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As 2011 fades into history, so do some once-popular car and truck nameplates, all of them victims of “progress.”

At the top of the list of not-gonna-be-here-anymores are two Ford Motor Co. stalwarts, the Ranger compact pickup and the Crown Victoria large sedan – whose last few years have seen it relegated mostly to police and taxi fleets.

Others going away include one of my favorites, the Chevrolet HHR small crossover, as well as the Dodge Dakota midsize pickup; Mitsubishi Eclipse compact coupe/convertible; Mitsubishi Endeavor midsize SUV; Honda Element compact crossover; Mazda RX8 rotary-engine sports car; Mazda Tribute compact SUV; and three big sedans from General Motors, the Buick Lucerne and the Cadillac DTS and STS.

More: John LeBlanc’s top 10 discontinued new cars

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The demise of the Crown Vic, as it’s known in shorthand, is a no-brainer.

This car is almost a dinosaur, and was one of the last cars on the market with roots in the big sedan cruisers that Americans enjoyed before the first gasoline crisis, in 1974, began changing the automotive landscape forever.