Old cars and the perception of age.

[HerrStig]

Stick the three box layout of the average sedan in a wind tunnel and round off the edges for low drag. You end up with about the same shape, as do the cars which are based on this layout. Critical areas are the length and shape of the nose, the roof taper and the height of the rear deck. Until air changes its behaviour that's what you'll see.
My work beater is a Gen 4 Camry. It has some tweaks including bigger brakes, wider wheels and upgraded struts. It doesn't attract law enforcement attention in traffic. When the officer has a choice of who to nail, I slide by while the red Mustang does not. Reality, fair or not.

 

[DemoFly]

My girlfriend has a 2003 Mazda 6 that was abused and probably went 25k between oil changes by the previous owner. She bought it because it was the newest car she could afford.

The suspension is stiff, the seats feel like lawn chairs with no support, the steering is heavy and numb and the hard plastic interior rattles from every direction.

It is expensive to maintain because we have to play catch-up on all the neglect.

She, as well as the rest of my parents thought I was crazy because I bought a Jeep from 1996.

The seats are supple leather with bolstering, the power steering is recirc-ball and feels amazing, the interior is dead quiet and it came with a binder filled with records. I know it's had the plenum gasket already done, the diffs have been serviced as well as the brakes, coolant changes have been done regularly, the u-joints are all new.

It won't even need brake pads for about another 60k miles. It's a gas hog but I have no car payment, inexpensive full-coverage insurance and it never seems to break (knock on wood).

If the Jeep should ever catastrophically fail or get totaled in an accident, I'm going to buy a 70's Chevy or Ford truck. Hydraulic transmission, solid axles, mechanical everything.

I have no definition of age in a car. All cars last forever if maintained (although not always the best "financial" decision.)

My definition of luxury is never having to fix it, a great driving experience and impeccable maintenance.

 

[KitaCam]

I don't think it's a matter of age as it is style...that basic 3 box sedan will be hard to date...exaggerated styling on the other hand....

Fish flying down the road with mouths gaping wide, jellybabies rolling on wheels, wedgies scooping ground air, all desperately trying to look faster than they are are easily spotted and dated...

Boring, mundane simple lines of your common sedan or coupe are for better or worse, preferred or not, much harder to "place" in the timeline and import of auto history...

Now...ITALIAN stallions, those marquee mega-chariots are totally aNOTHER story...THAT'S old of the classic sort.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly

My definition of luxury is never having to fix it, a great driving experience and impeccable maintenance.


I'll add being able to leave it unlocked and find it unmolested after. Especially with windows down when it's nice. I hate stuffy (new) cars where the vinyl outgasses on the windscreen.

 

[hattaresguy]

Technology is leaps and bounds better in 2014 than say 1975.


Just take trucks for example, a mid 70's Chevy half ton is a Model T compared to a 2014. The 14 puts out all kinds of power, requires almost no service, will cruise at 70 or 80 in near silance effortlessly blasting the AC, and pulling a trailer that would have challenged a 1 ton of 40 years ago. Plus it will get low 20's on the highway, where in the old days 10-14 was about it with a truck.

Those who say cars are the same need to get out more.

Rust proofing has also greatly improved.

 

[95busa]

hatteresguy- you are absolutely correct. That being said, how many people with 1/2 tons pull anything? I would guess about 50-60% if that. Of those, how many pull anything really heavy, like 7k and up? I would guess very few. I think the point is that a mid '70s (although I prefer 80s) half ton will do what most people need a half ton to do today. I will go farther and say those who pull really heavy loads with a half ton would probably be better suited to a 3/4 ton.

 

[eljefino]

But a 70's half ton I can swing a hay bale over the side and not hurt my back! These new ones are too tall by a lot.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: KitaCam

Fish flying down the road with mouths gaping wide, jellybabies rolling on wheels, wedgies scooping ground air, all desperately trying to look faster than they are are easily spotted and dated...


LOL!!!

You forgot about bread toasters on wheels.

 

[OneEyeJack]

I paid cash for my 84 Civic wagon and the only money spent thereafter has been on regular maintenance. There have been no unplanned repair bills.

I have wondered about 2 things. One, how much I've saved by not buying a new daily driver every 5 years? That would be 6 cars, along with gambling on my ability to pick reliable replacements plus the extra insurance for a new car. The second, without all the safety stuff and driving a 2,000 pound car in a jungle of heavier cars and trucks, would I be spam in a can because of an accident?

I get about 37 mpg, day in and day out. My next expense coming soon is a strut and shock replacement along with some other suspension part and an alignment. For that I'm going to an alignment shop for work that's beyond my ability and tools. It's going to cost a bit but it's still cheaper than car payments.

 

[supton]

Cheaper, but how many cars can go 30 years and 425kmiles? Up here 10 and it's rusted out.

I am impressed though. I've done 300k but it's been a boatload of repairs to do so, and the repairs haven't stopped. I noticed the other day that I have rust popping through some primer I did on the roof (attachment points for the roof rack, under the feet is where it started), and the trans noise is steadily getting worse it seems.

 

[Joel_MD]

OneEyeJack, I see you are in California. It's quite impressive how much life you've squeezed out of your Honda. Like others have suggested, you would be driving a pile of dust if that same car was in an area that uses salt on the roads. I lived in Minnesota until I was 25, and then moved a couple of times for Uncle Sam after that. In 1996 I moved to Southern California and was surprised by the number of Volkswagon Beetles that were on the road! Due to the California lifestyle those cars probably sold better in the first place, but in Minnesota those things rusted very quickly. It was common to see Beetles that looked like rats had been gnawing on the bodies.

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
You guys are really talking old, 80s and 90s, naw, my time zone was driving or riding in 50s and lots of 60s rides. My favorite truck I learned to drive on, Dad's 1952 Dodge ,3 speed on the column with starter pedal above the accelerator pedal. Old in line 6. The bed was wooded slats. It was a great ride for me, wish I had it now.

http://www.autotraderclassics.com/community/classic-car/1952-Dodge-B+Series-436166.xhtml


My first truck was much the same - 1958 Chevy Apache. Three on the tree, in line 235 CID six banger, the starter pedal was next to the gas pedal, (you put your heal on the gas pedal and toe on the starter button and fire it up), vacuum operated windshield wipers that would go really fast when you let off the gas but almost come to a stop of you floored the gas pedal.

Like you, I wish I would have kept that old truck.

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
But a 70's half ton I can swing a hay bale over the side and not hurt my back! These new ones are too tall by a lot.


Yes and amen brother! Whoever designed the newer, high side-body/high bed of the current generation of pickup truck never had to load one.

 

[Lapham3]

I have some old Buick stuff from the mid 60's-the kids today don't even know what they're looking at and never heard of a Wildcat or the 'wierd' looking nailhead in an old Riv=the wind tunnel took a back seat to the stylists and us 'old guys' know what they are from a distance while they do go down the road very nicely. Some of the lighter duty vehicles 'back when' do have a bit of a hard time in metro traffic as they're being 'pushed' down the road by 75 mph tailgaters.

 

[PandaBear]

Styles changed big time in the 90s when they go from flat and boxy design to curvy bubbly design with computer and got bigger and less efficient, then it just stays like that forever.

Now we have fuel efficiency dictate the shape, soon every car will look like a Prius in different sizes.

 

[CourierDriver]

My time zone was the 60s, now those to me were the days, big engines, lots of hp, the sound, and 14mpg if you were lucky.

 

[PF52]

I remember one day when I was a kid my dad loaded up a roll of film and we went out and shot pics of all the "old cars" we saw in an afternoon. This was back about 1971. The pictures are real eye-openers today! Lots of 55-56-57 Chevys in use as daily drivers, tons of earlier stuff, big, weird full-size Nash sedans, enormous 50s-era Mercurys, a '20-something Ford in what looked like daily-driver use, etc... Even the "normal" cars in the background (mostly 60s stuff) is rare and exotic today.

 

[JHZR2]

Some designs look old or dated quick, and some things are classic. True in cars the same as it is in architecture or interior design or clothing or anything else. Big step changes in design approaches help facilitate more rapid changeover of certain looks, while some classic cues will look good indefinitely.

For cars, think forty+ years of Mercedes-Benz, versus the same timeframe from other makes.

 

[hattaresguy]

Most Mercedes and Porsche's still look very good.

You could put a none car person in a mint 1992 SL600 and they would think its a fairly late model car with lots of book value.

 

[wtd]

I drive a 1992 Chevy Cavalier pretty much every day to work. I still see others like mine driving around.

I have two 98 chevy trucks and around here, there are still tons of these body style trucks, tahoes, and suburbans driving around. There still seems to be quite a few of the older generation of vehicles driving around where I live.

Wayne