Tag: Cars

Finally, a ray of hope amidst all the gloom of Global Warming Climate Cooling Change:

Legendary Italian car maker Ferrari has no intention of phasing out combustion engines and going fully electric or hybrid anytime soon, promising Sunday to keep making the eight and 12-cylinder engines it has made its trademark at least until the end of the 2030s.

The chief of the Italian manufacturer told the BBC in an interview it would be “arrogant” to dictate to customers what they can buy while at the same time walking away from the company’s heritage.

Ferrari instead wants to honor its history of high performance cars using traditional methods of propulsion.

Of course, they’re dealing from a position of strength because they can’t make enough Ferraris to satisfy the huge market of people with more money than sense and no resistance to brand snob appeal.

That said, their 296 hybrid is pretty sexy:

…albeit still overpriced, like all Ferraris.

But let me not be too grumpy about this because they are to be congratulated for not capitulating to the Watermelons, and keeping their Rosso  where it belongs:  on the outside.

I’m smack dab in the middle of this trend (for a change — I’m usually lost in any trend’s wake):

Americans Delay Buying New Cars As Long As Possible To Avoid High Prices

The average age of cars and light-duty trucks on American roads has reached 12.5 years, according to a report from S&P Global, a phenomenon that comes as bottlenecked supply chains and elevated inflation continue their toll on households.

The financial analytics firm noted that 2023 marked the sixth consecutive year of increased average vehicle ages. The three-month rise between 2022 and 2023 constituted the largest year-over-year increase since the recession which struck the United States between 2008 and 2009, during which consumers likewise tightened their budgets in response to economic turmoil.

It’s looking increasingly like the Tiguan is going to be the last car I’ll ever have bought, unless some miracle occurs.  What sucks is that doing Uber (not an option at the time, by the way) made me put just over 100,000 miles on the car, which means it has a limited shelf life.  That 100,000 miles, in terms of my normal driving, was about 12 years’ life.  As things stand, the next few years are going to be a lot more tenuous.

Still, I’d rather just pay to get it fixed when things break than get a new car — see the post immediately below for reasons.

Via email, Reader Jim L. took issue with me on this post (Tinkering With A Dream), saying, “That’s an easy way out.  Almost ALL old cars would be great with modern technology.  Which old car would you choose if you COULDN’T put in modern tech?”

Okay, challenge accepted.  Just to make things more difficult for myself, I’ve excluded the original E-type, Dino and Merc 300 from the choices because even in their original offerings, they would occupy the top three slots anyway.  Also, I’ve included reliability and (reasonably-) low maintenance in the criteria (so bye-bye to Alfa, Fiat, Lancia etc.).  But above all, the cars have to have charm, beauty and charisma.

Assuming then that the car was in its contemporaneous showroom condition, here are my Top 6 Old Dream Cars:

1958 BMW 507

No need to add or subtract anything.  The only reason that BMW didn’t flood the market with these exquisite cars is because of its exorbitant price ($98k in 2020 dollars);  but by modern standards, it would be a bargain.  Today, even a clapped-out old 507 will fetch well over a million spondulicks (which says it all, really).  It was, and is, one of the most beautiful sports cars ever made, and it’s noteworthy that the few secondhand models still around have very high mileage on the tach.

1956 Citroën Traction Avant 15/H
The pre-war models were admittedly underpowered (not for the time, though), but by the late 1950s its 2.9-liter six-cylinder engine was tops.  (The “H” in the description denotes that the car was fitted with Citroën’s hydro-pneumatic suspension, which made it the most comfortable ride back then, and maybe still even by today’s standards.)  The TA was and still is wonderfully reliable, and in this old Frog limo I’d tour the country — any country — without a qualm.

1967 Monteverdi High Speed 375
Let’s see:  Swiss steel and manufacturing, Italian styling and an American engine (to be specific, Chrysler’s honking big-block 7.2-liter V8 putting out 375hp).  Find fault with any of those, I dare ya — and the combination was (and is) irresistible.  The only thing I don’t like about the Monteverdi is that it came only with automatic transmission — but in a tourer, that’s not too much of a compromise, really.

1969 Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3
More power than anyone would ever need off a racetrack (yes, a 6.3-liter engine with serious grunt), matchless reliability (built back in the day when engineering was Job #1 at Mercedes), and classic good looks.  The 6.3 actually created the “high performance” category of large luxury cars, and it took most other manufacturers nearly a decade to catch up properly.

1965 Mercedes 230 SL
Okay, this one’s as much for New Wife as for me, but I’d still take one for myself in a heartbeat.  It’s not a performance car by any definition, but it’s quick enough, and comfortable enough, and reliable in spades.  And lest we forget, it looks classy and elegant.

1963 Porsche 356 C Carrera 2
The last of the 356 line before being replaced by the 911, this one had Porsche’s 2-liter flat-four engine.  What it also had (and has) is wonderful reliability and driving pleasure.  What it doesn’t have (or need) is power anything, electronics and all the modern and mostly unnecessary crap that makes my nose twitch.

So there you have it:  six old cars, unaltered, out of the box, no changes necessary.  I would take all of them, in a heartbeat, and if forced to take only one, I’d roll the die and be perfectly satisfied with whichever number came up.