs and more sport
aspect into their products.
Trd and GR became more of a mainstay in the
Toyota branding so they didn't have a use
for Scion.
Essentially, by the end, scion were just
Toyota products.
Look at the IM.
(03:51):
It's essentially a Corolla hatch.
That's all it is.
But we've all forgot about it.
But why is that?
Why do we forget about these big car
companies?
Like, go back to the beginning of the
automobile industry.
Do you remember DeSoto?
Some big car fanatics like myself will
remember DeSoto.
It was essentially made for between Dodge
and Plymouth.
It was a big car company and in the 50s it
(04:13):
was starting to outrank Dodge in sales.
Desoto was a big name for Chrysler
Corporation and they carved themselves a
niche out within pricing.
But as pricing became expanded across the
entire Chrysler Corporation lineup, the
need for DeSoto and even Fargo far exceeded
their uses to the automotive company and
when they died out they had no wow factor.
(04:35):
That's what really kills off a lot of these.
If I say to a lot of you, do you remember
Mosler or Vector Automotive or, hell, even
Panos?
You'll probably say yes, some of you will
remember it.
Some of you will hear the name and think,
oh, it sounds familiar.
And then you go online you see the Vector
M12 and you're like, oh yeah, I remember
that car.
That was cool, that was a 90s car, that was
(04:57):
amazing.
The Mosler M900.
Hell, it was vying to be America's supercar,
right up there with the Saleen S7.
Now the Saleen name doesn't disappear
because Saleen is still kicking around in
the aftermarket industry.
But their automotive is all but gone and
we've forgotten all about products like the
Saleen S7.
The Mussolini 900.
The Panos S Frante or AIV Roadster.
(05:18):
Like Panos was big Hell, they raced in Le
Mans.
But now that they're gone, why do we forget
them?
Why do we not remember who these car
companies are?
Well, they weren't big.
Delorean is remembered today only because
of Back to the Future.
Think about it.
Take the DeLorean and that movie completely
out of the equation.
(05:38):
Do you remember the DeLorean Motor Company?
Or do you remember the Time Machine?
Most people only say yes to remembering the
Time Machine.
They just remember that it's a DeLorean
Motor Company.
Or do you remember the Time Machine?
Most people only say yes to remembering the
Time Machine.
They just remember that it's a DeLorean
because they love the movie so much and
they're like oh yeah, that's a DeLorean
from Back to the Future Because that's what
it's referenced as even in the movie.
And if that movie hadn't been as big as it
was, delorean wouldn't be as big as name.
(05:59):
You gotta remember they had one car, they
lived a very short lifetime.
And remember they had one car, they lived a
very short lifetime and when they died they
died with a bang, literally with a bang.
So unless you grew up in the 80s and you
remember the court cases against John Z
DeLorean, or you remember all the people in
Northern Ireland pissed off that this
factory was closing.
They're losing tons of jobs yet again, you
don't remember any of that.
So for you, delorean is just a footnote you
(06:21):
have to remember without the movie we
wouldn't have remembered it.
Hell Tucker, without his major court case,
most of us wouldn't remember it either.
You have to remember, tucker only built 50
vehicles, basically to prove to the courts,
to the government and to his finances that
he can make a car and he can make a go at
it.
But really after the 50s, until the movie
(06:42):
was made in the early 90s do you remember
Tucker Automotive?
A lot of people won't.
It was a very groundbreaking vehicle.
It showcased so much to the world and yet
it didn't produce enough and after its time
it literally disappeared because it wasn't
in her face.
Like I said, there's some car companies out
there.
We remember De Tomaso was never super big,
(07:03):
but when they disappeared we still remember
them, because everyone remembers the
Pantera and they also remember the fact
that Elvis Presley had a Pantera.
A big celebrity with an amazing car Hell
Fisker Automotive.
Doesn't matter how many times they come
back to life and die out, we all remember
them.
It was one of the first things that Usher
gave Justin Beaver when his first record
(07:23):
took.
He gifted him a chrome-wrapped Fisker Karma.
Now that car is still in existence as the
Karma, but Fisker's gone.
Yet again, ten years from now, will we
remember Fisker?
Yes, because Heinrich Fisker has set his
name into the automotive footnotes of
history.
Did companies like Gio or Asuna do that.
No, gio and Asuna were essentially brought
(07:44):
out to try and create Korean entry-level
products with an Americanized name.
Gio was for the American and Canadian
market and Asuna was only for the Canadian
marketplace.
With dealerships requesting this, they got
their products.
They got their entry-level little products.
Both of them had little Halo sports cars.
We have the Gio Storm and the Asuna Sunfire.
(08:06):
They also had the Gio Tracker, but if you
remember, the Tracker was also a Suzuki and
a Chevrolet and hell, there's even a
Pontiac model.
So we don't remember the fact that it was
the Geo Tracker because it wasn't a
dedicated model.
But the Asuna Sunfire and Geo Storm, those
were their products, but we don't remember
them because they didn't leave their mark
on history.
There are car companies out there that'll
(08:26):
leave their mark on history, and setting
yourself as a footnote in automotive
history will get you there.
Saab was there.
Saab was groundbreaking.
We all remember Saab vehicles, but ever
since the end of their existence from
General Motors, we have slowly forgotten
about them.
But why is that?
Why has Saab literally disappeared into the
(08:48):
forgotten companies of the past?
It's because near the end of their lifetime
they started producing very generic
products reminiscent of both Subaru and
General Motors vehicles.
Only the 9-3 in the end was their own
product.
Hell, the new 9-5 came out, gave Saab
something new for themselves, but
unfortunately it was too little, too late.
(09:10):
People had forgotten about it.
You see, when you lose your cutting edge,
you disappear.
And these forgotten companies came in to
take the market by storm.
They either created, ran or just lucked out
at the very end of some of these markets,
and there's a lot of car companies like
that.
Like I said, scion came in at a time when
the last major generation of youth was
(09:31):
getting into automobiles at a young age and
Toyota wanted to get in on the action and
with only having sedans, suvs, minivans and
trucks, they didn't have anything to get
people into their vehicles.
So they created Scion, these little economy
vehicles.
They saw how Gio and Asuna worked for
General Motors back in the 1980s and 90s.
(09:52):
We don't remember the car companies, but it
got us into the bigger car companies and
that's where a lot of these came from.
One of the ill-forgotten ones that you
really think of was another General Motors
one.
Gm has a lot of these car companies that
have literally disappeared into the
background, like Oakland.
Now Oakland fit a point just before Buick
they also had Viking Hell.
(10:13):
How about LaSalle?
Lasalle sat higher up than Cadillac.
It was the Rolls Royce of General Motors,
but then Cadillac moved up into that
category and LaSalle moved down.
By the end of LaSalle's existence all it
was was just another Cadillac branding.
See, a lot of these car companies kind of
just get mashed in with other products from
(10:33):
the range.
If you notice, a lot of these car companies
we've talked about, except for Tucker, have
all been part of other car companies.
They came here to serve a big purpose.
General Motors didn't just create Saturn
because they wanted to.
They created Saturn to go up against the
Japanese imports.
Gm was losing ground to the Japanese in the
(10:53):
1980s.
Essentially, it's what forced the American
government to put massive tariffs in the
1980s on Japanese-built vehicles, forcing
these car companies to build manufacturing
plants in the United States market.
Now, with NAFTA eventually coming out, they
were able to choose both Canada and Mexico
as well to build their vehicles for the
North American climate.
But Saturn was created to go up against the
(11:14):
new Japanese invasion, as they called it in
the 1980s, the Asian invasion.
That's what Saturn was here to do.
It was here to go up against those car
companies and it lived a long life From the
late 80s and all the way up until the early
2000s.
Saturn lived.
It essentially died when it just became
another General Motors product.
(11:35):
By its end, only the sky and the ion were
the only things that look completely
different than anything else.
Because you have to remember even the
Saturn Aura it was new for North America
but it was an Opel.
They were made by European product line.
So essentially in the end Saturn just
became Opal Vauxhall of North America.
It lost its way and it lost its two-door
coupe.
(11:55):
The SC1 is essentially what kept Saturn
going through the 90s.
They had a little sports coupe, an entry
level product, priced just right that it
sat at the bottom end but at the top end of
the bottom end and it did that so it can
get more people in.
But once people got into Saturn and started
realizing it's a General Motors product,
(12:15):
they got more faith in General Motors
vehicles and they would move up into other
divisions.
This worked well from General Motors as it
slowly curbed their loss of market share in
the North American product.
So it was great.
Saturn was a great idea for them, and if
you want to know more about Saturn, you
should actually go onto our podcast page
and actually look for the Saturn podcast.
(12:35):
We did one about the car company from how
it was created to how it ended.
It's a good story to listen to.
Same with Saab.
Saab was essentially a great story to
listen to as well, and that's from our
first season.
So some of these forgotten companies are
here, but one of the bigger forgotten car
companies out there is one that, unless
you're really into owning vehicles from the
(12:56):
fourth American car company, you would
never even think of American Motors.
Now we can't really say they're a forgotten
car company because everyone remembers
American Motors.
When they research stuff from Jeep, they'll
find out about them.
When they search stuff from Chrysler,
they'll find out about them.
You have to remember, and there are so many
different divisions that became part of
them.
But they are somewhat forgotten because we
forget that America had four major car
(13:17):
companies.
Hell, even in today's climate, america only
has two main car companies.
You can't even consider Chrysler an
American car company now because it's been
owned since 1999 by a european counterpart
first mercedes or daimler-benz, then fiat
and now part of the stellantis group, which
is essentially puso citroen.
So they're not really american.
(13:38):
For 20 years chrysler hasn't even been
american.
Sure, they started here and they still
build a lot of their stuff here, but
they're not american.
Hell, new jeep products aren't even being
brought over to the american marketplace.
The brand new avenger and compass aren't
coming here.
Hell, even the recon isn't coming here.
They're making them for offshore
marketplaces.
But amc, like I said, really isn't a
(13:58):
forgotten car company.
It's not as forgotten as the biggest small
car company america ever had.
That was checker motors.
Oh, and we have a podcast about electric
checker that you might want to listen to.
It's about, you know, trying to bring back
checker and kind of gives a little history
about checker motors.
Now, checker essentially got started out
building cabs in new york.
They became the main cabs now.
(14:20):
All the way up until the 50s they got a
brand new design and that design stayed on
all the way until the late 80s when the car
company eventually died out.
If you go back and watch any movie from the
1980s hell, I'll give you one right here
Ghostbusters, the first one.
Or even go back and watch an old school
movie from Robert De Niro called Taxi
(14:40):
Driver.
The taxi he drives in that is an old
Checker Marathon.
Now Checker also sold these vehicles as
sedans and station wagons for personal use
as well, and then they also had limos,
ambulances and a couple other features.
But we only remember them as the cabs.
We don't remember Checker as anything more
than the yellow cab from New York City, but
they were a car company as well.
(15:01):
They built production vehicles for people
to buy, but when you go to car shows nobody
remembers them, kind of like the Studebaker
Avanti.
Avanti Corporation existed for so long.
Studebaker's last vehicle, the Studebaker
Avanti, was so advanced for its time and
its design was so cutting edge that a group
of investors could not let that car go.
(15:22):
They couldn't let it die.
With Studebaker Only a few years after
coming out, they literally just couldn't
let it die.
So they bought the rights to it and kept it
going, kind of like how Ineos has bought
the original Land Rover Defender platform
to keep it going.
When Land Rover decided to redo the
Defender completely, straight down to every
(15:43):
nut and bolt, ineos said no, everybody
wants the original.
All they want it is with new features.
So let's give it an overhaul like you guys
did in the 80s.
Land Rover Jaguar said no.
So Ineos bought the rights to it.
These capitalists bought the rights to the
Studebaker Avanti and kept them together as
the Avanti Motor Corporation all the way up
until the early 2000s.
(16:03):
Yes, the Studebaker Avanti the last vehicle
you got to remember Studebaker died out in
the 60s and their last car survived until
the early 2000s.
It's a forgotten company.
Nobody remembers that the Avanti became its
own car company and survived for so long.
Hell, it even had a sedan version built in
the late 80s and early 90s.
(16:24):
It had one built where Bugatti was
considering on building one back then, but
it became forgotten.
We lost touch with those things.
We forgot that the Studebaker Avanti was
still around and that's what eventually was
their downfall.
Kind of like Asia Motors, it became part of
Kia and then Kia utilized its products to
build its own and with that, asia Motors
(16:45):
eventually just became absorbed by the
Hyundai Motor Corporation and completely
dissolved.
The only remnants you could find of Asia
Motors anymore is Kia's military products,
and even today they don't market them as
Asia products.
Asia Motors was one of those ones that just
disappeared.
Hell, the original Skyline nameplate, if
you go back to it, was its own nameplate.
(17:06):
It wasn't the Nissan Skyline, it was just
the Skyline.
But then again Japanese markets it wasn't
the Nissan Skyline, it was just the Skyline.
But then again, japanese markets.
Mazda tried so many of them AutoZone,
affini, hell.
They even tried to create the Mani Luxury
Division.
A lot of these products made it out, but we
don't remember them.
They were rebadged and just look like
standard Mazda products, kind of like the
Merkur.
(17:26):
We saw it over here and Merkur tried to
make a name for itself, but essentially we
all just saw it as a Ford Focus.
It was nothing more.
Plymouth did this when they brought the
Valiant out.
Similar to how Chrysler moved the Imperial
onto its own nameplate and Lincoln did it
with the Continental on its own nameplate,
plymouth did it to the Valiant name as well.
It existed.
(17:46):
There are so many weird brands out there
that existed, were so big, and then we all
forgot about them.
Now the Asian marketplace.
Before Kia and Hyundai absorbed each other
together, there used to be four main car
companies there.
There was Sasyong, hyundai, kia and Daewoo.
Now Daewoo is more in a financial and
mechanical, more in machines, televisions,
(18:07):
electronics and all that now.
But they built vehicles for a short amount
of time, eventually getting bought out by
General Motors.
And now today, daewoo all it is is GM Korea.
Daewoo came to our North American
marketplace for a very short lay of time.
They did find sales in the North American
marketplace and they were here, but all
they had were these little sedans and
hatchbacks.
They didn't make a name for themselves, and
(18:29):
that's where a lot of these car companies
have issues.
Hell, what about Troller?
Troller was on the news in Brazil, globally
saving people from floodwaters A few years
ago when the Amazon overflowed extensively.
It saved the country.
These Troller T4s were going in to the
rainforest and saving people.
(18:49):
Where are they now?
Ford bought them out and shut down the
plant so they could sell more Broncos and
Rangers in Brazil and not have to compete
with something.
But Troller was a Brazilian car company.
But do you remember them?
No, you don't, and they were here since the
90s.
Troller was a big SUV company and it was
originally built off Jeep platforms, kind
of like the Stark as well, the Tac Stark,
the and it was originally built off Jeep
(19:09):
platforms, kind of like the Stark as well,
the Tac Stark, the Agent, rocksta, the
Daewoo, crando all Jeep counterpart
vehicles built for their select markets.
But a lot of those car companies just
disappeared.
They came in here with a cape on as a
savior for cars.
They made their mark, but unfortunately
there was no follow up, and that's the
problem.
Some of these car companies were just too
good for their own good, essentially, and
(19:31):
some of them just got absorbed by other car
companies, or we just completely forgot
about them, or the market contracted.
They all have their place in history.
Hell, companies like Byton and Koda were
there near the beginning of the electric
industry.
Koda was just a rebadged Geely product for
the North American climate.
It was one of the original electric cars.
It was sold before Tesla even had the
(19:53):
Roadster on the road, but only sold in
California and sold in very small numbers
because there wasn't a lot of charging
stations.
But Koda was there.
They were big in their marketplace but then
died out.
Byton was going to showcase to the world
changes to our automobile.
They pioneered the massive touch screen
across the entire front end of a vehicle
(20:14):
and before the m bite even was released, it
faded into the memory.
There's a lot of car companies out there
that have done amazingly great things.
They've been here, but we all forget about
them.
My favorite forgotten car companies there's
two of them and these two were really big
in their home markets and today most people
don't even remember them.
I'm talking about McLaughlin Motors from
(20:34):
Canada and Pierce Arrow from America.
Now people remember Duesenberg, packard,
studebaker, lasalle's, but nobody remembers
Pierce Arrow.
Pierce Arrow actually set the standards for
high end luxury for both North America and
European marketplaces.
They were out doing Rolls Royce.
They were one of the most luxurious things
(20:56):
you could buy on four wheels in history.
But when the market collapsed in the 30s
they couldn't maintain and they died out.
But Pierce Arrow should have been a name we
all remembered, kind of like Locomobile, a
steam-powered.
They were the only car company to ever
professionally make a steam powered vehicle
in mass quantities for people, but we don't
(21:18):
remember them.
Detroit Electric one of the biggest
electric vehicle car companies in the early
history of the automobile.
They lasted over a decade making electric
cabs for big city marketplaces and electric
vehicles for homeowners, but we don't
remember them.
They pioneered the evolution of the
electric vehicle industry.
Pierce Arrow pioneered ultra-luxury
(21:40):
vehicles and McLaughlin McLaughlin was one
of the most revered luxury makes in the
North American marketplace when they
existed.
You couldn't sell products like Pierce
Arrow, cadillac or even Lincoln in Canada
because of the McLaughlin.
Its name was so big at that point in time
that everybody automatically knew what it
was.
They got so famous for building cutters and
carriages in the early days that by the
(22:02):
time they made automobiles, people trusted
them more than anyone else for perfection.
But when they tried to get more mainstream
they started to fail and with it, became
part of General Motors.
The funniest thing is is McLaughlin Motors
is the reason why General Motors exists
today.
Anybody out there can fight me on this all
they want, but they exist only because of
(22:24):
McLaughlin Motors.
Now McLaughlin Motors.
Robert McLaughlin's son, sam, was good
friends with William C Durant and he had a
meeting with him right after he was outed
from General Motors.
He used his own stock and his own buying
powers and GM to essentially get William C
Durant back on the board and basically sold
part of the assets of McLaughlin Motors and
(22:52):
technical information to General Motors to
help them compete against the big wigs of
both Ford and Chrysler.
But in today's world nobody remembers
McLaughlin Motors.
Unless you go to Oshawa, ontario, you don't
know McLaughlin.
You never really heard of them.
The only thing is if you watch the Royal
family you might understand McLaughlin
(23:12):
Motors, because even when Prince William
got married, that old classic car they rode
around in was a McLaughlin that was gifted
to his grandparents when they toured Canada.
Mclaughlin was a big name but they're old
but forgotten.
You see, a lot of these car companies
become as big as possible but, like I said,
1930s brought a lot of these American car
(23:32):
companies that were so big and were too big
to fail, made them fail and the ones that
didn't fail during those times eventually
just died out in later days when they
weren't able to make back their market
share.
Some of these car companies lasted so long
with an original product that people loved
that by the time that people wanted and
demanded a new vehicle, they didn't even
know how to deal with TA's technologies.
(23:54):
Checker essentially died because they
couldn't make vehicles in today's market.
American Motors died out because it had
trouble getting financing to overhaul all
of their plants.
El DeSoto was killed off because there was
no need for an extra division, kind of
saturn, plymouth, scion.
They were all just kicked to the curb.
A lot of these car companies just nobody
wanted around anymore.
(24:15):
The companies like scion, edsel, saturn,
amc hudson, willies, dkw, yugo, wolseley,
tbr not all of them have been completely
forgotten.
Yugo just announced that they're going to
be coming back.
Tbr has been coming back for a while and
keeps themselves their name out there.
Hudson really came back with the Cars movie
and AMC.
Well, like I said, search for it, you'll
(24:35):
find it.
But Edsel Edsel was one of the biggest
follies of automotive history.
It outranks Tucker.
Tucker got taken down by the big three
where Edsel was created by one of the big
three had amazing promotion but when the
vehicle vehicle came out it was the biggest
lunch bag let down of all time.
The company still was pushed and they still
tried to sell them, but unfortunately with
(24:57):
a poor design.
Nobody wanted them.
But you can't say they're a forgotten
company because people remember their
blunder, kind of like tucker, the car
company that should have been attacking the
big three today but didn't make it.
There's a lot of little companies out there
that we all forget about, but there are
some.
There were divisions and products of some
of these bigger car companies that existed
(25:18):
for a long period of time but when they
faded to memory they literally faded out.
They shut their doors and were forgotten.
It's like somebody who's your best friend
at work.
You don't go out and hang out after work,
but they're their best friend at work.
You could talk about and do everything with
this person while you're at work.
They get another job and move on and within
a few months to a year you've forgotten
(25:39):
them.
Hell, people in your family, you all get
together and remember them when they pass
away, but really do you remember them a
year later when you see a picture or hear
something about it?
You might remember them, but they're not
top of mind for you.
That's what a lot of these car companies
are.
They were big, they were there, they served
a purpose, but when they faded to memory
they literally faded out of existence and
(26:00):
today we've just all forgotten about them.
It's nice that some of these car companies
are coming back with the new
electrification into the world.
Alpha Motors Company is now the new AMC,
which is rejuvenating interest in the old
AMC brand.
The Cars movies brought people back into
finding out about Hudson Motors.
Hell, the Simpsons kind of kept the Geo
nameplate alive, poking fun at it.
(26:21):
There's a lot of them out there and a lot
of them that should get a little bit more
credit for what they did for the world.
They might not have an amazing supercar
like DeTomaso or Vector or Celine, but they
were here.
They sold thousands of vehicles, they made
a name for themselves and everybody saw
them.
But today we just don't remember them.
We can't understand why we don't remember
them, but, like I said, it's a lot like old
(26:42):
family members Over time we just lose touch
with our memories and they fade away.
Not everyone can live a life of luxury like
DeLorean.
So if you like this podcast, please like,
share or comment about it on any of the
major social feeds or streaming sites that
you have found the Outlooks podcast on,
from iTunes to Spotify to Amazon Music, we
are there.
You can find the Outlooks podcast anywhere
(27:04):
on any major streaming site from around the
globe.
We are there for you to listen to Spreading
the word of the automotive world to fans,
friends, family, well-wishers, anyone who
is willing to listen to us, and, after this,
stop by, write a review, send us a comment
or even send this podcast out to your
friends, your family, your well-wishers,
your boss person at the end of the cubicles.
(27:27):
You're not too crazy about Send it out to
them.
Ask them about any of the forgotten
companies that they may remember.
Be like oh, have you heard of this car
company?
Oh, no, yeah, I remember them.
They were like the biggest thing when I was
a teenager and then they just disappeared.
Can't believe you know them.
See how many people.
You can freak out about this and then send
us an email or a comment about it.
We love hearing stories from all of our
fans.
We've learned so much stuff from you.
(27:48):
Keep sending them in and send the emails to
email at autoluxnet.
If you'd like to get in touch with the
autoluxnet website podcast or even Mr
Everett James himself, send the email over
to email at autoluxnet.
The Autolux Podcast is brought to you by
Econ Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbeamcom.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
(28:08):
us an email over at email at autoluxnet.
So from myself, I'm Richie, the autoluxnet
website and the Ecom Entertainment Group
strap yourself in for this one fun wild
ride that these forgotten companies are
going to take us on.
Thank you.
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