RAT. Are you one of those two fellas admiring that slightly used Plymouth. Beautiful car ( not that one ) but with the big fins and all the chrome. Depending on the make, from about 52 until 62 Detroit built the prettiest things to ever roll on four wheels. Back when STYLE mattered.
My preferred eras of vehicles all had lots of curved and chrome (well nickel actually) or raw power and looked perpetually pissedoff ranging from 32 Ford to 69 Coronet with its "wasp wing" bumper surrounding the grille, even trucks such as the 49 F100 or 65 Chevy Stepside.
I hate the soulless, disposable, cookie cutter crap churned out in the modern market. The automotive industry pretty much nuetered in the 70's (before my time) by the 80's was in limp mode, mid/late 90's all sense of style, personality, uniqueness, and effort was obsolete.
As a general rule of thumb I don't like any vehicle not older than myself... but there's maybe a handful.
I have a weak spot for certain underdog lemons like the Pacer, Pinto, Chevette, and Gremlin.
My thing is despite the unrealistic nature of the very concept, vehicles used to be built with the absolute intention that they last literally forever; they were works of art that had personality, many failed designs were simply ahead of their time and nothing more.
I'm not one of those "ooh cool car" type idiots... I dig in and dig deep when I see something I like then get lost in the history.
Random crap like the fact that there was never a Corvette built in sheet steel EVER; and before the modern abominations all attempts to make a mid engine one failed abysmally to make it past the protype phase and deemed to costly to send into full scale production (Aerovette being the main one).
Then there's the Turbine powered Chrysler, or the Fact that Oldsmobile is one of the FIRST (independent) automobile companies of the US, the Olds Tornado was the first FULL sized Domestic vehicle to be FWD, and the only one to remain that way from the first to the last ones ever built.
What really killed John DeLorean's DMC12 was one part the stainless steel skin essentially glued to the fiberglass body made it too damned heavy for the anemic smog motors of the era so it was a horrible performing gas hog, and one part the cost of the then "exotic material" drove up the retail cost astronomically. Most also don't know there was an AM-EX 24k plated SE version as an AM-Ex Gold member promotional offer (only 3 were ordered and built, only one is known to still exist)
www.macsmotorcitygarage.com
