in this week's window shop episode, we set out to find the best and most interesting cars from brands that no longer exist in the u.s. market. think saab, saturn, spyker, sterling, suzuki—and then wonder why so many dead brands begin with the letter s. armed with 5000 imaginary dollars, five c/d writers went hunting online for orphans worth adopting.
we dig into why some of the brands failed, whether or not datsun is actually a dead brand in the u.s., and how to pronounce merkur. plus, staff editor drew dorian confesses that he often finds himself searching for plymouth colt vista wagons.
many of the vehicles we find are predictably pretty terrible, but there are plenty of laughs, and you might even pick up some arcane trivia to throw around at your next car show. for example, we're fairly certain none of your car friends will know that the renault alliance convertible had a standard power top or that the 1984 300zx had both datsun and nissan badges.