What brand is for enthusiasts only?

"Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito" (breakfast-burrito)
08/09/2013 at 23:06 • Filed to: None

This one's going to take some explaining so bear with me. An "enthusiasts only" company is a brand that the average person nowadays would "meh" at, but every enthusiast would rush to praise. I'll give some examples so you can get a better idea.

1: Pontiac

For me, Pontiac tops the list of currently being an exclusively enthusiast brand. Because they're no more, and due to the lack of widely inspiring cars in their last decade, most people you mention Pontiac to wouldn't have an opinion or just wouldn't remember them. Car enthusiasts on the other hand know just how good Pontiac was in their prime. From my experiences, they're one of the few brands that all enthusiasts (be they Mopar men, Ford nuts, Ricers, etc.) respect.

2: Plymouth

Plymouth also benefits from being long gone, and disappearing without leaving anything that would enamor the public today. To those who know Plymouth's history however, they were a truly special brand to lose. Far from a rich man's Dodge, Plymouth became synonymous with sleeper, and destroyed the competition on the racetrack.

Brands That Aren't Enthusiast Exclusives

This image was lost some time after publication.

1: BMW

Nowadays everyone and their mother has to own a BMW, and to please the masses BMWs have become !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and are generally boring, artificial, and uninspired. Couple that with the (usually true) snotty BMW owner stereotype and there is plenty of evidence that BMW isn't (exclusively) appreciated by enthusiasts.

2: Ferrari

Last time I drove a Ferrari I took notes that would have been helpful for this post, but unfortunately they're charred to a crisp. I think it had something to do with Ferrari's reputation for being pretentious dicks combined with the fact that they're the cars people who are otherwise clueless about cars oogle over.

DISCUSSION (22)

delete-me-please123 > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:11

Kinja'd!!!

f86sabre > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:12

How about AMC? Enthusiasts think of the Javelin, Gremlin and maybe the Eagle as cool, quirky cars that were ahead of their times. The rest of the world sees them unreliable, wierdly styled shit boxes.

Anon > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:15

Kinja'd!!!

Lotus. Oh that's a cool car! This suspension's too hard! Why is there no nav! Why is everything metal! Why doesn't this air conditioner blow hard!

RMudkips > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:15

SAAB. Even in some of their GM days, they were pretty awesome, and in their golden age, their quirks made them beautiful.

Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito > RMudkips
08/09/2013 at 23:21

I thought about this, but I was waiting to see if anyone would post it. I hereby award you with a wallpaper.

Kinja'd!!!

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > Anon
08/09/2013 at 23:22

I feel like almost any British sports car company (save Jag and Aston Martin) fits this. TVR? Check. Austin-Healey? Check. MG? Check. Sunbeam? Check.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:23

SAAB! They are the American Alfas!I love them for the quirkiness and fun they provide.

desertdog5051 > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:25

Oh, you would do 2 Pontiacs. How am I supposed to get to sleep? You are killing me.

RMudkips > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:27

Mmm, gonna be on my phone now, thanks.
Great minds think alike.

Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito > f86sabre
08/09/2013 at 23:27

THIS. This a thousand times over. Having gone to car shows my entire life, I've found that the guys who bring AMCs are some of the most knowledgeable enthusiasts. I've always been fond of the quirks of cars like the Pacer and Marlin, and the presence of cars like the Matador and Ambassador, but my favorite AMC has to be Mark Donahue's.

Kinja'd!!!

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:45

Panoz. Argument over. Ask a person off the street and they wouldn't even know. Hell, ask a random enthusiast and you've got like a 50/50 shot. But a real die-hard would know. And they know they are goooooooooooood.

My write up on their first road car, which was awesome

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And besides that, they made the Esperante road car/GT car

Kinja'd!!!

And also made the Esperante GTR prototype also known as the "Batmobile"

Kinja'd!!!

Thread over, I win. They never once made just a "normal" road car, yet they have a good track record for them, and have quite a few wins to their name in various series over the past two decades. I can't think of many small outfits that can lay claim to both.

Bandit > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/09/2013 at 23:56

Yay, I win respect points! What about AMC?

JasonStern911 > delete-me-please123
08/10/2013 at 00:29

Kinja'd!!!

Yeah... about that...

Giles007 > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/10/2013 at 00:46

I don't if there are any enthusiast exclusive brands left. Everyone needs models that they can sell to a wider audience; Porsche is selling crap loads of Panameras and you're right about BMW.
I'm 30 years old and so when anyone mentions Pontiac and Plymouth the first images that pop into my head are rebadged Cavaliers and Caravans.
No offense, it's just that when I was growing up these brands were definitely not performance oriented.
It's a shame that any one of the "big three" didn't keep a high performance brand. Instead they just starting selling the exact same cars with different names.

delete-me-please123 > JasonStern911
08/10/2013 at 00:52

Right behind ya..

Kinja'd!!!

Dunnik > delete-me-please123
08/10/2013 at 00:56

Yea, definitely Alphas - and especially classic Alphas. You'd have to be crazy to own one - or crazy not to, depending on your point of view.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito
08/10/2013 at 03:04

Kinja'd!!!

Tatra. Most people won't know who on earth you're on about, but enthusiats will know that they're Eastern European rear-engined air-cooled V8 luxury cars.