- 6,977
- old-guy64
M5, Hooligan,
I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna wait over here on the "group W" bench, until I'm moral enough to get back into this fray.
As I stated earlier, Buy what you like. It is natural for us as humans to be a bit egocentric about the stuff we buy. I like some british cars (even though I've owned one). Who can tell me that the AC, the Austin-Healey 3000, The Jag MKII are not still as classy today as they were when new?
What about Germany's Porsche 911 Targa, or BMW 2002?
How about the Saab Sonnet?
The Ferrari 246 Dino Or the Bizzarini (which incidenally was powered by a small block Chevy motor?
All of the above were/are great cars.
I have owned Fords, Chevs, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Mopars, Austins, VW's, Mercedes, etc. Those that stood out:
My Olds Gutlass (Cutlass) was never right. It was a big old Land yacht that was the original POS.
My VW micro-bus had a 2-liter Porsche motor in it and was very quick up to third gear. It also had personality quirks. You needed to tighten the spark plugs in it every couple of thousand miles or they would rattle completely out of the motor. The Starter nerver worked completely right. But I could push-start it by myself. (I loved that Van.)
My Austin America was almost a "pet" it needed me as much as I needed it. Lucas electrical systems of the 60's and 70's taught me to keep a flashlight and change for the pay phone in my car for emegencies. (I loved that car too.)
My Fords have been unrefined, ill-tempered, beasts. They have all always started, and when they (rarely) broke, they've always got me home before giving out.
My new Chevy has only 22,000 miles on it. So the jury is still out. But it seems to make my wife happy.
My 11-year old Escort has been rode hard and put up wet more than once. It starts every day. It gets me to my job (35-miles) in any weather that can be driven in and some that shouldn't.
95% of the miles we drive are to and from work and the market, and church, etc. We aren't out there racing all the time and subjucting the cars to the torture of high-performance driving.
If you truly want to find out if a car is any good, talk to busy pizza delivery drivers.
My Nissan Sentra was subjected to that life for 2-years. And it survived (barely).
I guess what I'm getting at is that it is okay to be egocentric about what we drive. However, keep in mind that nowadays there are a lot of great cars out there from all over, and it doesn't really matter who the manufacturer is, because the money we spend becomes so intermixed due to cross-country ownerships of companies that trying to track it definitively would be like trying to track a single grain of sand to the Sahara desert.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna wait over here on the "group W" bench, until I'm moral enough to get back into this fray.
As I stated earlier, Buy what you like. It is natural for us as humans to be a bit egocentric about the stuff we buy. I like some british cars (even though I've owned one). Who can tell me that the AC, the Austin-Healey 3000, The Jag MKII are not still as classy today as they were when new?
What about Germany's Porsche 911 Targa, or BMW 2002?
How about the Saab Sonnet?
The Ferrari 246 Dino Or the Bizzarini (which incidenally was powered by a small block Chevy motor?
All of the above were/are great cars.
I have owned Fords, Chevs, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Mopars, Austins, VW's, Mercedes, etc. Those that stood out:
My Olds Gutlass (Cutlass) was never right. It was a big old Land yacht that was the original POS.
My VW micro-bus had a 2-liter Porsche motor in it and was very quick up to third gear. It also had personality quirks. You needed to tighten the spark plugs in it every couple of thousand miles or they would rattle completely out of the motor. The Starter nerver worked completely right. But I could push-start it by myself. (I loved that Van.)
My Austin America was almost a "pet" it needed me as much as I needed it. Lucas electrical systems of the 60's and 70's taught me to keep a flashlight and change for the pay phone in my car for emegencies. (I loved that car too.)
My Fords have been unrefined, ill-tempered, beasts. They have all always started, and when they (rarely) broke, they've always got me home before giving out.
My new Chevy has only 22,000 miles on it. So the jury is still out. But it seems to make my wife happy.
My 11-year old Escort has been rode hard and put up wet more than once. It starts every day. It gets me to my job (35-miles) in any weather that can be driven in and some that shouldn't.
95% of the miles we drive are to and from work and the market, and church, etc. We aren't out there racing all the time and subjucting the cars to the torture of high-performance driving.
If you truly want to find out if a car is any good, talk to busy pizza delivery drivers.
My Nissan Sentra was subjected to that life for 2-years. And it survived (barely).
I guess what I'm getting at is that it is okay to be egocentric about what we drive. However, keep in mind that nowadays there are a lot of great cars out there from all over, and it doesn't really matter who the manufacturer is, because the money we spend becomes so intermixed due to cross-country ownerships of companies that trying to track it definitively would be like trying to track a single grain of sand to the Sahara desert.
