Why do we come here? Why do we visit this site weekly, daily, hourly, or every couple of minutes when we can spare the time? I began to consider this question in the wee hours this morning, not at all displeased to be trading valuable sleep time for an issue with absolutely no life relevance.
I began by reviewing the history of my own automotive hysteria. My parents told me I could identify any car on the road by age five. I never missed a trip with my dad to fill up his car, just so I could enjoy a whiff of that automotive elixir’s bouquet. Maybe we needed an oil change, so I could watch the guys lift the car and do their greasy-handed labor of love. Maybe I’d get to sit on dad’s lap and steer on the way home.
These experiences aren’t unique in American culture, but they’re part of a lost automotive acculturation process. Vapor grabbing nozzles have sucked away a bouquet we now call toxic. Try and place your kid on your lap while driving and see what happens (just ask Britney). And sorry, insurance regulations don’t allow kids near a mechanical lift.
My automotive obsession was formed in another time, in ancient, unforgettable crucibles: a 1953 Olds 88, 1959 Chevy Brookwood, 1963 Chevy Impala, 1963 Olds F-85, 1964 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, 1972 Chevy Impala and then… the punch line. A 1972 Chevy Vega. We dubbed this mistake the “Vaguely,” due to its inability to maintain consistent forward progress. One trip to Yosemite clocked in at four MPG while the car happily chewed up its distributor seal. A Datsun replaced its not-so-cherished spot in the driveway.
You can insert your own automotive childhood here. I suspect many of you will have experienced similar exposure to what was good and bad about domestic and imported automobiles. I bet the memories left you with a deep sense of truth, justice and the American iron.
It’s true. We know what was right with our childhood mounts, and we’d like to have that back in our cars’ DNA, thank you very much. The Truth About Cars’ Death Watches pay tribute to our pilgrimages to the altar of resurrection. Whether we’re positively or negatively charged, we watch the steady downhill trudge of an American industry which transported us from diapers to backseat shenanigans at the drive-in. We hope they get it. We know what’s at stake, we see their cards and we can call their bluff.
We would love to know that Dr. Z and Rabid Rick inhale this website’s literary emissions right along with us. We pray that Billy told Alan, “Dude, if you want to know what pistonheads want to see behind the blue oval, check out TTAC. Just pour yourself a stiff drink first. And make sure only the janitorial staff is around to hear you scream.”
This is the place where we get to imagine ourselves in the driver’s seat and say grandly and loudly, “Well, if I were in charge” on every issue. We imagine green lighting or killing products and/or entire brands. We put our convictions right out there for the whole world to see, whether we’re writing a review or editorial or reacting to it. We trash what needs to be trashed and praise what gets our driving mojo working. Everyone with a belly button has an opinion, and we’ll take what you got right here.
Yes, well, truth of the matter notwithstanding, we are not now nor are we ever likely to have a snowball’s chance in Hades of ever being placed in charge of anything grander than our own homestead (or business), and probably for good reason. It’s highly probable that the people reading this had “does not play well with others” or equivalent marked on their early report cards.
But we are kings of our own private automotive domains. Individually, we impact our neighbors, colleagues, friends and loved ones. They turn to us for guidance. They seek us out for our passion, insight and expertise. They listen to us, sometimes with amusement, occasionally with barely hidden condescension. However tentative, their trust obliges us to know what’s out there, what does and doesn’t make a good choice, from the shabby sheds crowding plastic flagged used car lots to the gleaming offerings swimming in the local dealer’s fishbowl.
So, we come back– right here– to discover, uncover, chew apart and rehash. We argue and display our knowledge and weaknesses for our peers to support or dismiss. This is the uniquely, quirky, always interesting watering hole for those whose minds run on hydrocarbons, a tavern dispensing 5W-30, natural or synthetic. And the words that we leave here are a testament to the bright spark of our existence, that say “we came, we drove, we lived.”
An excellent piece Joe, enough to bring me out of my self imposed exile.As guy born in the early 50s I also could name the makes and models of evey car on the road.I try to get my grandson to do the same,but all the cars look alike today.
I tend to forget that not everybody is in love with big domestic rear wheel drive cars.Sometimes I get P.Od at the
G.M.bashing [most well deserved] but I get my daily TTAC fix
anyway.
Thanks for writing it JOE,and thanks R.F for posting it we need more stuff like it.
This certainly sums up the allure of our beloved little site and the passion of its devoted readers. Well done!
That is the truth as far as I’m concerned.
Amen brother.
I enjoyed this interesting post.
Even, I’ll confess, took some comfort from it.
Like Joe, I love cars. I’ve always loved cars. I’ll talk cars anytime with anybody. I come back to this site, and a handful of others, constantly. I can’t help myself. Something new might have been written, and it might be funny or insightful or insipid or…….something. My wife doesn’t get it, my friends don’t care to hear about it, but reading TTAC fuels (yes, I am not above a bad pun) my passion for things automotive. And it is nice to know I am not alone!
Like most of my internet choices, I thought this site would be a great place to meet women. It’s not. But I quickly discovered a family where they love and hate automobiles as much as me.
Oh yeah, Lesley……..call me.
Now click on the damn ads.
Even the GM ones?
And what would you like me to call you? ;)
When I was a wee, lumpen twelve year old, I worshipped my older brother and his rehabilitated muscle cars. I’d scrub carburetors with toothbrushes, sort nuts and bolts — anything just to be allowed to hang around, listen to him and his buddies talk car lore, and watch the beasties come back to life. On my wall, there was a poster of a 65 Mustang and a TR7. I’d sit on the porch with my seventy year old neighbour who taught me how to recognize styling cues to identify every car that drove by.
In my teens and twenties, I veered off into four-legged horsepower, cross-country jumping and hunting til a front-roll at warp speed over a downhill jump put an end to that.
Depressed, at a loss (and with time to get philosophical) I thought about the last time I had a passion that made me happy with such careless abandon. Picked myself up, dusted myself off, and went to a car show.
Not only did I re-discover a lost love, I found kindred spirits that became close friends, uncovered a love for the vast and varied disciplines of motorsports, acquired some wrenching skills, and best of all – found a niche that became a calling as an illustrator/writer.
It’s been a few years, and yet I still haven’t lost the geeky excitement, the childlike wonder I feel, wandering the paddocks at ALMS, attending a press launch for a long-awaited new model, riding an exhilarating stage lap with the Canadian Rally Champ… or attending the final Cruise show of the year at the Fall Fair. Which is today – so off I go with my camera…
This place is an oasis of automotive passion. A much-needed antidote to having to deal with all the trolls out on the highway who don’t give a crap (and don’t know the first thing about actual driving!)
Especially the GM ones.
Joe,
Amazing article; I could totally relate. Please write more.
When I was just over two-years-old, I painted a big thick white stripe down the length of my father’s copper 280Z with wire wheels.
I still claim the racing stripe would have made the Datsun go faster.
OK, I’ll click on the ads. I promise. Traveling the long interstates back in the ’60s with the family I would while away the time by naming the year, make and model of every car that went by, something you could do back then, alas impossible these days. My favorite memory? Going down the autostrata in Northern Italy when a 250LM went by at about 140mph+. Reading that first Henry M. Manney III F-1 report in R&T (“practice was the usual shambles”). Some stuff just stays with you forever…. I wish I thought that Alan or Ricky or any of those other guys running the big 2.5 had that kind of visceral connection to cars, maybe their firms wouldn’t be the disasters they are, or at least they would be much more fascinating disasters.
Very well said. And I love the picture of the ’59 Chevy Wagon. Say what you will about the vaunted “Shoebox Chevy’s”, the ’59 will always be my favorite because it incorporated every outrageous styling cue of that era.
But were they really offered from the factory in primer gray?
My parents told me I could identify all cars on the road by age 1,5…
Ok ok, I guess they over exaggerated a little, but still.
A few years back there was a Joe Chiaramonte who did Seattle radio traffic reports from a helicopter. Seems like a job that would make you get really sick of watching cars but anyway…
Joe you make me revisit all the cars my dad had when I grew up. There was a 63 Buick LeSabre ‘vert, 67 Chrysler 300 ‘vert, a used Dodge Coronet, a used Chevy wagon from which a wheel literally fell off while my mother was driving it. Good times.
I actually came to love cars as a side effect of overcoming a phobia of driving. When most teens were gnawing at teh corners of their permits, hardly able to contain themselves as their 16th birthday rolled around, I was committed to bumming rides and taking buses. Finally managed to get my license just after turning 18 and only then because I had to. Once I did, things changed drastically. Just over two years later I was doing a Skip Barber 3-Day racing school at Sebring and today, any car that has less than 400bhp and more than 5 inches of ground clearance holds no genuine interest for me. God help us all when Scooby gets her next round of mods later this year…
Great article and still loving the site. Keep up the good work gang.
Hi. My name is Noley and I’m a pistonhead….
I land on TTAC and a couple others far too many times a day. One of the reasons I’m glad I’m self-employed– I don’t have to sneak in my trips to TTAC around visits from my boss.
What makes it work is that we’re all opinionated but we listen to each other and, I think we often learn from each other as well. Too often car-related sites are places for testosterone-poisoned boyz hang out, trash talk and measure each others’ machismo. This and a few others are great places to visit.
Let’s all keep up the great work. And like Farago says, click on the damn ads.
Ads? Oh, those things that Adblocker and Surfrabbit take care of. Guess I’ll have to disable them for this site.
Thanks to Farago and the staff for the site and articles, and for fellow posters for the best general auto chat that follows.
I get the impression that the whole “could identify any car on the road by age x” is gonna be a common theme in the replies for this article. I’m guilty of it too, and I think I have my parents to blame. They couldn’t care less about cars, but when I was a toddler, our apartment overlooked a freeway (the Don Valley Parkway for anyone familiar with Toronto). Since my crib was against the window, I’d stare away for hours, muttering to myself about the cars I saw driving by.
I’ve been deranged ever since.
Hey, it’s your site. Enjoy.
OK I have to agree, I’m a pistonhead. Which is better than being “pistonbroke” (yeah, it’s British humour – lived there for awhile).
My poor, poor mother had to put up with my crawling up the upright piano, grabbing the Edsel promotional model, taking it down and playing on her couch (the rear bumper would snag and tear bits of couch). This, before I could even walk.
My poor father had to put up with my walking around his ’55 Ford, in the driveway in front of our ’50’s suburban Ypsilanti home, and I’d walk up to him with a grin – and several small screws which he would have to take time to figure out where I’d unscrewed them from on his car!
Yeah, I could ID every darned US and import car, read every book and magazine. I’m addicted, but oh what a fun addiction and it’s not like I’m hurting anyone.
In fact, I make my living from all of this “useless and trivial information” I picked up for the sheer enjoyment of it over decades, and they pay me to have fun! Yeah, I know, I’m a lucky guy.
Dad sold chevys. It was 1963, I was 14. It was black over red, SS, 4spd, 409 on I 75 on a Sunday afternoon. Need I say more.
Funny, I was told does not work well with others quite often growing up. Only proved that when I moved into the large lumbering corporation world. It suprises me how some companies can be so backward and yet so successful. Selling cars left me alone to succeed or fail on my own, now owning my own business makes people get along with me or get out ;)
It’s easy to sit around and say I’d do this or that, but, those sorts of views aren’t consistant with the “analysis to near paralysis” that large organizations do when trying to come up with a decision. I think the thing that frustrates me the most watching GM/Ford is that there isn’t a strong leader who says “this is the way it’s going to be done and you are going to follow me”. It all seems that the people doing the world are too involved in discovering .005% return more on something by tweaking rather than going for the major overhaul which seems to be favored on this site.
What I love about TTAC is the broad variety of pistonheads who can all bring different perspectives to the issues.
We’ve got regular old hobbyists, professional journalists, industry employees, supplier company employees, dealership employees, Americans, Brits, Canadians, financial experts, scientific/academic people, young, old, in-between, muscle-car fans, import fans, domestic fans, hybrid fans, etc., etc., etc.
It’s a far more diverse and interesting interchange than your typical [insert make/model here]fanatics.com forum.
Buzz L. (guess which, if any, of the aforementioned groups apply to me…;-D….)
Joe, your piece is right on the money!
Robert – I obligingly clicked a couple of ads, and guess what, I stumbled across something called windingroad.com – yet another website to spend time on. Guess I have to cut back on sleep to handle that one, too.
Is the editor of Winding road.com the David E. Davis??
Yes. Other than that, I say nothing.
I, like everyone else, had the whole “naming cars by taillights and/or headlights at age 5” gig, too. I recall it getting harder in the early 90’s though, with such cars as the Spirit/Acclaim/LeBaron 4 door. I remember those being a bitch because they all looked the freakin’ same!
The one car I was on a quest to find (mind you I was 8) was the Chrysler version of the Omni/Horizion… haha. My mom finally broke it to me that one did not exist, which no doubt was probably a good thing.:)
Winding Road is OK, it’s cool to read it online and watch the “pages” fold over. Photos are excellent, but as RF did not say, the writers appear to be slavish to their overlords. they refer to the Book of PC Phrases when describing shit-on-wheels; e.g. “the steering while accurate lacks feedback” when what they really mean is they get more information from a video game controller.
i didn’t think, duh, that you needed some clicks to get some $$ so i’ll do some clicking. maybe it’s me but the ads overlap the text and it appears the web gurus need to do some tinkering.
My poor, poor mother had to put up with my crawling up the upright piano, grabbing the Edsel promotional model, taking it down and playing on her couch (the rear bumper would snag and tear bits of couch). This, before I could even walk.
Glenn (and everyone else for that matter),
If you’re nostalgic for the Edsel, check out my website, motorlegends.com, and get yourself a ’58 Edsel shirt! Or a ’57 Chevy shirt. You can also find out about Richard Nixon’s biggest mistake (under CarToons) or see the world’s only menorah made of Porsche valves. (end of self promotion)
Same nostalgia for me. My father was letting me steer at six, operate the gas at 7 on the ’57 Chevy, and taught me to shift gears at 9, the latter on the ’57 Ply, which had a monster clutch. Boy did I make that thing buck before I got the hang of it. Lots of memories dragging my parents to dealers when the new cars came out. And even calling dealerships in the fall to try to get a deal on last year’s model that my parents wouldn’t be able to refuse. (never worked). I was doingthis around age 10-11, and I can remember getting all insulted when the salesman addressed me as “Ma’am.” Funny, my older brother wasn’t interested in cars at all. Liked baseball. But I was hooked from the age of 2.
Jonny Canada, thanks for my biggest laugh of the day so far:
“”Like most of my internet choices, I thought this site would be a great place to meet women. It’s not. But I quickly discovered a family where they love and hate automobiles as much as me.
Oh yeah, Lesley……..call me.””
But Lesley, don’t listen to him. Call ME.
Is the editor of Winding road.com the David E. Davis??
You mean the guy who practiced law with Abraham Lincoln?
Joe,
A wonderful editorial, bringing back a few memories of my own: Son of a Chevrolet dealer (Hallman’s Chevrolet, Johnstown, PA 1953-65) my earliest memory as a child is Corvetter #14 sitting in my parents driveway as dad brought it home for lunch, just before exchanginging it with the New Alexandria, PA Chevy dealer for a couple of BelAir hardtops (dad always felt the Corvette was the stupidest car Chevy ever came up with, he just didn’t get it – then again you don’t have much of a market for sports cars in a blue collar coal and steel town).
The red and white 56 BelAir four-door hardtop that dad rushed me to the hospital as I almost died of lobar pneumonia – on the day he took delivery – my first memory was of the roof headliner, not the car itself.
The black with red interior 60 Impala convertible which was the only time he ever let me talk him into a convertible. The top came down twice, mom hated how it messed her hair. For 61 it was back to two-door hardtops.
Being sent from the dinner table during the summer of 64 for mentioning that I thought the Mustang was a neat looking car. Yes, the rivalries were that serious back then, not helped by the son of the Ford dealer being in my high school class, and in a lot of my classes.
The 65 Impala SS hardtop, the first car I ever drove solo – on an afternoon when the folks were out of town. Finally told dad about it as he lay in the hospital dying, 28 years later. He got a good laugh out of it, and was surprised I had waited that long.
Getting into the back rooms of the dealership on a Sunday after church to see the new year’s models a couple of weeks before the introduction – that was a big deal for bragging rights at school.
Attending the regional dealer’s meeting to see the new 66’s, two weeks before he got out of the business. Dad knew he was giving it up, and wanted me to have one chance to attend before it was over.
My 73 Vega GT – my first car. And I had a good one. Ran SCCA B Sedan autocross where on one magnificant day beat an Alfa GTA for a third place trophy in class – only to have the group pull a technicality and not count that day’s results towards the season points. I never went back. It was also my breaking vehicle when I took a Bianchi track bike (bicycle) out on I-90 one Saturday night, and showed that the scene in Breaking Away can actually happen. Go ahead, pass a semi on the interstate with a bicycle, you can just imagine what the CB was crackling out at that point.
That Vega was good enough that it was followed by a 76 Monza 2+2, also a good car but a tourer, not worthwhile for autocross, than a 79 Monza wagon which was such a piece of crap that I didn’t own a Chevy again until my (still around) 96 S-10.
About that time, I discovered motorcycles and cars became nothing more than transportation. Yeah, despite three BMW’s: a E30 325i and two E36 M3’s.
Yet, I still passionately follow the automobile business, even though my driveway is populated with nothing more than SUV’s (Jeep) and pickup trucks (Chevy) who’s primary job is to transport bicycles and motorcycles as necessary, and get me to work on the days when the motorcycle is impractical. Somethings are just two important to let go of, and on a quiet day I’ll just sit in my office an gaze at my collection of dealer promotional models (53-65) to remember what life was all about.
Syke
Deranged Few M/C
Syke, you have evoked more memories:
I was a GM fan, hated esp Xler, and was not wild about Ford. I knew every car in the neighborhood. I kept score. I started reading the newspaper at 10 during the 100 day autoworkers strike against GM. Those traitors, I thought. I didn’t understand, until soon after taht, that GM was owned by shareholders, and that the autoworkers were not citizens, some of GM, some of Ford, etc. I assumed it was a democracy like the US. As soon as she understood that, my mother felt the need to set me straight.
I lived in a neighborhood with winding streets and lots of woods. One day I had a friend walk me around blindfolded. The idea was that when he was satisified he’d gotten me good and confused, he’d ask me if I could guess where I was. When that happened, I asked him if I could feel a car. No, he said, you’ll know where you are. Oh, just let me feel a tail light. He let me feel a little bit of a tail light. I told him what car it was, and then I told him where we were.
Re Breaking Away, I rode a bicycle from Seattle to Boston in ’75. I can remember racing a huge freight train in Montana, and very slowly pulling ahead of it. But there were also days with head winds when it was work even to pedal downhill.
I think that this posting is appropriate for this article.
I recently became a car salesman for a GM dealer. Yesterday, I noticed that we are selling far more used cars than we are new.
Perhaps I should change my screen name to “Worried Salesman.”
I grew up in a Mopar family. My dad sold Chryslers for most of my youth. As a kid our neighbors had a ’70 GTX, Plum Crazy with a 440. On Saturdays my dad would take me and my brother to work and I get to sit in (and start!) any car on the lot. I was a kid in a candy store. I have so many memories (and stories) of those days.
In my teens my older brother would frequently trash the demos that Dad brought home. Dad also worked for VW and Chevy for a time but he always wound up back at a Chrysler store. I have stories about driving a 76 Dasher with a string for throttle, driving a Vega into a mudhole, cutting my own keys for a 77 Fury (I cut a special 2-sided key that when inserted it wouldn’t come out..the Fury was towed away). Shattered windows, a totaled Volare wagon (not a big loss). The time my brother thought the vinyl top on our Valiant Brougham (now THAT’S and oxymoron!) would look good and shiny covered in cooking oil! We probably shaved 5 yrs off of my Dad’s life, rest his soul. He always threw us the keys the following night, though.
Oh yeah, and I could ID any car, IN THE DARK.
Thanks, all. And thanks, RF, for this meeting place of bretheren. I’m glad I stirred up some happy memories.
And yes, Tornado, I did some on-air traffic work in Seattle, but never in a chopper. That was Paul Brendle’s territory. I watched from the 73rd floor of the Columbia tower. That was high enough. Lots of stories there….
Joe,
Did you beat your chest like Les Nessman while warning drivers to stear clear of the 520 bridge? I wonder why I thought you were in a chopper. That’s funny. You write well, thanks for the article.
Hey, man – whatever it takes to “maintain the illusion.”
Remember the I-90 bridge sinking? Or the Inaugural Day windstorm that closed both bridges? Or when the Goodwill Games caused a backup from Federal Way to Lynnwood?
Good times….
How lucky are we, kids at heart born during the golden age of automobiles (1950s-1960s) and how unfortunate for the kids of today, who 30 years hence will never wax nostalgic over a Kia Rio.
Studedude,
I visited the new Stude museum last March. It’s impressive with two stories of cars and wagons. There’s even a mock Bonnie Doon drive-in that just reeked of good old South Bend nostalgia. Happier days. I wish they’d get rid of the idiotic Hummer though. It doesn’t fit in.
Back when I was in the Boy Scouts – circa 1961 through ’63 – there was a merit badge for indentifying the outlines of a certain number of cars, from a distance of about 30 feet. An adult had to be with you to verify. I remember getting that merit badge – which probably anyone who reads this site could have gotten, at that same point in their lives, the outset of being a teenager.
Then too, the Art Center College Center of Design was where people took their interest in automobiles back then; and I was fortunate enough to go there for a couple of years. Nowadays, it seems the school is so expensive, and there are so many others competing with other Transportation Design or Industrial Design programs, it is less what it was – at least, in the eyes of teenage pistonheads.
Still, today’s generation running around in slammed (lowered) Hondas, Toyotas, Mitsubishis and BMWs, are coming along fine; and are ready to take automotive enthusiasm into the new century. TTAC is there for them, and we older enthusiasts.
A few posts above Studedude says,
How lucky are we, kids at heart born during the golden age of automobiles (1950s-1960s) and how unfortunate for the kids of today, who 30 years hence will never wax nostalgic over a Kia Rio.
I guess when the “Golden Age” was would be open to debate, but I agree that in this age of often look-alike and semi-disposable cars, few people will have longings in mid-life for cars of their youth. When today’s college kids are 50, will they be cruisng autions and the pages of Hemmings, hunting for a 2000 Corolla, an Elantra, or Neon? I think not. Most modern cars, for all their comfort, refinment and gadgetry, deny people the automotive experience of years past. Their appliance-like nature lacks the individuality and “character” of the cars of the ’50s through the ’70s. While baby-boomers have stories and memories of the British sports cars, air-cooled VWs, pony cars and muscle cars that got them through high school, college and on into their lives, few cars today are likely to produce the same kind of memories. Most are just cars.
Woooahhh.
I am the so called “College Kid”. While I respect your vehicles from the 50s-60s, I refuse to acknowledge the validity of your comment that we won’t be “cruisng autions and the pages of Hemmings, hunting for a 2000 Corolla, an Elantra, or Neon?” Essentially, you have chosen the 3 most undesirable appliance like cars that are offered today. When is the last time you cruised the pages of Hemmings for the lowest of low cars from your era? You and your peers search for the muscle cars and the high-style cars.
Lets talk about the Gen-IV Supra, the Rx-7, 300zx, NSX, Civic Type R’s, G35 coupe — These are the cars you should be bringing up. Enthusiasts my age are not clamouring for an Elantra. And its quite insulting to say so.
Oh and check the prices of the ’93-’98 Supras TTs. Try and find a good example under-30k. It sure ain’t the college kids buying those.
Oh and I’d love to tell you stories about my Turbo Saab, my S-10, and my current Si.
It’s ok to admit we’re cool. It won’t ruin your image too much. :D
Andy Carter,
Come on. The only car you mention that’s interesting is the NSX. The Type R is a warmed over Civic. The Supra, RX-7 and 300 ZX are Japanese Camaros or wanna be Porsches. Yawn. The G35? Please.
And, FWIW, I can tell you stories about all four of my turbo Saabs. And the Scirocco, the GTI, and, coincidentally, my POS S-10.
If you’re suggesting that the 1998 Camaro is anywhere near as interesting as the Supra TT or close to being a comparable car, style or performance, I think we are probably incapable of ever coming to an understanding. I could buy a top-of-the-line 1998 Camaro z28 for under 10,000. A top of the line Supra can and does fetch over 35,000 dollars.
I don’t see why its so hard to admit that cool cars are still made today. An Evo could spank an old Mustang any day of the week. Does that mean I’m saying the Mustang isn’t cool? NO! I respect muscle cars as the awesome machines that they are. Of course, you are going to say that the Evo is ugly, that it has a big wing, hood scoop, or looks ricey.
I’m not asking you to respect the Neon SRT-4 here. The cars I listed are all amazing performers with their own respectable style. Pass the torch, already.
On a positive note, we should trade stories about crappy S-10s and Saabs.
Noley – I disagree! I have friends who have spent long hours restoring, and competing in various aspects of motorsports in RX-7s and Supras, just as my brother did 30 years ago in his Camaro SS, Boss Mustang and 455 GTO (which he still has). To them, they are far from boring.
To each his own! Me… I’m currently jazzed over the proverbial old-lady-driven, rust-free 323 I just bought for $300 with the intent of rallying.
Andy (and Lesley, too…)
Dudes, I’m just pushing your buttons. A (maybe bad) habit of mine. I know those cars are good and go great–I just don’t see Japanese cars as even approaching collectible or interesting, but that’s just me, because I’ve never found a Japanese car I actually wanted to own.
And with the exception of Shelby Cobras, I don’t really like most ’60s muscle cars all that much. All go, no handling. I’ve always been a Euro car guy, prefering the feel, handling and style to domestic iron. That said, though, a Factory Five Cobra is at the top of of my list of ways to blow money on a toy car!
Lesley–nice deal on the 323. Should make a decent rally car.
Thanks.
I like ’em all… and after spending a day in the Audi S8 recently, I totally get the whole German sedan thing too.
Haha no prob…
Just to let you in on a little secret…I’m hyper pumped about the new Camaro. So yeah I love ’em all.
Well except for the Ford Taurus. I am currently driving one on loan while my Civic is being treated. I can’t imagine a car farther from my taste.
Lesley: I’m envious of your rally car…..
Well, don’t be too envious. There will lots of knuckle barking going on next week – it needs struts, brakes, wheel bearing (rear, how weird is that?) and a cv joint. But… you could eat off the engine, the underside is completely rust free and the frame rails are perfect!!!
Car Show 2025: “Son SON! C’mere and look! God, I haven’t seen a 1999 Taurus in ages….jeez just look at it…the classic ovals everywhere….quite the car son! And look over there…a KIA Sephia…we used to call them “Sofia’s” after the little old lady on “Golden Girls…soooo sweet”
Not likely to happen. Not even a little bit! Even the stripper econoboxes of the 1950s and 1960s…Nash Ramblers, Studebaker Scotsmans, Ford Falcons, get A LOT of attention at old car shows nowadays. I’m afraid the same won’t be said for the current crop of automobiles but in particular the plastic filled suppository-shaped econoboxes of today even if their complicated electricals (sold the last replacement unit back in 2010) survive. The cars of today that will be collectible and interesting tomorrow will likely be the cars of today retro-styled to look like yesterday (Mustang and new Camaro).
“Style” will always be in the eye of the beholder, and it felt like designers were allowed to be much more creative in the past than they can be now. So, it makes sense that some of us still find everything from a Ferrari Daytona to a Nash Metropolitan “interesting.”
I do think a 2025 car show would appropriately have some of the following from 1990-2007 represented, stock or custom:
Corvette
NSX
WRX/STi
Evo
TT & RS4
Miata/MX-5
Solstice/Sky
xB & tC
Mustang
Ford GT
PT (maybe a stretch)
Hybrids (maybe a stretch)
Basically, any car that instills passion today could re-appear, and there are still cars around that do that.
“Style†will always be in the eye of the beholder, and it felt like designers were allowed to be much more creative in the past than they can be now.” – Joe Chiaramonte
It’s not management that’s putting the brakes on designs, it’s the coefficient of drag objective – and other constraints – that’s putting the brakes on designs.
dhathewa – I didn’t mean to suggest it was a management issue. I don’t disagree that there are other objectives at play – drag, stability, or in general: what we’ve learned about form and function over 50 years. There is more pressure now than ever to create the “whole package.”
Somehow I just don’t believe that people are going apes over the crappiest of crappy cars from the 60s. Sorry.
It doesn’t help anyone’s point to bring up cars like the Kia Sephia or Ford Taurus. They’re simply aren’t a whole lot of Kia enthusiasts eager to immortalize their automobiles. I guarantee you however, that in 30 years there will be individuals that will pay big money for mint condition Honda Si’s and Type R’s. If there is a big fan base for the car now, there will be later.
I was somewhat of a pistonhead all my life. But it really took off when coming home from grandparent’s house, in the back seat at a red light, next to a brand new Vette. I knew then and there one of my passions in life would be cars and it has been since. I love looking at them, driving them, studying them, reading about them (thanks TTAC), working on them, and anything else with them.
What was wrong the Datsun?My 68 datsun 510 is running