Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline
|
Jen I am going to have to disagree with part of that. The way a vehicle should be built is tough, your life may depend on it.
You should be able to punch it every time you take off, you should be able to lock up the brakes and slide in a straight line every time you stop, you shouldn't have to avoid bumps nor slow to a snail's pace to pull into a driveway.You should be able to whip the wheel at 60 MPH and might lose traction, but it should not hurt the suspension in the least. That is a bare minimum.
You see how some people drive these days and you would swear they think the tires are just going to fall right off. Very unfortunately these days they might be right. Not in the old days. In the old days what did you do after an accident ? You gave the police report and drove home. Nowadays you need a ride because your car looks like a crushed beer can.
All these crumple zones and energy absobing this or that is supposed to be for your safety, but I call bullshit on that. It doesn't work because you might get a transmission shoved down your thoat in a wreck. It is alot better to have the chassis maintain it's integrity during a wreck.
The end result ? There are more cars in the crusher and they make more money.
As for older GM cars, in my experience I have had good luck with 1970, 1971, 1973, 1981, 1983. For some reason you notice most of those are odd numbered years. The 1970 is an exception, but that was a gih performance car. That means frequent new points and tune ups. I could never get it to run cool enough. Damn lucky gas didn't cost what it does today. If I had all the gas that thing drank today it might last me the rest of my life. But times were different then. At any rate, the others proved to be generally reliable and sturdy.
Just to mention about the 1970, it was an Olds Toronado. Talk about innovation. Screw the cupholder, it had vastly different suspension and drivetrain. That model was not the simple addition of some trim. GM really did something with that one. Linear torsion bar suspension, non-transverse front wheel drive and mine had ceramic brake pads. There is more to it than I can recall right now, but it was the epitome of owning an Olds. It was the only luxury car that was also considered a muscle car, seriously. Driving it was a blast, it cornered like it was on rails and the accelerator responded like a rubber band.
It was actually alot of fun, fun like many people will never have. Some guy in a Stang pulls up next to you rumbling the ground with his bored out, stroked, polished and ported 351 with the requisite Holley and Edelbrock looking all bad and shit, revving it up thinking you have an old Man's car or something, finds his doors blown off when the light turns green. I think I turned a few people green as well :-) I mean I beat motorcycles !
But those days are over, you can't drive like that anymore because there are too many people. So the idea now is to get from point A to point B, and of course back to point A.
Back then, the way GM did business fit. People would pay for that bigger engine, many preferred stickshifts. Now they pay for a louder stereo. We had drag races down at a place we called Quigley, which is basically a street down in the "flats". People were at auto parts stores looking for carbs and cams, not fuzzy dice. It was a different age. Duntoff, one of the most famous and advanced camshaft designers in the world worked for GM, and his famous "151" cam is still sought after by some enthusiasts.
But as even the most able, agile and intelligent dinosaurs did quite well at one time, they failed to adapt to their environment. There is no valid argument against that statement, which I deliberately made so generalized. The fact is if they had adapted they would still be here.
Times were different forty years ago, and GM was perfectly suited. People didn't care that they could pass anything but the gas station, hell they had a crush on the cutie at the gas station. Burn it up man ! People had money for this, and it spoiled alot of people to be sure.
Long time ago on a long lost board in which I used to participate on Usenet (OK I am old, sorry) a guy had a sig line that read "Why are things always the worst they've ever been ?". True for me, I wasn't yet born for the first big depression. I have seen nothing improve much in my lifetime, which started in 1960. I used to say that I would gladly trade the remaining years of my life to have been born earlier, somewhere along the lines of like fifteen years earlier. It was pointed out to me though that I might have wound up drafted or something and be all FUBARed up by now.
It's a shame that those who come after us will never have the types of fun we had, some of it scary and hair raising. When you are doing 105 MPH in a car and find out you still have passing gear for example. I did. Even then I had to find a section of the highway that was completed enough but not yet open. Today there is not a prayer to find such a place around here.
I don't want to digress too much, but now that I brought it up, that was when life was fun, we took risks, bigger ones than we thought. My buddy Morris (RIP) was called Morris because that was his last name and we both had the same first name. We were hanging with a bunch of the boys when they decided to go on a battery hunt, that is to steal a bunch of car batteries. We really werent in on it but wound up in the bag. The boys ran fast and got away. We were not charged. Now we have the same first name, and both lived on Rosewood Drive at the time, but in different suburbs. The cops found that interesting.
We met down in the valley (our name for the Cleveland Metroparks system) and as he pulled up I motioned him to run me over. That's right. And guess what, he did !. However it was not within my plans to die that day, I jumped right on time onto the hood of his car. I had seen this done but I wasn't quite as good at it, I couldn't hold my balance as he stopped and my ankle took a nasty twist. However the way we looked at things back then, there was noone to be pissed at. It was just a fact of life, in fact I was thinking about "The next time I do this.......". The park was crowded, the girls loved it even though I did not manage to stay standing.
Laying on top of my van with my hands up Vickie's blouse (and other places), my friends coming up and saying "Dude, you can't do that, the rangers will come". My response ? "Fukum". Really, this is my van and my girl and we ain't showing our shit to anyone, so fukum.
Try that kind of shit today. There would be a SWAT team on Morris' ass for attempted murder, I would be investigated to make sure I had not commited some sort f sexual assault, and if they fucked with me real bad it would probably bring the helicopters and the media.
Someone started about 1959 vs 2009 in Humor, which almost merits better than the humor section, but most of what was said could apply to 1979, really.
I know I went off on a tangent here, but it might just apply. Back then what we bought and how we bought were very different than now. Business, any business must adapt. Whether they can't or won't matters not, if they don't we will simply have to pick up their bones and try to do something useful with them. My that sounds familiar doesn't it ? Really, what would a caveman do if he came across some big bones ? He would carve them into some sort of tool I would think.
Kudos and adios to the giant innovators of old. You are being replaced. Step aside and make room for the new generation. The time has come. Things are different, people are different, wants are different and above all, needs are different.
Except the preceding, you have no idea how sorry I am that they are facing extinction, but that is a fact. I wonder how it feels to be extinct.
Things have changed ? In the fifties one manufacturer touted their powerful engine as "The biggest safety surge in America" and horsepower and all that was mentioned alot. Superior handling came into vogue once that technology advanced significantly (ever drive a 1950 Chevy, I have, it is almost like work !). These things came to pass and cars got more intrinsically expensive a bit, but alot of that was abated by mass production developments that saved more money. However the relative dollar value changed because of the steady decline of the currency value, to the point where now very few people buy a new car with cash.
Things have tightened up. Foreign manufaturers strarted upping the ante offering longer warranties, at least on the power train. Detroit responded with "We build excitement" and "This is not your Father's Oldsmobile". And not to forget the "R-rich Corinthian leather".
Now you look at the ads and the main thing they offer is terms. People don't even seem to think about how much the car costs, but more for how much it costs per month. I have personally known two people who were unaware thatr they were actually leasing a car not buying it. That is a pretty sad state of affairs especially considering that one instance was many years ago.
I don't mean to be negative but reality is reality.People used to say "Yup in two months I'll have enough money to buy me that new car", now it's more like "In two months I'll have the down payment saved up for my new car". I am wondering just when we are going to hit some dirt on this icy slope down which we have been sliding.
By no means do I want to gloat, but you can fully legally be on this site at half my age. Consider this, that means I may have personally seen twice as much history as you. It could be no ? Well as such I have seen ALOT more change in the world and I don't like it. It hurts me phychologically and mentally that things are getting bad. It's not fair, having lived that life without being able to offer the same to future generations. And even at that, I covet a life that would've started perhaps a decade earlier.
Certain things have improved slightly, tolerance of others with different beliefs and such have marginally improved. We are a bit better off creature-comfort wise, a few other things have improved. But the nuts and bolts of life have become corroded and the machinery's bearings have run dry. We are leaking, overheating and need some serious attention real soon. Otherwise we shall know exactly what it feels like to be extinct.
If you made it all the way down here, thanks for your time. Really. This is somewhat tertiary, but I think it applies. It's true what is said, about greedy bastards and all that. No doubt, but it is not their fault that they are dinosaurs.
T
|
RE: Noone talking about GM ? - 
Profile
Thank you. M
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread