I believe was the "old" VW beetle. Engineers, professional men, lawyers and others valued them for their simplicity and reliability. "Housewives" or other family members valued them as "second cars". Kids in high school and college dressed them up with stickers and weird paint jobs. Beetles could just as well be owned by well-to-do households who valued utility and value in a vehicle over ostentation, or by schoolteachers and others who wanted quality but didn't have a lot of money to spend. It was also seen as a "friendly" car.

Don't believe there's been a car since that presented so broad a variety of "status cues," and which could stand (or not stand) for such a wide variety of personal tastes and values.