[Gene Jockey]

I saw this story [freep.com] over at the Detroit Free Press site, and the writer is gushing over this as the coolest car of his lifetime. You check out the pics...make you own decision.

Josh's opinion?

Purple convertible truck for $47,000? I'll pass.

--J

[Arty50]

They did custom everything on the interior and then litterally slapped that ugly stock GM radio in there. It just doesn't fit with everything else.

And from the review, the thing can't turn. This problem has plagued GM for years. For the life of me, I can't figure out why they can't make cars and trucks with a decent turning radius. Almost every GM vehicle I've driven in the last 10 years has been horrible in this regard. Especially the full size trucks. Comparible Fords and Dodges turn much tighter than their Chevy counterparts. It's inexcusable, since simple things like parking become ordeals. For that much money, they could have done better.

[daimoni]

.

[boardsurfer]

fugly. seriously.

[JLFanboy]

I think there's probably a reason why nobody's ever tried to combine a roadster with a pickup truck.

[xyber233]

It reminds me of an aztek .

[wdlove]

I think that it is good looking in a retro-sort of way. Another to compete with the PT Cruiser. Looks like a car from the 40's - 50's. It's designefd to attrack baby boomers with an increasing disposible income. GM wants some of that money!

[Gene Jockey]

Originally posted by JLFanboy:
I think there's probably a reason why nobody's ever tried to combine a roadster with a pickup truck.

Yeah, because you get that abomination.

And I really can't believe he compares it to a MB SLK...and says he's rather have the SSR! I mean, look at the two:





There's no comparison. What the hell is he smoking?

--J

[vmarks]

The SSR is the vehicle that replaced the Pontiac Firebird and Chevy Camaro in the line-up.

Think about which demographic are the biggest buyers of Firebirds and Camaros, even though the last body style was the best one seen since it's introduction.

Now, think about why you might want to combine a pickup and a roadster if you're trying to reach that demographic.

Does this help you form a clearer picture of what happened here to produce this hybrid?

Truthfully, it's way better than the El Camino or Ford Ranchero, and serves the same purpose.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by daimoni:
Why can't people in our country build cars with a decent interior?

There's just no excuse for it.

Agree, ANOTHER plastic American car.

[keekeeree]

The picture in the article really doesn't do it justice, so:





Do I like it? I honestly don't know...some pictures I see and I think, "Hey, that's cool as hell." Others, "Bleh...could do with out that."

Would love to see one up close in personal like.

[Gene Jockey]

Originally posted by vmarks:
The SSR is the vehicle that replaced the Pontiac Firebird and Chevy Camaro in the line-up.

Think about which demographic are the biggest buyers of Firebirds and Camaros, even though the last body style was the best one seen since it's introduction.

Really? I like the one on the left quite a bit more than the one on the right.

Now, think about why you might want to combine a pickup and a roadster if you're trying to reach that demographic.

I don't know why you would. Chevy muscle car fans don't want weird looking hybrid autos. They want muscle cars that look classic. Witness the proportional decline of sales from the early 90's re-design as the cars became more and more ungainly and bulbous. People didn't like the look. They didn't buy. Why would these same people instead buy a truck modeled with the same design ethic? With twice the sticker of a Z28, no less?

Does this help you form a clearer picture of what happened here to produce this hybrid?

Truthfully, it's way better than the El Camino or Ford Ranchero, and serves the same purpose.

If "better than the El Camino" is the best it can do, that's not saying much.

It's fugly and overpriced. If you lined me up near cars that I could also buy for $47,000, I could throw a rock and hit a better value. Not that I would throw rocks at such expensive cars, but you get the idea.

--Josh

[malvolio]

Jeez, another SUV.*





* Stupid Ugly Vehicle

[Face Ache]

Originally posted by keekeeree:

It looks like a Batmobile/VW Beetle hybrid.

[BrunoBruin]

I'll go along with Robert Cumberford in the August issue of "Automobile."

"...An incredibly well-styled bad design."

[scottiB]

The SSR came about as one of five truck concepts (and only intended as concepts) created by GM design think-tank group (I think called APEX--which is apart from GM's brand design studios) to present to the GM Board of Directors at its annual meeting at GM's Arizona Proving Grounds in August, 1999. Car concepts and ideas for the mid to far future are presented the the BoD to give them a hint of future design ideas, etc.

The five concepts were to honor Chevy truck heritage (I think 2000 was Chevy trucks' 75th or 80th anniversary) and each was to represent decades: 1920s (this is a Ford, though), 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s (with the 70s and 80s being too close in style to current models). In late June, 1999 APEX designers worked with designers at boutique auto supplier ASC who sketched ideas and worked out ideas on Alias|Waverfront's AutoStudio, offsite and away from GM Tech Center.

For a brief digression, GM (and other manufacturers) were a bit under-the-gun to produce "hot cars"--especially for concept vehicles in the auto show circuit. To make matters more difficult, VW and Audi had raised public expectations by developing production cars that actually looked like the show vehicles (VW's Concept 1>>New Beetle/whatever the concept was called>>TT). So, brands couldn't produce wacky, six-wheeled, flying cars anymore for the hell-of-it. Some cars had to make it to the dealerships. As well, as we all know, the late 90s produced a few nouveau-retro cars in styling (Beetle, PT Cruiser), and GM was just about to announce...the Aztek.

Anyway, GM was coming-off as a listless, void of design, and a "thinking outside the box" was in order to show the BoD that GM was not a listless void of design. Well, it was June, not enough time to design, fabricate, and ship concepts to Arizona, so the idea was to speed model the concepts in Alias, realistically ray-trace render them for promo shots, and have a turntable animation presented in HD1 resolution so the BoD got the ideas that GM was in touch with the retro thang (this might be a bit of editorializing on my part).

Five designers, one for each decade, sketched ideas--taking cues from those trucks from each decade and re-imagine them as modern vehicles. Some didn't tranlate well (the 20s and 30s) and once design reviews (and the calendar) began clipping along, development of those were dropped as most everyone gravitated towards the 40s concept (the 50s--which I really liked--and the 60s were dropped later). So, the 40s concept was presented to the BoD--which loved it.

It was decided that the 40s concept (which at the time was not a convertable, I don't think) would be made into a show car for the 2000 Detroit Auto Show. The Alias math data was tightened for milling. An interior was designed and built in Alias, and it was dubbed the SSR (Super Sports Roadster) and presented at the Auto Show---and everyone loved it, and least everyone said they loved it, and here we are: a boutique, limited-production car, that is probably two years too late. Since its introduction, the Prowler has been axed, the T-Bird is terminal, and the market really doesn't want a boutique car, at least I don't think so.

It wasn't meant to be the next pony car: a Car and Driver cover story dubbed it that. There originally was a different radio with a flip down cover, but that was changed to the GM stock. Another change from the show car is the omission of the car-wide chevron bar on the tailgate that mimics the front (Bob Lutz cut that after he arrived at GM).

Finally, no offense BrunoBruin, but Cumberford is the John Dvorak of the car mags.

Edited to add: The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News will, of course, love or at least always like stuff Detroit puts out. To think anything other is expecting Macworld to come out and actually print that the PowerMac G4 is slower than a P4 or Athlon.

[dampeoples]

I like it, I think. I saw a model of it at Wal-Mart once, it looked good, but some of those pics up there do not.
If it's really $47k as stated above, I'd buy a Vette anyway. Providing I had a pot to piss in.

[Kenneth]

They should hire Ive...
One ugly moving thing..

[BrunoBruin]

Originally posted by scottiB:
Finally, no offense BrunoBruin, but Cumberford is the John Dvorak of the car mags.

I don't always agree with him, but at least he talks about design and styling. For something that's such a huge factor in a buying decision, the other car mags have absolutely nothing to say about it, which I find really odd.

I do agree with him about the SSR; it's just a bad design. Instead of the best elements of a car and a truck, you get something that doesn't have the comfort of a car and at the same time lacks the utility of a truck.

[itomato]

Chrysler should have done a little more thinking about the shape of the PT Cruiser. Chevy got the nose right. The PT's face and rear make it extremely unattractive to me.

[seanyepez]

I can't believe they say the SSR is better than the SLK320 because it has 85 more horsepower and costs over $3,000 less.

They failed to mention that its weight and anemic powerplant make it drive like a boat and guzzle enough gas to justify the war in Iraq.

[permanent68]

I think it's extremely ugly, like most things GM. But aside from it's uglyness, I hate the IDEA of the SSR. WTF do performance and 'truck' have to do with each other? Same with that Ford Lightning. It's just stupid. If you want to go fast, how about start with a chassis/body that doesn't ahve the aerodynamic efficiency of a BRICK.

TRUCKS ARE MADE FOR HAULING THINGS, off roading, towing, etc. I think THIS concept kicks the SNOT out of the SSR:



- Ca$h

[scottiB]

Originally posted by BrunoBruin:
I don't always agree with him, but at least he talks about design and styling. For something that's such a huge factor in a buying decision, the other car mags have absolutely nothing to say about it, which I find really odd.

I do agree with him about the SSR; it's just a bad design. Instead of the best elements of a car and a truck, you get something that doesn't have the comfort of a car and at the same time lacks the utility of a truck.

No, I agree with you regarding other mags not covering styling, and I agree that Cumberford conveys reasons in theory, etc.

I came off poorly, sorry, but for some reason in my life around here, I've become friends and acquaintances with car designers (when I met my GF five years ago, she rented an upper flat from a Chrysler designer who lived below, Bryan Nesbitt, who later penned the PT Cruiser and became head of car design at GM).

I ask them about Cumberford's comments (not Nesbitt, in particular) over the years, and they typically roll their eyes (probably as Ives would in reading any of our comments regarding the G5 or whatever). Now, I'm not saying that the SSR is wonderful, but I'm not a big fan of design pundits, as a whole.

I feel the SSR will last two-three years. The time of boutique cars is over, really (Prowler, Lincoln Blackwood, etc.) As I wrote above, the SSR was just to be a concept, then a snowball turned into an avalance when the press and public embraced strongly.

Again, this car's run is 10-12k/year. The SSR is essentially a two seater with a big trunk, that's it. People who buy these do not haul peatmoss from Home Depot in them.

[nredman]

interesting design...but ugly, then again i used to think the pt cruisers were ugly when they first came out and now i dont mind them...wouldnt buy one but i can stand looking at one now

[driven]

I'm sure some folks will like it, but my first impression is .... run .... run very far .... my cookies are about to be tossed.

[Face Ache]

The 2003 GM SSR. (US$41,000)

The 1952 GM Holden FJ Ute. (US$2,000)

Strewth!

We've come a long way baby.

[7Macfreak]

they're all trying to go retro now.
looks pretty fugly on the outside but the interiors seem nice.

[MikeM33]

Originally posted by vmarks:
Think about which demographic are the biggest buyers of Firebirds and Camaros, even though the last body style was the best one seen since it's introduction.

Whoa hold on. I do believe the last series of Camaros and Firebirds were cooler than the previous series that began in 1982. I'll have to say that the below designs still rule over-all. Gas guzzlers that they were, they were what real muscle cars were all about.

1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am


1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am


1981 Chevy Camaro Z28

Truthfully, it's way better than the El Camino or Ford Ranchero, and serves the same purpose.

I have no idea what was wrong with the El Camino, another muscle car of a by-gone era. The below is probably one of the last designs. Basically a Monti Carlo SS with flatbed.

1984 Chevy El Camino SS


I definitely agree about the demographics though. These "retro" designs are trying to get a hold of the ones that always wanted that classic Firebird or El Camino or whatever but could never afford it, or just never got one for whatever reason. They're designing these things to look more like classic muscle cars to hook-in that audience.

I kinda like the SSR design myself but the price-tag is rediculous.

MikeM

[ajprice]

Those people need to hire a proper designer, and make something original