Am I the only one that thinks the newer vehicles are garbage? Seems like they are bringing the names of models back in hopes to get more people to buy it. I happened to see the picture of the new Blazer, ehhh.
Bring back the old classic cars, I’ll sign a liability waiver for the safety portion of it.
In 40-50 years no one is going to say ooh I want a 2020 blazer. The old classics will remain that way in my opinion.
Maybe that’s why Mazda has decided to make restoration parts available to 1G Miata owners starting last year.
oooo I want a Walmart Special Inkjet Printer … right …that will last until the ink runs out then buy a new one because the ink costs as much as the printer …
We are making more disposable things these days across the board … including autos
I would love to have one of the late-model Challengers…
New cars are too heavy, it’s getting nearly impossible to find a manual transmission, they’re difficult to fix, and they’re expensive. However, with my car having issues, I borrowed the wife’s car for a recent trip to Houston and I’ve got to say, newer cars are more pleasant (but less fun) to drive. The infotainment systems are slick, they’re quiet, get good fuel economy and are generally hassle-free to use.
I think some modern cars will become desirable classics in 20 years. They say a big part of that market is middle-aged people finally getting to buy the car of their dreams from high school. I’ll admit, I was looking at E39 M5s the other day and prices are going up. For folks a little older than me, the NSX has skyrocketed in value. I wouldn’t be surprised if the modern GT350 takes on classic status in a bit. In 50 years, everything will be self-driving anyway so all of these will just be for fun.
Is that true though? I think auto reliability has been pretty much continuously going up over time. In 1990, the average car on the road was 7.2 years old, last year, it was 11.6. That’s a pretty big increase.
Oh … I could be mistaken … I just see alot of what appears to be cheap integrated hard to work on plastic proprietary stuff … and this to me means you get rid of it after 7-10 years because auto parts are no longer available
Yeah, it certainly feels that way. My car, for instance, has a stupid integrated stereo/computer/speedometer that’s basically impossible to mess with and I think you’d have to take off the dash and swap the whole unit to replace. On the other hand, I think the mechanical reliability has been getting better over time, so that pulls in the other direction. An extreme example of that would be a Tesla, everything in that car is proprietary and plastic, but on the other hand the drive train is so simple I can’t imagine it has many problems.
A neighbor of mine had his cracked windshield replaced on his car. It cost him over $800. The windshield itself was the cheap part, the expensive part was that he had to take his car back to the dealership to have the automatic headlight dimmer re-calibrated, the auto lane change camera installed and re-calibrated, the automatic wiper sensors re-calibrated, and the list goes on and on. None of the local repair shops can afford the cost of the re-calibration equipment to justify their use. The old shade tree mechanic is now out of business.
I’d be happy rebuilding an old classic. Say a 50’s Merc, Plymouth Deluxe, ect… put in just a radio. Hell I don’t listen the the radio in my current vehicle’s. I came extremely close to buying this Deluxe in July.
Self driving you right into stationary objects or worse over pedestrians & cyclists yes…because software is infallible!
Here is my money pit that I own. It is a 1931 Model A Ford Deluxe Roadster. Back in 1931 it cost $545 new. It is of all original construction except for some safety related modifications, such as brighter headlights and tail lights. It has a set of original 1931 Texas license plates that are re-registered by the DMV. It is street legal without any seat belts or inspection stickers. I can fix almost anything on it with a piece of bailing wire, well almost. It will go anywhere, several years ago I drove it on a 2,000 mile round trip to Ohio. Sort of a fair weather vehicle as it has no roll up side windows, but it is great in parades.
Rich,
I have a 1966 Volkswagen crew cab pickup truck. No wind up windows, No air conditioning, no radio, only lap belts. It does have a larger displacement engine and has been changed over to 12 volts to come out of the “dark ages” I also have a set of Texas truck plates from 1966 for it. THe body on mine is still in need of some loving but runs and drives just fine
Three doors, three gates on the cargo bed for easy access to load and unload and a flat bed.
Will you going to the Decatur swap meet this coming weekend?
Thanks for that reminder. I am going to take my family this weekend to it.
Hopefully we will see you there !
Yes, I will be at the Decatur Swap Meet (located at the Decatur Fairgrounds) on this Saturday handing out flyers for the Southwest Swap Meet which is at the Texas Motor Speedway in September. I am one of the Board of Directors for the Southwest Swap Meet for over 15 years. This year I assisted in the physical layout of the Decatur Swap Meet, all those little flags in the ground to mark off almost 5,000 vendor spaces.
Some new vehicles look promising
Tim,
This could be your truck, and when completed just think it has a built in extension ladder…
https://www.renebates.com/a_lot_2.php?id=236&lot=89&cat=36
