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Yes, indeed! On the average, they were much better looking than the cars of today... all the more so since they were offered in colors, not shades of gray or beige. Modern vehicles are more enviromentally responsible, better assembled, etc. But they're boring!
The cars from the 70's don't last near as long as they do today. You hardly ever seen a car over 100,000 miles. Most cars were good for about 70,000 miles, if that much. Now a days, its not unusual for a car to have 2 and 3 hundred thousand miles. You never heard of cars in the 70's getting anywhere near that many miles. Totally unheard of in the entire decade of the 70's. There might be a few that got that many miles, but they were about as rare as hens teeth. You use to see a lot more cars broke down on the side of the road than you do now.
I have owned or know of quite a few '60s and '70s car with well over 100,000 miles with the original engine and transmission.
My '66 Dodge Dart GT V-8 already had 109,000 miles when I took ownership. It lasted many more years and miles. It was not that unusual for cars of that era to rack up many miles. Especially when properly maintained and if it was a car known for reliability and longevity.
I was out biking a few days ago and saw a BMW pulling to the side of the road. Don't know what year, maybe 2005-2007. It was overheating and I saw steam emerging from the hood. The owner said he thinks it was the water pump. He called his wife and she called the auto club.
To answer the question, I do miss seeing '60s and '70s cars driving around. It gets tired seeing the same cookie-cutter cars. However, the weekly car show out here is a treat to stop by and see cars when they had styling.
I own a '76 Cadillac Limousine so I can also still enjoy '70s cars, too.
No. But I do miss the old midsized cars that had real bumpers and decent ground clearance compared with new compact cars that bump and scrape on the slightest bump or divot. And those old compacts had trunks that could carry a bicycle with only the front wheel removed, plus another one on the rear seat. It was also handy to have a bench seat that could take three people across. You could get away with not owning a pickup truck. Now, some trucks have smaller beds than some of the old trunks!
I see that happen quite often. There is a freeway off-ramp with a dip (not all that big) and I have seen one late-model car after another scrape. My two cars can drive over the same dip, at a faster speed, and not scrape at all.
My father had an Olds 98 similar to this one back in 1970. Ah... those were the days. Rear wheel drive, V8 engine, seats six comfortably, huge trunk, 10 MPG, rides like a smooth ocean liner, and pretty safe in a collision. What's not to love?
Today's cars are tiny little boxes on wheels; you could fit two Corollas in the volume of one Olds or Caddy from that era.
Sure, they were wasteful polluters, but with modern technology they could be cleaned up, maybe even fitted with hybrid electric drive trains.
Why can't an auto maker bring these monsters back? There's definitely a nostalgia market, and that's the kind of car that can just eat up the miles on long highway trips. I'd get one.
Ah, for the good old days. Wish I'd gotten a Cutlass S back when the getting was good; my childhood friend drove one, but I never did follow through on that. The kind of car all the high school guys were driving, easy to work on, fun to cruise around in, cheap.
Cars just aren't as fun any more.
No, they sure aren't.
Back in those days, we all looked forward with great anticipation to each fall's unveiling of the new year's models. And, with few exceptions, we could count on them being nicer and more exciting than the previous year's. They just kept getting better and we kept taking for granted that it would always be that way. But, tragically, as of the early 70s the days of the greatest era in American automotive history were numbered.
Your example couldn't better illustrate the tragedy of our loss from those great days. Because not only are the greats like that era's Olds 98 gone, but Oldsmobile is gone. Unbelievable, considering how wildly successful it was when it was still legal to make and sell great cars.
In the classic era, cars got more exciting and more fun every year. For the last 30+ years, depending on model, we've moved in the opposite direction. In saner times, when a car stalled at a stoplight you tuned it up or got whatever the problem was fixed. Today, stalling at stoplights is a trendy new feature that's part of the design.
Those of us around retirement age today had no idea how good we had it in those days. But automotively, we are the luckiest of all generations.
Back in those days, we all looked forward with great anticipation to each fall's unveiling of the new year's models. And, with few exceptions, we could count on them being nicer and more exciting than the previous year's. They just kept getting better and we kept taking for granted that it would always be that way. But, tragically, as of the early 70s the days of the greatest era in American automotive history were numbered.
Your example couldn't better illustrate the tragedy of our loss from those great days. Because not only are the greats like that era's Olds 98 gone, but Oldsmobile is gone. Unbelievable, considering how wildly successful it was when it was still legal to make and sell great cars.
In the classic era, cars got more exciting and more fun every year. For the last 30+ years, depending on model, we've moved in the opposite direction. In saner times, when a car stalled at a stoplight you tuned it up or got whatever the problem was fixed. Today, stalling at stoplights is a trendy new feature that's part of the design.
Those of us around retirement age today had no idea how good we had it in those days. But automotively, we are the luckiest of all generations.
Some cars ares still fun, my modded C6 Vette was fun, same for a 05 GTO and for the modded 2015 5.0 GT i have now. Now all other cars and 4 bangers are boring. If it's not in the 12's or faster it is not fun.
Some cars ares still fun, my modded C6 Vette was fun, same for a 05 GTO and for the modded 2015 5.0 GT i have now. Now all other cars and 4 bangers are boring. If it's not in the 12's or faster it is not fun.
Well, my view is that there is a lot more to fun than fast. It matters little (actually, not at all) to me that any or all of the models you mention run 12s or faster. They're all DOA to me for consideration because I can't stand the sight of any of them. Their late 60s ancestors are the gold standard and the new ones pale in comparison.
But I can well understand you're having a different viewpoint if you are 39 years younger, as your handle suggests. The cars of the late 20s/early 30s were never on my radar.
If you're driving through potholes like that, you get what you deserve.
Point is, a blanket statement like I was responding to is stupid, as it's barely true for ONE small area of the country
"a blanket statement like[that] is stupid" - You called it. Then you did it ????
Have you been around at all? Here, the only way you are not going to hit a massive pothole is to not drive. Our road is basically a series of giant potholes interrupted occasionally by pavement in one direction, and about 50/50 in the other direction (basically it is used as if it were a single lane road, except by my wife who seems to enjoy watching me replace tie rods, struts, and control arms. Many other States are as bad or worse. Michigan is not the only state with massive potholes everywhere. In fact, we do no even have the worst roads. We do not make the top ten.
No. You do not usually bed a rim. In fact, I have only had one bent rim on 19 cars over the past ten years (family of 7). However I have replaced enough tie rod ends to fill a 55 gallon trash can (we save parts and recycle them).
You do knock the wheel alignment out of kilter frequently. Tie rods and control arms do not last long. There is really no point in fixing the alignment, it will just go out again in a week. What do you do? Slow down on the worst roads. If you drive an area repeatedly, you learn where the holes are and learn to watch for developing ones to you can miss them when they get big. In unknown areas? You stay alert so you do not lose control entirely when you hit one. Hope the damage is not so bad you have to pull over. Replace the tires more often due to alignment/tie rod issues and complain to your state representatives about the roads destroying your car. If you buy a used car, you factor tie rods and control arms into the price (and brake rotors because everyone tailgates).
I do have a friend here whose wife has a mini. He gets a kick out of having people look underneath it. Everything is all scraped up. looks like it has been blasted repeatedly with a shotgun. Minis aren't the only ones. Just picking on them because they are the lowest I can think of and someone brought them up.
Well, my view is that there is a lot more to fun than fast. It matters little (actually, not at all) to me that any or all of the models you mention run 12s or faster. They're all DOA to me for consideration because I can't stand the sight of any of them. Their late 60s ancestors are the gold standard and the new ones pale in comparison.
Mod cut. I had 3 1970 Mustangs (sportsroof , Mach 1, and BOSS 302) and worked on may others of the '60s and early '70s (like a '71 BOSS 351 I restored for a customer, 2 '67s that I restored for customers, and 4 65-66s) and while I love them, the new ones are VASTLY better, faster, handle better, stop better, better build quality, more reliable, longer lasting as daily drivers, etc. The NEW ones are the gold standard. Same with the Challenger and Camaro (way better cars than my '71 Charger, '71 Torino GT or '73 Camaro)
Mod cut. And I'm in my 50s. I remember the cars of the '50s,, 6os, and '70s, and had a number of them all, and none of them were as good as new cars or as fun as new performance cars. Back in the day we modded cars to try to get them to be better performers and to look better, and new cars come stock with that performance or better. And the new muscle cars look great. And economy cars are vastly better than the Vegas and Pintos of the day. I had the economy cars of the '60s and '70s, too. 6 cyl Falcons and Chevy IIs, Pintos, a Monza, VWs, etc, and modern economy cars blow them away in styling, safety, build quality, fuel mileage, cleanliness, and performance.
We had fun with those cars back in the day because we were teenagers (and early '20s) in cars that at the time were fairly new and the best that had been built up to then. But now, from a mature perspective, not looking back with rose colored glasses, the fun was because we were teenagers with freedom, not that the cars themselves were really any good. Whther we were racing, or hitting the cruiose strip, the fun was that we were young people in cars and the activities themselves were fun. They were the gold standard to you because those were your formative years, so they influenced you. But the FACTS are that if you give modern cars a chance, they are just vastly better in every category. And just as fun to drive, whter cruising, going to shows, or performance driving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW4me
all the more so since they were offered in colors, not shades of gray or beige. Modern vehicles are more enviromentally responsible, better assembled, etc. But they're boring!
Oh, really?
Mod cut x 4.
Even economy cars get into the color act:
Mod cut.
And older cars?
Mod cut x 3.
The thing people like you don't remember is that the average car of the '60s and '70s was as vanilla as the average car of today:
Mod cut x 4.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 10-20-2016 at 12:14 PM..
Reason: Inappropriate language; personal attack; copyright violations.
I see that happen quite often. There is a freeway off-ramp with a dip (not all that big) and I have seen one late-model car after another scrape. My two cars can drive over the same dip, at a faster speed, and not scrape at all.
Yes, I had it happen in a rental with a parking lot dip that must have been less than three inches deep. Going less than 5 mph. The ubiquitous air dams on new cars get it even when most of the undercarriage sits high enough to avoid contact.
I also hear many new cars scrape against barely any change in surface contours, sometimes with a horrendous cracking, followed by the owner pulling over and cursing what he or she sees.
Last week I was driving behind someone in an Audi TT in a town with mostly dirt roads. He was creeping along at maybe 10 mph on downtown streets, evidently terrified of a jolt or scrape. Who wants to live like that? I guess it is a good thing some towns have that kind of road...reduces "upscale" domination.
Never in my 50 years of driving have I ever heard of anyone spending 40 years limited to driving up and down their own driveway.
I did this for a few years. I had an office in the carriage house. Usually I would just walk, but if I had to carry a whole lot of things I might drive the driveway to avoid multiple trips. However even my driveway has potholes in it.
Still I did drive on public streets at times for entertainment, visiting, trips to the airport. . .
It is amazing to go 40 years without driving on public roads. Could be a Guinness record.
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