Car Interiors New Vs Old. (coupe, GMC, Lincoln, 1999)
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Talk about flimsy plastic stuff in the interior, that '76 has a HUGE panel of flimsy plastic covering each door. Both door panels, the entire top of the dash, the flimsy plastic "fake metal" instrument cluster panel....
I have a '79 Chevy truck. The interior is NOTHING in comparison to my BMW as far as fit, finish, and materials. And the bench seat is uncomfortable and doesn't hold you in place at all.
This is mine. I know what I'm talking about:
Yes, I'm well aware that they're quite a few plastic pieces in my trucks interior. But not EVERYTHING like on a modern truck. The glove box, ashtray, lower dash panel, etc are all metal on my truck. Not the case nowadays. And yes, I know that the older trucks had much more metal on the interiors, it's just 73-87 Chevy trucks are my favorite and the best trucks ever made IMO.
Also, my '76 has a set of bucket seats from some other kind of vehicle. All 3 seats move independent and it has a fold down center console, so no trouble keeping you in your seat.
Talk about flimsy plastic stuff in the interior, that '76 has a HUGE panel of flimsy plastic covering each door. Both door panels, the entire top of the dash, the flimsy plastic "fake metal" instrument cluster panel....
I have a '79 Chevy truck. The interior is NOTHING in comparison to my BMW as far as fit, finish, and materials. And the bench seat is uncomfortable and doesn't hold you in place at all.
This is mine. I know what I'm talking about:
My Dad bought a '74 GMC K1500 new in '74 and he still owns it. The hard plastic door panels are still not cracked or decayed... The gauge bezel is also still fine (our truck is a high optioned Super Custom package, but slightly older than yours, so we don't have what I believe is actually REAL metal glued to the plastic... our 78 Suburban Sierra Classic had your dash and it was going strong until the mid-90s when it was sold)... You'd have to wait about 400 years for things like the ash tray, arm rests, and glove box to break too, which as a fellow owner you have to recognize... That stuff fails under warranty on a lot of new cars.
Is it a comfortable interior? Oh god no! If I'm honest that entire truck is a pretty horrible motoring experience. Your observations about the seat are dead on too. But... fit/finish/materials? I'm not sure how many modern cars are going to hold up as well in another 40 years. Even the steering well on that truck is in good shape and it never saw a garage a day of its life until about 5 years ago. The puffy overstuffed vinyl wrapped wheel in my Jeep started decaying at about 10 years old... I've seen BMW interiors as new as 10 years old that are literally falling apart too. I guess only time will really tell how most newer stuff favors in the long run, but I'm pretty confident in your old Chevy being just fine for a long time to come.
My Dad bought a '74 GMC K1500 new in '74 and he still owns it. The hard plastic door panels are still not cracked or decayed...
I've seen plenty of those era Chevy trucks with UV damaged plastic door panels and cracked dash tops. Don't tell me they last longer than anything else. I had to replace mine when I gave it to my kid. The door panels were UV embrittled on all upward surfaces, and the armrests were warped and curled up from heat and age cracked. Had to find new ones from LMC. The dash pad is still cracked until we can get a new one in there. Looks a lot like this one:
Quote:
The gauge bezel is also still fine (our truck is a high optioned Super Custom package, but slightly older than yours, so we don't have what I believe is actually REAL metal glued to the plastic... our 78 Suburban Sierra Classic had your dash and it was going strong until the mid-90s when it was sold)... You'd have to wait about 400 years for things like the ash tray, arm rests, and glove box to break too, which as a fellow owner you have to recognize... That stuff fails under warranty on a lot of new cars.
That instrument binnacle is not metal glued to plastic, it's fake metal look molded into the plastic and it tends to crack around the screws (and speaking of exposed screws, what the heck is that all about? Looks like crap) And while the ashtray doesn't break, I've never seen one that actually lined up properly in it's opening. The quality of fit and finish in those old cars and trucks was atrocious. The vehicles overall can be cool and they ARE simpler to work on, but lets not kid ourselves. Panels don't line up, gaps are huge, and the materials are worse.
Except they cost a lot more, hell some cars cost more than a house that's nuts. To bad you can't take out a mortgage on them. lol lol.
That's been the case for a long time. My folks house cost $5000 in 1970. There were new cars that cost as much or more then.
But my very average house is worth $340k. There aren't that many cars that cost as much. The few houses I've found (even looking as far out as West Virginia) that cost less than the average new car ($35k) are run down POS that need at least a hundred grand to make right and bring up to snuff.
Some of you posting obviously did not read the heading of this thread.
It states "CARS", not trucks.
Just the daily use of a truck for what it was meat for would dictate most interiors would be trash over a period of time.
Cars on the other hand as a rule, maintain a good looking, comfortable interior for many years.
Some of you posting obviously did not read the heading of this thread.
It states "CARS", not trucks.
Just the daily use of a truck for what it was meat for would dictate most interiors would be trash over a period of time.
Cars on the other hand as a rule, maintain a good looking, comfortable interior for many years.
Bob.
The vinyl in older cars still get age cracked and warped from UV damage and dash pads crack easily in many older cars. My '63 Comet had a totally sun damaged and cracked vinyl dash pad after very few years. Same with my '65 Lincoln. And the headliner on my '85 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham had to be replaced due to sagging when it was only 12 years old. I was using trucks as an example because the person I was responding to said he'd never have a new truck due to all the plastics inside, then said he drove an older, better truck. One that, ironically enough, is full of plastic as well, and plastic that doesn't hold up as good as modern stuff does. And a truck that doesn't have as good of fit and finish as the newer stuff, either.
The point being, old stuff is just that, old stuff. The older cars had quite a bit of vinyl in them that is affected by weathering, use, and age and had their own level of plastics. To use a few surviving examples as a fact that old cars/trucks are better than new cars is laughable. Metal on the inside is decidedly NOT better than leather and plastic when it comes in contact with you in a collision. And seats that don't hold you in place and are basically trying to duplicate your living room couch is dangerous. Some high end cars had really plush seats that did make you feel like sitting on a cloud, (which you're not, you're piloting a 4000 lb+ deadly missile and you'd best be in full control of it and your senses) but most cars back in the day had fairly hard, slippery vinyl seats. My Falcon, for instance, had flat bench seats covered in vinyl (that didn't hold up to wear very well and didn't hold you in place when cornering). My Comet had "buckets" but you sat ON them, not down in them, and they were also covered in vinyl that didn't hold you in place well. My BMW has leather, which really isn't any better than vinyl for gripping you, but the seats have bolstering that keep you positioned properly and hold you in place, like most modern seats.
Something I’ve notice lately with all the new cars I’ve sat in from going to car shows that display the newest models, is that although the plastic quality has improved by a lot compared to cars of 80’s-90’s, I cannot stand the matte flat color sceme that every new car seems to have. I remember my mother’s 94 Honda Accord and that car had a nice softly padded interior, even the lower door panel that is pretty much 100% percent hard plastic on a brand new cars, her old Honda had a padded lower panel which was so nice even if it’s an area you don’t normally touch, it shows quality and care on the manufacturer part. Also the interior vinyl had this nice sheen that looked good, now you that basketball texture dash pads and door panels that is literally on every single vehicle these days and it looks so cheap and homogeneous.
Another big issue I have with new interiors is because the plastics and vinyl are matted you can easily see scratches from fingernails, the kickpanels, and they don’t easily come off even with a lather of vinyl treatment. The sheeny vinyl and plastics in the older cars were able to hide the scratches much better, and you could buff some out depending on deep it is.
I’m not sure if these modern interiors will hold up 30-50 years from now compared to the mostly metal and better quality vinyls and leather from cars of the 50’s and 60’s can. Not all the older cars had great quality interiors. But it’s a fact that the luxury cars of the 50’s-60’s had a much higher quality interiors from a materials standpoint than anything mostly made today unless you step into a high end Benz or Beemer. Even then you can not compare the wonderfully stitched and detailed designed seats of a 60’s and 70’s leather/cloth combo Cadillac Fleetwoods. Those are in a league of their own no matter how much someone might despise them, you have to admit, they were nice to look at, and sit on especially if you love soft comfortable seats.
My 17 impala is an awesome car, and it feels more like BMW than a Chevy, but I honestly don’t think some interior pieces will last 20 years from now. Like the plastic control nobs. Everything is fitted nice and tightly. Nothing squeaks or rattles, but I know with constant sun exposure over the years, the UV damage will eventually take its toll and start shrinking and warping the plastics.
I've seen plenty of those era Chevy trucks with UV damaged plastic door panels and cracked dash tops. Don't tell me they last longer than anything else.
I didn't tell you that. I said we're going to have to wait a long long time to find out in the modern stuff holds up as well. I have cars that are 30 years newer that have the same problems too. I also said that our truck, at rapidly approaching 50 years old, does not have ALL of those problems and that nothing special has ever been done to prevent them (our dash pad is roached too and we put a NOS one on it [which was a nightmare to find in our year and color], seat is smoked and has been for years (factory center "fabric" is going to be impossible to find and we're debating just doing something other than stock], but everything else is serviceable... door cards could use painted, but haven't turned to dust, are rests are good and not cracked).
Guess I was mistaken on the cluster. Like I said, our truck doesn't have that bezel because it's an older model. Runs a thinner steering column than later model trucks too, which always struck me as odd...
My bigger point, which I thought I made clear originally, was that a lot of stuff in newer interiors won't even make it out of warranty and I know damn well I'll die before things like the glove box and ash tray in our square body break off and fall on the carpet.
I also maintain that the interior in those trucks, and the overall experience of driving one, is misery. In no way, other than possibly durability on some components, is it superior to a modern truck to actually drive. Not even close. Gets more thumbs up at the gas station and that's about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sdlife619
Something I’ve notice lately with all the new cars I’ve sat in from going to car shows that display the newest models, is that although the plastic quality has improved by a lot compared to cars of 80’s-90’s, I cannot stand the matte flat color sceme that every new car seems to have. I remember my mother’s 94 Honda Accord and that car had a nice softly padded interior, even the lower door panel that is pretty much 100% percent hard plastic on a brand new cars, her old Honda had a padded lower panel which was so nice even if it’s an area you don’t normally touch, it shows quality and care on the manufacturer part. Also the interior vinyl had this nice sheen that looked good, now you that basketball texture dash pads and door panels that is literally on every single vehicle these days and it looks so cheap and homogeneous.
Speaking from someone who has been within the industry and who has designed interior parts, some of that stuff is out of the manufacturers hands. The padding and vinyl everywhere weighs an absolute ton and when you have to have 12 air bags, ABS, stability control, etc, etc, etc mandated by law, AND a consumer that demands ever more gizmos on their cars (heavy chunks of glass in the dash for infotainment, 18 speaker stereos, heated/cooled/massaging seats, power everything with programmable driver memory) AND it has to meet federal fuel economy standards, you have got to cut the weight somewhere. On interior components they'll literally try to shave grams if they can. A modern Mustang or Camaro can weigh as much as 800lbs more than its counterpart from 25 years ago. You just can't keep porking them up without putting them on a diet somewhere else.
As far as some of the textures, I think some of that is safety related too and then, at least to an extent, you have to match the interior match. Some of the early "cab forward" cars would throw dash reflections on the windshield that were so bad at night that I personally just about couldn't drive them and I actually had to put a fabric dash cover on one car I owned. I haven't had that issue in a modern car even a little bit. I never even thought about it again until now, actually. The dash boards are as big as ever and the windshield are still ultra swoopy, so they must be changing the texture and materials to make them less reflective. Just my hunch on that one. Either way, I'll gladly accept the additional leg room that most cab forward design tend to provide, even if the manufacturers still the lateral room with ever growing center consoles (which is a different pet peeve of mine). I don't want to wear my car like a fighter jet cockpit. I get how that can be appealing for certain high performance models, but in something like a truck there's no excuse for it.
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