Things you miss about cars from days of yore

2manband

2manband

Kick Henry Jackassowski
I miss putting a key in the ignition and turning it. I like the tactile experience, especially if the ignition has little tabs that align with the key so you don’t have to turn the key itself. I like how you can land the key right into the key slot one handed and blindfolded after you’ve been driving that car for a few years.

there’s no satisfaction in pushing a start/stop button

what else?
 
I miss key start b/c if I lost the key, I could get a new one at the hardware store for 5 bucks.

Not so much with those $500 fob replacements.
 
I miss the much cheaper sticker prices, but that's the only thing I can think of. I like modern conveniences and reliability.
 
I think about this a lot....well more so I will just say I absolutely hate cars from about 2008 and up in general. When they all started putting INFOTAINMENT centers in the dash and now with touch screens, etc your car is more a smartphone that just happens to move on wheels from point A to point B.
I hate all the warning lights, etc.
I also despise the gargantuan size of exterior but also interiors of modern carsyou feel so isolated from the outside and that is not good when driving. Sight lines are obscured, people have become too dependant oon back up cameras, proximity alarms, etc

I have ZERO desire for a new car. I will continue driving my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee because even though it was built in 04 (which by todays standards might as well have been 1964) even when it was new it was a throwback. It has the basic engine feedback computer for fuel injection and basic transmission with eletric solenoids....that's it. It does not isolate me from the outside. I get road feedback and hopefully parts will continue to be available (more likely than not due to shared parts with older Cherokees and also TJ wrangle models)...In 2035 I will be like the guy today driving a beat up old 1972 f150.

IMHO the absolute peak of technology that was useful, reliability and ease of repair, cost to repair/comfort was from about 1992 till 2006ish,. the best was 96 (OBD2 made diagnostics easier) till 04 (across ther board they started putting too much technology into thingts like and unnecessarily driving the price up in order to outdo the competion and oneupmanship)

fuck all new cars.

With trhat said I hate carburators and their unreliability as much as new modern cars.

What do I miss... I miss the smaller interiors....good sightlines out all the windows.....good approach and departure angles on off road vehichles.....real bumpers instead of bumper fascia.....feeling the car idle.....feeling some resistence in the gas pedal (no drive by wire)....and going way back I miss the smell of the vinyl seats in the 60's and 70's cars.
 
i miss cars that weren't so damn 'programmed'.
mine shifts up into 3rd gear every time i turn onto a different street, then i have to jam the gas so i'm not bogged down at 10 mph. :mad:

also, my gas pedal is not connected to the engine.....only to the computer and the computer decides whether it's going to give the gas to the engine when i want it to .....as in trying to pull out into traffic, i push the gas down.....fucking computer waits 2+ seconds before it agrees to give gas to the engine. :mad: :mad:
 
I miss pulling out choke, starting, then regulating the choke until it smooth out and warmed up.

I miss this crank out side windows that jetted air inside.

I miss manual clutches and being able to drop the transmission and replace one in my driveway.

I miss the sound of a Quadrajet 4 barrel carb with the breather top turned upside down being floored on a Chevy 350 engine. I miss the feeling of dropping the clutch on said engine and winding all 4 gears to redline on one of the 3 back roads we did so in high school.

I miss fellow students coming to my dads house with a car stereo saying to me I heard you can put this in and me charge $20 and a six pack to do it. Then spending the rest of the night BSing and putting it in.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
I miss constant tune-ups, having to check the water level in the battery, and thinking the car lasted a long time if you got 100,000 miles from it.
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I see what yer trying to do and that was the case in the real old cars but read my post below...by the 90's and early 2000's they had shit dialed in, reliable, low maintenance, etc then they ruined it. Also I have often thought that the gas milage, emmissions thing is kinda catch 22...the better gas milage the more people drive...the more comfy the ride the more people drive...the more people drive the more fossil fuels we use to ship repair parts, make tires, burn fuel and ship cars across the world.

when I started wrenching in 1992 seeing a customer come in with 20,00 miles a year was a head turner nowadays it's not uncommon to see a car come in with 30 or even 40,000 miles a year. Cars last longer milage wise but people keep cars shorter periods of time now (gotta keep up with the joneses) A car that is 8 years old with 270,000 miles is alot different than a 30 year old car with 140,000
 
DdBob said:
I see what yer trying to do and that was the case in the real old cars but read my post below...by the 90's and early 2000's they had shit dialed in, reliable, low maintenance, etc then they ruined it. Also I have often thought that the gas milage, emmissions thing is kinda catch 22...the better gas milage the more people drive...the more comfy the ride the more people drive...the more people drive the more fossil fuels we use to ship repair parts, make tires, burn fuel and ship cars across the world.

when I started wrenching in 1992 seeing a customer come in with 20,00 miles a year was a head turner nowadays it's not uncommon to see a car come in with 30 or even 40,000 miles a year. Cars last longer milage wise but people keep cars shorter periods of time now (gotta keep up with the joneses) A car that is 8 years old with 270,000 miles is alot different than a 30 year old car with 140,000
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damn....you caught it too fast.
i was gonna make a comment about the flintstonemobile. :lol:
 
mongooz said:
i miss cars that weren't so damn 'programmed'.
mine shifts up into 3rd gear every time i turn onto a different street, then i have to jam the gas so i'm not bogged down at 10 mph. :mad:

also, my gas pedal is not connected to the engine.....only to the computer and the computer decides whether it's going to give the gas to the engine when i want it to .....as in trying to pull out into traffic, i push the gas down.....fucking computer waits 2+ seconds before it agrees to give gas to the engine. :mad: :mad:
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This, this, this!!!!
 
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