Classic Cars
5th January 2009
Where I live the surrounding carpark area is full of beautiful modern cars - new-style black Audi TT, BMW Z4, Golf R32, Mini Cooper S, and even a Vauxhall Monaro. There’s no getting away from the fact that they’re very good, nice cars. But by far the most beautiful car here, by miles and miles, and the one that stands out from the crowd the most? A black 1988 MkII Ford Fiesta 1.1L. It’s a classic - cream leather interior, metal wingmirrors, and the classic body shell and chassis similar to that of the classic Austin Metro. Furthermore the owner appears to have kept it in absolute pristine condition - no imperfection whatsoever. No rust, no paint fade, no flaking, not even a spot of bird shit. Even the paint finish is like glass - waxed and polished to a shine. It’s a nice car by itself, but made better by the obvious fact that the owner really has looked after it. I bet it drives as good today as it did when it was new too.
And look at me talk - I quickly brush over the nice, new cars mentioned in the beginning, whilst fawning over what should be an old banger. It’s made me think - are newer cars getting uglier? Why don’t we have any beautiful cars anymore? Think about it. Case in point can be the Ford Mustang. 1967 and 1968 saw the legendary ‘Fastback’ GT390 and GT500 models. What do we have now? A huge slab with wheels and headlights. Next case in point? Porsche. My family are classic Porsche enthusiasts and we’ve got a 924 Turbo and a 928-S, both in blue. We even had a white 944 Turbo at one point. But if you went to a dealership now, what can you get? A 911, a Cayman and a Boxster - all of which just look like variants of the 911 design (which is a great design - for a 911. Come on Porsche! Show some variety!) So why this change? Why aren’t cars built to look beautiful anymore?
My guess is this: Cost. Cars are far more expensive than they used to be, as manufacturers are abusing the general belief that buying a car is the second most expensive investment next to buying a house. This means fewer people are willing to buy new cars. In fact most car sales nowadays are second-hand cars, private trades being especially popular since the best bargains are found on sites like autotrader. This means that in order to cut their losses, manufacturers are trying to find cheaper ways of making good cars, and the easiest way to do that is to keep their designs low-budget and simple. Up-market brands such as Audis, BMWs and even some VW cars like the Phaeton and Scirocco do still use high quality paint and appear to have an expensive finish and look about them. But Peugeots? Citroens? Fords? Renaults? The paint is lighter and thinner, and that makes them look cheap. Or ‘affordable’ as manufacturers prefer to call it.
In terms of business, its the angel and the devil. The fastest selling car of all time was the 1960’s Ford Mustang - a very beautiful car and very well priced back in the day. But the best-selling car of all time - the car that sold the most units - was the Toyota Corolla. A simple car that had nothing particular about it other than it was cheap to buy. Unfortunately instead of looking at the fastest selling car and taking leaves out of the mustang’s book, manufacturers have opted for the best selling car simply because it’s a lot cheaper to make. So now we have millions of cars that aren’t too beautiful, and the prices of each car only really correlates to the brand name and how fast said car is.
My advice? Buy a beautiful classic and take good care of it, before there’s none left in the world.
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