Whatever car you drive there’s a good chance that you hanker after an old car (some would say ‘classic’, though that depends on the car) to keep in your ultimate garage. With that in mind here is a short list of things we miss most about old cars.
Things We Miss Most About Old Cars
Popup Headlights
Popup headlights are an iconic feature of many a car from yesteryear that would never pass health and safety standards today. A sleek front end such as an old MX5 can only be improved by a set of popup headlights.
OK, so they weren’t the most aerodynamic and produced a lot of wind noise. But, they were cool.
Thin A-Pillars
Old cars have better visibility through the corners due to thinner A-Pillars than modern cars. As with popup headlights, this feature of older cars has been faded out due to health and safety improvements. However, I think I’d rather survive a crash than see it coming slightly sooner.
Manual Gearboxes
Any self respecting driver should know that manual gearboxes are better than automatics as you feel much more involved with the driving of the vehicle. On that note, the older the car, the more likely it is to have a manual transmission.
Simple Interiors
OK, don’t get me wrong I’d love to have a few modern gadgets in my old Honda. BUT, it has everything I need to drive along in comfort and not be completely bored during the journey (yes it has a tape deck).
Modern cars on the other hand have too many buttons everywhere, inevitably there are also lots of bongs and buzzers to complement these buttons. Even a new car with touchscreen display has multiple buttons on the steering wheel. Sigh
Keys
To start an old car you simply have to jump into the seat, insert and twist the key. Hey presto, you’re ready to go.
Modern cars tend to have something resembling a remote than an actual key. Some have to be inserted whereas some have to be nearby, all of this means you could lose your car ‘key’ more easily than, er…. an actual key.
T-Tops
T-tops look cool, fact. There may have been some problems with leaks, but if you get one that doesn’t then you’ve got two cars in one. A hard top and a convertible.
Fixing your own car
Most modern cars have several layers of plastic covers within the engine bay making it hard to access. Coupled with the need for engineering levels of computing knowledge needed to diagnose any issue, makes an older car a joy to repair. Older cars only require a semi decent set of wrenches and some elbow grease to fix most things, and this can potentially save you expensive garage bills.
Weight reduction
Older cars were light, especially when compared to their modern reincarnations, and as we know light cars are fun to drive.
As a comparison a 25 year old Ford Fiesta is 839kg compared to modern fiesta weighing in at 1163kg. That’s a massive 324kg (51 stone in old money), which is about 3.5 adults. WOW.
Full Size Spare Wheel
If you’ve ever experienced getting a puncture I’m sure you’d be able to change the wheel pretty quickly. Old cars made this almost enjoyable by having a full size spare wheel, usually hidden away under the boot lining. Modern cars, unfortunately, tend not to offer such a luxury anymore. If you don’t have run-flats (which are expensive), then you’ve either got a spacer saver wheel or a can of tyre weld. Either way you’re still going to have to get a new wheel pretty soon.
With FREE standard delivery and next day delivery available on many of our products, you can get your car parts in no time.
For more maintenance and repairs advice continue to come back to the Car Parts 4 Less blog and feel free to browse our full collection of car parts on our website.