Okay, reading the news and all … and thinking of “better” times – or maybe “simpler, less hectic” times. Is there a car you associate with a happier time in your life? Maybe a time less stressful?
Just about any car in the mid to late 80’s brings back good memories for me. What about you? What would your car be and why? Thanks!
Here is a post that I put on another board. This car is still in my driveway so I get reminded every day. By the way, a 245 is a Volvo station wagon.
http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1294268/220/240/260/280/another_trip_245.html
It’s probably not the car so much as your economic and physical well-being that you recall. I had the most fun in the mid 60s with my Dodge Dart 2 door hardtop. This car went only 154,000 miles before it bit the dust, but it was fun to drive to all the parties we went to. Gas prices were 35 cents a gallon, and entertainment was cheap. I saw Louis Armstrong, Sara Vaughan, Johnny Mathis, the Kingston Trio, the Dukes of Dixieland, and other big time entertainers in person.
As Edith and Archie Bunker sang; “Gee our old La Salle ran great!”. They also thought Hoover was a great president.
75 Caprice Classic and 76 Impala. They were easy to fix. Brake shoes that you found in the trunk of a 72 Buick Centurion would go right on. Interchangeable parts were the greatest thing. You could sell as well as buy and find. Seats, belts, radios and tape players would all swap. Plenty of places to hang an aftermarket tape player too.
Ahhhhh! Mercury,53 ford,Ford. all customized
There was never a similar one on the road. Each one was unique to itself.
57 Olds Rocket 88.
What better time? I guess I have lived long enough to see that all things considered, this is the better times. I remember the 60’s well and I can remember waiting for that letter telling to to report for my commission and final training before going to Vietnam. I don’t have those worries today. Wile we are putting far too many of your young men into harms way, at least we are not pulling them off the street and out of school.
For a few years in the early 70’s I drove a Sunbeam Imp. Most of you won’t know what that means, which is understandable, but it was the only car I’ve ever owned that would take a corner as fast as you wanted with no problems.
Approach corner. Turn steering wheel. Floor throttle pedal.
Sort of like an early 911, but at lower speeds.
An Imp is not “fast” by any stretch (875 cc, rear-mounted SOHC aluminum engine with slightly more than 40 HP), but it would blast through a corner or an intersection without slowing down.
Nothing I’ve owned since could do that.
If you Google “Sunbeam Imp” or “Hillman Imp” you will discover a racing history that is second to none. These tiny cars (only a Mini is smaller) were giant killers in their day, and are still being raced today, more than 40 years after they were introduced.
I subsequently owned a Sunbeam Alpine, which was a very nice car, and more collectible than an Imp, but the Imp was, to be honest, more fun to drive.
The only thing that ever came close to the fun of driving my Imp was a friend’s Fiat 850 Spider, which was so underpowered you had to drive it flat out all the time.
It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow. Give me a car I can drive flat out all the time and I’m happy. I miss my Sunbeam Imp.
Please watch the video of an Imp at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. If you don’t know what the Goodwood Festival of Speed is, go watch NASCAR.
I know you love your New Beetle diesel, Joseph, but do you remember you Imp? I know you had one, because you’ve mentioned it before.
Now that was a fun car!
1958 Plymouth Belvedere convertable. The best time was at the drive-in with my girlfriend.
A '63 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk. One of the absolute most beautiful cars ever designed, it handled far better than virtually any other American car of that era. With the appropriate power option, it would also blow the doors off of those other cars.
Probably will be a one odd one here, an AMC Eagle back in the early 90’s(college for me). I used to ski 45-60 days/year on a seasons pass and that sled would take us there. I also drove it mid country from east to Utah, CO, WY to ski more.
Behind the skiing college was an absolute blast with partying and absolutely no real worries. I did okay graduated with an engineering degree passing by the skin of my teeth.
The car was uneventful itself except where it took me and my friends in any weather.
"… but it was the only car I’ve ever owned that would take a corner as fast as you wanted with no problems. "
I had an Austin America that I could take through corners as fast as I wanted to. I just had to speed up if the rear end broke loose. FWD, ya know. Those were get-acquainted corners.
I have more than one.
Sunbeam Alpine - top down and a fun car to drive.
59 Corvette - top off (removeable hardtop) and evening cruises with the sweetest sounding exhaust in the world.
68 Roadrunner/69 SuperBee - plain old tire-smoking fun.
Heres a few between mine and a few my parents had when we were kids.
Nash Metropolitian
64.5 Mustang
Ford Falcon Pickup (C.O.E. snubnose)
67 Buick Wildcat 455cid
73 Beetle, deep blue with a white vinyl top/ beautiful
67 Pontiac Catalina
75 Toyota pu 4wd
to name a few
beautiful car
1962 dune buggy yellow fiberglass body pinto seats yellow and black diamond tuck interior et mags hurst shifter roller gas peddle 40 hp.
Born and raised in michigan and went from columbus ga to northern mi and back in buggie-soooo much fun!!
The Chrysler Turbine Car
80% fewer engine parts simpler!
1963 was the year Chrysler made the only serious attempt at an all new internal combustion engine design during the last 100 years or so. They put 50 or so of these cars on the road and began testing all of their hard work.
I grew up in the “burbs” outside of Detroit and used to go “Woodwarding” on Friday and Saturday nights. Woodward Avenue was the big cruising and dragging center of the U.S. east of the Mississippi. It came right out of the Motor City and into the suburbs. Any number of unbelievable vehicles could be seen cruising there.
We would see these bronze colored Chrysler Turbine cars on Woodward once in a while and I was sure that I was looking into the future. The engine was simpler in design to a piston engine and offered a way out of that increasingly complicated design.
I remember them not getting very good mpg and there was a problem with a little delay when you you hit the “gas.” I don’t know if that is accurate. There are quite a few sites with information and brochures. Not too long ago, I downloaded the entire Owner’s Manual for it. I’m going to look for it.
America, what a country!
Early 1960s Porsche 356 coupe, especially one with the Super 90 engine.
Mid 1960s Jaguar XKE coupe, 4.2 engine, before the car was ruined by emission and safety regulations.
I go back to before my first car. I had a mid-60s Honda S-90 that I rode everywhere; school, work, trails etc. It went a long way on a gallon of gas but it was a bit scary on the highway with the bigger trucks blowing by. I bought it with 50 $1 bills I saved working for $1.15/hr.