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Old Cars Are Better Than Modern Cars
I occasionally get emails telling me why new cars are superior to old ones and admonishing me to get with the times. I am not sure why. I am fully aware of the technological strides that have been made in the last fifty years, and I have an OMBII engine analyzer and know how to use it.
But I still prefer old cars. I concede that modern cars are safer, faster, more dependable, and more economical than the cars of the past. So what is so special about old cars? Here are four things new cars lack:
At the top of my list is simplicity. Modern cars are as complex as the jet fighters of the Sixties. Most of that complexity is electronics, and most of the electronics is concerned with engine management. That's great. Air pollution has gone down thanks to such innovations, and tune-ups are a thing of the past. Trouble is, new cars require extensive professional training to repair.
As an example, two bolts down on the side of the engine hold on the fuel pump on my 1955 Chev. I can change it in less than half an hour. But the fuel pump on my wife's 2006 Saturn is in the gas tank, so I have to drain and drop the tank in order to get to it.
Which brings me to the next virtue that old cars have that new ones don't. And that is cost. If I wanted a restored 1966 Mustang V-8 coupe, I could probably find one for $15,000. That is much cheaper than a new Toyota Camry when all is said and done. And if you finance that new car, you will pay much more than the selling price in the end. New cars are not good investments.
But to return to my example of the 1955 Chevrolet fuel pump, my local parts store sells one for $45. A complete assembly for my wife's Saturn would cost about $460 because it has the gas-gauge sending unit built in.
However, we're just skirting around the edges of new car costs when we talk about repairs. New cars lose money as soon as they leave the showroom floor. And the value will keep falling for the next 10 years. But a classic will go up in value. Look at what any 40-year-old car went for 10 years ago and compare it to what it will fetch today. They are better than money in the bank--especially since banks have all but eliminated interest on savings accounts.
Reason number three for preferring old cars is styling. I went to the auto show the other day and viewed the new offerings. I couldn't tell one from another. They all looked like pumpkin seeds with wrinkles. I had to look at the badges to determine which was which. The only exceptions were the Cube and other competing tin boxes that are at best, hideous.
Maybe today's stylists all work in the same room and use the same set of French curves. Or maybe the manufacturers eliminated the stylists altogether in a cost-cutting measure years ago and just went with a computer app. The lack of creativity indicates that.
In the old days, there was no mistaking an Oldsmobile for a Studebaker. Cars had individual identities and came in interesting colors. And everyone knew one from another. It mattered that your car was distinctive. Now, the only thing distinguishing your car from your neighbors' is how much you spent for it in the mistaken belief that good taste costs more.
The fourth reason I prefer older cars is sturdiness and durability. Sure, modern cars last longer, but in the end, they are disposable. That's because they were not made to be rebuilt like my 1940 Packard was. A number of years ago, I drove a 1957 Chevrolet pickup truck all the way down to Cabo San Lucas in Baja, California before there was a paved road. Try that in your new SUV.
Cars in the old days had to contend with different problems than they do today. The interstate highway system wasn't built until the 1950s. Not long before that, the pavement ended at the edge of town. Fording streams was a common problem, as was climbing steep hills that had not been ramped. Potholes and washboard surfaces were the norm. Try a few such roads with your new Elantra and see how far you get.
So are new cars better than the classics? My answer is: for what? I'll just keep on driving my 1955 Bel Air until something better comes along. It is easy to fix, parts are cheap, it gets stares and thumbs ups wherever I go, and it just keeps going up in value. Yes, it needs a lube and oil every thousand miles, but it is almost 60 years old, and it just keeps on ticking.
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2014/01/Old-Cars-Are-Better-Than-Modern-Cars/3733601.html
