Just some thoughts on how cars are viewed, let me take you back a ways.

I first saw my 1961 car when i was 16 years old, back in 1973.

It was 12 years old at the time and sitting in a hot rodders junk yard, among several other C1 cars in various states of having been wrecked.

Today:, a 12 year old car of any sort is a 1995 model, and basically a disposable throw away awaiting recycling if it isn't running.

Now, today, that 1961 Corvette is 46 years old and will soon be 47 years old.

back in 1973, a 46 year old car would be about a 1927 model car, way, way too old to have any meaning or memory to a 16 year old kid, even if he did think that the boxy 1920's cars were cool, and probably even drivable, if they had a small block Chev engine installed, and you didn't have to use that hand crank starter in front of the radiator.

Today, a 16 year old kid would probably feel the same way about a 1961 car (of any kind); it is cool looking, and may even be drivable if it had a 4 valve, computer controlled dual overhead cam engine and 6 speed automatic installed, and had four wheel indepedent suspension with discs on all for corners added. Not stock, but who cares, he didn't remember the car when it was new, it meant nothing to him if it was in its original condition, other than maybe as a museum piece about how primative thing were half a century ago.

That is the future. A few cars will end up as museum pieces, the rest will will be street rods of some sort, for those who want the old look, but not the problems that went with the old suspension and motors (gas mileage, emissions). Just as now, some 1925 cars are restored to correct period, but they sit in garages never driven, the rest now have Chev and Ford (gag) V8 motors and four wheel disc brakes and auto trannys and are shown at car shows and hot rod meets.


Doug

 

My dad and I just got back from Monterey and went to Pebble on Sunday. It was amazing, as always, to see the huge cars of the 30's and how beautiful they are. That being said, I would never buy one. They just don't do anything for me or anyone else I know that's my age (35). So we got to talking about the same thing, what happens to all of these Duesenbergs, Packards, Cords, Bugattis, etc when these people die?

On a side note, the Mae West / Ethel Mars Duesenberg sold for $4M on Saturday night!

 

Jay Leno will probably have a home for those Dusenbergs, Packards and Stanley Steamers....

...but what will happen when Jay passes on?

 

Yeah, we saw Jay there on Sunday. What a great car guy! The kinda guy you think you might be if you had unlimited funds!

 

I sometimes wonder what today's cars would be like if the heavy hand of the federal government had not fallen on the auto manufacturers.

I was born in 1948 and my recollections are that cars just got better and better...until about 1972.

The early mandates, i.e. turn signal function in 1967 and side marker lights in '68 seemed benign at the time but thay opened a Pandora's Box of regulation that has, in my view, given us a world where cars all pretty much look alike, cannot be repaired by the average knucklehead, contain large amounts of plastic and cause many to buy Asian because there is little to be proud of in US brand showrooms.

The mileage and safety standards should have been voluntary market guidelines, goals to aspire to, rather than strict rules governing a private industry.

If I were to follow Tucker or Delorean into the auto manufacturing arena, how much of my initial production would the Feds force me to wreck in crash testing before being allowed to sell the first unit? We may never see a new and innovative car brand again.

 

I think I heard on the news that someone was going to try and produce the Delorean for sale in the mid $50K range. Any one else heard that?

 

That's the DeLorean Motor Company, in Humble, Texas. He bought all the remaining parts from the DeLorean bankruptcy from the Kapac Co. in Ohio about ten years ago, and has been the primary supplier of DeLorean parts worldwide ever since - ships about 50 parts orders every day. He's talking about using about 80% original parts and 20% new parts; essentially body-off restorations with frame and fiberglass underbody improvements and better electronics and wiring, with engine modifications. He thinks he can sell about two a month, and has enough parts on hand to build about 500 cars.

 

I disagree.

the same improvments would have happened, but along different lines and timeframes.

To say nothing would have changed from 1963 until 2007 if the old nanny state hadn't stepped in, is disproved by looking what changed from a 1928 model car to a 1963 model.

No .gov regulations instigated all the improvements that occured from 1928 until 1963.

In fact, the automobile was going downhill pretty fast from 1973 up until the early 1980s. The advent of the affordable microchip,and the resulting vehicle management computers is what saved us all from driving Honda Civics. Those computers would have ended up in vehicles, regulations or not.

Even emissions would have gone down dramatically due to the fact that a well managed engine, is both clean, and lasts longer, simple competition among manufacturers of who has the longest warranty or gas mileage would have driven emissions dramatically lower, though I am sure final emission polishing items like Cat converters wouldn't be standard equipment without clean air laws.

Doug

 

Seaside63 overlooks the intense competition that existed between auto manufacturers, the big three as well as several smaller ones. Hence the V-8, automatic transmission, overdrive units, auto-dimming headlights, swivel seats with fold-away steering columns, push button shifters, positraction.....