I was raised in a Chevy environment; our first car was a 1929 Chevy, the next one a 1941 Chevy in which I passed my driver’s test at age 16. My dad also bought 2 Chevy trucks, and a 1969 Bel Air…
My own cars included a 1948 Chevy, a 1966 Malibu, a 1984 Impala and 1988 Caprice.
'I also scrupulously have read Consumer Reports since the mid 60s and noticed that that Japanese cars were getting more reliable while Detroit products stagnated. So the 1988 caprice gave way to a 2007 Toyota, and later a 2012 Mazda as well.
Keeping track of breakdowns and parts replacements, I found alternators and starters, for instance, last twice as long on Japanese cars. I have never looked back on a GM product and the only Ford I would now buy would be the F150 truck.
Korean manufacturers have now surpassed US cars as well.
Back in the late 70s a guy approached me about the sale of some Morris Minors. I bought 3 of them for the huge sum of 100 bucks. One running, one complete but not running, and a rolling chassis parts car.
I drove the running one for quite a while before getting bored with it and selling them all off. It was a '59 in black with a hippie painted huge yellow daisy on the roof. Fun to drive but a bit anemic for me and the flower on the roof was a bit embarassing.
Fast is relative. I’m sure a 750 Nighthawk is fast enough to get you into trouble! Maybe not superbike fast, but it seems like it would be hard to find an area (or the skill level in my case) to use superbike power anyway. Isn’t the 750 Nighthawk kind of a “standard bike”, for lack of a better term? Not a full blown sport bike, not a cruiser? Kind of based off of the 70’s era Honda 4 cylinder 750 (CB 750, I guess)?
Yes, all of that is accurate. In fact, the Nighthawk is considered the last of the true “standard” motorcycles, although I can think of a couple modern bikes that could qualify if they got aftermarket handlebars that offered a more upright riding position.