General Present Attitude: Classic Cars

[steveg]

no that was a BMW Z8 :smile-new:

Austin-Martin

 

[pkmh]

On the subject of current attitude these days, comments made here such as Tahoe Healey's and LarryK's among others, I feel in alignment with, especially contributing to the current situation arising from the pandemic.

I also just want to add a small additional observation on classic car enthusiasts in general. I have rarely seen classic cars of any kind on the road during this pandemic, considering the amount I have witnessed in prior years.

Just pointing out that there have been no organized meets around by me. Also, perhaps some enthusiasts have been subjected to hard finacial times due to the pandemic and therefore, forced to keep their car(s) on blocks for a spell. And what I now believe to be the most predominant cause of little activity may have to do with the hot weather we've been experiencing. Hottest summer on record, or so I'm told. I hardly drove my Healey much this summer because of the excessive heat. So, I may of answered my own question as to why so little action on the roads.

Nonetheless, tough time for us right now it seems. Yes?! Well, hopefully, an effective vaccine will surface with the result of some level of normalcy returning soon and with the hopes of staying that way for at least awhile!

Just my additional two cents.

 

[glemon]

I get the no wave thing from old American car driver's too, not all the time, but enough to think it is a thing. Neighbor had a 55 T bird, I had a 53 Austin Healey, I guess we were in different worlds.

I wonder if "our cars" are looking like pre-war cars do to me to the younger generation. I like all interesting cars, but pre-war stuff doesn't move me like an old Jag or Austin Healey.

As far as what they are to other people,

My Triumphs are MGs

My Austin Healeys were MGs and Austin Martins like James Bond (I learned to embrace it, like others said)

My MGs were....MGs

Cars still get attention around here, just depends on the people. If anything I feel like Covid has made more people smile and wave when they see me and my wife out doing something you can still enjoy on a nice sunny day.

 

[HealeyRick]

I wonder if "our cars" are looking like pre-war cars do to me to the younger generation. I like all interesting cars, but pre-war stuff, doesn't move me like an old Jag or Austin Healey.

.

When I was 16 in '66 a friend and I went to visit his uncle's friend who had a Stevens Duryea, much like this one.

It was a magnificent beast, clearly his pride and joy, and to two young guys interested in Mustangs, GTOs and Corvettes, just not that interesting. Now that our Healeys are about that far away from present day, I often think about how little I was attracted by what was dearly held by the older generation

 

[mikephillips]

There's a lot of truth to that. When I was a kid in the 60s local shows would be 50-75% Model Ts and Model As, the cars that the then older middle age guys remembered from their youth and could now afford to own and restore and drive in parades. I have a cousin in his later 70s who has a couple 57 Chevys. Why, it was the car that he and his wife dated in. And my British cars come from what I saw on TV and movies and magazines when I was a kid and can now afford. Younger folks I know are more interested in hopped up Japanese coupes and sedans.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I think--wishfully perhaps--that there's a division between pre- and post-war (WWII) classics. Post-war cars, like our Healeys can, for the most part, keep up on the freeways and are suitable for longer trips. I've covered as much as 5,000 miles on trips in my BJ8, and never felt 'disadvantaged' on the highways--though doing 80 for long stretches on freeways isn't really fun*--but my dad's Model A I drove in high school and JC was really only suitable around town. It could barely do 60MPH--downhill with a tailwind--and had 60-0 braking of about 500ft.

The Lempert diff makes it less brutal.

 

[John Turney]

There's a lot of truth to that. When I was a kid in the 60s local shows would be 50-75% Model Ts and Model As, the cars that the then older middle age guys remembered from their youth and could now afford to own and restore and drive in parades. I have a cousin in his later 70s who has a couple 57 Chevys. Why, it was the car that he and his wife dated in. And my British cars come from what I saw on TV and movies and magazines when I was a kid and can now afford. Younger folks I know are more interested in hopped up Japanese coupes and sedans.

I think that's the general consensus of the "experts". Car buffs are interested in the cars of their youth.

 

[gonzo]

I think that's the general consensus of the "experts". Car buffs are interested in the cars of their youth.

However, what explains the introduction of modern version muscle-cars e.g. Dodge or Ford, and those from Toyota e.g Supra and VW? These cars are marketed to those of a particular age group but younger folks go bonkers over these too. There's a long cue for the new Bronco. What's old becomes new again: Healeys are timeless me thinks...GONZO.

 

[HealeyRick]

However, what explains the introduction of modern version muscle-cars e.g. Dodge or Ford, and those from Toyota e.g Supra and VW? These cars are marketed to those of a particular age group but younger folks go bonkers over these too. There's a long cue for the new Bronco. What's old becomes new again: Healeys are timeless me thinks...GONZO.

I don't think the attraction of modern muscle cars is due to their styling, but to the same thing we loved them for ... POWER. Young folks want to go fast, no matter what era they live in, and these cars attract them. Healeys just aren't that powerful and I'm not really convinced the younger generation is going to be clamoring for them.

 

[glemon]

Rick and Bob, yeah, there are kind of two sides to this, while a Healey is closer in looks and performance to a modern Miata than a 1920s Stutz or whatever, and they can do ok in modern traffic and cruise down the highway at 75-80 mph--I frequent some car forums that cater more to modern cars and enthusiasts. Many comments about "underpowered" BRZs, FRSs, and RX8 with only 200 plus hp. Many references to other new cars with "only" 300 plus hp, slow cars that take 6-7 seconds to reach 60, some even call the new Miata, a high five second car, slow. Our Healeys, MGs, and Triumphs with 80-150 hp, no tech, or ABS or EFI, or airbags probably seem as creaky and old as a 40 hp Model A (I don't know how much hp, just throwing a ballpark number out) seems to many of us. Perception, largely formed by what you grew up with, frames your personal reality.

 

[PC]

I think that's the general consensus of the "experts". Car buffs are interested in the cars of their youth.

Hear that a lot. And I don't entirely disagree. But...

I think it's an oversimplification, a subset of a something more subtle. I also think the "experts" use it as a crutch to avoid putting in the effort of thinking through it or trying to somehow help.

Thinking back a few years to a couple of kids I knew. One, 18 years old, enthusiastic about cars, a real good guy, his dream car was a Bugeye. The other, a friend's teenage son bought his first car, a fifties vintage pickup truck. But what he really wanted was his Grandad's Model A pickup. That kid had buddies, two brothers, who drove Checker Marathons.

All of these young people were fascinated by cars much older than them, cars most of their peers likely saw as alien oddities. But they were all introduced to them by people who were equally enthusiastic and willing to share the fun.

How many times have you been to a car show or cruise night or whatever and seen some cool car, one most young people have never seen or heard of, and there was a sign saying "if you value your life as much as I value my car..." or some such thing? How interested is a kid going to be?

Now imagine that kid walking up to a strange car and sheepishly asking what it is, then some crazy, cheerful person regales them with epic tales from a bygone era of adventure. What if they're then asked "wanna try it on? Hop in."

.... Younger folks I know are more interested in hopped up Japanese coupes and sedans.

How many have been properly introduced to classics?

 

[John Turney]

"DRIVING A CAR TWICE MY AGE"

That would have been a horse and carriage. Cars weren't invented for a another ~25 years.

 

[pdplot]

Many people are jealous of "fancy cars" and do horrid things like key them, especially Porsches. Years ago, I parked a Twin-Cam MG overnight down in Greenwich Village NYC and it was untouched, but years later, I parked a Corvair in the upper west side of Manhattan and found my radio antenna broken off the next morning. I also parked my TDs in Manhattan with no problem back in the late 1950s. Most younger people today just seem to ignore our cars. Those that are car-oriented seem to go for Honda Civics with loud fart cans or pickup trucks down south.

 

[pkmh]

There's a lot of truth to that. When I was a kid in the 60s local shows would be 50-75% Model Ts and Model As, the cars that the then older middle age guys remembered from their youth and could now afford to own and restore and drive in parades. I have a cousin in his later 70s who has a couple 57 Chevys. Why, it was the car that he and his wife dated in. And my British cars come from what I saw on TV and movies and magazines when I was a kid and can now afford. Younger folks I know are more interested in hopped up Japanese coupes and sedans.

And with those hopped up coupes and sedans, let us not forget those having very low profiled tires on an extreme slant, just a fraction away from rubbing along the wheel well or fender, coupled with those modified muffler systems that sound like there is no muffler system!layful:

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Rick and Bob, yeah, there are kind of two sides to this, while a Healey is closer in looks and performance to a modern Miata than a 1920s Stutz or whatever, and they can do ok in modern traffic and cruise down the highway at 75-80 mph--I frequent some car forums that cater more to modern cars and enthusiasts. Many comments about "underpowered" BRZs, FRSs, and RX8 with only 200 plus hp. Many references to other new cars with "only" 300 plus hp, slow cars that take 6-7 seconds to reach 60, some even call the new Miata, a high five second car, slow. Our Healeys, MGs, and Triumphs with 80-150 hp, no tech, or ABS or EFI, or airbags probably seem as creaky and old as a 40 hp Model A (I don't know how much hp, just throwing a ballpark number out) seems to many of us. Perception, largely formed by what you grew up with, frames your personal reality.

If only they knew. My Mustang GT has 480HP--when I can buy or blend 93-octane or better--and will do 0-60 in 4.6s (best I've managed is 5.4s), but for just cruising and enjoying the environment and the time passing the Healey can't be beat.

 

[glemon]

If only they knew. My Mustang GT has 480HP--when I can buy or blend 93-octane or better--and will do 0-60 in 4.6s (best I've managed is 5.4s), but for just cruising and enjoying the environment and the time passing the Healey can't be beat.

Oh, I agree 100%, I was out driving the Triumph yesterday, objectively slower than my two daily drivers, it is still more engaging and subjectively feels faster. Modern cars with all their weight, sound insulation, and driver overrides and nannies, can't compare.

 

[LarryK]

And the heat in the floorboards made you drive faster.

 

[HealeyRick]

If only they knew. My Mustang GT has 480HP--when I can buy or blend 93-octane or better--and will do 0-60 in 4.6s (best I've managed is 5.4s), but for just cruising and enjoying the environment and the time passing the Healey can't be beat.

People will get sick of me saying this, but this is why you build a Nasty Boy. All the looks of a Healey with the ability to blow off a Prius when you need to.

 

[Michael Oritt]

"with the ability to blow off a Prius when you need to."

...something I do not​ stay up nights thinking about doing.

 

[SimsBJ8]

Ok, let's all make a deal with each other. In order to keep the Healey enthusiasm going, the next time someone asks about our car while we are out for a drive, let's respond "Hop in, I will take you for a ride." (yes we may have to wait for post Covid but....).
One of my regrets came last May at a local show. A young adult stopped by and was asking questions about the Healeys. He looked very responsible and I almost handed him my keys and said "If you know how to drive a shift, go ahead and take it for a drive". I look back and wish I had made the offer. As a group, we probably all would have benefited!