At a market in Amberley today and a few 70's British cars turned off SH1 and into the car park beside us. They went past slowly to the parking area. Triumphs, a mini, an MG etc. Part of a Vintage Car Club, by their badges.
Just completed a good run on SH1, the scent of rich exhaust, with a bit of oil burned, blowby etc. Took me back, not the bland scent of modern cars.
nice_lady,
Sep 5, 7:54pm
Hmm. The romance of opening the bonnet every day to check the water and oil before you drove it. The Oil patches under the car. Cold air coming into the car from around the pedals. Rain dripping onto your feet inside the car. No air conditioning. The amazing treat of power steering when you found a car with it. The amazing treat of electric windows, (rare). Radial tyres - woohoo - crossplys gone ! Awesome. Rust. Non boosted drum brakes.
Omg. Romance ? Hmm.
jmma,
Sep 5, 8:04pm
Oh ain't you just the life of the party.
nice_lady,
Sep 5, 8:28pm
Well I don't know about you but yeah I was there in the 70's. And there was romance, (on the back seats), yeah
tony9,
Sep 5, 8:35pm
Yep, the good old days.
And the girls had respect for us (I think).
s_nz,
Sep 5, 9:20pm
I'm not old enough to have any nostalgia of 70's car's.
Sure some of it is cool looking: Corvette LT 1, Mini, Beetle, Toyota FJ40.
Call me uncultured, but the smell of old cars exhausts is something I am happy to be rid of. Those fumes are bad for you.
socram,
Sep 5, 9:37pm
You needed a good nose as a diagnostic tool! The different smells of rubber, hot water, hot oil, brakes, petrol, even hot carbon and hot electrics etc. were the early warning signs of trouble.
Nowadays, I miss the oil pressure gauge, ammeter or battery condition gauge and aftermarket oil temperature gauge etc. Personalised touches to a 60's/70's car were part of the joys of ownership.
Nowadays, you lift the bonnet and don't recognise a thing and at 10,000 to 20,000 between services you rarely do anyway, other than to replenish the screen bottle and maybe put the battery on a bit of a charge.
As for romance on the back seat. I wasn't that lucky, clean living lad that I was, and didn't get my first car until I was 21 anyway. As a six footer with the front seat on extended runners on the MInis, not the ideal passion wagon.
franc123,
Sep 5, 9:40pm
Modern cars DO serve the public better in terms of performance, safety, convenience and economy (which is amazing considering how obese they are compared to 40+ years ago) and better achieve their objective of getting their occupants from A to B. until something major goes wrong be it electrical or mechanical. Once it was a case of dragging out the tools and the Haynes manual and getting stuck in, now its book into the service centre and brace yourself unless either the manufacturer, MBI provider or the dealer that sells it to you is going to cough up the cost.
franc123,
Sep 5, 9:42pm
Don't forget there was tetraethyl lead being barfed out amongst those fumes too.
franc123,
Sep 5, 9:46pm
No they were not. Plenty a damaged ankle occurred when those tipping seats came crashing down on the floor.
richardmayes,
Sep 5, 11:15pm
Why would anyone want to look at the Mona Lisa, Monet's haystacks, Dali's elephants, a Gainsborough portrait, or Edvard Munch's The Scream?
The latest Panasonic LCD tv is MUCH bigger, brighter, has 5.1 surround sound, and connects to all of the major streaming services.
You'd have to be an idiot right? That old stuff is of no value to anyone.
s_nz,
Sep 6, 1:24am
Can't believe we still allow that stuff to be used in piston aircraft. That stuff is so nasty.
With regards to automotive fuels, It got banned in 1996 when I was less than 10, so barely have any memory of it.
franc123,
Sep 6, 1:52am
Lol didnt realise you were so young. I remember it well, it was indeed phased out on 1996, controversially too. At that time there was still plenty of 60's-80's cars still in use that were not made for it and it caused plenty of issues with those, rough running, pre ignition, valve recession and/or burning and in some cases carb seals and fuel hoses would randomly leak. I recall the very first shipment of the new fuel had a higher than acceptable 'aromatic' content which greatly aggravated rubber parts, caused engine bay fires in a few. There was also gripes about its shelf life. To be fair, many of these vehicles were really past their use by date, poorly maintained carboned up engines that needed overhaul and valve seat upgrades, reconditioning of the fuel system and careful tuning. most of the issues could be overcome, what models are left that are looked after right have no problem these days with UL 96/8, in fact lower compression motors from the 50's and 60's can use 91 happy enough. Lead is a hideous substance, I remember scraping it out of the bottom of oil sumps (the older oils were not that good either) and it shortened the life of exhaust systems horribly. It wasnt good for cars, the environment and certainly wasnt good for the health of living things.
laurelanne,
Sep 6, 6:50am
Because 99% of my braking is at intersections, I enjoy the progressive feel of drum brakes. Having a rag on the seat to clear the screen reminds me to fix the heater core on day.
lythande1,
Sep 6, 8:02am
No I think the last reasonable ones were '50s. 70's
tgray,
Sep 6, 8:44am
As a twenty something in the 1990's, I had a 1971 Mustang fastback in cherry red. Loved that car more than anything I have had since.
lakeview3,
Sep 6, 8:48am
My favourite car I ever owned was my shantung yellow 1971 1302s beetle.
I cried when I sold that car.
😭😭😭😭😭😭
lakeview3,
Sep 6, 8:49am
cool! 🤩🤩🤩
gph1961,
Sep 6, 9:38am
61 nz new rhd belair v8 3 on the tree
amasser,
Sep 6, 11:21am
No hmmm, really. Romance - optional. Reliability - hardly. Performance - No. Most things have developed over 40 years, even some people but they are 40 years older now.
vtecintegra,
Sep 6, 12:26pm
Eh I've never seen the 70s as a decade worth celebrating, at least as far as cars go.
Wouldn't most of the models the OP is talking about be designed in the 60s or earlier anyway? The last classic MG was the MGB and that was early 60s as was the Mini
My 1971 Peugeot 504 was best car ever had. Admit to liking the advances made over years but man that was a brilliant car. Strong, spacious, well built, comfy, reliable.
sw20,
Sep 6, 2:09pm
Lovely.
gunna-1,
Sep 6, 6:16pm
Driveing something that was basic and needed the owner to be competent at owning a car, vinyl seats that wernt ruined the minuit someone farted on them, not being embarrassed by its whacky over the top designs, buying decent cars that people fried the engine on for cheap and fixing it in an afternoon, watching people have to scrub there concrete to build character and not being so complacent they moan about neighbors leaves blowing on there concrete.
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