What do you miss about classic cars or cars of the past?

[slusher]

I find myself thinking often of cars I really liked when I walked to school. I also think about cars my dad owned. I miss the size and styling of cars of the 60's and early 70's. I miss chrome also...

[MrObsessive]

Proportions, Proportions, Proportions! I cannot stand the way a lot of these cars are styled today proportion wise. I'm so tired of the windshield over the front wheels look! Yes, I know that many of them have FWD architecture, but I look no further than the original Olds Toronado from 1966-'67.

FWD, but there's not a bad line or disjointed styling cue anywhere on 'er! Now styling is subjective and someone in their 30's and 40's may not appreciate this. But with so many cars sharing the same styling cues (rooflines come to mind), where is the daring and dashing style from the '60's and '70's??

Yeah, today there really are no BAD cars, I just wish a lot of them had the "gotta have it" looks about 'em.

OK rant over!

[DPNM]

MrObsessive pretty much nailed it. Take the badges off most cars now-a-days and you wouldn't know who made it. Most seem to be pretty much the same looking IMO. There really isn't anything new that strikes my fancy.

That and they used to build cars to last. Now they build them to last as long as your final payment.

[MrObsessive]

Carl, you and I are around the same age, so growing up in the '60's and '70's there was a whole variety of cars one would see on a daily basis at least in my neck of the woods. Although not as numerous as they were in the early '60's, you still saw the finned freeway flyers used as daily drivers, parked right next to (or in front of) a brand spanking new '68 Charger RT for example.

As the '70's wore on, while the performance was way down, the cars (especially GM A bodies) still had a certain class and presence about them. And there certainly was no mistaking what they were coming down the road. Being a car guy, I can tell most new makes when I see them despite a lot of the sameness in styling cues.

I just wish there was more variety and daring style in cars today as opposed to what I saw on the road 40 years ago when I was getting out of high school.

[tbill]

cars of the past, i miss the torque/ plant you in the seat feeling. the feel of closing a solid built door, the peculiar smell of the vinyl seats during the summer heat, bench seats that were like a couch, dash boards with speedo/fuel/clock and idiot lights [now everything has a tach and most gauges, used to be that stuff was for the SS cars and the like], body styles that looked good with cragar wheels, or keystone classics, engines that sounded good with aftermarket mufflers, and on some cars, the miles of chrome inside and out. biggest thing i miss, NO CUP HOLDERS.....it's a car, not a kitchen, not meant to have food or drink in it [but that's just me]  oh, and ash trays, and not really for the smoking aspect, made for a nice change holder.

[Snake45]

I miss the fact that all the cars looked different, make to make and even year to year. I could go down the street and tell you the make, model and year of 80-90% of the cars I saw. Nowadays they all look like used bars of soap, and good luck guessing the year. The only ones I can pick out from the rest are Camaros, Mustangs, Chargers, and Challengers. 

And they're all the same color! At least half (two thirds?) the cars you see every day are some shade of silver or metallic gray. And most of the rest are either white, black, or some kind metallic red/maroon. You see a blue or green or "burnt orange" car once in a while, but seldom enough that it's remarkable. I can't remember the last yellow car I saw that wasn't a taxicab. 

[El Roberto]

7 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I miss the fact that all the cars looked different, make to make and even year to year. I could go down the street and tell you the make, model and year of 80-90% of the cars I saw. Nowadays they all look like used bars of soap, and good luck guessing the year. The only ones I can pick out from the rest are Camaros, Mustangs, Chargers, and Challengers. 

And they're all the same color! At least half (two thirds?) the cars you see every day are some shade of silver or metallic gray. And most of the rest are either white, black, or some kind metallic red/maroon. You see a blue or green or "burnt orange" car once in a while, but seldom enough that it's remarkable. I can't remember the last yellow car I saw that wasn't a taxicab. 

Yeah, today you only get about 4 or 5 color options on a new car, and usually only two for the interior.  Just look at a color charts for some of the old cars, there's enough choices to boggle the mind.  Hell you could get a three tone if you wanted.

[Dann Tier]

I really miss the way they looked light, sleek, low.....as if they could slip right on past with no problem. I'll pick three cars to "pick-on"; starting with the worst. 1) Challenger, 2) Camaro, and 3) Mustang. There is NOTHING low, sleek, or light about these.....especially the first two. They look like bricks with wheels. Its kinda like they put'em in a vise and smashed them until they were narrower, and tall/thick.....they look like SUV's!!! i'm a Mopar guy, but that Challenger is THE WORST offender of all!! Wnen you have that much door, you NEED some kind of design feature....edge....angle.....something to destract from those incredibly FLAT, BORING, STUPID looking doors!! The Camaro is a fraction better, but still suffers from the Heavy, Thick, Brick look. The only thing I don't like about the Mustang, is that the front end looks like its sagging....melting.

[Snake45]

39 minutes ago, Dann Tier said:

that Challenger is THE WORST offender of all!! 

The new Challenger isn't bad looking...until you compare it side by side with an original "real" Challenger and you see that the new one is bigger, fatter, and doesn't really have the classic ponycar proportions at all.

[peter31a]

Station wagons. And colour. Yes, sir, you can have your crossover in any colour of bland.

[High octane]

I miss the size of the cars as well as the styling, the fins, the chrome, the two and triple toned paint jobs, the roomy interiors, the simplicity of the knobs, buttons, levers, on the dash boards compared to today's 50 buttons on the dash and steering wheels. The names of the cars like Impala, Road Runner, Super Bee, Cutlass, instead of todays XRP or D30, etc. There's NO styling to today,s vehicles and more unnecessary gadgets, bells, and whistles, than anyone could need. Drivers NEED  to concentrate on driving instead of operating all these buttons, and gadgets.

[slusher]

1 hour ago, MrObsessive said:

Carl, you and I are around the same age, so growing up in the '60's and '70's there was a whole variety of cars one would see on a daily basis at least in my neck of the woods. Although not as numerous as they were in the early '60's, you still saw the finned freeway flyers used as daily drivers, parked right next to (or in front of) a brand spanking new '68 Charger RT for example.

As the '70's wore on, while the performance was way down, the cars (especially GM A bodies) still had a certain class and presence about them. And there certainly was no mistaking what they were coming down the road. Being a car guy, I can tell most new makes when I see them despite a lot of the sameness in styling cues.

I just wish there was more variety and daring style in cars today as opposed to what I saw on the road 40 years ago when I was getting out of high school.

Your right Bill, I remember when I was about 7 my dad started teaching me the years and makes of cars. Now you can't tell what year a car is unless you open the door. I miss the styling of 60 and early 70 cars. I loved the 64 thru 70 Cadillac. Now a Cadillac is not a Cadillac. Most all of our cars are gone. It's the end of an era...

[RichCostello]

Personality! Not only do new cars all look the same, they are all FUGLY.

New cars are made of cheap, thin metal that bends if you lean on them, and when you get inside, you are surrounded by ugly cheap plastic.

You can have all the airbags, navigation systems, 4g LTE connectivity, back-up cameras, push button starts, and all of the other useless BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH that they cram into these overpriced tin cans.

Give me a 60's Impala, or Olds, or Pontiac, or mopar any day.

[Rob Hall]

I was a teenager and learned to drive in the mid 80s, so that is the era of my youth... I do like the squared off styling of the 80s in general more than a lot of the overly rounded and bland designs of today.  But I do avoid rose colored glasses--  I realize today's cars are much better built, safer, more reliable, and can go well behind 100k miles.  Horsepower is way up from the 80s, and cars and SUVs today are way smoother and more comfortable, IMO.   And the cupholders and infotainment systems are much better today.   I do miss the variety of body styles that used to be on the market, esp. all the coupes. 

Edited August 27, 2018 by Rob Hall

[RichCostello]

3 minutes ago, slusher said:

Your right Bill, I remember when I was about 7 my dad started teaching me the years and makes of cars. Now you can't tell what year a car is unless you open the door. I miss the styling of 60 and early 70 cars. I loved the 64 thru 70 Cadillac. Now a Cadillac is not a Cadillac. Most all of our cars are gone. It's the end of an era...

I sold cars at a Cadillac dealership for about 4 years, and there was not one day out of those 4 years that there was not a newer Caddy up on the hoist with the engine dropped out of it for warranty work. The Caddy mechanic called them "Job Security".

[dshue76]

Chrome and stainless trim. I miss the exuberant use of chrome and stainless. I understand why cars are what they are today, I love the safety, reliability and performance of modern cars but I really miss the styling and character of the older cars. My Favorite cars are the 78-88 GM A/G Body. Growing up at the time those cars were OUR "muscle cars" we had no emissions testing in our area and we did whatever we wanted with them for engines. My all-time favorite is a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, the Cutlass also happened to be the top selling car for 1980 selling 484,994 units.

[Bucky]

I miss the size of the early autos. Today's "Full size" car is about the same size as the "mid size" cars of the late sixties. 

And some of the small cars of today were unheard of back then.

[Badluck 13]

3 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I miss the fact that all the cars looked different, make to make and even year to year. I could go down the street and tell you the make, model and year of 80-90% of the cars I saw.

Exactly !! and you could even tell what engine make it was on a lot of them as well....

[chepp]

I miss the higher quality appearance of the paint and parts fit of the older classic cars. Today, for example, a Lincoln and a Focus have the same level of orangepeeled paint and excessive/unequal panel gaps. On an older classic car the body would never, and I mean never, have many of the visible panel joints that a luxury car today has. The older ones had the panel joints leaded and smoothly finished.

[Atmobil]

I'm born in 1984 in a country that has always hated the automobile. I don't miss anything from the cars that I grew up with as they where all a bunch of bland econoboxes and that theme continues to this day.
I do envy people older than me that grew up in a time where cars where cool and it was possible to by aftermarket stuff to make ones car even better (at least in the eyes of the owner). All you can really do today is change the wheels and even that is only halfway legal or possible with the newest cars.

[HomerS]

When I was looking for a used Pontiac G8, a local GMC/Buick dealer had one.  As with the usual "I have to take this to my manager" I was encouraged to walk around the showroom and see the latest GM had to offer.  I don't want an SUV....I don't want a Crossover....I want a car.  Especially as they shorten the wheelbase the driver side wheel well cuts into the dead pedal space.  I'm 6'0" so I prefer to straighten my legs out, not sit upright like I do at my desk all day.

[Renegade]

I miss the fact that you could drive a 60s and 70s car after a wreck that would put newer cars in the junkyard.

 

[Classicgas]

Styling, sound, ease of working on them. Did I mention style, sound and ease of working on them?

[vamach1]

5 hours ago, DPNM said:

MrObsessive pretty much nailed it. Take the badges off most cars now-a-days and you wouldn't know who made it. Most seem to be pretty much the same looking IMO. There really isn't anything new that strikes my fancy.

That and they used to build cars to last. Now they build them to last as long as your final payment.

Note sure about the built to last comment.  Most cars from the 60's thru 80's are not around because they were disposable or rusted out or got horrible gas mileage.  Todays cars are boring but will last decades but I still do not see many cars older that's 15 years around here - people get tired of them or pass them on to their kids to be abused.  One neighbor still drives his 83 VW GTI everyday but it's garaged and it still looks pretty good.  As far as styling - almost everything on the road looks the same.  I was coming home yesterday and a kid about 12 was on his bike yelling to his friends to look at that cool car.  I was driving my 72 Mach1.   Now that kid has good taste. 

[Xingu]

I miss the ease of maintenance on the older cars and how (for the most part) easily you could do a engine swap. Computers and emission controls have have made things more difficult. I know some still find it fairly simple to do this things on modern cars, but to me it feels like I have to learn another language when it comes to computer and emission controls.