[shrinkdoc]

Originally Posted by Scalded Dog

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.

Well thats true,todays cars are better in every way because of technology advancements. But it doesnt make up for coolness and bold in your face styling then performance in the 50s 60s and early 70s. Who here remembers having to do tuneups every 3000i mi.? Points adjustments, condenser replacement new distributor cap replacement or cleaning, front end lubes etc. A lot more maint. but a lot easier to work on. So there is a trade off. Not only that you got 10 to 20 mpg but nobody complained at .30 a gallon. Inflation was almost non existent from the 50s to the early 70s. A candy bar was something like a nickel in the 50s up to about 10 cents in the mid or late 70s. Inflation became a problem after Nixon took us off the gold standard in the early 70s.