Old Car history getting lost

[Gary56]

I have seen in the past several years how new sports cars taking over the old car sites.  What up with that

[alsancle]

24 minutes ago, Gary56 said:

I have seen in the past several years how new sports cars taking over the old car sites.  What up with that

Example?

[Terry Bond]

Has someone started making MG's again?

 

[CarNucopia]

5 minutes ago, Terry Bond said:

Has someone started making MG's again?

 

Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation did.

[plymouthcranbrook]

2 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

Has someone started making MG's again?

 

I am holding out for the return of the Sunbeam Tiger. Or at least an Alpine.

[Fordy]

5 hours ago, CarNucopia said:

Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation did.

Now MG stands for "Miserable Garbage'?

[1935Packard]

Not sure if this is what you mean, but there is an interesting trend of high-end sports car companies like Ferrari and Porsche making very limited edition super-cars that are instant collectables.  So you'll look at an auction list an RM or some place like that and see a 5 year old car with basically no miles on the odometer selling for big $$$.   Not my part of the hobby, but to each his own.

[Terry Bond]

2 hours ago, 1935Packard said:

Not sure if this is what you mean, but there is an interesting trend of high-end sports car companies like Ferrari and Porsche making very limited edition super-cars that are instant collectables.  So you'll look at an auction list an RM or some place like that and see a 5 year old car with basically no miles on the odometer selling for big $$$.   Not my part of the hobby, but to each his own.

Yes, there are lots of different rides in the amusement park we call "the hobby." Everyone has their favorites

 

Terry

[hidden_hunter]

8 hours ago, CarNucopia said:

Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation did.

They're actually so bad they feel like leyland continued in business

[kings32]

Have two MGs in my garage love them both great cars to drive .  They belong to my girls .

[hidden_hunter]

1 hour ago, kings32 said:

Have two MGs in my garage love them both great cars to drive .  They belong to my girls .

"MG" here is just rebranded SIAC and dumped in the thousands in rental yards - they feel like a 30 year old car that has 200k miles on it after 5k miles 

[60FlatTop]

Defining "New" is always a good starting point.

 

In the mid-1980s I worked in a former foundry building that had large air rotation heating units around the perimeter. All were marked "New Coil" in big letters with soapstone. One day I found the fine for the replacements. Turns out they were steam coils made with steel due to copper shortages during WWII. New copper coils replaced the rotted ones in 1948.

 

I am 75 years old and prefer the term Collector Car. For me that starts at 15-20 years old. And, looking back. it always has been like that for me.

[8E45E]

4 hours ago, 1935Packard said:

Not sure if this is what you mean, but there is an interesting trend of high-end sports car companies like Ferrari and Porsche making very limited edition super-cars that are instant collectables.  So you'll look at an auction list an RM or some place like that and see a 5 year old car with basically no miles on the odometer selling for big $$$.   Not my part of the hobby, but to each his own.

That 'cover it and tuck it away out of sight & out of mind' syndrome started with the 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette and the Pace Car editions.  46 years later, there are still many with less than 100 miles on the odometer.

 

Craig

[Terry Bond]

34 minutes ago, hidden_hunter said:

"MG" here is just rebranded SIAC and dumped in the thousands in rental yards - they feel like a 30 year old car that has 200k miles on it after 5k miles 

Yes! We've got three real ones. Love them.

Hope to see you on tour again soon.

Terry

[Jim Skelly]

26 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

That 'cover it and tuck it away out of sight & out of mind' syndrome started with the 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette and the Pace Car editions.  46 years later, there are still many with less than 100 miles on the odometer.

 

Craig

I respectfully disagree; it was the '76 Eldorado convertible 😄

[8E45E]

1 minute ago, Jim Skelly said:

I respectfully disagree; it was the '76 Eldorado convertible 😄

Yes, you are correct!!  Forgot about that, because they are a forgettable car!!

 

Craig

[Larry Schramm]

We were in Thailand in January and even saw some MG trucks.

 

https://www.rushlane.com/2021-mg-extender-pickup-gets-updated-12396828.html

[JACK M]

1 hour ago, Larry Schramm said:

We were in Thailand in January and even saw some MG trucks.

 

https://www.rushlane.com/2021-mg-extender-pickup-gets-updated-12396828.html

2 liter 4 cylinder, 161hp.

I don't consider pickups as trucks, they are pickups.

They must not do any towing in Thailand with these pickups.

[60FlatTop]

5 hours ago, JACK M said:

I don't consider pickups as trucks, they are pickups.

Neither did the US customs bridge guard at Port Huron. I could hear my wife praying from the passenger seat while I stood on the rocker panel and told him I was right behind a van.

 

:Dear God, please deescalate this before he starts another one."

Edited June 2 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[Peter Gariepy]

21 hours ago, Gary56 said:

I have seen in the past several years how new sports cars taking over the old car sites.  What up with that

Clarify.  Not a clue what you're trying to say.

 

 

 

 

[zepher]

3 hours ago, 8E45E said:

That 'cover it and tuck it away out of sight & out of mind' syndrome started with the 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette and the Pace Car editions.  46 years later, there are still many with less than 100 miles on the odometer.

 

Craig

 

Back in the late 80's I purchased a '78 Silver Anniversary L82 / 4 speed Corvette with 18k miles on it.

I drove it here and there for about 4 years then sold it to a guy from Australia that had come to the US to specifically buy a '78 Pace Car or Anniversary to ship back home.

It had about 37k miles on it when I sold it and it was still all original inside and out.

Back then, you could find plenty of lower mile '78s for not a lot of money.

They have gone way up in price since then.

[Jim Skelly]

4 hours ago, 8E45E said:

Yes, you are correct!!  Forgot about that, because they are a forgettable car!!

 

Craig

The '71-'78 Eldorados are great on the freeway and on long trips; the '75-'78 look a bit better without the fender skirts.  Attached is a photo of my '77 Biarritz but I prefer the styling of my '68 Eldorado even more.

[alsancle]

35 minutes ago, Jim Skelly said:

The '71-'78 Eldorados are great on the freeway and on long trips; the '75-'78 look a bit better without the fender skirts.  Attached is a photo of my '77 Biarritz but I prefer the styling of my '68 Eldorado even more.

 

I had a 71 convertible that my Aunt gave me and I drove it to college for a year.   My dad had many including a 76 with like 2k miles on it.  This is me with my mom's 74.    I would love a black on black 76 Convertible.  

And yes,  the first instant collectible that I can remember, followed by the Corvette silver anniversary followed by the ZR1.

 

 

Edited June 2 by alsancle (see edit history)

[edinmass]

I always knew you love wide white walls.  I see the attractive young lady…..I’m guessing she was either blind or a special needs person? There MUST be a reasonable explanation?🤔

[arcticbuicks]

Ed......do you feel your comment on blind and special needs people is appropriate for a antique car forum ? ....funny perhaps ?.....disgusting in my opinion......perhaps a person could get away with such a comment in a text to another person without backlash.....but on a forum where the topics are shared and include everybody ?.......I hope the forum moderators take this seriously and act.....or are people allowed to degrade this fine site to garbage with such comments

[60FlatTop]

At one time, maybe in the 1980s during the old car renaissance, I remember one gauge of a collector car was how quickly it went through the depreciation cycle and recovered its original price on the collector market. I think Studebaker Avanti was the example quick to achieve that.

 

It was an interesting enough concept that I remembered it all these decades.

[Fordy]

2 hours ago, arcticbuicks said:

Ed......do you feel your comment on blind and special needs people is appropriate for a antique car forum ? ....funny perhaps ?.....disgusting in my opinion......perhaps a person could get away with such a comment in a text to another person without backlash.....but on a forum where the topics are shared and include everybody ?.......I hope the forum moderators take this seriously and act.....or are people allowed to degrade this fine site to garbage with such comments

I see it as one buddy having a dig at another and perfectly fine as it would not have happened if they were complete strangers to each other. (Even I know the boundaries). The forum is where bonds of friendship are formed and having a "cheap shot" at a pal is part of normal human interactions.

There are enough people trying to sanitize the forum without someone actually taken offence. If Alsance has a problem with the post, then let him raise it.

Steve

[alsancle]

3 hours ago, edinmass said:

I always knew you love wide white walls.  I see the attractive young lady…..I’m guessing she was either blind or a special needs person? There MUST be a reasonable explanation?🤔

 

Ed,  you know I've always batted out of my league.

[Jim Skelly]

6 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

I had a 71 convertible that my Aunt gave me and I drove it to college for a year.   My dad had many including a 76 with like 2k miles on it.  This is me with my mom's 74.    I would love a black on black 76 Convertible.  

And yes,  the first instant collectible that I can remember, followed by the Corvette silver anniversary followed by the ZR1.

 

 

My first car was my grandmother's '71 Eldorado coupe.

[Jim Skelly]

6 hours ago, alsancle said:

I would love a black on black 76 Convertible.  

 

here you go:

 

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible Triple Black w/3,235 Actual Miles (cadillaclasalle.club)

 

[zepher]

That is an absolutely gorgeous land yacht of a Cadillac.

The entire car is just about perfection.

 

[alsancle]

8 hours ago, Jim Skelly said:

here you go:

 

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible Triple Black w/3,235 Actual Miles (cadillaclasalle.club)

 

 

Thanks!   That would be the one.  Nice.

 

[TAKerry]

18 hours ago, Peter Gariepy said:

Clarify.  Not a clue what you're trying to say.

 

 

 

 

Nor do I or any of the following responses?

 

I thought this was June, not April!

[CChinn]

2 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

Thanks!   That would be the one.  Nice.

 

Here is its 1938 predecessor. I’m starting to like the look of the car with its top up. 

[Jack Bennett]

I am supposing the OP was lamenting the trend of magazines, media and social sites, such as Facebook and Skype, leaning more toward the pleasures of owning a 2024 model car or truck over owning a 1904 car or truck.

Well, a drive through a neighborhood will help explain this in terms more related to changes in the culture and conditions of the citizens rather than their choice of cars.

A drive along Old Military road here in Lakewood today is a far cry different than it was when I came through this area in 1964 on my way to Vietnam.

A majority of the houses was built in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s in response to Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base preparing for the buildup of troops in anticipation of WWII.

These houses had no garage, and owning a single car was still a wordless statement of the family’s income.

Then came the 1950’s and the houses added a one car garage, and the 1930’s and 1940’s cars were parked outside and the 1950’s cars were protected by the garage. Consequently, the old cars, with vacuum fed fuel systems and mechanical brakes died, and were replaced as primary mode of transportation with more modern cars with carburetors and hydraulic brakes.

World War II came and left and Korea, then Vietnam radically changed the technology of all machinery, and Lizzie was not exempt from evolution.

The war left its mark on the mid 1950’s cars so far as design and the materials available to make them and we ended the “shoebox” and “bathtub” era of cars which featured high ceilings and low rocker panels with tail fins and huge bumpers.

Concurrently, the need for speed came into the picture and the late 1960’s through the 1980’s was devoted to evolution of the Super Sport car with EFI, HEI, disc brakes, power steering and electric lumbar support seats.

Then came the two car garage, and Lizzie found its way back inside, but, even though the cost of buying a antique car was at rock bottom, the cost of restoring one began its upward spiral as the repair parts bank began to diminish due to age.

Enter the 1990’s and the computer designed and built machine, with very few parts which could be improved on by the back yard mechanic, the introduction of EPROM managed fuel, electrical systems and acceptance of the idea that use of a air conditioner was far preferable to rolling down a window.

Then came the 2000’s, what with no credible war to aid in the advance of mechanical devices, and the disappearing single family residences, not to mention that granddad had died, the farm was now a member of a mega company co-op, the memory of the tractor and the Cushman long gone, it was only normal that Sis and Jr. join the two working family members generation, and keeping a old car was becoming a hobby based more on memories shared by a dying generation than it was a necessity of those living in a apartment on a pay check to paycheck budget.

Then politics entered the automotive arena, and thanks (?) to our politicians, low interest rates, longer loan terms and lessened requirements for credit meant that Jr. or Sis could now buy that Escalade or Mercedes and park them under the car port of their apartment with no need of a heated garage.

But, guys like me, an octogenarian, will continue to keep my old cars, with their old technology, in the garage, and under their car port as long as my health permits. 
However, when people like us are gone, within the next decade, there will be no one to buy, or maintain a one hundred year old car…..but there will be folks who use their stimulus checks and. forgiven college fees to buy that new Tesla.

It’s keeping with the times, and when we are gone no one will be left to miss it.

Jack

[Larry Schramm]

2 hours ago, Jack Bennett said:

However, when people like us are gone, within the next decade, there will be no one to buy, or maintain a one hundred year old car…..but there will be folks who use their stimulus checks and. forgiven college fees to buy that new Tesla.

It’s keeping with the times, and when we are gone no one will be left to miss it.

Jack

 

I am reasonably confident that my son and son-in-law will be driving our old cars.  They are car people and I have let my son drive the old cars since he was 16 years old.  My son-in-law and my daughter are now touring with us with the HCCA and AACA. Our son has also toured with us driving his Mom on tour.

Edited June 5 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)