While older cars have a great nostalgic value, and the roar of an old muscle car stirs hearts, and the quaintness of other classics is very interesting, the fact remains: Today's cars have amazing technology, higher quality materials, exponentially better safety (ever see that video of the test collision, head- on, between a 1959 Bel-AIR ("They're massive steel tanks!") and a 'wimpy' 2009 Malibu?).
http://boingboing.net/2010/01/14/cra...1959-chev.html
I will always love classics... but, my definition of "better" is that cars continue to become better all the time: Competition in the market drives manufacturers to continue to find ways to improve quality (silly, conspiracy theorists say, 'they build 'em to fall apart, so ya have to buy a new one every couple of years!'... which makes no sense. If you buy a piece of crap from manufacturer X, and it falls apart, you will buy your NEXT car from a DIFFERENT manufacturer... one who makes a LONG-LASTING vehicle... duh), to improve safety, to increase dependability, durability, economy, power, handling. Hell, a Camry of today will outperform pretty much any car from the glorious muscle car era, as much I hate to concede that. Would I rather DRIVE a 2010 Camry, or a '69 Camaro? Tough choice, depends on my needs for the ride. I'd probably want to ride in the '69, but would put my wife and kids in the '10. But... quality is better now, technology superior, and capability is light- years beyond (well... thirty or forty years beyond, anyhow!) the older cars.
100 years from now, historians will not dispute that cars from the early 2000s were far superior to the cars from the mid- 1900s.