Lots of cars I'd love to have but I'll stick with the '63 split window that I have. My sister has a '68 RSS Camaro that I really want.
I agree with you, btw, on BMWs. I bought the 335 xi coupe right when the body style changed in 07. The thing was a beauty and when there weren't many of them on the road it turned heads and generated comments on street corners. I loved driving it ... when it would drive.
The water pump went out on the hottest day of the year on my way to Portland. That moment of overheating warped 100 pieces of plastic collateral engine parts and gaskets and begat a 5-year hate/hate relationship with the car.
I will never own one again. If I ever get the itch to get the driving experience again, I'll do a short-term lease on one and get it out of my system.
My most-of-the-time daily driver is a 1978 300D. You can't hurt it and a head on with a semi would be 50-50.
A beauty. Also, directly from the mouths of four owner/enthusiasts, "a twelve-cylinder labor of love and money."
I would fucking love to have one though. The 60s-era of style in cars is the pinnacle for me. So many awesome and beautiful cars from that tim frame.
Yeah, you don't buy those to really drive them much. I've seen them at car shows over the years, but never actually driving in or out. Anything with three carburetors is gonna be a pain in the ass.
The British are also known for their pain-in-the-ass electrical set-ups in their cars, and I am told the Jag XKE is a shining example of that reputation. I was watching a restoration show this weekend ... they were rescuing a Triumph T6 in pretty good condition - stored for 20+ years - and one of the things the guy said is standard is to convert from the old generators to alternators. While acknowledging that it violates the "original parts" standard of maintaining a classic, he also said nobody in their right minds would continue driving the car with the POS electric set-up that the British were using then. For one thing, generators aren't charging much or at all when the car is idle. He explained why but it went over my head.
Amen brother... after owning and operating a TR2 and TR3 i can speak with confidence about how crap the lucas ignition system is. I'm amazed that they were able to get the Spitfires into the air and do combat on top of the electrical problems they must have had.
The TR engine and the lucas electronics is what they reportedly used for the Spitfire ~ what a clusterF**K. The other thing you really wanted to do [but i didn't] was junk the SU needle point carburetors [even though they were deeply romantic] in favor of Weber tri-power and a tuned exhaust.
Lots of cars I'd love to have but I'll stick with the '63 split window that I have. My sister has a '68 RSS Camaro that I really want.
I agree with you, btw, on BMWs. I bought the 335 xi coupe right when the body style changed in 07. The thing was a beauty and when there weren't many of them on the road it turned heads and generated comments on street corners. I loved driving it ... when it would drive.
The water pump went out on the hottest day of the year on my way to Portland. That moment of overheating warped 100 pieces of plastic collateral engine parts and gaskets and begat a 5-year hate/hate relationship with the car.
I will never own one again. If I ever get the itch to get the driving experience again, I'll do a short-term lease on one and get it out of my system.
My most-of-the-time daily driver is a 1978 300D. You can't hurt it and a head on with a semi would be 50-50.
I remember those cars well from my years working the MBZ service shop in Modesto. 123.130 chassis. Solid if unspectacular. Their timing chain gears make pretty good shurikens
For many years my daily driver was a 1980 Volvo 242GT. B21F engine, designed to run indefinitely at 5200RPM. Donated it in 2002 after it hit 300K miles
I've never understood the obsession with classics. Classic anything. Progress is good, and usually things improve over time. I think AC Cobras are pretty timeless. So is the design of a lot of old British roadsters. Old 911s. Then again, you know what's better than an old 911 in every single way possible, including looks? A current GT3RS (or, hell, even a Cayman GT4 for a lot less money).
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
I've never understood the obsession with classics. Classic anything. Progress is good, and usually things improve over time. I think AC Cobras are pretty timeless. So is the design of a lot of old British roadsters. Old 911s. Then again, you know what's better than an old 911 in every single way possible, including looks? A current GT3RS (or, hell, even a Cayman GT4 for a lot less money).
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
I can't say that I haven't had that run through my mind. You line up a 63 356 with a modern-day 911, and, yeah. You know which one is faster, safer and can do moar shit.
Still, a mint condition 356 is just a beauty and it's about nostalgia. I think that's it. Like many things in life, it's not rationale.
I've never understood the obsession with classics. Classic anything. Progress is good, and usually things improve over time. I think AC Cobras are pretty timeless. So is the design of a lot of old British roadsters. Old 911s. Then again, you know what's better than an old 911 in every single way possible, including looks? A current GT3RS (or, hell, even a Cayman GT4 for a lot less money).
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
I can't say that I haven't had that run through my mind. You line up a 63 356 with a modern-day 911, and, yeah. You know which one is faster, safer and can do moar shit.
Still, a mint condition 356 is just a beauty and it's about nostalgia. I think that's it. Like many things in life, it's not rationale.
I've never understood the obsession with classics. Classic anything. Progress is good, and usually things improve over time. I think AC Cobras are pretty timeless. So is the design of a lot of old British roadsters. Old 911s. Then again, you know what's better than an old 911 in every single way possible, including looks? A current GT3RS (or, hell, even a Cayman GT4 for a lot less money).
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
The point is not buying something that's better. Of course newer cars are better. Shit, some modern minivans are faster than many of the old thumping V8 muscle cars of the 60's. The point is the style, the era...that the classic car is something that an entire culture was built around. Go cruise a new GT3RS and most people assume you're just another rich asshole who has more money than taste. Drive a 1963 Corvette and people think you're probably a cool guy to hang out with and talk cars.
Classic cars are also limited-supply assets - they are never building more of those cars.
Benny, when Bazey @PurpleBaze tells you to fuck off, you probably should go ahead and do it. There is an explosion of anger right behind it. If you know what I mean.
I've never understood the obsession with classics. Classic anything. Progress is good, and usually things improve over time. I think AC Cobras are pretty timeless. So is the design of a lot of old British roadsters. Old 911s. Then again, you know what's better than an old 911 in every single way possible, including looks? A current GT3RS (or, hell, even a Cayman GT4 for a lot less money).
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
Look, I get you. There's newer stuff. There's better stuff. But there's nothing like Dick Butkus or Jim Brown.
And there's nothing like the DP935, either. Will your GT3RS go faster? Maybe. But that's not always the point. Just look at this fucking thing. Panties in the general vicinity just start falling. This is my classic dream car. It will always be fucking awesome because fucking awesome doesn't age.
Benny, when Bazey @PurpleBaze tells you to fuck off, you probably should go ahead and do it. There is an explosion of anger right behind it. If you know what I mean.
I've never understood the obsession with classics. Classic anything. Progress is good, and usually things improve over time. I think AC Cobras are pretty timeless. So is the design of a lot of old British roadsters. Old 911s. Then again, you know what's better than an old 911 in every single way possible, including looks? A current GT3RS (or, hell, even a Cayman GT4 for a lot less money).
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
The point is not buying something that's better. Of course newer cars are better. Shit, some modern minivans are faster than many of the old thumping V8 muscle cars of the 60's. The point is the style, the era...that the classic car is something that an entire culture was built around. Go cruise a new GT3RS and most people assume you're just another rich asshole who has more money than taste. Drive a 1963 Corvette and people think you're probably a cool guy to hang out with and talk cars.
Classic cars are also limited-supply assets - they are never building more of those cars.
I won't disagree that you'll never lack for potential friends if you have a classic show car: There are plenty of people who are into it, and those who are tend to be INTO it. Then again, a lot of people are also into country music, but that doesn't mean it makes sense...
"Remember when everyone had cars but they all handled like boats, had shitty brakes, broke down constantly, were totally unsafe, uncomfortable, and most looked like vacuum cleaner nozzles with fins? Well I popped my cherry in the backseat of one with Suzie Rottencrotch back in '73, so I think I'll spend the cost of a new luxury sport sedan on restoring one (read: pay somebody to restore it) and we can all get together and compare our shrines to our lost youth."
A quick Google search tells me the median sale price for a '63 Corvette is over $70K. People spend six-figures on those things. And the guy with his very own Ring Taxi is the one with more money than taste?
I guess what I'm getting at is that I know that nostalgia is the reason for the classic car/bike/movie/music/etc. obsession, I just don't understand why. Just because I was chasing tail and partying down in college while drinking Keystone Premium and Coors light doesn't mean there's a fridge full of canned piss in the shop. There are simply better things now.
Comments
You can't hurt it and a head on with a semi would be 50-50.
The TR engine and the lucas electronics is what they reportedly used for the Spitfire ~ what a clusterF**K. The other thing you really wanted to do [but i didn't] was junk the SU needle point carburetors [even though they were deeply romantic] in favor of Weber tri-power and a tuned exhaust.
For many years my daily driver was a 1980 Volvo 242GT. B21F engine, designed to run indefinitely at 5200RPM. Donated it in 2002 after it hit 300K miles
I like to call the Chevrolet Corvette the 'vette. I like to call it that. It's something I like to do.
My FIL owns about 50 cars. I think about six of them run and drive. One is an early 1960s Jaguar XK 160 that used to be a race car. It looks pretty cool, but it was shit to drive. Ditto the Austin Healey Sprite. That thing was downright scary. No motor, no brakes, no seatbelts...
There was a time when I had a poster on my wall of a Ducati 998R. I thought it was the most beautiful machine that had ever been or ever would be built. I've been proven wrong so many times since.
I've always wished I had the time to pick up an old car and restore it (something tiny and light like a BMW 1600 that you can't get anymore), but my idea of "restore" would be pretty much to ditch the entire power train, chassis underpinnings, and interior and modernize them. At which point just buying a new car and saving myself the 1000 hours of work starts to sound more appealing. Look up "Project Binky" on YouTube for my kind of crazy (that I have no time and/or money for).
Still, a mint condition 356 is just a beauty and it's about nostalgia. I think that's it. Like many things in life, it's not rationale.
Classic cars are also limited-supply assets - they are never building more of those cars.
1968 Camaro SS
1972 BMW 2002 Tii
2015 Porsche 918 Spyder (instant classic)
@BennyBeaver
@creepycoug
@GrundleStiltzkin
@CFetters_Nacho_Lover
@Swaye
@RuffaloSoldier
57 Chev Bel Air no post
@BennyBeaver
@creepycoug
@GrundleStiltzkin
@CFetters_Nacho_Lover
@Swaye
@RuffaloSoldier
And there's nothing like the DP935, either. Will your GT3RS go faster? Maybe. But that's not always the point. Just look at this fucking thing. Panties in the general vicinity just start falling. This is my classic dream car. It will always be fucking awesome because fucking awesome doesn't age.
@BennyBeaver
@creepycoug
@GrundleStiltzkin
@CFetters_Nacho_Lover
@Swaye
@RuffaloSoldier
"Remember when everyone had cars but they all handled like boats, had shitty brakes, broke down constantly, were totally unsafe, uncomfortable, and most looked like vacuum cleaner nozzles with fins? Well I popped my cherry in the backseat of one with Suzie Rottencrotch back in '73, so I think I'll spend the cost of a new luxury sport sedan on restoring one (read: pay somebody to restore it) and we can all get together and compare our shrines to our lost youth."
A quick Google search tells me the median sale price for a '63 Corvette is over $70K. People spend six-figures on those things. And the guy with his very own Ring Taxi is the one with more money than taste?
I guess what I'm getting at is that I know that nostalgia is the reason for the classic car/bike/movie/music/etc. obsession, I just don't understand why. Just because I was chasing tail and partying down in college while drinking Keystone Premium and Coors light doesn't mean there's a fridge full of canned piss in the shop. There are simply better things now.