And you thought you might never see them again.
Several vehicles who made their names back in the glory days of the internal combustion engine are being given a new life as environmentally friendly rides.
Charging Up
Last month, Chrysler, the nearly 100-year-old, venerated American car brand, introduced its first electric vehicle and its parent company Stellantis (STLA) said it would go full battery electric by 2028, joining a growing list of major auto companies.
Ford's (F) Mustang defined a generation and is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate.
Named after a World War II fighter plane, the Mustang was unveiled by Henry Ford II on April 17, 1964 at the World's Fair in New York.
Ford sold more than 400,000 Mustangs within its first year of production, far exceeding sales expectations.
A 1968 Mustang 390 GT was featured in the 1968 Steve McQueen movie “Bullitt,” in a car chase through the streets of San Francisco.
Hard to say what McQueen would think of the electric version, but the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E can save you money.
The Mach-E and the Toyota (TOYOF) Rav4 were tests subjects in a study by the IHS Markit, Atlas Public Policy and the Wall Street Journal that showed electric vehicles cost less to fill up than their gas-powered counterparts.
'Soaring Customer Demand'
The study concluded that over time, the average EV owner saves more money than a gas-fueled driver due to lower fuel and maintenance costs.
Ford began making trucks in 1917 and the F-Series made its debut in 1948. It was Ford's first post-war truck and each truck was equipped with a manual transmission.
The F-150 was introduced in 1975 and has since gone to become the most popular motor vehicle of all time.
Ford introduced the F-150 Lightning last year and the automaker said in January that it would nearly double production of the pickup at its Dearborn, Mich., facility to 150,000 vehicles a year "to meet soaring customer demand."
The design for Land Rover, a British brand predominantly four-wheel drive vehicles, made its official debut in 1948 at the Amsterdam Motor Show.
In 1994, BMW (BMW) acquired Rover Group plc, including Land Rover, which broke the company up and sold the Land Rover to Ford (F). In 2008, Indian automaker Tata Motors (TTM) established Jaguar Land Rover Limited.
Jaguar Land Rover will be getting a $670 million state-backed loan to support the U.K.’s biggest carmaker in its shift to making electric vehicles. Land Rover will get its first full-electric model in 2024.
The company, which announced the Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV in 2018, also intends to eliminate combustion engines from its Jaguar brand starting in 2025.
'The Most Anti-Environmental Vehicle'
And then there's the Hummer.
The massive, gas-guzzling vehicle became an environmentalist's worst nightmare when it rolled into an unsuspecting world in 1992.
This was AM General's civilian version of the M998 Humvee and it reportedly came into existence partially due to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former governor of California, who saw army convoy while filing "Kindergarten Cop."
Schwarzenegger lobbied AMC to make a civilian version of the Humvee and he bought the first two Hummer H1s.
Who's going to say no to The Terminator?
Meanwhile, David Hirsch, of Friends of the Earth in the US, once described the Hummer as "the most anti-environmental vehicle in the history of the world."
AM General sold the brand name to General Motors (GM) in 1999, but continued to make the vehicles. Rising gas prices spurred GM to say in 2008 that it was reviewing the brand and it looked like the Hummer was all set to lumber off into the sunset.
However, the Hummer is seeing a new chapter as an electric vehicle and GM said recently that it has received nearly 59,000 reservations for the GMC Hummer EV.
