Do You Think Cars Were Built Better in the "Old Days"?

[DCPatriot]

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IMO, this car should be able to be produced for a FRACTION of the cost of today's cars with all the conveniences.

I remember paying only $4795. for a  NEW 1973 Ford LTD Brougham... my 2 year-old 1964 Corvette Stingray only cost me $3,000.  (It was stolen from campus and found in Toronto, Canada 2 YEARS LATER!)

To pay more than $15K for a decent used car today with less than 100K miles should be a cakewalk.

The loans for vehicles should be amortized over 30 years...since my 1st home only cost me $36,900.   Let the loan 'balloon' after 5 years.

[EdinVA]

I guess it would depend on your definition of "better", cars today are safer, cars today have better gas mileage but beyond that todays cars have to much plastic and are to reliant on computers and they all look the same.

[DCPatriot]

I guess it would depend on your definition of "better", cars today are safer, cars today have better gas mileage but beyond that todays cars have to much plastic and are to reliant on computers and they all look the same.

Well, it was nice to be able to tune-up your own vehicle back then.  All you needed were plugs, points, condenser, and a timing light to shine on that chalk mark on the belt.

[roamer_1]

The tipping point was sometime in the 80s...

90s rigs are going away - not because they are all done, but because they are way too complicated and expensive to restore.

Wiring and sensors... All of them going bad by now... brittle and breaking... And way, way too much to replace reasonably.

My 79 Chevy pickup is on its third rebuild since I have owned it. Stem to stern. I will probably be in it under $5k. Good for another 100k miles.

Try doing that with say, a 97...

[catfish1957]

My memory of my parents cars in the '60's was that 65K miles was about the shelf life, before it became a garage renter. 

OTOH, back when I had to drive to work, I ran up as much as 240K miles on one vehichle over 12 yrs, with, no major repairs.

[DCPatriot]

The tipping point was sometime in the 80s...

90s rigs are going away - not because they are all done, but because they are way too complicated and expensive to restore.

Wiring and sensors... All of them going bad by now... brittle and breaking... And way, way too much to replace reasonably.

My 79 Chevy pickup is on its third rebuild since I have owned it. Stem to stern. I will probably be in it under $5k. Good for another 100k miles.

Try doing that with say, a 97...

 

An inventor could 'rescue' the American public by re-introducing the 60's and 70's tech for automobiles.   

[DCPatriot]

My memory of my parents cars in the '60's was that 65K miles was about the shelf life, before it became a garage renter. 

OTOH, back when I had to drive to work, I ran up as much as 240K miles on one vehichle over 12 yrs, with, no major repairs.

Since my "BMW Phase", which began in the 90's, I've never had any issues so long as I change the oil and filters.

Budget reasons switched me to Volkswagen.  Had a 2012 Jetta Turbo Diesel with 225K on the clock...VW recalled them and I bought the Passat.

[roamer_1]

An inventor could 'rescue' the American public by re-introducing the 60's and 70's tech for automobiles.   

There's something to be said for that. That 79 came with AM radio, 2 stage wipers, PS, PB, and damn little else.

Back in the day the car was bare bones and you went to the aftermarket to customize it. Even the motor - That tree-fitty came stock with what, 250 HP? Well, it ain't been anywhere near 250 HP since I have owned it... I tend to like around 400 HP. And that ain't that hard to do if you want it.

Add a banging sound system if that's what you want... Custom wheels and tires... fancy paint, a 4 core rad.. ALL cost-plus BUT NOT part of the original car, and NOT part of the original cost.

Take out all that stuff.. and the butt warmers... I will be happy to add what I want, and the car would be a fraction of the price.

[roamer_1]

Since my "BMW Phase", which began in the 90's, I've never had any issues so long as I change the oil and filters.

MOST of the longevity comes from engineered oil. If I fill a 70's rig with synthetics it will easy go 150 or 200k without a problem. And probably more.

[roamer_1]

And give me back a dang stick!

[Elderberry]

I have become comfortable with fuel injection replacing carburetors. I am split. I have 3 carbureted and 3 fuel injected vehicles. All my daily drivers are fuel injected. My daily driver is a 98 Chevy pickup with 280k miles on an unrebuilt 350. Yes, troubleshooting is much more complicated. I have always done my own troubleshooting and maintenance.

What I really, really miss on the older vehicles, is the body and bumper strength. I can't count the times I have been rear-ended or even banged on the side without a scratch on my older vehicles over the years. With just some paint trading. Any impact with these new cars cause high dollar damages.

[Kamaji]

I have become comfortable with fuel injection replacing carburetors. I am split. I have 3 carbureted and 3 fuel injected vehicles. All my daily drivers are fuel injected. My daily driver is a 98 Chevy pickup with 280k miles on an unrebuilt 350. Yes, troubleshooting is much more complicated. I have always done my own troubleshooting and maintenance.

What I really, really miss on the older vehicles, is the body and bumper strength. I can't count the times I have been rear-ended or even banged on the side without a scratch on my older vehicles over the years. With just some paint trading. Any impact with these new cars cause high dollar damages.

It's not only the body damage, but God forbid one of the airbags should go off.  If the airbags go off, the replacement costs are so high that the insurance companies will simply treat many used cars as a write-off.

That happened to a relative of mine.  He paid $10k for a used car that wasn't that old, and then got into a fender-bender in the winter when he slid through a red light and hit the side of another car.  The collision was straight on, and was slow enough that the crumple zones in the front didn't start to deform, so all it really needed was a new nose clip, new headlights, and a new radiator (there was enough flexing that the radiator was cracked).  All eminently repairable/replaceable.  However, the driver's side airbag also went off, and since the replacement costs for those bags were about $4k, the insurance company wrote the car off, gave him a check for 75% of the value, and took the car.  The 75% recovery wasn't even enough to pay off the car loan he had taken out to buy the thing.

[roamer_1]

What I really, really miss on the older vehicles, is the body and bumper strength. I can't count the times I have been rear-ended or even banged on the side without a scratch on my older vehicles over the years. With just some paint trading. Any impact with these new cars cause high dollar damages.

*FACTS*

Up in here we hang big ol cow catchers on em, and big back bumpers... Problem being that IFS can't handle the extra weight (not to mention a snow plow)... So you can either have suspension and a deer in your lap, or a bumper with suspension going out often. a poor pick that we never had to worry about with straight axles.

[EdinVA]

And give me back a dang stick!

And the dimmer switch on the floor...

[GrouchoTex]

Well, it was nice to be able to tune-up your own vehicle back then.  All you needed were plugs, points, condenser, and a timing light to shine on that chalk mark on the belt.

Amen, and you could use a matchbook cover to set the points.
It would run a little rough, but if your feeler gauges weren't handy, it would work.
Most of vehicles didn't require a set on standard and metric wrenches to work on them.

[GrouchoTex]

And give me back a dang stick!

Hard to find in anything but a high end sports car now.

[roamer_1]

And the dimmer switch on the floor...

HEH. I always had TWO... One to run the brights, and the other to fire up the KCs 

[roamer_1]

Hard to find in anything but a high end sports car now.

A pickup without a stick is a waste of time.

Not altogether - Auto is nice on mountain roads for switching gears without losing power to the train... But I will always take a stick if I have the choice.

And a Muncie 465 costs hardly nothing to rebuild - IF you ever have to rebuild it ever (other than brass of course). You can't even give a new tranny the stink eye without it costing fifteen hundred bucks.

[The_Reader_David]

And give me back a dang stick!

We've had newer and newer cars over the years since the first car my wife and I bought in '83, and except for two family vans, a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law and my wife's Honda Civic Hybrid, we've had sticks on all of them:  A series of Nissan Sentras, a Geo Prizm, a Toyota ECHO, and finally the car I really wanted all along, a Mazda Miata RF (I don't want a rag-top in Kansas) -- not a reasonable vehicle except as a second (we still have the Civic Hybrid) or with kids in the house, but it's a blast to drive. 

[Smokin Joe]

I guess it would depend on your definition of "better", cars today are safer, cars today have better gas mileage but beyond that todays cars have to much plastic and are to reliant on computers and they all look the same.

I don't know about safer. They are more tolerant and forgiving of the errors of the idiots behind the wheel, which is just one more way of thwarting natural selection and increasing the number of idiots on the road.

[DCPatriot]

I don't know about safer. They are more tolerant and forgiving of the errors of the idiots behind the wheel, which is just one more way of thwarting natural selection and increasing the number of idiots on the road.

    

[Wingnut]

Well with the exception of my 1971 Vega GT (which rusted on the showroom floor and after one year had more plastic bondo in it than all the Kardashian's put together) I'd say yeah.  Give me an old land yacht any day.

[roamer_1]

Well with the exception of my 1971 Vega GT (which rusted on the showroom floor and after one year had more plastic bondo in it than all the Kardashian's put together) I'd say yeah.  Give me an old land yacht any day.

I built a Vega once... tubbed for 50s... 4.10s on a shortened corporate posi, Ground pounding 350 with an m22 rockcrusher...

Ran like a scalded dog.

[Wingnut]

I built a Vega once... tubbed for 50s... 4.10s on a shortened corporate posi, Ground pounding 350 with an m22 rockcrusher...

Ran like a scalded dog.

That frame was stronger than the sheet metal!.  The way the Cowl rusted I'm surprised the windshield didn't pop out on a spirited run from the torque twist.!

[roamer_1]

That frame was stronger than the sheet metal!.  The way the Cowl rusted I'm surprised the windshield didn't pop out on a spirited run from the torque twist.!

We didn't have rust up in here till after the 80s...