I think I intended to say 70's rather than 60's.
There were some good cars in the 60's. Much better than they were later.
For example, a 68 Chevy Impala is still a nice car in my opinion, but I
don't want a 73 or 74 version.
And yes, I am amazed at what the little 4 cylinders do these days too.
My wife has an 07 Accord with the 4 cylinder. She wishes she had the V6
but I am afraid she will do herself in with the 4. She drives that thing
like it was Nascar.
Randy
On 07/12/2012 9:02 AM, Donald Snook wrote:
Randy wrote: "Everyone waxes nostalgic about the wonder cars of the 60's but most
of them were nothing but pigs."
Well, there were a lot of really cool cars in the 60's - in terms of styling, the
"cool factor", and technological improvements of the time. But, in terms of
reliability, modern cars are MANY MANY standard deviations better than those old cars.
60,000 miles was practically worn out back then on MOST cars. AND 100,000 miles was
definitely worn out. Think about all the maintenance that had to be done too. Tune-ups
every 15,000 miles AND these were real tune-ups not just replacing spark plugs every
30,000-50,000 miles. Back then you had points and condensers to replace, and distributor
caps and rotors, and carbs that got out of whack, and repacking wheel bearings every
15,000 miles. Boy, I am glad those days are over.
The thing I think is funny is how much horsepower has been gained in the last 2
decades. We think of these cars from the 70's as being hot rods, but nearly
all of them have less horsepower than a Honda Accord does now.
For example, remember Starsky and Hutch's 75 and then 76 Ford Gran Torino? It
looked cool, it was supposed to be fast. The 351 Windsor by 75 was so detuned,
that it produced 160 horsepower. A current Toyota Camry has 178 horsepower
from its FOUR CYLINDER engine. Even if it the Starsky and Hutch car had 460
that was optional as the police interceptor, it only had 202 HP.
Or the 1977 Trans Am that Smokey drove in Smokey and the Bandit. Those cars
looked cool (and I still want one), but it had a 6.6L 400 engine that produced
180 horsepower. How dull. The 2012 Honda Accord 2.4 liter FOUR CYLINDER
produces 177 Horsepower. If you get the 3.5 V6, it has 271 HP. (that
surprises me!)
Donald H. Snook
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