Tom Geiger Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Given the quality of drivers I see on the road every day, a self-driving car would be an upgrade.I love to drive, heck I still even have a car with a 5 speed. But I'd be very happy to climb in the back seat for my traffic congested daily hour plus ride to work. I could get an extra hour's sleep! Each way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenGuthmiller Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Given the quality of drivers I see on the road every day, a self-driving car would be an upgrade. Bingo! I drive every day for a living. It just amazes me how many morons there are behind the wheel! Most of them on their phones!! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) Old cars are fun to look at at car shows, cruise-ins, etc, but I really wouldn't want to drive one with any regularity. I'll stick w/ modern cars for the daily grind....I started driving in the mid 80s with mid 80s cars, those didn't even have cup holders, CD players, airbags, or ABS! My first few cars even had disk brakes only in the front..somehow I survived.. Edited March 31, 2016 by Rob Hall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Joy Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I'm not all that old, but when I was a kid there still weren't rear view mirrors on some cars, and no cars had seat belts. We weren't worried about the pointy bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBuick Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Old cars are fun to look at at car shows, cruise-ins, etc, but I really wouldn't want to drive one with any regularity. I'll stick w/ modern cars for the daily grind....I started driving in the mid 80s with mid 80s cars, those didn't even have cup holders, CD players, airbags, or ABS! My first few cars even had disk brakes only in the front..somehow I survived.. With updated suspension, brakes, EFI and some good tires, an old car can be just as reliable and safe as anything modern (with the exception of airbags), and much more exciting to drive in my opinion. Mike Finnegan hit the nail on the head with this quote..."If you can't pull into a gas station and strike up a conversation with your fellow man over your car, what are you doin'?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) With updated suspension, brakes, EFI and some good tires, an old car can be just as reliable and safe as anything modern (with the exception of airbags), and much more exciting to drive in my opinion. Mike Finnegan hit the nail on the head with this quote..."If you can't pull into a gas station and strike up a conversation with your fellow man over your car, what are you doin'?" To do that to an old car requires time, effort and money, though. I prefer the predictability and reliability of a modern car.. start up everyday, go to work, come home without worrying about a breakdown. I don't have the time or energy to wrench on a car myself if I depend on it to be there everyday.. And I can't imagine wanting to talk w/ anyone at a gas station...I pull in, fill up and pay at the pump, take off.. Edited March 31, 2016 by Rob Hall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Old cars are fun to look at at car shows, cruise-ins, etc, but I really wouldn't want to drive one with any regularity.I have a Meyers Manx dune buggy built from a wrecked 65 Volkswagen back 45 years ago. last summer I drove it from Indianapolis to Niagara Falls and back on a long weekend. Driving it 10 miles to work and back every day is nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I have a Meyers Manx dune buggy built from a wrecked 65 Volkswagen back 45 years ago. last summer I drove it from Indianapolis to Niagara Falls and back on a long weekend. Driving it 10 miles to work and back every day is nothing. That's brave...I just don't have the stomach for a road trip in an old car, even w/ AAA. I'd be afraid of a breakdown somewhere far from home.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 That's brave...I just don't have the stomach for a road trip in an old car, even w/ AAA. I'd be afraid of a breakdown somewhere far from home..Why is that brave? People drove 65 VW's across country all the time when they were still around. That trip to the Falls was for a Manx Club event, and 20 some cars drove from California, one was from Alaska. This year I'm driving it to Texas. It's called maintenance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBuick Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 To do that to an old car requires time, effort and money, though. I prefer the predictability and reliability of a modern car.. start up everyday, go to work, come home without worrying about a breakdown. I don't have the time or energy to wrench on a car myself if I depend on it to be there everyday.. And I can't imagine wanting to talk w/ anyone at a gas station...I pull in, fill up and pay at the pump, take off..I can spend less money buying an old car and modernizing it than I can buying a brand-new appliance, but I can respect where you're coming from...I'm the type that'll be passing by a gas station and if I see a cool classic car at the pump will stop and talk to the guy...I've done it probably hundreds of times and never came across someone who didn't want to talk. I've been on cross-country trips in old, carbureted, non-modernized cars and been broken down on the road several times, but that was part of the fun of the trip (I don't have a wife to nag me or kids to worry about). And heck, the best thing about a SBC350 is you can fix it with anything you find lying on the side of the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) A few too many bad experiences with older (15-25 yr old) cars have sworn me off anything I didn't buy new. I just don't need the headaches. I like models of old cars, though. Edited March 31, 2016 by Rob Hall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) A man who lives near here has a 1912 Model T Ford, he drove it to a Model T meet at The Henry Ford a few years back, and he's in his 80's. Edited March 31, 2016 by Craig Irwin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBuick Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 A man who lives near here has a 1912 Model T Ford, he drove it to a Model T meet at The Henry Ford a few years back, and he's in his 80's. Now THAT'D be fun to ride in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 A few too many bad experiences with older (15-25 yr old) cars have sworn me off anything I didn't buy new. I just don't need the headaches. I like models of old cars, though. Those cars weren't pre-electronics, they had early ECM's and FI. Yep, with a few years on them I wouldn't try to drive one across town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Now THAT'D be fun to ride in!Bill's a great guy, I've rode many a mile in that T, and he taught me to drive it years ago. Oh, and we never broke down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBuick Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) My current DD is a '91 Explorer while I do some suspension work on the '73 Apollo...I bought the Explorer in 2004 for $3k with 63k miles on it to use in the winter when we get snow. I've ended up using it a lot more than I originally intended...it's now got 212k miles and still running strong. All I've ever done to it is maintenance and normal stuff that you expect to do on a 25 year old vehicle (most recent thing I did was a lower intake manifold gasket...$40 in gaskets and about 3 hours of work and it was back on the road)...it still starts every time and passes broken down "new" cars on the side of the highway every week. It goes to prove, a cars reliability is at least as much dependent on good upkeep as it is on manufacturing defects. Edited March 31, 2016 by MrBuick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CometMan Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Last summer my parents drove in a caravan of Model As from suburban Detroit to Niagara Falls for the national Model A convention, they were among the youngest in the group of about six As, they are both in their 70's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canso65 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 A lot of improvements in the safety features of today's cars have come from car companies being sued as well. Poorly engineered cars can be death traps as we have all seen over the years. Just look at the Ford Pinto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Last summer my parents drove in a caravan of Model As from suburban Detroit to Niagara Falls for the national Model A convention, they were among the youngest in the group of about six As, they are both in their 70's!A machinist in Muncie (near here) drove a Model A truck as his only daily driver until his death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) There's an unfortunate disconnect between the perception of old cars and the reality, and a denial, from several perspectives, of some sad truths. Many people don't like what I have to say on the subject, but it IS true, and I see it every day, day in and day out. All old cars were NEW cars once, and after we arrived in the era of the relatively modern car, they were mostly very reliable. When they did need maintenance on systems that required fairly frequent adjustment, like point-type ignition systems and carburetors, it was simple work for a competent mechanic. Competent is the key word here. As noted above, people routinely went cross country in '36 Fords, '52 Beetles, '66 Dodges and '74 Oldsmobiles. Old cars became old crapp cars because so many of the people who worked on them were morons. Had the old cars been correctly maintained, they'd still all be going strong. There is nothing inherently, catastrophically wrong with most of them...they just didn't get repaired correctly when things inevitably wore out. My own old man kept his cars well past the 100,000 mile mark, and they were still very good cars when he traded them. Today (and for a large portion of my previous professional life) I make my living working almost exclusively on "old cars", I know them upside down and backwards, and even the ones that are "restored" are mostly crapp from a usability standpoint...because many of the same morons are doing the "restorations" who were doing the "repairs" and "maintenance" that allowed them to deteriorate to the point of being junk in the first place. It's appalling to see what passes for "work" in most of the old-car business, and most service businesses in general. If you're lucky enough to find an old car that hasn't been ruined by chimps with wrenches, it will give you faithful, reliable service, and when it fails, it's relatively easy to diagnose and repair...for a competent mechanic...unlike the majority of EC-laden vehicles that will NOT be repairable when they're "old cars", without ripping all the onboard electronics out and refitting with new systems, or retrofitting with old tech. And always remember...just because somebody gets paid for doing something, you have absolutely no guarantee he's doing it right. Edited March 31, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseldawg142 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) .... Edited May 10, 2018 by dieseldawg142 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eshaver Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Sorry, Ellen... didn't mean to stir up any political firestorm... But you have to admit, as a society, in some ways, were were smarter in the 1950s than we are today. Harry, I as a Renegade Libertarian would NEVER argue that point sir . I was simply pointing up YOUR OWN words from the "Rants and Raves Days , NO Politics . I'm a lot of things and yes , I tend to cause problems in Political arenas as a volunteer lobbyist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I remember riding in my dad's 68 Pontiac Catalina when we would go on vacation and ride in mothers 68 Chevy wagon every day. I had a Ford Pinto my first car in 81 and had a 80 Dodge truck in 82 and got my drivers license in 82 i liked older cars and I like new cars also. I would love to still have my pickup back and i would drive it some. I would be more comfortable going a long trip in a newer car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawson Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 If cars and trucks from the 50's 60's and 70's weren't so cool there wouldn't be so many people living in the past...even the younger folks that weren't born yet like to live in the past it seems ? Sure am glad this thread didn't metamorphosis into a political firestorm . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathgoblin Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Some of the advanced safety systems make sense. The crumple zones that cause the structure to collapse to keep shock from being transferred to the passenger compartment was a brilliant move. There's a video for the 50th anniversary of the IIHS (International Institute for Highway Safety) showing a 2009 Malibu in a front end collision with a 1959 Chevy sedan. It's not pretty, especially for the 59 Chevy. The passengers in the Malibu would have survived with minimal injuries, but the 59 was just crushed because the X-frame collapsed and bent. But I do agree that the stylists need to all go back to art school and not just let aerodynamics do all the work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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