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From: wilhite@usceast.UUCP (Robert Wilhite)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Any OLD car lovers out there?
Message-ID: <2134@usceast.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Nov-84 03:34:40 EST
Article-I.D.: usceast.2134
Posted: Wed Nov 28 03:34:40 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Nov-84 08:34:07 EST
References: <2613@ihldt.UUCP>, <1475@drutx.UUCP>
Organization: Csci Dept, U of S. Carolina, Columbia
Lines: 49

[ACK!]

Just the article I was waiting for!  I enjoy reading about the new
machinery, but my heart was captured by an "older woman"..
(Hmmm.. perhaps we should find some empirical definition of OLD?)

I have a '68 Jaguar XKE.. bought from a friend in Birmingham.  (Alas,
I'm not the original owner, but at age 8 I was in no condition to
drive.)  I'm not sure what aspect of the car caught my interest, but
I've come to appreciate many things about older cars..

     * Metal.  Look under the hood of the new cars these days.. LOTS of
       plastic -- and on the bumpers, too.  >yuk<  On the older cars
       it's all metal.  I realize that plastic's much lighter & helps
       the ol' MPG, but I like a car that's built to last.  (Which
       leads to..)

     * Reliability.  Older cars, with reasonable care, will out-do
       the new ones.  Certainly there are exceptions (the new Mercedes,
       Volvo, and just-about-anything-Japanese seem to have a good rep.),
       but old cars are easier to keep running.  I do my own mechanical
       work on the Jag -- something I don't think I could manage on one
       of the new "hi-tech, ultra-compact" jobs.

     * Resale.  I bought my Jag knowing that at any point in the future
       I could (can) sell it and recover the full amount.  Probably more.
       The same goes for the Shelby's, 'Vette's, Healy's, and other
       collectibles, but even the not-so-collectible oldies have done
       all the depreciating they'll do.

     * Turning radius?  Make that head-turning radius.  A new car has a
       head-turning radius of about ten feet, and that's mostly people
       reading the sticker to see "how much it hurt".  On the other hand,
       nearly every time I stop somewhere, people will ask me about my
       car, share anecdotes, etc.  (This I find to be most rewarding.)

[Hmm.. You s'pose this "old-car-syndrome" is hereditary?  My father has a   ]
['66 Chevy Impala (original owner), going on 300K miles!  (The CAR, not him)]


Yes, I have an "old" car.  REAL metal, REAL chrome, REAL spokes and spin-offs,
REAL low gas-mileage, etc.  It won't "blow the doors" off of the others, but
it's no slouch.  Wouldn't trade it for the world.  I have many tales to
tell (most of which belong in net.singles ;-)  but I've rambled enough....

---------
Robert Wilhite @ USC - East  (the one with the football team)
                       ^^^^
..akgua!usceast!wilhite