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

[Rob Hall]

I was born in ‘70, so growing up I became very familiar w identifying 60s through 80s cars without looking at the badge.  In the 80s visual model year changes largely went away, so it’s hard to tell the exact year of a vehicle made since the 80s.  But I can still identify most every vehicle I see and the generation/year range (since most vehicles today have a 4-8 yr cycle with an MCE or two in between). I like to keep up, enjoy the annual new release issues of Car & Driver and Automobile. 

[iamsuperdan]

2 hours ago, Craig Irwin said:

It's not the down stroke, VW's are expensive to service, and unfortunately they require a lot of it.

 

Respectfully disagree. I've owned several VW over the years, my sis has owned a few, and they cost no more than any of the other vehicles that have been in the family. 

You just have to know what to watch for. Avoid all VW auto transmissions until about 1998. And do the regular maintenance on the VR6, otherwise that will get costly. Other than those, servicing was never an issue. 

Our 2002 Chev Tahoe required more servicing than any one of my VWs, nothing crazy, but it did need more. And my last Ford truck easily had more issues in 6 months than all 6 of my VWs combined.

[fumi]

2 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

I guess it all depends on what era one was born as to what they're going to be familiar with. My Dad was born in 1933. He could tell all of those '30's and '40's cars apart with no trouble at all, while to me they all appeared the same. Same I guess could be said of today's cars. 'Car kids' I'm sure can tell today's cars from each other, and may think that the cars from yesteryear all look the same.

 

It's all a matter of perspective.

Exactly.  Rather than saying all modern cars lack style, it is more like we mostly identify with things from what we perceived as "better times".

I grew up in the 80's.  The cars I like the most are made between mid 80's and mid 90's.  To me luxobarges made in the 70's are the worst, but someone growing up with the big Lincolns and Cadillacs would probably think the exact opposite.

[Pete J.]

13 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

I guess it all depends on what era one was born as to what they're going to be familiar with. My Dad was born in 1933. He could tell all of those '30's and '40's cars apart with no trouble at all, while to me they all appeared the same. Same I guess could be said of today's cars. 'Car kids' I'm sure can tell today's cars from each other, and may think that the cars from yesteryear all look the same.

It's all a matter of perspective.

 

9 hours ago, fumi said:

Exactly.  Rather than saying all modern cars lack style, it is more like we mostly identify with things from what we perceived as "better times".

I grew up in the 80's.  The cars I like the most are made between mid 80's and mid 90's.  To me luxobarges made in the 70's are the worst, but someone growing up with the big Lincolns and Cadillacs would probably think the exact opposite.

Most assuredly.  I came of age in the heart of the muscle car era(mid 60's) and a lot of my friends were really into them.  Somewhere along the line, and I am not sure where, I became enamored with sports cars.  I think it was my experience with John Frankenheimer's movie, Grand Prix.  Small car with great handling got my attention.  That was cemented when I went off to the Air Force.  My classmates in pilot training all had nice cars but few of them were muscle cars.  There were a few Shelby Mustangs and one AAR 'cuda but the rest were an eclectic collection of sports cars.  Everything from a Saab Sonnet to cobras.  I owned a 72 240Z and the time but there were plenty of Triumph's, MG's and Austins.  There were a few Corvettes(the car of choice of ring knockers) but 4 and 6 cylinder sports cars were the norm.  The base commander had track days on the large concrete pads on weekend.  No drag races.  I would like to believe that young pilots were more taken with "dog fighting" on curvy roads that straight line acceleration contests. 

[Craig Irwin]

18 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Respectfully disagree. I've owned several VW over the years, my sis has owned a few, and they cost no more than any of the other vehicles that have been in the family. 

. And my last Ford truck easily had more issues in 6 months than all 6 of my VWs combined.

I'm in the auto repair business and know what I see every day. VW parts prices are astronomical  and check engine lights are a way of life. A friend of mine even has a "das normal" check engine light bumper sticker on his.  Asian cars are far more more economical.

Well, the name Ford speaks volumes here.

[Craig Irwin]

21 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

That's what I've heard from friends w/ VWs...I know from my own experience w/ BMWs and Mercedes that German cars can be expensive to maintain..   Jeeps can be that way also, but I'm used to it.. 

All German cars are over complicated for complexity sake, My Daughters VW New Beetle had the check engine light on more than it was off. I'll also say that her current Jeep Cherokee has been an electrical nightmare. And I'll add I'm an ex VW and Jeep owner myself. Lessons learned. 

JEEP = Just Emptied Every Pocket.

 

[Rob Hall]

1 hour ago, Craig Irwin said:

All German cars are over complicated for complexity sake, My Daughters VW New Beetle had the check engine light on more than it was off. I'll also say that her current Jeep Cherokee has been an electrical nightmare. And I'll add I'm an ex VW and Jeep owner myself. Lessons learned. 

JEEP = Just Emptied Every Pocket.

 

My current Grand Cherokee has been fine so far, but my old one had a lot of electrical issues as it aged.  

[David G.]

Aside from style and substance, I miss the rich smell of unburnt hydrocarbons and well-burnt rubber.

And this...

 

David G.

Edited September 6, 2018 by David G.

[Craig Irwin]

3 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

My current Grand Cherokee has been fine so far, but my old one had a lot of electrical issues as it aged.  

I think her's is a 2016, 70 thousand miles. It's left her stranded several times.

[slusher]

7 hours ago, Craig Irwin said:

All German cars are over complicated for complexity sake, My Daughters VW New Beetle had the check engine light on more than it was off. I'll also say that her current Jeep Cherokee has been an electrical nightmare. And I'll add I'm an ex VW and Jeep owner myself. Lessons learned. 

JEEP = Just Emptied Every Pocket.

 

Craig, are the new VW cars still  problem? I am starting to see more and more of them lately...

[Craig Irwin]

18 hours ago, slusher said:

Craig, are the new VW cars still  problem? I am starting to see more and more of them lately...

I work in an independent shop, we don't see too many new ones, they go to the dealerships. I'm in a VW club ( I do love the old air cooled stuff ) and many members drive the newer cars. They all seem to have check engine light horror stories. The diesel guys get picked on a lot! LOL

 

[espo]

A clarification the Jeep's nick name of "just empty every pocket". This is mainly a joke between owners referring to the added goodies mainly for off road use. The vehicle its self is comparatively reliable in normal use, operation, and standard maintenance. Like any vehicle that is abused in the way it is operated there is bound to be problems largely depending on the operator of the vehicle. The very nature of say a Jeep Wrangler that is an off road vehicle modified to be driven on the street they are inclined to see some off road use that can take a toll on the vehicle depending on how far the driver has gotten "carried away" .  Unless you're trying for a "You Tube moment" they can and do last with little more than regular maintenance. Case in point. We have an '09 Wrangler Sahara with a manual 6 - speed and a factory positraction differential. This is not the Locker type found in a Rubicon model.  This Wrangler has served as a daily commuter as well as a weekend off roader. The vehicle had it's first off road experience after 1 week of ownership and has attended at least one or more Jeep Jamborees every year since we took delivery in Aug. of 2008.  We have been to a couple of different off road parks in our area a few times a year and we have enjoyed a few trips to Colorado which is beautiful place to visit and is best appreciated in a Jeep.  The Jeep now has 97800 miles and is on its second set of brakes still, and the original clutch works perfectly. These are both normal wear items, but considering the extensive off road use I consider the clutch being OEM kind of amazing. The battery has been replaced twice but other than that the money we have spent has gone to skid plates, rock rails, wench, and bigger wheels and tires. Everyone still tells new Jeep owners about "Just Empty Every Pocket" but it's more because of the level of after market goodies that you will find your self buying rather than anything wrong with the car.   Your experience may vary, but how did you operate it and just who's fault is it really ?        

[Rob Hall]

I'm not really into aftermarket accessories w/ my Jeep (beyond Weathertech floor mats), but the Grand Cherokees do have a lot of complex electronics..my old '00 WJ GC had a lot, but is like a Model A compared to my current WK2 generation GC.    I know as my old one aged (after 10 years and 100 miles) I had a lot of issues w/ sensors and interior electronics, but I still got 170k miles out of it. 

Over the last decade, Jeep has had an interesting mix of parts and platforms co-developed w/ Mitsubishi (Patriot and first gen Compass), Fiat (Renegade, 2nd gen Compass,  current Cherokee),  and Daimler (current WK2 Grand Cherokee---has a platform shared w/ the current Mercedes Benz GLE SUV). 

[Tom Geiger]

On 9/6/2018 at 7:19 PM, Craig Irwin said:

many members drive the newer cars. They all seem to have check engine light horror stories. The diesel guys get picked on a lot! LOL

 

Everyone I know who had a newer VW had issues with reliability and eventually got rid of the car.

About 10 years ago they had an  "Energy Efficient Car Show" at my place of employment.  The local VW dealer had a few new cars there.  At the end of the show, one of the diesels refused to start!

[Tom Geiger]

To answer the original question, our reasons for our love of older cars is the nostalgic aspect.  We grew up with them.  They were all around us and we had pleasant childhood experiences in those vehicles.  Today, even cars we would have never noticed or appreciated back in the day,  look good to us because they take us back to simpler times in our lives.  I too have passion for the cars of yesterday, but will not claim they are better than the cars of today.  Today's vehicles are 35-50 years better in every way than the cars we love, as we'd hope and expect the industry to progress. 

An example... I used to carpool with a very nice Indian fellow.  We became good friends to this day.  When we saw a 1966 Mustang in traffic and I pointed it out to him, he wasn't excited. He said it just was a square old looking car.  When we saw a '57 Chevy he said it looked like a taxi to him.  He just didn't get our passion for the cars since they were not of his experience.

Another day we saw a  Morris Minor on a trailer.  He got very excited exclaiming, "Look an Ambie!"  which would have been a Hindustan Ambassador, a licensed copy of that ancient Morris  that was probably better than 50% of the cars on the road in India as he was growing up.  He eagerly told me how his father had one, and he had learned to drive in it.  He was excited because his sense of nostalgia kicked in, just as ours does when we see those ancient Chevys!   

[High octane]

Today's vehicles are 35-50 years better in every way than the cars we love? NOT!  Since when do I need 45 button, knobs, levers on the dash and steering wheel to operate a car? A back up camera for what. people need to LOOK out of their windows and mirrors to see where they're going. People think that they're vehicles are so safe that they can text and talk on their phones while they are driving. Don't they know that they could DIE? We seem to have a lot more recalls than we did years ago, and a lot for the so-called safety equipment in our cars. Electric doors on vans, what's the matter with people using their God given bodies to open and close doors? Styling, there is NONE in today's vehicles as they all look like blobs with wheels  & tires. New innovations on today's cars, why to compensate for bad drivers?

[MrObsessive]

Tom, I couldn't have said it better! Yes, nostalgia does play a big role in how we can perceive things. I can almost guarantee the young folks of today (under 30) might very well say the same thing about cars of that time 40 years hence. They'll look on today's cars as fond memories, even if they're not as passionate about cars as those of us out here in the lunatic fringe.

Let's see.........they'll remember the car they had their first date in, went to the Prom in, the car they had when they got married, first child, etc.

The car doesn't have to be the most rip snorting thing that was built----or the sexiest. It could be something as simple as a Hyundai Elantra for instance. Might not light our fires, but who's to say that it won't light quite a few folks' fires say in the year 2055??

[Craig Irwin]

On 9/7/2018 at 10:53 AM, espo said:

A clarification the Jeep's nick name of "just empty every pocket". This is mainly a joke between owners referring to the added goodies mainly for off road use.

 

Not in my or my daughters case, just trying to keep the things on the road. My son who was pressed into doing a lot of the work calls them Ja-Heaps.

[Spex84]

I tend to be nostalgic for eras that I did not personally experience. Yesterday a '70s Chevelle passed me as I was biking down the road...lifted in back, deep rumble, and the sweet smell of unburnt hydrocarbons (as mentioned by David above). It instantly transported me to another world, just for a few seconds...

As the years go by, I'm starting to appreciate 90s cars more than ever, especially the thin roof pillars and designs that don't make the car look perpetually angry and hateful. My Jeep XJ Cherokee is slowly morphing into the "classic" I always wanted. Weird!

My pickiness regarding classic cars has diminished; I appreciate nearly all of them now because they're relics of a world that is quickly disappearing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tom Geiger]

Agreed Bill.  And yes, I'm currently driving a 2015 Hyundai Elantra!  It is a belly button car, they are everywhere and I see red ones just like mine on the road every day.  And I will say that it's a much better car than anything from the 1950s-70s.  My base model car has power everything,  contoured comfortable bucket seats, back up camera and sunroof and can cruise at 80 on the Turnpike all day long without a whimper and delivering a consistent 32 MPG at the same time. I've put  close to 30,000 trouble free miles on it since January and have only done oil changes and changed the air filters. I've had it up to 100 MPH by accident and didn't even notice.  

Now back in the day in New Jersey there was a lone stretch of the new Route 18 that didn't connect to anything, so there was no traffic.  We young clowns would get out there and try to push our 60s cars up to 100mph just to say we did it.  No matter which car we had... 66 Impala, 70 Impala, 66 Valiant, 65 Barracuda, 66 Mustang... all of those cars would shake and groan over 80, and felt like we were leaving the Earth's atmosphere when we barely touched 100 and then let off the gas out of fear for our lives!  

[Rodent]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

To answer the original question, our reasons for our love of older cars is the nostalgic aspect.  We grew up with them.  They were all around us and we had pleasant childhood experiences in those vehicles.  Today, even cars we would have never noticed or appreciated back in the day,  look good to us because they take us back to simpler times in our lives.  I too have passion for the cars of yesterday, but will not claim they are better than the cars of today.  Today's vehicles are 35-50 years better in every way than the cars we love, as we'd hope and expect the industry to progress. 

An example... I used to carpool with a very nice Indian fellow.  We became good friends to this day.  When we saw a 1966 Mustang in traffic and I pointed it out to him, he wasn't excited. He said it just was a square old looking car.  When we saw a '57 Chevy he said it looked like a taxi to him.  He just didn't get our passion for the cars since they were not of his experience.

Another day we saw a  Morris Minor on a trailer.  He got very excited exclaiming, "Look an Ambie!"  which would have been a Hindustan Ambassador, a licensed copy of that ancient Morris  that was probably better than 50% of the cars on the road in India as he was growing up.  He eagerly told me how his father had one, and he had learned to drive in it.  He was excited because his sense of nostalgia kicked in, just as ours does when we see those ancient Chevys!   

Small correction: The Ambassador was a licensed copy of the Morris Oxford, not Minor. They were a bit of a joke by the end of the run because there were so many nicer and more modern cars  available from Maruti Suzuki, Tata, Toyota, Hyundai, and others. I don't know how old your friend was, but I  can understand his feelings for the Ambassador as an icon in India. I was amused to see "AC Car - No Hand Signals" stickers on the back of the newer ones when I visited in 2005 and 2007.

[Atmobil]

2 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

 

About 10 years ago they had an  "Energy Efficient Car Show" at my place of employment.  The local VW dealer had a few new cars there.  At the end of the show, one of the diesels refused to start!

Now that is Energy Efficient, you push it your self so you get the exercise and it also "saves the planet"...haha. It's just like a 1800kg wheelbarrow. Nice dry warm place to sit in and try to change your clothes after having pushed it trough a freezing blizzard to get to that important executive meeting on how to make the carbon footprint of the company smaller....saving the planet is fun, is'nt it?

[Classicgas]

22 hours ago, High octane said:

Today's vehicles are 35-50 years better in every way than the cars we love? NOT!  Since when do I need 45 button, knobs, levers on the dash and steering wheel to operate a car? A back up camera for what. people need to LOOK out of their windows and mirrors to see where they're going. People think that they're vehicles are so safe that they can text and talk on their phones while they are driving. Don't they know that they could DIE? We seem to have a lot more recalls than we did years ago, and a lot for the so-called safety equipment in our cars. Electric doors on vans, what's the matter with people using their God given bodies to open and close doors? Styling, there is NONE in today's vehicles as they all look like blobs with wheels  & tires. New innovations on today's cars, why to compensate for bad drivers?

X2. I agree completely. All the safety equipment in the world doesn't make up for being stupid. I see a lot of that. No one knows how to actually drive anymore, they think their cars are supposed to do that.

[youpey]

i am 41, so most of the cars i remember are as a kid from the 80's or worse the late 70's. However, i am a big 40's-60's car fan. the biggest thing i would like to see is the personality of a car. today's cars are all about safety, gas mileage, that type of thing. also, most new cars can't be worked on without a computer. 

my nephew is going into trade school in high school where they teach mechanics. I am curious to see what/how they teach it.

[Chuck Most]

On second thought- one thing I do miss are actual model names. As much as I love my Lincoln MKZ... MKZ sounds less like a car name and more like an ingredient in soup I should stay away from. The MKZ was called Zephyr it's first year on the market, but that is kind of a silly name for a modern car. Probably why they went to MKZ. But even if it's a silly or downright stupid model name, I could give them a point or two for trying.