I know that it's progress, but isn't kind of annoying that new cars do everything better than old ones?
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| photo source: Car and Driver. This is the '23 Cadillac Lyriq but you don't have to have anything this fancy. |
If we are going to be out, running some errands My Wife will sometimes ask, "Which car are we taking?"
Or, if we lock the house and are walking to the car and I steer her in the direction of the Mustang, she'll ask, "How come we're not taking the Flex? "
Good question.
In her mind there is no circumstance where she would want to ride in any of our other cars except the newest one. Especially if you are still making payments on it and it is still experiencing a rapid rate of depreciation.
That's a rational conclusion that every non car enthusiast person would make.
What really hurts is when even "I" make the same choice!
If we are driving older cars because that's what we can afford, or we're trying to save money for other things, that's one thing, we've all been there. But if we can swing a new or almost new car then that's another thing.
Or more likely for my readers, we have an older car around because it's our hobby car. It might be almost anything, but it's not brand new, it could be ten, twenty, thirty, or more years old. It's an old car that we keep around because we like it, and want to drive it. At least, some of the time.
A lot of mature car guys and younger ones with kids will have a late model SUV or fancy crew cab truck. That makes sense, it can do all the things that the family needs, can carry them on weekend trips and driving vacations. It can even tow the old car on occasion or be used for swap meet and wrecking yard buys.
And of course, trucks are just cool.
If you've signed up to pay for something that can cost upwards of thirty, forty, or even fifty grand, then that doesn't always leave a lot of extra cash to spend on the hobby car. Especially if it's still in project car status.
What does an older car even have to offer besides being "cool" in your perception?
Let's say that you have a fully finished and sorted out older car, it's in better shape than it was when it was new.
In your Wife's mind there might just be too much drama centered on driving your hobby car.
It's probably parked in the garage under a cover, there will probably be other family cars blocking it in the driveway and getting it out involves a game of automotive musical chairs.
Then after all that, if you're taking your kids, they have to squeeze into the back seat of some type of swoopy coupe.
"Why couldn't we just take the Tahoe, or the F150? Or even the minivan?" They will probably ask.
Then when you arrive at the mall you've got to scope out a safe parking spot, away from all the idiots. They will complain about how far they will have to walk, because you couldn't just drop them off in front of the mall entrance. It takes too long to have them crawl out of the back seat and you didn't want to block the street.
Now you are going to be worrying that someone is going to put a ding or scratch on your car. You just know that someone will seek it out, and park much too close to it.
Or even worse, what if someone tries to, or actually steals it?
You can't spend too much time in the mall. You're not going to make an impromptu decision to watch a movie, get back to the car quick! Before it's too late!
"Can we stop at In and Out burger on the way home?" We both know the answer to that inquiry! You know that you don't want the kids to be eating animal fries in the back seat!
If your car was so unfortunate to have picked up a scratch you know that you are going to go on and on about it for days. It's going to ruin your entire week. Not to mention your family's!
Of course bad things can happen to your daily driver, but you usually don't have as much emotional connection with them.
Even if your old car is far from perfect, many of us, myself included, will still fuss over it!
Many times these cars have a lot of things that don't work, but we're going to get to them eventually! Only one side door can be unlocked with the key, some of the windows don't go down, there's no radio, the fuel gauge doesn't work, ( don't worry, I'll use the odometer, oh, that doesn't work either!) or perhaps the most common and irritating thing for the Wife and family is that there is no working a/c!
Ask my family about the efficacy of a '66 Riviera's flow through ventilation. Or better yet don't ask. They still haven't forgiven me yet.
It takes a lot of dedication, focus and money to properly finish an old car. The way most of us have to find a way to steal a little extra time, money, and effort away from our daily lives means that a lot of our cars never actually "get finished."
They may not get finished but they may well be "drive-able" provided that we are willing to overlook a lot of shortcomings. The operative word here is "we." They may be hard to start when cold, you've got to follow the proper procedure. The heater might not be working-yet. We might not really mind the old faded splotchy paint, or the areas of light surface rust, what is now valued as patina. Our better halves may just describe it as an ugly old car that needs a paint job.
Air conditioning? Just roll the windows down.
There's a '73 Mustang coupe that I've been watching on CL for almost a year. It hasn't sold so it gets relisted periodically. It has been parked for quite some time in a messy storage yard, but it's complete and straight. It's equipped with a 302 V8, automatic, and possibly with front disc brakes. It's a pre smog test car which I prefer, and it doesn't have a lot of fancy electronics like my XJS. It is pretty much the simple car that I've been searching for. But didn't I have one of those before? Didn't I grow to eventually dislike it? What makes me think that this time would be any different?
I can't think of any way that old '73 Mustang would be any better at being a Mustang, than my '96. It won't be as fast, handle as well, be as safe, be as comfortable, or get the fuel economy of my current twenty five year old GT. Logically, I know that for a fact. But I'm still intrigued.
As enthusiasts we want to place our "wants" ahead of our "needs" however there has to be some reasonable accommodations made for our family's needs. If for no other reason than to just keep the peace.
Modern cars are fast, comfortable, handle and stop great, are safer, and get better gas mileage. A newer car also has lots more of it's original service life still left ahead of it. In other words it doesn't need to be worked on all the time, and it's dependable.
Newer cars don't need us to spend a lot of time on them. That would leave more time to work on our hobby cars. If we can find one that we like, and suits us, and especially doesn't cost so much that there's no fun money left in the budget, that sounds like a pretty good compromise. Especially if it's something with plenty of room, good a/c, and four doors.
The worst that can happen is that we might find that we prefer to drive our newer car over our old project. If you find yourself in that situation, the best advice that I can give is, "Keep that sentiment to yourself!"
This discussion kind of begs the question, "What's the point then of messing with old cars?"
Stop! Stop right now! Those are the words that can never be spoken out loud!
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