The old cars weren't that great

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/13/1419693/-The-old-cars-weren-t-that-great

I'm a gear-head from way back. I love driving my 57 DeSoto. It's as close as I'll ever get to being a celebrity. People wave and take pictures. I can't park it anywhere without a crowd being gathered around it when I come out of the store. It's fun.

It's also a piece of junk, as I found myself explaining to the young gas station clerk who was wishing that "they made cars like that today".

We were driving it the other day. It was about 90 degrees outside and we had the windows down. I commented to my wife "Can you imagine crossing the country like this? No AC, no cruise control, and just an AM radio?"

My parents went coast to coast in a Studebaker Lark and I don't recall them ever saying they enjoyed it. They waited to cross Death Valley at night so as not to overheat the engine. I was a one-year-old in the back seat (without a seat belt) so I don't remember it.

The old cars just weren't that great. Your dad's 58 Pontiac? Not so hot. That Plymouth Road Runner you loved in High School? It really wasn't that great. That VW Microbus you went to Woodstock in? Sorry, not that great.

Trust me, I've owned a bunch of 'em over the years. VW bug? Had one. Mustang? Had a couple. Camaro? Had one of those too. GTO? Yep. Riviera? Sure. Big block MOPAR? Had two.

[pintobean]

1. Cars are better now than they were 50 years ago?

Phones were crap back in the day, too.

[csziggy]

25. A wall phone was advanced! My parents kept the one installed in 1952

When they moved the house into town. That was the only phone we had until 1978 when they bought a newer house. It looked like this:


It was on the desk in the living room so no private conversations with friends. It was also my Dad's business phone so if we answered it we had to be ready to take detailed, correct messages. Since it was his business line we were the only family in the neighborhood with a private line until the 1960s.

[yardwork]

45. We had one of those too. The telephone company owned it.

[csziggy]

46. Yes and it was hardwired into the wall.

It was after the original Bell Telephone/AT&T was broken up that buying your own phone was possible.

AT&T increased its control of the telephone system through its leasing arrangements for telephones and telephone equipment made by its subsidiary, Western Electric. Like most telephones of the time in the United States, Western Electric-made phones were owned not by individual customers, but by local Bell System telephone companies — all of which were in turn owned by AT&T, which also owned Western Electric itself. Each phone was leased from AT&T on a monthly basis by customers, who generally paid for their phone and its connection many times over in cumulative lease fees. This monopoly made millions of extra dollars for AT&T, which had the secondary effect of greatly limiting phone choices and styles. AT&T strictly enforced policies against buying and using phones by other manufacturers that had not first been transferred to and re-rented from the local Bell monopoly. Many phones made by Western Electric thus carried the following disclaimer permanently molded into their housings: "BELL SYSTEM PROPERTY — NOT FOR SALE." Telephones were also labeled with a sticker marking the Bell Operating Company that owned the telephone.

In 1968, the Federal Communications Commission allowed the Carterfone and other devices to be connected directly to the AT&T network, as long as they did not cause damage to the system. This ruling (13 F.C.C.2d 420) created the possibility of selling devices that could connect to the phone system and opened up the market to numerous products, including answering machines, fax machines, cordless phones, computer modems and the early, dialup Internet.

In the 1980s, after some consumers began buying phones from other manufacturers anyway, AT&T changed its policy by selling customers the phone's housing, retaining ownership of the mechanical components — which still required paying AT&T a monthly leasing fee.

For most of the 20th century, AT&T subsidiary AT&T Long Lines thus enjoyed a near-total monopoly on long distance telephone service in the United States. AT&T also controlled 22 Bell Operating Companies which provided local telephone service to most of the United States. While there were many "independent telephone companies", General Telephone being the most significant, the Bell System was far larger than all the others, and widely considered a monopoly itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_AT%26T#Monopoly

When I was in college and moved into an apartment was when consumers were first able to buy their own phones. Some of the landlords still leased from the phone company and had hard wired phones. one of the places I rented had the phone in a really inconvenient location - I bought a phone, wire and a wall box from Radio Shack and the guy at the store explained how to wire it into the existing box so I could have a phone where I wanted it. I carried that same phone, wire and box and used it in several rentals and in my own mobile home for years. When I sold the mobile home I left the setup in the house for whoever ended up with it.

[yardwork]

83. I remember! We called the monopoly Ma Bell.

When I was in high school a friend offered to install a similar set up as the one you describe in my bedroom so that I could have a phone in my room. My parents refused, though.

[csziggy]

116. Yes, good old Ma Bell or simply The Phone Company

[Blue_Tires]

113. I remember reading this classic:

Woman paid thousands to rent rotary phone
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-09-14-phone_x.htm

[csziggy]

115. Yes, I found several versions of that story

But you know, many people of my parents' generation just didn't want to mess with finding their own phones or worrying about replacing them if something went wrong. Those old black clunkers like I posted above lasted damn near forever and seldom broke.

After my parents moved into their "new" house Dad would buy the cheapest piece of crap from Radio Shack. The sound always sucked and most of them lasted only a couple of years. Finally my sister, the thrift store maven, started getting them better phones. I've never been sure if she actually found them at thrift shops or if she just told Mom & Dad that so they wouldn't object to her spending money on them. Her best purchase was one designed for those who were hard of hearing.

Dad had pretty much given up on having phone conversations - he was profoundly deaf and his hearing aids didn't help a lot. But that phone my sister gave him another decade of being able to hear at least a little on the phone. Now that Mom's hearing is going she's using it to good advantage.

[Eleanors38]

51. Our '48 rotary was replaced only when Southern Bell went to touchtone in '69...

That same phone still hangs on the wall in the old homestead. Superior sound to cell crap.

[csziggy]

54. My uncle worked for Southern Bell and tried to get my parents to update

By the 60s my uncle had worked his way up from lineman to switchman and in the late 60s he was anticipating the computer switches. Dad was renting a Wang computer for one of his engineering jobs and they had some great conversations about the future of technology.

Where we lived Centel was the local phone company and they weren't pushing touchtone until after I left for college in 1970.

Dad hated the number pad on the touch tone phones - he wanted a number pad with the same configuration he was used to on calculators. It wasn't until they moved in 1978 and the previous owners left no phones in it that Dad finally had to adapt to touch tone phones. By then you pretty much couldn't buy a rotary dial.

[One_Life_To_Give]

125. Bet it still works

Those old Western Electric phones were built tough. Likely could have sat in a landfill since 1980 and would still work today if dug out of the ground. May be missing alot of todays features but when it came to robust design there are few things that tough today.

[1939]

2. Just an AM radio

The horrors, the hardship, the inhumanity to be in a car and not to have two thousand dollars worth of speakers and amplifiers to listen to some "musical group" with two cents worth of talent.

I was thirteen before we had a TV in the house and AM radio was our source of entertainment.

Sunday night was "prime time"

6:30 Our Miss Brooks
7:00 Jack Benny
7:30 Amos and Andy
8:00 Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy
8:30 Red Skelton

[Human101948]

8. You can still listen to those shows thanks to the internet...

Google "Old Time Radio." The best site is archive.org. My favorite is "The Great Gildersleeve."

[a kennedy]

12. It still is on Saturday and Sunday on our local Public Radio......

http://www.wpr.org/programs/old-time-radio-drama

We listen both nights, great fun.

[newfie11]

3. I have memory's of crossing the country in those cars

Back in the late 40's up to 1962 my family moved about every three months ( Daddy an IBEW Electictian). Cars of choice were Packards (never new) and Chevys.

Traveling across the SW in summer with no air conditioner left a lasting memory on me. Lol.

Oh yeah the radio! Most stations we couldn't pick up because they didn't broadcast that far.

Except Dell Rio Texas station lol.

[quickesst]

4. I love the older Mopars

The new challenger is pretty nice. Style and modern convenience. Biggest problem with most modern cars? No style. Look like cookie cutter products. I can't even tell what make or model some of them are until I see the badges. Older cars, the classics, are for fun, and something that you love. They're beautiful.

[pintobean]

5. +1

[bluedigger]

13. Guy next door in the dorm had one of those in college.

His was red, and he used to swap out the rear end and drag race it at the strips down in Jersey in the summer. I rode in it once, from the hockey arena back to the dorm. Maybe a 10 second ride. Had a fire extinguisher between the front seats. Fucking scary car.

[hifiguy]

79. Those muscle cars were faster than hell

in a straight line.

Not so much around any kind of corner, what with those primitive solid-axle-on-leaf-springs rear suspensions. A friend of mine back in the day had a Road Runner and the thing cornered like a cow on roller skates. I owned a Dodge Super Bee for a while; 383 - big carb, ram air. Same deal. Faster than hell in a line, though.

[quickesst]

29. Always wanted one of those.....

...oh well, woulda, shoulda, cuda

[Number9Dream]

39. Still want one of those...

[jonno99]

95. Agreed - that is sweet...nt

[quickesst]

89. Always wanted one of those.....

...oh well, woulda, shoulda, cuda

[Kilgore]

102. Had one, loved it but......

Got married, had kids, started a career. Ended up trading it in for something "practical"

A few years ago bought a new Challenger. I can definetly confirm the new ones make more power, burn less fuel, and are waaaaay more comfortable. 425 horsepower puts a nice smile on ones face!!!!!

[LuvNewcastle]

7. I agree with you about the styles.

I can't tell these new ones apart, either, unless it's a Mustang or a Challenger or another of the new ones that are made in the old style. Hopefully, as cars become more fuel efficient, we'll see more variation between the different makes. If a car is electric, for instance, it shouldn't matter as much if the car is perfectly aerodynamic. Maybe they'll start making the cars bigger again, too. I can't stand little cars. They ride like a log truck.

[quickesst]

15. Although not....

...true to the classic, the new charger R/T is ok, but it would be much more appealing in a two door model. Small cars. I am with you on that.

[Egnever]

37. A big reason sonmany cars look alike today is fuel efficiency

They are designed to reduce wind resistance. Doing so leaves you with basically one shape to work with.

As we chase higher and higher efficiency it will only get worse not better.

[Angel Martin]

42. not just fuel efficiency

also EU regs on pedestrian run overs and US crash regulations on window distances etc.

competing EU vs US visibility laws, etc, etc

http://www.autonews.com/article/20120924/OEM03/309249996/the-challenge:-great-design-that-satisfies-the-law

[Human101948]

6. The mention of Death Valley brought back memories...

In 1961 my family came on home leave through L.A. My father purchased a Ford Falcon and we crammed into it with all our luggage and set off for New Jersey. It was June and we discovered why they called it Death Valley as we crossed it in the midday sun.

[mopinko]

9. yeah. thinking about getting a brand new car. sick of the hassles.

will be putting my beautiful, gas guzzling, unreliable 85 jeep grand wagoneer woodie up for sale.
had to drive it most of the day yesterday. 2 tanks of gas.
doesnt like to start cold and stay running like every big block american car is have EVER owned, except my 93 chevy suburban.
had lots of other grief w it. less than 100k miles.
for as many of these as they sold, you would think you could still find parts. but no.

getting old, getting divorced, a new car that will likely last the rest of my life is a pretty compelling idea.

[snooper2]

10. depending on condition I would snag that up from you, does it have the 360?

If 4wd works as well would be awesome-

Only thing depending on where you live those are notorious for the frame rusting out right where the gap is between the frame and the gas tank-

Also the instrument clusters are crappy on those, Like the 4WD light staying on even when you are in 2WD.

[bluedigger]

14. That's a collectible.

If it's in decent shape you shouldn't have much trouble selling it. Ex-girlfriend had one. Best vehicle I ever drove in the snow.

[mopinko]

49. yeah, its a love/hate relationship.

i do love the 4wd. with all that weight, it does the job big time.
it is in pretty good shape, and low miles.
i get asked if it is for sale all the time. even had a note on the windshield.

will probably cover quite a bit of the cost of that new car. still need a good hauler, but think i will look for a nice old chevy pickup truck.

[IDemo]

11. I've owned 2 old Mustangs, a VW Beetle and a 70 Impala.

I'd take the '67 Mustang back in a heartbeat if I could.

But it's very unlikely that I'll ever be buying another car, new or old. My '93 Toyota has under 80k miles and runs like a top. This was before everyone, Toyota included, kicked their quality control to the curb. And sorry, but I don't need or want an entertainment center with my transportation, not to mention a vehicle that's as open to the hacking world as a frog on the dissection table of a high school biology lab.

[bedazzled]

17. i had a '67 mustang, too. my first car out of high school.

dinosaurs ruled the earth.

wish i still had that car, it was beautiful and handled so nicely, even in the snow.

i am sick of power windows that stop working - in the florida heat. i almost always use 4-40 air conditioning anyway.

[Freddie]

82. My son had a '93 Camry with 280000 miles

Bought it in 2006 with 164000 miles. Had transmission replaced, otherwise great. He was in a fenderbender with it and finally decided to get something more "modern", a 1998 Escort with only 60000 miles (and the AC still works!).

[trof]

16. My first four cars were foriegn made.

1. Morris Minor convertible
2. VW bug
3. MGB
4. VW fastback
All 'pre-owned' except the fastback.

At various time I had a Karmann Ghia convertible, another VW bug, and a VW Dasher (worst POS I ever owned).

Been driving a Chrysler mini van since they first came out.
Also have a Prius, which I love.

[ileus]

18. Stick with you Acura....

as for me and my family we don't go to car shows to look as Nissan Sentras or Honda Accords.

[Go Vols]

19. My kid standing next to my '49

last week,maybe I will upgrade to a '53.

[OilemFirchen]

50. I've always regretted selling my '58 Chevy Apache panel van.

I could climb into the engine compartment if necessary - which never was.

My '98 Ranger is on its third engine...

[snooper2]

52. are those wheels off a 1980 trans am?

[Go Vols]

60. No,but they do look like them kinda(I had one)

They are hubcaps that I have no clue what they came off of.

[Throd]

20. Actually they are.

Any machinery 60 years old will probably seem lacking compared to current standards. That isn't the point. I like cars that have a soul. My 1959 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 is a car of absurd styling and proportions. It only has an Am radio, and the climate control is a single lever that slides from blue to red. I love the simplicity of the thing. I love hearing the moving parts and all the creaks it makes as it floats down the road. Old cars, like people, have their quirks and idiosyncrasies that make them unique. And yes, they can be at times a pain in the ass, but I'll take that over these bland "bar of soap" styled cars being peddled these days.

[Archae]

21. I love old cars...

To look at.

I'd never own one, though.

Just too expensive.

[L. Coyote]

22. Just bought a 20-year-old one. Price is better.

[ProfessorGAC]

34. I Just Bought A 1997 Concorde

With (seriously) 50,000 miles on it. About 3k per year. And, the tires and brakes are a year old. Everything works.

I'm parking my convertible for the winter and driving this. If the heater works, the radio works and it runs and stops when i hit the brakes, i'm good.

[KG]

23. drove my last vehicle to 207k miles. still ran like a top.

no way the cars I grew up with last that long.

[Brother Buzz]

24. I don't miss vapor lock and vacuum pumps

But I did like '3-on-the-tree' and wing vents.

[merrily]

26. The old cars were designed for planned obsolesence, so people would keep buying cars.

But, the old car factories were great for the economy.

[flobee1]

27. 66 olds f85

That thing is the car that would not die, and i beat the hell out of it as a teen.
Wherever it is now, it is probably still running. That thing was a tank, i wish i still had it.

[Throd]

73. Those were very simple and reliable. The '66 had good styling as well.

[Nye Bevan]

28. I've come to depend on the backup camera

as well as that thing that beeps when you get too close to something. I hate renting a car that misses those features. Also on my "must have" list are Bluetooth, heated seats, automatic climate control, and satellite radio. I guess I'm spoiled.

[Travis_0004]

30. The fact that they only had 5 digit odometers told you what the reliability was

On my mazda its just broken in at 100k. 30 years ago a lot of american cars wouldnt last 100k miles.

[MineralMan]

31. That's true, but a guy could work on them.

And that was a good thing, even though they were not efficient and tended to pollute the atmosphere. For decades, I maintained and repaired the cars and trucks I owned. It saved massive amounts of money. Now, I simply have to take the vehicles to the shop and pay someone to fix them or do most maintenance.

That's why I finally bought a new car, complete with a 5-year, 60,000 mile warranty. I stopped being able to afford to take my previous cars to the shop. It seemed like very trip cost me at least $500, and sometimes much more.

Then, too, today's cars are reliable as can be, pretty much. Up to 60,000 miles or so, you shouldn't need many repairs. In that sense, they have improved dramatically. Once they reach the mileage where they need a timing belt or some other work, it's time to trade them in, frankly. They're good for twice that mileage, but there are costs to keep them past the warranty period.

Still, I could dismantle and reassemble the engine from any of the little British cars I've owned with a blindfold on, pretty much. I can hardly even see the engine in my current car. It has big plastic shrouds over it. I'm not supposed to work on it, and I won't. It's all computerized and has sensors all over it. There's no carburetor. Instead it has direct combustion chamber fuel injection. The water pump is behind the timing cover. There's nothing really user-serviceable under the hood, really, and even diagnosis requires a scan tool.

I don't mind so much, though. I'm 70 years old, now, and am not much interested in bending over a fender or crawling under a car any more. I miss those old cars, though, despite their faults. I miss removing a cylinder head and dropping it off at the machine shop for a valve job, then reassembling it. Now, I just take the car to the shop if it misbehaves. I don't even have to change the oil any more. I got free regular maintenance for the entire warranty period when I bought it.

It's not the same. It's better, in many ways, but not in all ways.

[Glassunion]

40. Totally agree...

Those older cars, I'd never even blink at the thought of taking a wrench to one.

I can easily identify every component in this photo:


In this one... Well I can tell you where the oil and washer fluid go:


They are the exact same make/model of car.

[MineralMan]

41. Exactly. The current designs are made to

conceal the working parts of the vehicle. There's nothing for the owner to do, so they cover it all up. First step in any service is to remove that big plastic cover. They don't want you to do that, ever. They'd rather you took it to the dealer and let them charge you fr that as well as the rest of the repairs.

[Glassunion]

44. I have an '07 328i

I was considering the possibility of doing an electrical tune up. Simple plugs and wires job... It's a straight forward job for most vehicles. There is no way in hell I can get to the last to plugs they are buried so deep in the compartment.

[MineralMan]

48. Oof. I hate that.

My M-i-L had a 90-something Buick wagon, and there were three spark plugs that were all but inaccessible, and the distributor was on the front of the V-8 engine, completely unreachable if you needed to replace them. It would have required removing belts, etc, just to replace the plug wires.

I gave up. She paid $1200 for a tune-up. The car wasn't worth that much, and I told her so. About two months after that, the transmission broke. That was the last straw. The car got towed off to the junkyard and she got a new car. A few years later, she stopped driving and signed her 2007 PT Cruiser over to us, with only 30,000 miles on it. So, that one was added to our garage. We use it mostly to take her places she needs to go. It has almost 40,000 on it now.

[kentauros]

107. Technically, I can work on my 2004 Honda Civic.

However, I stopped doing that when I had a used '88 Jetta? Why? I got exceptionally tired of being burned, scraped, bruised, cut, scarred, and just generally greasy and dirty. I have a great shop I take my Honda to, and they have not only all the right tools, lifts, and resources for proper recycling of wastes (that I have neither the money for nor the room living in an apartment) but also far more skill and expertise.

Honestly, I'd rather improve my cooking and baking skills than car-work skills. When I get burnt or cut in the kitchen (which is quite rare compared to how often it happened during car-work) it doesn't piss me off because I'm cursing bad engineering design, such as lousy placement of the oil filter.

[B Calm]

32. Just like anything made, they just keep making them better. I still

want a model A roadster with a rumble seat.

[Waiting For Everyman]

33. The best car ever made in my book

was the 1983 Datsun 280ZX Turbo 2+2 T-top automatic, the last year of the original body type, which was beautiful, fast, fun to drive, tough, and surprisingly practical.

I bought mine new, white with red leather and suede interior, and had it for 28 years. I had it rebuilt once and would've done it again if I could've afforded it.

No new car is nearly that cool, or ever will be again. I don't like the new Z's though, or any of the rounded-looking new models. I don't see the point of an intentionally ugly car, and I really hate the ones with almost no visibility out the rear window, as most seem to be now.

[Glassunion]

36. I'd have to agree.

Those are beautiful.

[Eleanors38]

53. The Zs had crappy little waterpumps; otherwise, pretty good car.

[Bonx]

64. If you loved this car, try test driving a nicely appointed BRZ

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. I don't think "they don't make 'em like that" has anything to do with backup cameras or air bags.

My Subaru has heated leather seats, air conditioning, etc etc. It is a superior commuter.

What it doesn't have is people giving me the thumbs up at a stoplight. My Chevelle has marginal brakes, marginal suspension, an open differential, no AC, and gets what could charitably be described as "very poor" mileage.

Yet, it's worth about 4x the value of the Outback.

Auctions of cars like this are television events.

I fully concede that auto engineering (if not design) has advanced by leaps and bounds in the intervening decades, but there's a je ne sais quoi that modern cars don't touch.

[Glassunion]

38. I'm going to respectfully disagree...

That DeSoto may simply be a piece of junk in your mind because it's near 60 years old. You have nearly 60 years of astounding engineering that goes into modern vehicles.

But look at the beauty of that '57... Eye catching lines, curves, and a wonderful exhaust note.


Now in today's money you sure can get a car with satellite radio, air conditioning, and cruise control...


There is a difference between those old cars and the cars out today. Soul. One has soul, the other does not. One will get you to your destination, yet in the other you arrive at your destination.

Today's cars do indeed have amazing technology: Airbags, 3-Point Seat belts, A/C, backup cameras, navigation systems, crash avoidance, etc... But all of those things eat away at the affordability of these new cars, so at the end of the day, that DeSoto could never be compared to a modern car. The former being built for soul, while the latter is pure function.

[Angel Martin]

43. I'll pass on AC and take the convertible

yeah, it doesn't have a backup camera but no modern ferrari will ever look as good as this one:

[Eleanors38]

58. Looks like an early 2000s T-Bird, which was a pretty car.

[Glassunion]

78. On the high end $$$$ cars, I may disagree with you...

Boy I'm sure being disagreeable today. Sorry about that.

Now the 250GT is a beautiful car. I love the looks of this car especially from a head-on view.

But to me... If I could end world hunger and then have enough left over to buy myself a really nice car with some soul, I may look to a more modern car.

I may look at a Ferrari California, which by the way you can see some inspiration on the hood design from the old GT


Or, I may go American (mostly)... The old 70's Stingray was an amazing vehicle... But the new one does pick up on some of that soul of the old


Or, then again I may pick a Ford


Or, perhaps a nice little hybrid or two (you know... for the environment)

[Angel Martin]

118. My closing argument

there are a lot of regulations constraining the styling of the new ones, but they are uglier than they need to be.

[Glassunion]

122. Agreed.

My only point was that not all new cars are soulless.

[Eleanors38]

55. Vertigo. Jimmy Stewart. Desoto Texan.

[Glassunion]

80. Didn't he drive a DeSoto Firedome in that flick?

[Eleanors38]

110. May be. I recall the "Texan" being scrawled across a more permanent logo on the side.

I now read the car was a Desoto Sportsman Hardtop. I wonder if it had a Red Lion V-8 in it.

[Glassunion]

111. IIRC the "Sportsman" was an interior trim option on the Firedome.

[Facility Inspector]

120. The DeSoto

dashboard could make your jaw into a steel sandwich in a wreck.

[Glassunion]

123. I fully understand that. However that is not my point.

For it's time, just about any vehicle in production would leave you with a mouthful of dashboard, and a radio dial embedded in your skull if you were involved in an accident.

It was a beautiful car full of modern engineering. But to say it sucked, because of 60 years of engineering advances since it was in production is not a fair comparison. It's like complaining that the Wright Flyer III could not carry 130 passengers across the Atlantic in under 4 hours.

[Facility Inspector]

124. It doesn't suck

it's just a death trap (when compared to modern safety features).

[PasadenaTrudy]

47. A and C pillars drive me nuts on newer cars

Man, I miss my '73 BMW 2002 sometimes. I could see out of that thing so well. Even my old Bugs had superior visibility.

[Eleanors38]

62. No BMW fan, but I heard good things about the 2002s of that era...

helped a friend tune one up. The #4 plug was a bitch, but I had the flexhead and several 3/4" extensions! Told him to just snug that damned thing in next time.

[Bonx]

56. As a sports car aficionado...

I love traction and stability control, TPMS, ABS, and airbags.
So much safer than the old deathtraps.

[Marr]

57. I love the new cars. I don't see how anyone could pine for

those old cars in any way other than body styles. Those were nice. The older cars have a lot of character.

But I will never miss traveling with tools and the basics needed for fixing the fucking machine, which would inevitably break down somewhere along the line. People will say they miss cars that you could work on yourself, but you know what's even better? Cars that you don't work on AT ALL.

[lumberjack_jeff]

104. I don't mind tinkering.

But I don't appreciate *needing* to fix the device that must get me to work in the morning.

I think that's one of the things that people appreciate about their hobby cars. You can tinker on them at your convenience.

[nichomachus]

59. Yeah, but

If a shopping cart rolled into my '57 Chrysler New Yorker, the car would have laughed and kicked the shopping cart in the nuts.

Today if the shopping cart hits the average car, it's about $800 in damages.

[Go Vols]

112. Yep

I was driving a '77 Lincoln 15 or so years ago and came to a snow covered hill that people would take turns trying to go up or down.

I was sitting at the bottom waiting on a new Acura to come down,hit me head on at about 20 mph,$5k damage to her car,it knocked a piece of my bumper guard off the size of a pencil eraser.

[Ron Green]

61. Everybody talkin 'bout soul...

Soul? In a car? Maybe - but be careful you're not talking about nostalgia. You know, back in the day when you could look under the hood and see the pavement, and if you broke down outside of Cimarron New Mexico on the way to a gig in Santa Fe somebody could hitch into town and back with a new fuel pump and you could fix it with a few tools you had in the trunk.

Those of us "fortunate" to have come of age in the 60s and 70s can easily conflate the adventures of our youth on the road with the manic styling statements, consumer credit schemes, planned obsolescence and artificially-cheap gasoline that was the American auto scene for at least 50 years.

The main thing was to be a part of it. Strive for the best car you can afford, or go into debt for. Become loyal to a nameplate. Organize your life around your ability to drive to places, even if it made less and less sense as time went by. Above all, don't be a loser who has to take the bus or the train: Too much of that kind of thing and we'd have to build passenger railways.

[bobclark86]

63. Exactly.

Show me a car that'll do 0-60 in 6.3 -- about what a Boss 302 from 1970 could do -- while getting 32mpg highway, instead of 11.

Oh, wait. Ford does that now.

[Snobblevitch]

65. The reason your '57 DeSoto only had an AM radio

is because there were only about 200 FM radio stations in the entire country at that time.

I find your list of cars interesting because I have owned a VW Bug, Mustang convertible, and we had a '59 Lark when I was a kid. The only car I don't wish I still owned is the '73 bug.

My dad owned a '56 Eldorado convertible with AC, twin 4-barrel carbs, gold plated rims, and a radio with a seek function. He wishes he still owned that car.

[Warpy]

66. My first car was a 54 Chevy

and GM cars had sticky carburetors, first thing I learned was how to jam a pencil into it so I could get the car started. That car was a tank, but there were no seat belts and the seat was very uncomfortable. Gas mileage sucked.

I also had a VW bus. It was a thrill a minute because the only thing between you and disaster was a thin piece of sheet metal. The brakes were iffy, the heater nonexistent. It also had an uncomfortable bench seat. If the windshield got gunked up, you reached out the window with a squeeze bottle full of water to clean it.

These days, I drive a little Kia Rio. It's tiny, easy to park, and fun to drive, something the old 54 Chevy never was. I've taken it on one 300 mile road trip and I could walk when I got there, a real improvement over those old bench seats.

Those good old cars weren't. Neither were the good old days.

[progressoid]

67. And then there is the safety factor.

[hifiguy]

81. When I was a wee lad in the early 1960s, my dad had a '59 Chevy Impala

with that two tone paint, except it was in tuxedo - black bottom, white top.

That was a gorgeous car in that 1950s space age style.

Given my druthers and enough money, I'd probably go for something like this

[trotsky]

85. Ha! I was going to post that video if no one else had!

Yes, many old cars are beautiful. But they were death traps.

[jonno99]

129. Wow - I might have placed a bet the that the Bel Air would perform better.

Thanks for posting this.

[LanternWaste]

68. So much easier to work on older model cars.

So much easier to work on older model cars. Tune-up didn't require anything more than a wrench and a gapper.

I don't even try these days... to much electrical engineering for me to screw up.

[Bonx]

70. It's easy now. Laptop and a cable.

[Throd]

72. You can fix a water pump with a laptop?

Removing and installing parts on new cars takes a hell of a lot more time than on the old ones.

[Bonx]

75. You said tune-up.

And it really depends on the car and the part.

[LanternWaste]

88. I don't think that will help me replace the plugs.

I don't think that will help me replace the plugs.

[Bonx]

90. You don't miss a thing.

[Logical]

106. Not starting in cold weather sucked! Flooding them, etc. nt

[HereSince1628]

93. I drove a Ford Escort wgn for 16 1/2 years, terrible ride, but changed the plugs once

when the car was 2 years old. I pulled them ever few years to check them, but gas mileage and power never really changed.

All this time I just thought plugs were somehow now good for the life of the car.

The day the second alternator died it was getting 34 mpg on the highway, pretty much as it always had. At 16 years the third alternator was worth more than the car.

I gave it to charity as 3 alternators in 15 years was a clear signal it was gonna be a lemon.

[pintobean]

92. Tune ups are recommended every 100,000 miles

on my '01. I'll be due for the first one next spring.

[Logical]

105. Lol, so we're tube TVs, nice criteria there. Nt

[OriginalGeek]

69. I loved my 68 Firebird

paid 250 bucks for the body and 250 bucks for the engine when I was 15 and I sanded and painted and worked on it until I was old enough to get my license and drive it.

And then I promptly wrecked it.

But for that one week where I could legally drive it, I loved that thing.


If I could afford it I would get another one but I would damn sure jam-pack it with as much modern convenience as I could. And I'd hire professionals to do the work. It would still LOOK like a 68 but it would be all 2015 up inside.

[oneshooter]

71. There are several companys that do that.

New engine, suspension, steering, a/c,transmission, air bags, ect..

As in all other endeavors of this type.

All it takes is $$$$$$$.

[OriginalGeek]

76. I like watching those shows on TV

where they do that to old cars (or sometimes new cars lol) but I don't even wanna know how many $$$$$$$$ they are taking to do it.

Gas Monkey, Count's Customs, and a bunch of other ones. I love the idea of the old cars with modern innards so they look great AND run great but yeah. Damn that lottery ball falling on the wrong ping pong balls. :/


On the plus side, my grandpa has a pretty cherry 65 Pontiac LeMans. It's a lovely car but needs some upgrading. Never wrecked, almost original, he's the only owner. Does have some squeaks and leaks but I think they can be fixed fairly reasonably. I hope so - he said he's leaving it to me.

[oneshooter]

84. 20 years ago my Dad bought his sisters "66 Buick Electra 225

Had a 455 Buick engine, auto tranny, AM radio, and a 8 track with front back split. Helped him drive it back from Kansas. It was like driving a battleship down the highway!

Drove it around Houston for a year or so then he put it in storage, for 18 years!!!. When he died we went to get it out of storage, would not start, would not even turn over with a new battery. Towed it home and worked on it, not good. He had parked it and never moved it, not even to start the engine, for all that time, it was frozen solid.

Sold the car to some gear heads that wanted to make a show car out of it. It only had 51,000 miles on it.

[OriginalGeek]

87. man 51k is nice

but not if it was sitting there rotting the seals out and such.

Grandpa's LeMans was a daily driver up into the 80s when my grandma could no longer drive. He ran it sporadically and then let it sit in his garage for most of the 90s and into the 2000s but about 9 or 10 years ago he had the engine torn down and rebuilt and now he takes it out once a week for a spin around the block and at least starts it up for a few minutes every other day. We go over and he lets me drive it a little bit. We like to take it up to the ice cream stand. I was born in 63 and remember riding in the front seat of the car, standing up so I could see outside, going to get ice cream somewhere. I'll flat out tell ya, there's not much better in life than driving my grandpa to get root-beer floats in the Pontiac.

[Zorra]

74. True, but my '66 Mustang Fastback sure was pretty.

[BlueJazz]

77. I have a 57 New yorker that I love although I seldom take it out anymore. I will say the recent..

...Mercedes-Benz are fairly stylish.

.

[leftyladyfrommo]

86. We had a Ford Fairlane and it vaporlocked all the time.

And always on hot days. There we would be sitting on the side of the road. That was probably in the 50's.

[wilt the stilt]

91. 92-96 Audi S4

1994 Audi S4
Luxury vehicle
MPG: 18 city / 23 highway
Horsepower: 227 HP
Engine: 2.2L 5-cylinder
Fuel tank capacity: 21.1 gal
Dimensions: 193" L x 71" W x 57" H
Torque: 258 lb-ft

I own this car. It is the beginning of modern cars. Many people will tell you it is still their favorite Audi. It can be chipped to 400 HP and it can be lowered. It was the first car that had coils on each cylinder. A complete killer car

Roberto Alomar had this car and recently it was on ebay or $18,000. It only had 35,000 original miles. I saw one recently sell for $7500. It came out of the rally's and has 4 wheel drive. Pretty rare. The original price in'94 was $50,000. Seats 5 and a very big trunk. It actually gets about 27 on the highway.

The engine lasts a good 350,000 with no work.

[GoneOffShore]

94. Getting rid of our 2000 Saab 93t in about 15 minutes.

Only has 81500 on it.

Love the car, but we don't drive it enough because we live in the city.

Took it to CarMax today and they were going to give us $700 for it because it's a Saab and a manual.

Texted somebody I know and he's giving us $850 for it.

I'll miss it, but not the insurance costs and the maintenance.

[Throd]

99. That price sounds awfully low.

If there aren't any mechanical issues with it you should be able to get more that $850.

[GoneOffShore]

103. Ah yes.... but we've been trying for over 4 months on Craigslist

Plus put it on here, Facebook, and various car message boards.

The insurance renewal was coming up and so is winter. And another winter without driving the car much would have made it that much more undesirable. Plus it's a stick which makes it very difficult to sell.

I did have one lady call me and ask "What's a Saab?" She wanted to buy it for $1750, but I really didn't want to sell it to her because she would have been back to me in a week when she found she that parts were expensive and difficult to get.

The guy I sold it to has Saab's, understands them and is a dealer. Better the $850 than the $700 from CarMax.

[jonno99]

96. What a great thread - thanks a bunch! nt

[Monk06]

97. My son's uncle on his father's side was building a T bucket and sourced a cherry 409 in California

that he was going to put into it to make an old timey 50s hot rod. My son was asking me about the engine.

I sent him a vid of a 409 equipped Pontiac Catalina, I believe it was and he said it sounded and handled like a pickup truck. I told him it was. The 348 was just a punched out truck engine from the 50s with bigger valves and ports in a redesigned head. The suspension and chassis was not much different than a pick up truck. He was shocked but he owns a 1990 Nissan GTR so he grew up in a different world.

Old cars are antiques and the quality and craftsmanship was poor overall.

[Samantha]

98. I had my 1989 Nissan Sentra until just a few months ago

I loved that car and could not let go when I bought my 2004 Altima. The Sentra was a commuter car for 5 years; I drive it 143 miles one way Sunday evenings down mountainous roads and back to DC Monday morning, carefully maneuvering down the foggy, winding treacherous-when-slick roads in West Virginia.

It was red, a 5-speed which was a truly joy to drive, and it had an air conditioner that I never had to have serviced. That thing really blasted the cool air better than any other car I have had. I loved driving the car with the sunroof open. Over the years, the only thing I ever had to replace was the battery and once the muffler -- that was it. I would go to the parts store, get the part and have my brother replace it. I spent virtually nothing on repairs from 1989 until this last year.

Times got tough, and although I had always said I would never sell that car I did this year. I sold it to my neighbor who had been pestering me for years to sell it to him. Others had asked as well; complete strangers would approach me and ask if I would consider selling the car. My neighbor has been fixing it up and absolutely loves it. He too tells people he will never sell the car. I made an agreement with him that if he ever did, he had to sell it back to me. He knows a lot about cars and he drives it often, so I realize the car is better off with him -- but I still love it!

Sam

[cherokeeprogressive]

100. My 1972 Blazer CST will be climbing grades most can't walk long after we're dead.

WITH a/c.

[SheilaT]

101. There was a reason why people who could afford it

bought a new car every two or three years back in the day. Because the cars just weren't made to last very long. And when you consider how much less, how many fewer miles people tended to drive back then, it really brings home how less reliable they were.

When I was growing up in the '50's and '60's, my parents could never have afforded a new car. Every few years they'd be buying something that was already five or seven years old, and reliability was rarely present. Cars used to break down all the time. Tires went flat quite readily. I'm thinking that back then a tire intended to last 20,000 miles was a rarity, and I think the last ones I bought were rated 60 or 80k miles.

I currently drive a 2004 Honda Civic that I bought in 2007. It has 109,000 miles on it, and I'll be tired of it and want to replace it long before it actually wears out. Hmmm, maybe I should plan to give it to my sister's oldest grandchild, now 8 years old, when he's in high school. If he knows how to drive a stick shift, that is.

[fizzgig]

108. i put plenty of roadtrip miles on my 82 volvo wagon, no ac or cruise

that girl finally gave up the ghost and we sold her for parts last january because it was easier than replacing all the wiring (known issue with the model).

i'm in a 91 now and will buy a "modern" car after everything else has been driven into the ground.

[sakabatou]

109. '96 or '98 black Nissan Sentra. Only lasted a lil over 8 years

That's the only car I've driven.

[Blue_Tires]

114. Ok...And?

Styling, nostalgia and history means nothing?

And "Dilbert" needs to die in a fire -- I've been reading since the beginning, and I've never known his ass to ever have an interesting hobby...

[Arugula Latte]

117. I'd never want a "vintage" car. Give me airbags, a safer steering column, all of that...

But, hey, to each her/his own.

[AngryAmish]

119. In My Day, Ballplayers Were for Shit

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/in-my-day-ballplayers-were-for-shit-10792


"It seems everywhere I go these days, some young fella's jibber-jabbering about how great some ballplayer of today is. It's always Mark McGwire this or Sammy Sosa that. Well, of course they're the best. These modern big leaguers, with their blinding speed, cannon arms, and towering home runs–they've got it all. Back in my day, ballplayers were for shit!

I'll never forget my first big-league ballgame. It was 1931, at the old Polo Grounds in New York. Giants versus the Reds. Dad by my side and Crackerjacks in hand, I took my seat in the grandstand on a glorious Saturday afternoon. That's when I first laid eyes on him. Out there patrolling the grass in center field for the home-team Giants was Ducky "Lead Legs" Cronin. Worst ballplayer you ever saw. Christ, did he suck."

[Omaha Steve]

121. Get an after market A/C

Not that big of a deal.

[HassleCat]

126. They were junk

Right up until the Japanese started importing cars with better build quality, we drove junk. In the 1960s, you were happy if your new car went 50k miles without a major problem. You could generally expect to replace a water pump or alternator or something else by 20k or 30k miles. If you had 100k on the odometer, you bragged to your friends, and failed to mention all the repairs you did to make it that far. Now cars go 50k without a tuneup, and you can buy a used car with 70k and still expect to get a few years out of it. I do love the Lark, though. It had the "hill holder" clutch, just like the modern Subaru has.

[hollysmom]

127. Wimp, I remember old cars fondly because they were so cheap to own, and

even I could repair it.
My duster had no features on it, it was as basic as you can get, Kept it for decades jsut because it was easy to run
the air conditioner - a door at my feet, with a screen to keep tones from flying through, heh, but every spring got in dirty clothes to drive the dirt out of it. no bad chemicals for the environment and the car was so old, I used to park it with the windows open and no one would steal it.
Last week I had my car repaired for recalls of the computer chips not talking to each other, and then had to spend another 500 dollars because apparently the shift lever is not attached to the transmission really, it is attached to a computer that tells the transmission when I shift, but it decided to stop talking to it and it decided to stop talking to the engine when it was in gear so the engine would not accelerate. When the Duster started leaking oil, I climbed in the engine compartment and replaced the gasket with just instructions from the store I bought the gasket from. and I changed my own oil, of course. I still can't believe I did that, neither could my parents or husband. ha ha
I grew up without air conditioning, so not having it is not the worst thing ever in the temperate zone,you just dress appropriately and act accordingly.
Now subways without air conditioning, are another thing.

[47of74]

128. The first car I drove was a 1980 Malibu Classic

The first car I drove after getting my license was my parents 1980 Chevy Malibu Classic. It sort of looked like this one;



It didn't have AC either and just had a simple AM radio. I wasn't one of those who had to have the latest rock station and it was from before hate radio really took off. The car had rear wheel drive which made wintertime driving an adventure to say the least. You could have a dusting of snow on the road and the car felt like it was one step away from spinning out of control the entire time.

That being said otherwise the car ran pretty good for about 13 years. It survived a trip to Louisiana, a few trips to Des Moines, and me and my two siblings going to war in the back seat. It also survived the vehicular deer hunting my mom did with the car - dad rebuilt the entire front end of the car. But by the time 1993 rolled around it was starting to rust out pretty bad, which we discovered when the bumper was starting to sag. I asked my dad if he could wire the bumper up so it didn't sag and that's when he found how badly rusted the frame was - that the entire rear frame was about to go.

My 2012 Volt is superior in every way to that Malibu but I do admit now I still miss that old Malibu from time to time. Now I kind of wish my dad would have hung on to it and maybe restored it - my dad sold it when I bought an 88 Taurus to replace it and it only got $300.

[JPZenger]

130. Crash test video 1959 vs. 2009 - shows how much safer cars have become

The above video crash tested a 1959 chevy against a 2009 chevy. The occupants of the 1959 would die, while the 2009 occupants would survive.

We underestimate the safety improvements that have been made in recent years. We think the 1950s cars were safer because they had thicker steel and longer hoods. It is not the case.

The number of people who die on US highways has been reduced by 1/2 - even though the number of cars on the road has doubled.

[eridani]

133. Worth thousands of words. Thanks for adding this n/t

[CanonRay]

131. My 65 Chevy would never start in the rain

Moisture used to get into the distributor cap somehow. Can't tell you how many times this made me late for work. Piece of crap, but pretty to look at.

[skippercollector]

132. volkswagen beetle

My father owned a 1960 red Volkswagen Beetle. He'd drive, my mom would sit in the front passenger side, and my two younger sisters and I were in the back seat. No heat, no radio, no shock absorbers and of course the back windows didn't open. I was 5 foot 7 by 1970 when I was in the fourth grade, and sitting in the back seat my knees were about up my nose.
I was so glad when my mother finally bought a station wagon!
When the Beetles made their comeback about 10 years ago, I couldn't understand why they were so popular. I know there are many more amenities with them now, but you still have to sit in it with your knees up your nose!