Tommy Hilfiger's GMC Jimmy

Weird Car of the Day #515: 1998 GMC Jimmy by Tommy Hilfiger – Thrifted gems

Tommy Hilfiger's GMC Jimmy illustration

See, in the 1990s, when America's CEO pay scale wasn't as excessive, Detroit's leaders were seemingly more easily roped into holding charity galas, donating vehicles, and using their power to sometimes put more good back into the world.

I grew up in the space between the Roger & Me documentary (1989) and the bankruptcy-then-bailout of General Motors and Chrysler (2009), literally across (but up) the river in Canada. I have been to Michigan many times, it's a nice state. Detroit can be magic. We didn't even need a passport to visit.

Its extra-wide concrete roads, ramps, the below-grade Edsel Ford Freeway—at 8 or 9 I'd know where we were at based on landmarks and by how much of the city rose above the express lanes.

How the densely packed exit and ramp-then-tunnel of the E I-94 into the W I-96 can alternatively feel like a rollercoaster or could burn an hour of parental frustration in the age of paper maps and "it didn't look like this last time" or "they wouldn't let me in" or any exasperated script we've all heard (and recited) on a tense drive.

I would tell people I lived "near" Detroit because it was more of a place than my town seemed, though even then it was clear the city was under assault from all sides. What helped the city to change the world as America's economic — and literal — engine in the early to mid 20th Century had nothing left for the corporations desperate to offshore, or the mostly white, wealthier residents who simply moved away. It was obvious the entire region was hurting.

The streets were definitely gritty, and I'm not just talking January in Detroit or in March near Zug Island.

All that was left was the culture, which has always been world class. I've written before about listening to Detroit house music on the radio, late at night; hell, Eminem is 12 years my senior and in his earlier releases especially (I was 15 when The Slim Shady LP dropped in 1999), his lyrics and his vocal attack felt tethered to a place I knew well, albeit through a car window, like a season's pass holder to a great American experiment.

That's all a necessary setup to say: late-1990s GM products were uniquely horrible and exceptional at the same time.

Like an Uncrustables 'sandwich' or box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, the automotive engineering was commoditized excellence—balanced by thin budgets and self-injurious corporate decisions. Detroit, the city, felt sick and less cool by the day.

First as the exclusive automotive supplier in 1993 to becoming the title sponsor in 1998 of New York's 7th on Sixth fashion event, the precursor to New York Fashion Week, GM inserting its wares into a world renowned show came with a unique hook: charity.

OK, but the Michael Kors' Cadillac Deville *slaps*… • GM

GM's Concept:Cure, from what I've read, mainly focused on donating to support cancer research and funding organizations. To raise awareness and increase payouts, GM partnered with fashion designers to create one-off vehicles that could be auctioned off in support of Concept:Cure.

For 1998, the headline vehicle was this Tommy Hilfiger' GMC Jimmy: 50 percent cool, 50 percent Detroit at a low point.

Take a regular Jimmy, add desirable factory options and a custom three-tone red, white, and blue paint scheme in Tommy Hilfiger colours, plus embroidered leather seats, door cards, and other subtle changes that elevated its street style beyond other GMs of that era.

A Manik 4x4 front bumper was fitted to protect arguably the most valuable option: true High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights, all but unheard of in a midsize 1998 sport utility.

Presumably, it was given away in 1998 to a Concept:Cure donor.

I had been searching around for it, and more than a decade ago stumbled on the 2009 thread at chevroletforum.com titled "My new gmc jimmy" by user beachbumb3286, and based on their profile, writing from Florida:

Hi I am new to this forum and would like to post a few pics and a link to a video and see if maybe someone out there might be able to help. my boyfriend rescently bought me a 1998 gmc jimmy. we were told by the previous owners that it was a one of a kind tommy hilfiger concept car. that it was designed for concept cure and was raffled off for breast cancer awareness, at 10.00 a ticket. I am asking for help because i would liketo start making improvements, but don't want to depreciate the value of it by making changes. THANK YOU

Still online today, anyone can read that after a few back-and-forths, the thread devolved into casual mentions of roadkill, users chirping the admins—and just like that, Tommy Hilfiger's GMC Jimmy has disappeared back into obscurity.

Do you think we'll ever see this fashion icon—and certified unicorn weird car—ever again?