![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/abd26b43626957ed220ed03d829d2d7b8bf4c275\/c=0-140-1500-1268&r=x513&c=680x510\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/08\/12\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/635749903044028579-intro.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 1989, the Detroit Pistons were NBA champions. Bill Cosby was Americas\u2019 most beloved Dad on \u201cThe Cosby Show.\u201d Michael Keaton was \u201cBatman.\u201d George Michael had the album of the year. My hair was brown.<\/p>\n
Different times. But some things never change like our lust for speed, sizzle, and sports cars.<\/p>\n
Which is why we love the Woodward Dream Cruise, that annual automotive class reunion when we gather with 1.5 million of our closest friends to remember the cars we loved. This year we celebrate\u00a0the Class of 1989<\/a>\u00a0which has been officially knighted as \u201chistoric\u201d by the Michigan Secretary of State\u2019s office (inexplicably, the SOS grants antique status at 26 years, not 25. Does this mean I don\u2019t retire until I\u2019m 66?).<\/p>\n It was a memorable class to round out a memorable decade. The auto industry bloomed again after the twin \u201970s shocks of suffocating oil prices and government mpg edicts. Times were a-changin\u2019. Bailed-out Chrysler picked itself up and swallowed AMC\u2019s Jeep.\u00a0The Honda Accord eclipsed<\/a>\u00a0the Ford Taurus as the No. 1-selling car. I bought my first wheels, a\u00a0VW Rabbit GTI<\/a>, that had birthed a new segment of front-wheel-drive, affordable hot hatches to rival Detroit\u2019s affordable rear-wheel-drive pony cars. After their success in sedans, Japanese makers aimed to transform the luxury aisle with chariots like the 1989 Lexus ES that combined Camry-like reliability with dealer service that included monthly visits from six geishas to clean your home and cook your meals.<\/p>\n So welcome to the reunion, folks. Bolt on your historic plates at the desk and grab your class yearbook. Here are the highlights:<\/p>\n Corvette ZR1<\/p>\n Choose your nickname: King of the Hill, Big Man on Campus, the Corvette from Hell. Jointly developed with Lotus engineering to be the fastest sports car on the road, the 375-horse ZR1 was a limited-edition sensation. Its 4.5-second zero-60 time made it the second fastest car on the planet \u2014 second only to Porsche\u2019s immortal 959. \u201cIts power just plain warps the mind,\u201d\u00a0wrote Car & Driver<\/a>. The ZR1 was distinguished from the base, C4 \u2019Vette by its huge rear rubber, and even huger sticker price.<\/p>\n Mazda MX-5 Miata<\/p>\n Can a Japanese sports car cruise Woodward with Detroit muscle? You bet. The Miata\u2019s nostalgic vibe is what the Dream Cruise is all about. What\u2019s more, it was designed in L.A. with Yanks in mind. Its father was Motor Trend journalist-turned-Mazda-product-planner Bob Hall, who sold Mazda on a fun, affordable roadster. The most-raced car in America, the\u00a0fourth-generation MX-5<\/a>\u00a0was just launched for 2016.<\/p>\n Ford Taurus SHO<\/p>\n The performance variant of Ford\u2019s revolutionary Taurus, the SHO turned the family grocery hauler into a lethal weapon. Bearing the Taurus\u2019 radical \u201cjelly bean\u201d shape, the SHO (Super High Output) was stuffed with a 220-horse, 24-valve dual-overhead cam V-6 that could go zero-60 in just 6.6 seconds on its way to a top speed of 143 mph. Now that\u2019s a sleeper car.<\/p>\n Cadillac DeVille\/Fleetwood<\/p>\n A Caddy is a Caddy and the nameplate will always turn heads \u2014 even the compromised \u201989 model. The plush DeVille was no Cimarron \u2014 a perennial on\u00a0Top Ten Worst Cars of the \u201980s<\/a>\u00a0lists \u2014 but the front-wheel driver was a far cry from the grand boulevard cruisers of Cadillac\u2019s heyday. The DeVille had also been disastrously downsized in 1985 and the enlarged \u201989 model was an attempt to mute customer howls. But the redesign didn\u2019t stop slipping sales and the badge was retired altogether in 2011. Today Caddy is resurgent with rear-wheel-drive stallions that rival BMW. A pity it took 26 years to get back there.<\/p>\n BMW 5-series<\/p>\n If Caddy had lost its way, BMW was the new standard of American luxury. Rear-wheel drive (all-wheel drive optional). Powerful V-6 and V-8 engine options. Bullet-proof reliability. Bullet-fast performance. The \u201989 is dated by two things: those ugly period black rubber bumpers and a standard manual transmission. Heck, these days even a carbon-fiber, 2,400-pound, Alfa sports car doesn\u2019t come with a manual.<\/p>\n Ferrari 348<\/p>\n Hello, junior. Living in the shadow of Ferrari\u2019s spectacular, 12-cylinder Testarossa, baby brother\u00a0348 was still a looker<\/a>. Its sleek skin carried the same, signature side strakes as the Testarossa with a 300-horse V-8 screaming right behind the driver\u2019s ear. Zero-60? A fast 5.4 seconds that was half-second behind \u201cKing of the Hill\u201d ZR1\u2019s four-point-five. Oooh, what I wouldn\u2019t give to see those two boys pull up at a stoplight late Saturday night.<\/p>\n Ford Thunderbird<\/p>\n \u201cThe most perfect, dazzling creature I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d said Richard Dreyfuss of the 1956 T-bird (and its blonde occupant) in \u201cAmerican Graffiti.\u201d But by the \u201980s the Bird\u2019s glory days were a distant memory. Completely redesigned for \u201989, the T-bird was more Taurus than \u201950s cruiser. With a supercharged V-6 and RWD handling, the Bird could fly circles around GM\u2019s FWD products \u2014 but its niche was shrinking fast.<\/p>\n Porsche 911 Carrera 4<\/p>\n Timeless in design, relentlessly modern in engineering, the \u201989 Carrera 4 introduced all-wheel-drive performance to the 911. The drivetrain was inspired by the 1986 Porsche 959 \u2014 a 195-mph cyborg from a future, more-advanced civilization. The all-wheel grip off the line made the Carrera 4 one of the quickest cars made with a 4.8 zero-60 time.<\/p>\n Pontiac 20th Anniversary Trans Am<\/p>\n The Carrera 4 went zero-60 in 4.8, eh?\u00a0That\u2019s loafin\u2019<\/a>. This Detroiter did it in 4.6. And with a 6-holer just like the Porsche. Whaaaaat? In 1989 GM needed a pace car for the Indy 500 so GM took the insane, 3.8-liter, fuel-injected turbo V-6 out of the defunct, deviant Buick Regal GNX and stuffed it in the Pontiac.\u00a0Only 1,555 Trans Ams were made<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 all painted pearl white with tan interiors. Looked just like a regular Firebird \u2014 \u2019til you hit the pedal and put tire tracks over the Porsche in front of you.<\/p>\n Ford Probe<\/p>\n Ford\u2019s new sport coupe was controversial from its front-wheel drive powertrain to its rear trunk badge. But what were they thinking in marketing? \u201cFord Probe, hummm, how\u2019d you like to get hit in the rear end by that?\u201d cracked Jay Leno. Worse, the front-wheel-driver \u2014 co-developed with Mazda \u2014 drew the wrath of Ford faithful when it was proposed as a replacement for the iconic, rear-wheel-drive Mustang. Replace the \u2019Stang with a FWD Japanese car?\u00a0Grab your pitchforks, boys, we\u2019re marching on the glass house!\u00a0<\/em>In the end, both survived with the bullet-shaped Probe GT\u00a0making Car & Driver\u2019s 1989 Top Ten list<\/a>\u00a0for its deft handling and blown 2.2-liter mill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1989, the Detroit Pistons were NBA champions. Bill Cosby was Americas\u2019 most beloved Dad on \u201cThe Cosby Show.\u201d Michael Keaton was \u201cBatman.\u201d George Michael had the album of the year. My hair was brown. Different times. But some things never change like our lust for speed, sizzle, and sports cars. Which is why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17038,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17037\/revisions\/17038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}