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I have to agree. I'm old enough to remember the carb run cars that had to be warmed up for a few minutes in the winter, no power windows, crappy drum breaks, no anti-lock breaks, no all wheel drive, etc. As nostalgic as those older cars are I do not miss them.
I think the sweet spot was the mid-late 2000's. Cars were still built well, modern and you could fix them. I still got two late 2000's model cars that are running great and are easy to fix. It's starting to go downhill drastically now. Especially the European cars. Audi, BMW and Mercedes are all junk cars that you would be very foolish to buy. Only lease those cars and let them be someone else's problem after the lease is up.
My 2011 BMW X5 Diesel is great, especially when I didn't have to pay for all the depreciation. But it doesn't have the electronic display, air suspension, radar/lane detection, HUD etc. that gets expensive when it breaks. Get 21+ mpg around town, much better on the highway. I added in an aftermarket touchscreen for $500 with CarPlay and it looks OEM, plus newer wheels I got cheaply on CL and new tires and from 20 feet away the car looks brand new (I say 20 feet as there are a few scratches and a couple of door dings that I inherited after buying from a relative.)
$2700 sounds low, but when you factor in inflation that's over $20K today. Considering it was pre-emissions, pre-airbag, pre-electronics it was the spiritual equivalent of a basic econobox (but with more steel) today.
That's so true. I just looked the original MSRP to confirm my memory and sure enough that's what it was. Mine had the OHC 6 and the Rally wheels.
As far as engine options went, though, you had to buy one of the separate Firebird models in order to get specific stuff:
Among the many ways that Pontiac attempted to differentiate its new Firebird from the Camaro was to offer the Firebird in five different flavors, rather than one basic model that could be tarted up with à la carte options. For 1967 and 1968, Pontiac even used variations of the tagline, “The Magnificent Five… the Pontiac Firebirds,” to tout its new pony car and its five different option packages.
Of course, true gearheads looked to the top version first. Base six-cylinder? No. Hotted-up overhead-cam six-cylinder? Getting warm. The 250hp 326 V-8? Good for secretaries. Firebird H.O., with 30 more horses out of its 326? If you’re on a budget, sure. Instead, it was the Firebird 400 that got an eager buyer’s testosterone flowing, with its bigger V-8, dual exhaust, heavy-duty transmissions and suspension upgrades.
To the base Firebird coupe’s $2,666 purchase price, the Firebird 400 package added another $274 (in 1968, prices rose to $2,781 and $351, respectively), though adding all the respectable performance options could jack the tally up to nearly $4,000.
For an additional $263.30, 1967’s Firebird 400 buyer had the option of ordering the L67 Ram Air package, which ostensibly upped the output to 335hp at 5,200 RPM.
As was the custom of the time, non-power hydraulic drum brakes–on the Firebird, measuring 9.5 inches–came standard on all four corners. Firebird buyers could option up either power-assist drum brakes or 11-inch, four-piston front disc brakes, with or without power-assist. As with the Camaros, the four-piston disc brakes proved troublesome, prone to leaking and hard to get parts for.
One of the car’s main points of interest to me pertains to its originality. I like and appreciate the factory paint because it was hand-sprayed, unlike today’s use of robotics. The original seats have a special broken-in feeling that newer ones don’t include. Even my Firebird’s interior smells intriguing, not like some brand-new vinyl from a local shop. Sometimes nothing compares to how the factory built cars. It is, as they say, only original once.
What’s scary was that a 6.6 liter engine all duded up only put out 335 hp. And that’s the old way of measuring which is like 250 hp today. You can get that out of a new Honda Accord!
What’s scary was that a 6.6 liter engine all duded up only put out 335 hp. And that’s the old way of measuring which is like 250 hp today. You can get that out of a new Honda Accord!
Yeah but all it took was a weekend and a couple hundred bucks and you had an absolute animal on the road. I still say screw new cars. More trouble than they're worth.
Yeah but all it took was a weekend and a couple hundred bucks and you had an absolute animal on the road. I still say screw new cars. More trouble than they're worth.
New cars are just better. They don’t look as nice and most are clones of each other. The vast majority of them go to 200k miles with nothing more than routine maintenance. Except for ford csuse they just make trash.
Ford new back in the day what the problem with there cars was. They made it very obvious to all by circling it.
What’s scary was that a 6.6 liter engine all duded up only put out 335 hp. And that’s the old way of measuring which is like 250 hp today. You can get that out of a new Honda Accord!
LOL, that's true! My 2017 Accord V-6 delivers 278 HP according to the specs.
Another random coincidence is that the car-price-to-gross-income ratio is essentially the same between the two cars. When I bought my 1967 Firebird I was making $50/week = $2600/yr which was within a hundred bucks of the price of that car (before sales tax or dealer fees.)
Just looked up what the car-alone price was for my 2017 Accord compared to my SS benefits total for that year and the difference is $329. So essentially both my first AND my most recent new cars were priced at the equivalent of one year's gross pay even though the two purchases were 51 years apart.
Ford new back in the day what the problem with there cars was. They made it very obvious to all by circling it.
LOL, the acronyms I remember from back then were that Ford stood for "Found On Road Dead" and/or "Fix Or Repair Daily"; and Fiat was Failed Italian Automotive Technology. One of my early bosses had a Fiat and would regularly substitute another F-word for "failed"
My dad was ridiculously brand-loyal to Ford; that's all he ever bought, every three years like clockwork from the 1940s until the year before he died in the mid 1990s. Wouldn't even consider anything else for a nanosecond.
I've owned - in chronological order from 1967 - Pontiac Firebird, VW Beetle, Ford Pinto, Mercury Montego, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Cadillac Seville, Lincoln Town Car (three in succession), Ford Taurus (for 2 years, hated it), Ford Focus (for 1 year), Lexus ES (15 years!), and Honda Accord Touring. All new "ordered" cars except for the Taurus which was an ex-daily-rental. The best of the USA-mades were the Town Cars but after owning the Lexus and the Accord it would take a lot to make me switch back to a US carmaker from Japanese. It'd probably be mission impossible actually.
Last edited by BBCjunkie; 07-13-2019 at 02:56 PM..
LOL, the acronyms I remember from back then were that Ford stood for "Found On Road Dead" and/or "Fix Or Repair Daily"; and Fiat was Failed Italian Automotive Technology. One of my early bosses had a Fiat and would regularly substitute another F-word for "failed"
I'm glad there aren't any more Pontiacs because the acronym for that was extremely inappropriate.
My next new car will be old.
At least 25 so I don't have to worry about stupid check engine lights and communist inspection laws.
Or just leave LI and you don't have to worry about inspections either. Or in most places, even emissions checks.
The annual NY inspection is the biggest money heist ever.
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