from the Michigan Secretary of State\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\nMost things turn antique after 25 years but, well, close enough for government work. The designation allows owners to slap on historic license plates and qualify for more affordable collector car insurance (assuming you only drive to historic car events like the Cruise).<\/p>\n
Ah, 1992. When Bill Clinton was elected president, a Cyrus \u2014\u00a0Billy Ray, not daughter Miley \u2014\u00a0had the top-selling music album in the land, and my daily driver was a red\u00a0cop-magnet: a\u00a01987 Porsche 924S.<\/p>\n
The average cost of a car was $16,334 (less than half today\u2019s $36,270), the Detroit Three were demanding trade protection, BMW announced it would manufacture in South Carolina, and General Motors\u00a0made cars named after the planet Saturn. \u201cLittle Al\u201d Unser won the Indy 500, NASCAR still was sponsored by\u00a0cigarettes, Richard Petty retired from racing, and some kid named Jeff Gordon got his rookie start.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of nostalgia for the reunion to chew on. Want more? Let\u2019s talk the year\u2019s most notable new vehicles.<\/p>\n
Hummer H1<\/strong>
\nThe military Humvee was to the 1991 Gulf War what the Jeep was to World War II. The troop carrier inspired a civilian version that debuted with a ringing endorsement from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gun turret not included.<\/p>\nJust 316 were sold in ’92 by AM General off\u00a0the same Indiana assembly line as the military brute. They shared components, including an impressive\u00a072-degree front departure angle, which meant you could take the River Rouge\u00a0as a shortcut to work. Other features were less impressive, like zero-80 mph acceleration in a glacial 47 seconds and brakes that didn\u2019t stop the three-tonner until the middle of next week.<\/p>\n
Cadillac Eldorado\/Seville<\/strong>
\nCadillac\u2019s early-21st century product resurgence may have had its roots in the 1992 Cadillac Eldorado and Seville. The pair’s shrinking dimensions had matched their shrinking market share, but the bigger, bolder \u201992 was a return to form.<\/div>\n\u201cIt\u2019s the brightest ray of sunshine that we\u2019ve seen from the Motor City in years,\u201d wrote\u00a0Car and Driver. Motor Trend\u00a0<\/em>awarded it\u00a0Car of the Year. The Caddys were powered by a 200-horse, 4.9-liter V-8 and an ad campaign that promised \u201cit could change the way you think about American automobiles.\u201d<\/p>\nBMW 3-Series (E36)<\/strong>
\nSo fanatical are BMW 3-Series customers\u00a0that many can name their favorite Bimmer by alphanumeric generation: E36, E46, E90\u00a0and so on. Mine is the E46 M3, FYI. But for many the E36 model \u2014\u00a0introduced in the United States\u00a0for model year 1992\u00a0\u2014\u00a0is the one.<\/p>\nE46 marked the first 3-Series to move away from a cowl grille to encased headlights separated from the signature kidney grille. The new look gave the Bimmer better aerodynamics to complement its athletic\u00a0handling and healthy 189-horse, straight-6 engine. A driver’s car, rear-seat passengers were shortchanged with little leg room.<\/p>\n
Mazda 929<\/strong>
\nAn elegant\u00a0sedan to rival the Eldorado, the 929 was a study in minimalist beauty with its thin grille and sweeping lines.<\/p>\nThe 929 also offered techy features like a \u201csolar moon roof\u201d (pardon the oxymoron) which cooled the interior. Exotic, but impractical. It lacked a\u00a0glove box\u00a0(due to air bag placement) and boasted a price tag that was $2,500 higher than Lexus’ ES300, the fast-rising Japanese luxury juggernaut. The ES would endure, the 929\u00a0would not.<\/p>\n
McLaren F1<\/strong>
\nThe F1 is legend, but wasn’t\u00a0allowed here until last year under America\u2019s \u201c25-year rule\u201d that permits imports\u00a0not previously approved for U.S.\u00a0regulations. The scissor-door F1 was the successful English race team\u2019s first venture into production cars. Today\u2019s P1, 720S, and 570GT cyborgs are its spawn.<\/p>\nSpecs are epic. The first supercar with a carbon-fiber monocoque weighed just 2,500 pounds, hit 60 mph in 3.2 seconds\u00a0and set a (then) record top speed of 231 mph\u00a0\u2014\u00a0numbers still competitive today. But here\u2019s the thing: only 106 were built, so expect to pay north of $10 million for one.<\/p>\n
Honda Prelude<\/strong>
\nIf McLaren F1 was the class’\u00a0unobtainable hottie, then Prelude was the fun party gal. The coupe entered its fourth-generation in 1992 with significant changes, including an end to pop-up headlights that had been the industry rage in the ’80s.<\/p>\nCar and Driver voted the remake to its 10 Best list, raving that \u201cHonda changed the Prelude\u2019s personality from plain-vanilla to cayenne pepper.\u201d Prelude came loaded with options including a sliding sunroof, innovative all-wheel\u00a0steering (really)\u00a0and three engine options.<\/p>\n
The performance Si version pumped out 160 horsepower from a 2.3-liter mill shared with the Accord. Prelude has since been crowded out of the Honda lineup with the racy, 205-horse Civic Si waving Honda’s coupe flag.<\/p>\n
Subaru SVX<\/strong>
\nThe nimble Subaru BRZ (the only Subie without all-wheel drive) is one of my favorite sports cars. But it’s hardly Subaru\u2019s first foray into the segment. In \u201992 the Japanese brand turned heads with the SVX. Starting a trend of one, SVX innovated the \u201cwindow-within-the-window,\u201d which allowed passengers to roll down an embedded pane and not get wet in a rain storm.<\/p>\nSubaru contracted Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro \u2014\u00a0father of the BMW M1 and Maserati Ghibli \u2014\u00a0to pen their new halo coupe. Other notable features included a powerful, flat-6\u00a0putting\u00a0230 horses to the ground via\u00a0all-wheel drive. The hefty price tag ($45,000\u00a0in today\u2019s dollars), however, was outside Subie customers’\u00a0comfort zone and the SVX met an early death.<\/p>\n
Ford Taurus SHO<\/strong>
\nThe last of the purist\u00a0SHO (Super High Output). This classic, manual-only Woodward Q-ship was nearly indistinguishable from the standard, best-selling Taurus family sedan (hmmm, those dual-exhaust pipes look different!). But Ford stuffed the engine bay with a stonkin\u2019\u00a0220-horse, Yamaha-developed V-6 that hit 60 mph in less than seven seconds.<\/p>\nSales suffered for the lack of an automatic option, so a year later, Ford added a 3.2-liter V-6 mated to a four-speed auto.<\/p>\n
Congratulations to the Class of \u201992, 26 years young. Slap on your historic plate and burn rubber. You\u2019re only as old as you feel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Woodward Dream Cruise is an automotive class reunion. It’s that time of year when owners get together on Michigan’s most fabled avenue\u00a0to share memories about their favorite old jalopy and to catch up on the latest trends and models.\u00a0My goodness, have you noticed how big Mini Cooper has gotten? This year we celebrate the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"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\/22722"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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