Todays cars are boring..

[ironglows]

Not entirely boring, but in a couple ways..namely shape and color.  The shape is easy to figure out.  Cars of the 40s, 50s and 60s could be fairly easily identified by their shape, what with tail fins, hooded headlights, the Edsel "horse collar" Buick "port holes", Lincoln
 "continental" spare tire, and other features.

Now, I suppose if there are others like myself, they will find it difficult to identify by brand, without seeing the identity badge. That uniformity is relatively easy to understand, because  with the CAFE standards in effect, manufacturers have found the most efficient shape for a vehicle, and all it seems, use the same basic shape.  This is made clear by the current crop of SUVs.

  Today's cars run better and longer, but why so boringly similar?

  Less easy to explain is the reason why todays cars are so boring in the paint color department.  Nothing like the 1950s & 1960s, when all colors abounded....to include "two tones" and even "three tones".
   https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALeKk02Husoqjpo2VwWisiVL7gBb63pPGg%3A1600471700290&source=hp&biw=1060&bih=494&ei=lEJlX6O8DpKIytMPvqaaUA&q=american+cars+of+the+1950s&oq=cars+of+the+1950s&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgCMgIIADIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjoECCMQJzoFCAAQsQM6CAgAELEDEIMBUKYGWOxZYOmFAWgAcAB4AYABsgOIAcMRkgEIMy4xMy40LTGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img

  The color option paucity may be explained by this video;
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbFjnPxDXUQ

[Dee]

I'm a pickup, jeep, SUV kinds guy.
As far as todays vehicles, I like vehicles that start, get good fuel mileage, and good horsepower.
The 55 Chevy 2 door poster was a great looking car. I liked my 67 Chevelle SS396, and my 69 Chevelle.
But I'll take todays technology any day over the later.

[ironglows]

I'm a pickup, jeep, SUV kinds guy.
As far as todays vehicles, I like vehicles that start, get good fuel mileage, and good horsepower.
The 55 Chevy 2 door poster was a great looking car. I liked my 67 Chevelle SS396, and my 69 Chevelle.
But I'll take todays technology any day over the later.

  I had a '57 Chevy 2-dr, red & white, which I thought was pretty sharp..Traded it for my first Beetle.

  Yes, I'll take today's technology so far as dependability, running and lasting are concerned...much more precision built into them.

[Lloyd Smale]

boring my ass. I dare you to sit in the passenger seat of my challenger. What do you drive??? Boring?? go for a ride in a hellcat or zl1. Ill provide the toilet paper and the clean whitey tightys. Boring judged by someone who NEVER owned exciting. Real truth is the cars sure arent boring but its a small audience that buys them. PEOPLE got boring. We have liberals and tired old men that gave up on life that are happy going woopty do in there surburu. The hands down most exciting cars ever produced are down the block on your dealer lot. Only ones that would possibly call them boring are the ones that cant afford them or cant handle them or are just plain BORING. Youd get along with my dad. Hes 87 has a cane and a suburu outback. He can only get a licience to drive within 20 miles of home. What was boring? pintos, vegas, gremilins, hornets, ramblers, galaxy 500s, bisquanes, fairlanes, belvederes, furys, datsuns, corolas and i can go on and on. Bottom line is even the muscle cars back them were 75 percent the cars your daddy drove with a bigger motor (not even that in many cases) and a race stripe on them and an ss or gt badge on the side. Heck alot of them even still had the bench seat and a 2speed auto. Now THATS boring. What next? are you going to say they have no soul?? Whats it take to have soul. A body no thicker then a beer can that rusts in 3 years, Suspension so terrible that you actually had to drive the speeds posted in the corners or youd hit a tree. Brakes so terrible that if you heard a train whistle youd have to lay on them before you even had the train in sight. Gas mileage so bad that when you floored it you could watch the needle drop. Reliability so bad that you had to carry a tool box and two quarts of oil if you were going a 100 miles from home. A motor that you bragged about to everyone you knew if it made over 80k. Yup those were your exciting cars of yesteday if you take off your rose colored glass and looked at the truth. i guess in a way they were exciting. Every time you hopped i one it was a gamble as to whether youd drive it home or tow it. Yup the good old days.

[Graybeard]

Cars do nothing for me. I only drive trucks, both pickups and SUVs, and have for a great many years. Just to see I did get a Honda Accord and kept it a very short while, less than a year I think and traded it back in on a Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Frankly I don't see me ever owning a car again.

[oldandslow]

I'm not even a truck guy anymore. It's an suv and a jeep wrangler for me now. Either one can pull a trailer big enough to haul anything that won't fit inside the suv. I'm not in need of a cane yet but it's certainly much easier to get in and out of the suv or jeep than the last car we owned.

[ironglows]

boring my ass. I dare you to sit in the passenger seat of my challenger. What do you drive??? Boring?? go for a ride in a hellcat or zl1. Ill provide the toilet paper and the clean whitey tightys. Boring judged by someone who NEVER owned exciting. Real truth is the cars sure arent boring but its a small audience that buys them. PEOPLE got boring. We have liberals and tired old men that gave up on life that are happy going woopty do in there surburu. The hands down most exciting cars ever produced are down the block on your dealer lot. Only ones that would possibly call them boring are the ones that cant afford them or cant handle them or are just plain BORING. Youd get along with my dad. Hes 87 has a cane and a suburu outback. He can only get a licience to drive within 20 miles of home. What was boring? pintos, vegas, gremilins, hornets, ramblers, galaxy 500s, bisquanes, fairlanes, belvederes, furys, datsuns, corolas and i can go on and on. Bottom line is even the muscle cars back them were 75 percent the cars your daddy drove with a bigger motor (not even that in many cases) and a race stripe on them and an ss or gt badge on the side. Heck alot of them even still had the bench seat and a 2speed auto. Now THATS boring. What next? are you going to say they have no soul?? Whats it take to have soul. A body no thicker then a beer can that rusts in 3 years, Suspension so terrible that you actually had to drive the speeds posted in the corners or youd hit a tree. Brakes so terrible that if you heard a train whistle youd have to lay on them before you even had the train in sight. Gas mileage so bad that when you floored it you could watch the needle drop. Reliability so bad that you had to carry a tool box and two quarts of oil if you were going a 100 miles from home. A motor that you bragged about to everyone you knew if it made over 80k. Yup those were your exciting cars of yesteday if you take off your rose colored glass and looked at the truth. i guess in a way they were exciting. Every time you hopped i one it was a gamble as to whether youd drive it home or tow it. Yup the good old days.

  In order to get answers for your post above, you will have to contact the fellow who made the video.  I can't answer for him, since I don't know what he drives, although he did express admiration for some if the old muscle cars.
  For myself, I don't try to tell anyone what they should drive or enjoy.  ..But like many other folks, I don't really care for anyone trying to tell me what I should like, buy, or drive.
  I always considered a cars ability to negotiate the curves, switches cutbacks of roads such as are often found in this area, as being more desirable than flat out acceleration.
  A few years ago, I had a very nice Mazda Miata, a very nice little car, very adept on the roads such as I described.  Sure, it looked quite sporty, and some of the drivers of large engined cars would try to competitively engage me somehow.  I was not about to playbtheir game, so I would just lead them on until I got to a real twisty road..The leave them trying to plow through the curves and hairpins!
    It was fun for a few seasons, but I tired of storing it for 7 months, so I could drive it for 5 .

  So, enjoy your muscle cars if that's what you like, after all..some like hunting, others tennis, and still others ball room dancing.. to each his own.

[Bob Riebe]

I could use a truck, or a ute, for stuff I haul, hauled over the past thirty years but I do not want a truck of ute, because I just do not want one.
My one cousin keeps harping I should get an x, y or k truck/ute  but I like full size 4 door sedans for when I am not hauling some thng ( although hard used makes my cars look well used like a work truck fairly quickly.)

With the exception of a Monte Carlo, whose engine was awakened to a surprising, even to me, amount when I put a hi-po Holley two barrel on it , and my Mustang, all my cars have been 4 door sedans since 1980.
Even with the Monte Carlo and Mustang, I had a sedan, or trailier, available for hauling,
I do not like pulling trailers though I have towed loaded one a lot of miles.

[Argent 88]

Remember having to change the points and condenser all the time? I sure don't miss that, even if it was easy
to do.

[Lloyd Smale]

me either. I remember having to carry extra plugs, points, oil and octane boost in the trunk of my ss454 all the time along with a timing light and a pretty extensive tool box. Today for the most part you dont even need a spare tire. Most people today are so far removed from those "good old days" that they dont even know how to change a tire.

Remember having to change the points and condenser all the time? I sure don't miss that, even if it was easy
to do.

[Lloyd Smale]

Guys dont get me wrong. I love all cars. I love trucks. Not much on suv's or mini vans but then again i have no use for one. Cant even see the utility in one when a 4 door 4x4 pickup will haul twice as much, ride as good or better, have more room for passengers and get just as good gas mileage. I can haul 5 people and an atv in the back. No trailer needed. Or if i want haul 5 people an atv in the back and hook on to my trailer and pull 2 more side by sides. My wife drives to work through one of the worse sections of road in the winter in the upper US. You could force her to do it in some little cracker box car. A 4x4 pickup with a real frame is 10 times safer. But if it fits your life style go for it.  Ive got a 4x4 pickup a jeep wrangler and a challenger thats just a toy like your boat, motorcyle or atv.

My complaint comes from those who forget what the good old days really were like. The idiots that say the new cars have no soul. Look at the 60s impalas, furys, galaxies and even most of the performance cars and they were basicaly square boxes that were about like a beer can on wheels. There were exceptions. Like the old camaros vettes, cudas, challengers, ss chevelles and the late 60s early 70s mustangs. Early mustangs were secretarys little cars with anemic motors for the most part. Even my gtx was just a tin can box that hand the style of a shoe box. Only carry over model that to me is uglier today is the dodge charger. For the most part the 60s and 70s were as much art as a pile of horse ###. As reliable as? well there isnt much to even compare them too. They sucked! They weren't reliable and most weren't even fast and about none of the held a candle to even ironglows miata example and honest that miata would take many of them in a straight line too. 

Me? i like anything with a motor be it a car truck motorcyle atv boat or snowmobile. Its a passion for me. I buy what i want and dont worry about whats practical. Same thing with guns. If i had some heres train of thought id have a 22, 12 guage and an 06 and would buy a box of ammo ever 2 years for each. I worked hard to get where im at financialy to be able to afford to buy what i want not whats the practical choice. I wont appologize for that or listen to people who cant afford something bash it saying its not practical. Or isnt as good as what they drove in high school. Bottom line is you have to be on crack to even try to compare todays cars and trucks to the 70s. Its about like comparing a calculator to a lap top computer.

Some of you have phones that cost 2k and pay a 100 bucks a month for service for them. To me thats a waste of money. Some of you probably have a set of golf clubs that cost 3k and i wouldnt give you 3 cents for them. But im not such an idiot that im going to try to tell you they made better ones in the 70s. Why? Because i dont know. Thats the real truth here. Opinions from some who dont have a clue. That probably drove pintos and gremlins in the 70s and have never owned a muscle car or ANY car that actually has soul or isnt just basic transportation but something that will actually make you smile. Must be hell living that boring life.

 What do you do for fun? watch tv? mow your grass? Lets continue this with what do you do for fun??? What do you buy that isnt just subsistence? Im sure whatever it is someone thinks your dumb for doing it. A few here say they dont judge but in fact about every post about cars just like religion people mostly just judge you. Why even start this thread if not to judge someone elses choices.  I know i have about 20 years left on this earth and im going to do something novel to some here. Im going to spend my money having fun! Just like i have for the previous 64 years.

[Bob Riebe]

 

Remember having to change the points and condenser all the time? I sure don't miss that, even if it was easy
to do.

Well , unless you have an honest local independent  garage like I do (who will do stuff free of charge), when the check engine light comes on people run to the garage and pay 100 bucks to get it hooked up to their computer system and tell you what is wrong.
AT that home systems that are really at the level of the old Sun Auto System, which were the first systems go digital decades ago, cost from two to three thousand dollars  (cheap actually as an old Sun System's price adjusted for inflation would put it well into five figures)   but at the price that Auto companies charge to look at your car, will pay for itself in the long run.
You can get cheaper ones for hundreds of dollars but the higher bucks ones work on dozens of different cars, you do not have to buy a new one each time.

If it is something minor it is just a hundred bucks, but if it is some thing that you could do yourself in the past , such as wind shield washer systems going pfft, now it will cost you hundreds, 300 for an old 1984 Olds to get it fixed as often it is in the computer system.

As far as points go, GM cars since 1970 had a electronic piece you could put in the distributor to replace the points if you wished to.
BUT unless you wanted to call a tow truck , ALWAYS carry an extra as when it went out , there was zero warning it just stopped.
If you had a spare, 15 minutes and you were back on your way.
If one knew now to set, and file, points they lasted a long, long time but most people did not or just ran them till they fused.

There are still scam garages out there; I took my sigs. 2004 Grand Marquis in for an oil change, as I will do my own but have zero desire nowadays to crawl under hers, and they said that for 160 dollars they would put in a new gas filter as hers was starting to leak.
Well for 15 dollars, and maybe 1/2 hour I can put one on , and I will.

[ironglows]

Remember having to change the points and condenser all the time? I sure don't miss that, even if it was easy
to do.

  Plugs, points and condenser, every 12,000 miles....  One thing that points toward better cars today.  Up until the 1960s, the warranty on a new car was only 12,000 miles.  Then it inched up to 36,000 miles..

  Some brands are confident enough, that they provide a 60,000 miles@ 100%coverage, and drive train to 100,000..  That's confidence in their product !

[Bob Riebe]

Plugs, points and condenser, every 12,000 miles....  One thing that points toward better cars today.  Up until the 1960s, t e warranty on a new car was only 12,000 miles.  Then it inched up to 36,000 miles..
Some brands are confident enough, that they provide a 60,000 miles@ 100%coverage, and drive train to 100,000..  That's confidence in their product !

Improvements in lubrication, seals, metallurgy, chassis design, etc. over the decades have paid off but then the lighter metal of the seventies and later was not an improvement as I am starting to see a lot of rust buckets from the nineties and early aughts up here now.
One thing is the urethane paint they use now, where as they used to show rust quickly with laquer but urethane hides it till it is too late to fix it .
Plus the gloss top coat makes it look really nasty when still shiny car is rotting away from the bottom up.

[Lloyd Smale]

what you fail to do bob is factor in cost of living and wage levels then and now. Back in the day the sun diagnostic system wasnt in the budget of a guys back yard garage either. You can buy a hand held code checker for much less considering cost of living then a sun system back then. Also id rather pay a mechanic a 100 bucks to read my code find the exact problem and fix it then what we had back then. Mostly some high school drop out grease monkey that just kept replacing parts till he found the right one. RIP OFFS. We had as many back then as today. Maybe more.

I used to be afraid of the computer stuff too. When i stated farting with them in the 80s on my GN and my camaros i had an awakening. How nice it is to read a code and have it tell you exactly what the problem is. Anyone that can change plugs can change a mass air flow or map sensors or an injector on most cars. Truth of the matter is i spent MUCH more time with holleys on the bench rebuilding them then i did all the problems ive had with computer controled cars combined over the years. Modifying a car to go fast is hands down easier today then it was then. I dont have to lean over a hood adjusting my fuel air mixture and running it down the road to read plugs. I can plug in my diablo programer and push a few buttons.  I can change my tune to run 87 octane if thats all i can find today and change it back to 91 or 93 for some more power if i want to buy good gas. I can even change the shift points, rev limiter, and shift firmness with a push of a button. I can drive my car and it will data log my fuel air and timing for say 20 miles of driving the snot out of it and then i can plug it into a computer and know my exact fuel air mixtures all the way through the rpm range and my timing and any knock that appeared in the run.

 I could even bolt on a larger throttle body, a set of headers, a cam or even a supercharger and have there program down loaded into my diablo and bolt in on plug in the programer and 10 minutes later show up at the track ready to rock. I could basically double the hp of my car easily with two days labor in my pole barn. By the way that diablo can read trouble codes too. But you still have to buy a service manual to know what those codes mean. Can you imagine if we could have done that in the 60s!!!! Can you imagine if i could have doubled the hp of my 454 chevelle in 2 days in my back yard and still easily had it last over a 150k. I would have been a GOD!  Now your talking to a guy that still uses a flip phone but can do things like that. In 1984 i made about 10 bucks an hour. Its like wining about the price of gas. Cost maybe buck a gallon when your 84 was new. 2 bucks now. Fact of life is you make 3 times more now. So a 300 dollar windshield system that cost 300 bucks today would have cost about 75 bucks if i compare what i made to what i made when i retired and that about wipes out the high prices we cry about today. Heck my dad bought gas for 20 cents a gallon and a mug of beer for a quarter and paid 15 cents for a loaf of bread. What do you pay? Truth of the matter is a brand new mustang cost about the same as a 65 mustang did factoring in cost of living and wages. Bottom line is the new one is 5 times the car and will outlast 3 of the 65s and cost less in gas, repairs, tires and well, everything. Same comparison can be made for trucks and small cars. Compare a toyota corolla today to a chev vega!!!! Compare even a new toyota pickup to one made in the 80s. Good luck up here because they rusted so bad that about all of them have returned to mother earth.  GOLDEN AGE IS TODAY If you doubt it then look at ironglows post. Theres good reason they give you a 3 to even in some cases 10 year warantees on these cars. In the 70 a car manufacture would be in the red in a year if they gave even a 3 year warantee on all there cars.

Remember having to change the points and condenser all the time? I sure don't miss that, even if it was easy
to do.

Well , unless you have an honest local independent  garage like I do (who will do stuff free of charge), when the check engine light comes on people run to the garage and pay 100 bucks to get it hooked up to their computer system and tell you what is wrong.
AT that home systems that are really at the level of the old Sun Auto System, which were the first systems go digital decades ago, cost from two to three thousand dollars  (cheap actually as an old Sun System's price adjusted for inflation would put it well into five figures)   but at the price that Auto companies charge to look at your car, will pay for itself in the long run.
You can get cheaper ones for hundreds of dollars but the higher bucks ones work on dozens of different cars, you do not have to buy a new one each time.

If it is something minor it is just a hundred bucks, but if it is some thing that you could do yourself in the past , such as wind shield washer systems going pfft, now it will cost you hundreds, 300 for an old 1984 Olds to get it fixed as often it is in the computer system.

As far as points go, GM cars since 1970 had a electronic piece you could put in the distributor to replace the points if you wished to.
BUT unless you wanted to call a tow truck , ALWAYS carry an extra as when it went out , there was zero warning it just stopped.
If you had a spare, 15 minutes and you were back on your way.
If one knew now to set, and file, points they lasted a long, long time but most people did not or just ran them till they fused.

There are still scam garages out there; I took my sigs. 2004 Grand Marquis in for an oil change, as I will do my own but have zero desire nowadays to crawl under hers, and they said that for 160 dollars they would put in a new gas filter as hers was starting to leak.
Well for 15 dollars, and maybe 1/2 hour I can put one on , and I will.

[ironglows]

  I understand that my 2005 Ranger had galvanizing or some such coating on body panels, which would resist rust very well. ...But then, the enviro whackos got after the manufacturers, until that excellent system was dropped from usage.

  Has anybody else heard anything about that ?