Last night I posted this comment (without the image) on a 'The Intercooler' article by Mel Nichols about the history of the iconic Car Magazine Good, Bad, Ugly (GBU) pages:
My favourite* GBU line was the 1983 (still have the August issue) 'Sum up' for a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance:
"As flash as a rat with a gold tooth".
I loved the GBU, kept a few key Car issues over the years including my first purchased, for a pocket money killing $1.20! The Feb 79 issue had a Fiat 131 Sport on the cover, alongside a RS2000 Escort but who cares..., and the fabulous line "God bless mindless vandalism" amongst the graffiti on the fence behind them. I believe that was inspired by the same seen by Steve Cropley on a wall outside a church in Aussie, but the cover is credited to Ian Dawson.
I'm not a fan of the current GBU, but maybe cars have got good enough that there isn't really enough bad left to inspire. Good, Boring, Ugly perhaps? It would be whole lot of Sum Up: "Just another SUV".
(* Enhanced by knowing someone with a Gold 80s land yacht Cadillac, which was extremely rare in New Zealand, and gleefully sharing it with them)
I was surprised, so pleased, to see a reply from Mel tonight!
"Mel Nichols 2 hours ago
Thanks for the reminder of the Caddy comment Robin. Yes, Steve chipped in with the ‘mindless vandalism’ line when, after finding that corrugated iron fence around a building site in London’s East End as a location, Art Director Wendy Harrop asked if a bit more graffiti could be added to that already there. Photographer Ian Dawson took the pic under her direction."
Had to reply:
If 13-year-old me was told this would happen in the future, he would not have believed it. Not sure 58-year-old me does either. Thanks!
