You know you are getting old when:

[LizzieMaine]

Not really. Usually it's boiled or steamed.

 

[scottyrocks]

I know I'm getting old, or maybe just crotchety, when a car I've wanted all my life has been too cantankerous to drive when I have driven them lately. This, of course, is contrary to most people who long for things from yesteryear and are happy to get them.

At this point I am at a crossroads. Maybe I'll try one or two more before I finally really decide to give it up.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I know I'm getting old, or maybe just crotchety, when a car I've wanted all my life has been too cantankerous to drive when I have driven them lately.

Too much understeering or things like that? Pudding-like cruising-tires, instead of sporty-tires?

 

[tonyb]

I know I'm getting old, or maybe just crotchety, when a car I've wanted all my life has been too cantankerous to drive when I have driven them lately. This, of course, is contrary to most people who long for things from yesteryear and are happy to get them.

At this point I am at a crossroads. Maybe I'll try one or two more before I finally really decide to give it up.

What kinda car?

For the kind of driving I do most of these days, I just couldn't do without an automatic transmission and power steering. Stop and go rush hour traffic, you know.

I'd love to have another pre-'70 sports car, like I used to -- a roadster, a real one, with seating for only two and a drop top, and loud pipes and power nothing. But that would be a toy, mostly.

 

[Zombie_61]

It has to do with weight and fuel economy.

Then they should call them "fuel saver spare tire" and "fuel saver jack", shouldn't they?

Earlier this year it became necessary for me to use my "space saver" spare tire for the first time since we bought the truck in July of 2007. It was flat.

 

[Fading Fast]

I know I'm getting old, or maybe just crotchety, when a car I've wanted all my life has been too cantankerous to drive when I have driven them lately. This, of course, is contrary to most people who long for things from yesteryear and are happy to get them.

At this point I am at a crossroads. Maybe I'll try one or two more before I finally really decide to give it up.

Without more info, it's hard to fully understand the situation, but at a high level, one thought I have is that your expectations for performance and maintenance needs of these older cars might be set at a modern car standard and not at one for an older car.

For example, you can buy a new watch for $50 bucks or less today that will keep perfect time for years and that needs no winding or maintenance - what to my parents' generation would be a miracle watch. I have a few watches from the '20 - '50s and they all require regular maintenance and servicing, as well as, manual daily winding and they are usually off by a minute or two a day - at best.

For me, the fun in these old watches is their look, their feel, their quirkiness and their connect to the past. While it can be annoying (and expensive - on a relative basis to a care-free modern watch) to take care of them, I love them - challenges, inferior performance and all. Knowing a few friends who own old cars - and from what I've read about them on the relevant threads here - I think old cars are like old watches: you own them for the connect to the past, the style, the vibe, the mechanical (vs digital) technology, but not because they are easy to maintain or better functioning (in some sense of the word).

So don't give up on your passion for older cars, but you might (just me guessing from your short post) have to adjust your expectations for them.

 

[MisterCairo]

I've eaten army rations older than my children.

 

[GHT]

I know I'm getting old, or maybe just crotchety, when a car I've wanted all my life has been too cantankerous to drive when I have driven them lately. This, of course, is contrary to most people who long for things from yesteryear and are happy to get them.

No point being old if you can't be crotchety.
Old cantankerous cars and profanities go hand in hand.
The right hand drive, pre-war Packard was the must have. It caused so much bad language that it had to go.

Tell you what, try and find a non synchro gearbox car, spend an hour driving and double declutching it, you'll appreciate anything after that.

 

[Stearmen]

The right hand drive, pre-war Packard was the must have. It caused so much bad language that it had to go.

I just found out last week, my friend had sold his 1930s Fleet Biplane that he offered to sell me a while back. I told him, this is one of the sadist days of my life, and one of the happiest days of my life!

 

[Zombie_61]

I've eaten army rations older than my children.

How old were your children when you ate them?

 

[scottyrocks]

No point being old if you can't be crotchety.
Old cantankerous cars and profanities go hand in hand.
The right hand drive, pre-war Packard was the must have. It caused so much bad language that it had to go.

Tell you what, try and find a non synchro gearbox car, spend an hour driving and double declutching it, you'll appreciate anything after that.

I agree with all of that, GHT, but I don't know what to do.

I've wanted an old Beetle my whole life. I learned to drive a stick shift on my Dad's '71. Well, almost learned to drive it. I don't know whether it was my nervousness, or the bottom hinged pedals that never enables me to master that car.

When I bought my own first car shortly after that, a manual trans '71 Corolla, I drove it flawlessly in very short order, like on the first drive. It was just more cooperative. Or that my Dad wasn't with me.

So now I've looked at, and driven, two Beetles, a '66 and a '57. Both have more good points than bad. But I can't get over the feeling that I won't want to drive a Beetle after I've bought it. But I still want one.

What to do, what to do . . .

 

[scottyrocks]

I agree with all of that, GHT, but I don't know what to do.

I've wanted an old Beetle my whole life. I learned to drive a stick shift on my Dad's '71. Well, almost learned to drive it. I don't know whether it was my nervousness, or the bottom hinged pedals that never enables me to master that car.

When I bought my own first car shortly after that, a manual trans '71 Corolla, I drove it flawlessly in very short order, like on the first drive. It was just more cooperative. Or that my Dad wasn't with me.

So now I've looked at, and driven, two Beetles, a '66 and a '57. Both have more good points than bad. But I can't get over the feeling that I won't want to drive a Beetle after I've bought it. But I still want one.

What to do, what to do . . .

 

[LizzieMaine]

I agree with all of that, GHT, but I don't know what to do.

I've wanted an old Beetle my whole life. I learned to drive a stick shift on my Dad's '71. Well, almost learned to drive it. I don't know whether it was my nervousness, or the bottom hinged pedals that never enables me to master that car.

When I bought my own first car shortly after that, a manual trans '71 Corolla, I drove it flawlessly in very short order, like on the first drive. It was just more cooperative. Or that my Dad wasn't with me.

So now I've looked at, and driven, two Beetles, a '66 and a '57. Both have more good points than bad. But I can't get over the feeling that I won't want to drive a Beetle after I've bought it. But I still want one.

What to do, what to do . . .

A '69 Beetle was my first car, and I drove it to death -- which wasn't hard given VW's unfortunate utter lack of resistance to road salt. The floor pan was more fiberglass patch than metal, and when I finally had to let it go, it broke in half when they hauled it onto the junkyard truck. But I never had any trouble actually driving it, and still prefer that to the experience I've had driving more modern cars -- it was simple, basic, and I found it very easy to maneuver. The only scare I ever had in it was the time a loose soda bottle on the floor rolled under the pedals while I was coming up on a stoplight. I swerved onto a side road and stalled it out, and then I threw the bottle out the window.

Driving a Beetle is fine as long as you never forget that it's 1930s technology, and adjust your driving habits to compensate for that. I find that driving the Plodge isn't a whole lot different from driving the VW, except everything is bigger.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Beetle is just the original Porsche-driving and no Porsche-driver could tell other things about. Beetle > Porsche 356 > 911.

 

[Fading Fast]

A '69 Beetle was my first car, and I drove it to death -- which wasn't hard given VW's unfortunate utter lack of resistance to road salt. The floor pan was more fiberglass patch than metal, and when I finally had to let it go, it broke in half when they hauled it onto the junkyard truck. But I never had any trouble actually driving it, and still prefer that to the experience I've had driving more modern cars -- it was simple, basic, and I found it very easy to maneuver. The only scare I ever had in it was the time a loose soda bottle on the floor rolled under the pedals while I was coming up on a stoplight. I swerved onto a side road and stalled it out, and then I threw the bottle out the window.

Driving a Beetle is fine as long as you never forget that it's 1930s technology, and adjust your driving habits to compensate for that. I find that driving the Plodge isn't a whole lot different from driving the VW, except everything is bigger.

Growing up, our next door neighbors were German and owned a Volkswagen Beetle (I know, a cliche) that I half learned to drive on (and half on my family's car). What I loved about the VW was this that Lizzie said:

I never had any trouble actually driving it, and still prefer that to the experience I've had driving more modern cars -- it was simple, basic, and I found it very easy to maneuver.​

The thing that I love about a lot of the GE technology is that a reasonably smart person can put a reasonable amount of time and effort into learning about it and have a pretty good working knowledge of it. Also, its simplicity and, in many cases, being over-built to last, resulted in less breakdown and easier repair.

The digital world does many wonderful things, but it removes intuitiveness and tactility from technology. I first experienced this when my 1980 Pontiac was idling crazy and I couldn't steady it doing the things I knew about carburetor adjustments and took it in to the shop where they hooked it up to the "dynamometer" (or something close to that) - basically a digital analyzer. It was no longer a man (or woman), a few tools, a working knowledge of the mechanics and a good ear and feel - now it was a black box generating a readout.

I have a modest working knowledge of software and hardware and do more things than the average person to keep our digital stuff running, but it's not the same - it's always inside out where I'm solving what I can tactically, never getting the "full" system like I did and can with analog technology.

But even in the analog world, I like simple. Sure, I understand that a electric car window is basically a mechanical window with a small motor powered by electricity (and I know there are a few variations on the theme: hydraulic, vacuum), but that's already too fussy versus a handle (or crank) attached to, basically, a jack system. Nice, clean, simple, intuitive. I like that as I turn the handle I "feel" the window moving; it's not the same when I push a button and the window slides up.

 

[Harp]

I've eaten army rations older than my children.

Looking back, C-rations were not all that bad. I liked the date nut roll, coffee-and I traded the Chesterfield cigarettes.

 

[MisterCairo]

Looking back, C-rations were not all that bad. I liked the date nut roll, coffee-and I traded the Chesterfield cigarettes.

My favourite IMP (Individual Meal Pack) as we call ours is the salmon filet. A wee bit salty, but in the field that's fine. The tarragon chicken is pretty good too.

 

[Trenchfriend]

My favourite IMP (Individual Meal Pack) as we call ours is the salmon filet. A wee bit salty, but in the field that's fine. The tarragon chicken is pretty good too.

MRE "Thai Chicken", maybe brings memories...

 

[tonyb]

Growing up, our next door neighbors were German and owned a Volkswagen Beetle (I know, a cliche) that I half learned to drive on (and half on my family's car). What I loved about the VW was this that Lizzie said:

I never had any trouble actually driving it, and still prefer that to the experience I've had driving more modern cars -- it was simple, basic, and I found it very easy to maneuver.​

The thing that I love about a lot of the GE technology is that a reasonably smart person can put a reasonable amount of time and effort into learning about it and have a pretty good working knowledge of it. Also, its simplicity and, in many cases, being over-built to last, resulted in less breakdown and easier repair.

The digital world does many wonderful things, but it removes intuitiveness and tactility from technology. I first experienced this when my 1980 Pontiac was idling crazy and I couldn't steady it doing the things I knew about carburetor adjustments and took it in to the shop where they hooked it up to the "dynamometer" (or something close to that) - basically a digital analyzer. It was no longer a man (or woman), a few tools, a working knowledge of the mechanics and a good ear and feel - now it was a black box generating a readout.

I have a modest working knowledge of software and hardware and do more things than the average person to keep our digital stuff running, but it's not the same - it's always inside out where I'm solving what I can tactically, never getting the "full" system like I did and can with analog technology.

But even in the analog world, I like simple. Sure, I understand that a electric car window is basically a mechanical window with a small motor powered by electricity (and I know there are a few variations on the theme: hydraulic, vacuum), but that's already too fussy versus a handle (or crank) attached to, basically, a jack system. Nice, clean, simple, intuitive. I like that as I turn the handle I "feel" the window moving; it's not the same when I push a button and the window slides up.

In my early driving days EVERYBODY had a VW. My first car was a '58 (as I recall) Karmann Ghia. I had a couple of buses and the one car I kick myself to this day for ever selling: a '56 bug -- oval window, semaphores, sunroof. I almost cry when I think of what that car would sell for these days.

I always found VW clutches more forgiving than most. You could dump the clutch on those things and not kill the engine.

 

[scottyrocks]

A '69 Beetle was my first car, and I drove it to death -- which wasn't hard given VW's unfortunate utter lack of resistance to road salt. The floor pan was more fiberglass patch than metal, and when I finally had to let it go, it broke in half when they hauled it onto the junkyard truck. But I never had any trouble actually driving it, and still prefer that to the experience I've had driving more modern cars -- it was simple, basic, and I found it very easy to maneuver. The only scare I ever had in it was the time a loose soda bottle on the floor rolled under the pedals while I was coming up on a stoplight. I swerved onto a side road and stalled it out, and then I threw the bottle out the window.

Driving a Beetle is fine as long as you never forget that it's 1930s technology, and adjust your driving habits to compensate for that. I find that driving the Plodge isn't a whole lot different from driving the VW, except everything is bigger.

I've already driven a couple of them in the last couple of weeks and will look at another one this week. I guess, after driving enough of them, I will be able to ascertain if I really want to own one, as opposed to worshiping them from afar, as I have thus far done.