[73XR-7owner]

as i was driving back home last weekend in the cougar, i realized that it is the fourth classic car i have owned. in 1975, i bought a 1954 chevy sedan. in 1979, my wife and i bought two 1954 chevy 210 handyman wagons. now, i've bought the 1973 cougar.

in '75, the first chevy was 21 years old. four years later, the wagons were 25. the cat is 28, the oldest of them all.

the funny thing is, the cougar has the very same features that new cars have today while the chevys were dinosaurs. about the only differences between the cougar and a new car are the motor and air bags. about the only similarities between a 1954 chevy and a 1975 chevy are they both have seats, doors, and an engine, and even there they don't compare well.

have cars reached the limit in terms of available features?

 

[modifiedmark]

I hope so. They got too much crap on them now. Who needs climate control, digital dashes, computers etc. All they ever give me was trouble and a empty wallet.mm

 

[73XR-7owner]

that's true, mark, and a lot of them aren't even "improvements." i mean, hell, they had speedometers that worked in the thirties, maybe earlier. the fact that they can digitalize it might be "cool" but it isn't any better or more accurate. all that other junk is put there just to keep the mechanics busy and most of them can't figure it out anyway.

we have a ford focus (total crap) that has all the electronic wonderjunk. when something goes wrong with it, all they can do at the ford garage is put it on the computer. it wouldn't start the other day so they towed it into town. when they tried, it started. naturally the computer said there was nothing wrong. well, if that's the case, then why wouldn't it start? huh, huh? why?

they should have kept jacques nasser and fired all the whiz-bang "inventors."

 

[modifiedmark]

Yeah Steve your right. I've been trying for months now to get my pick up to idle right. All the so called experts just scratch there head and say I dont know. I noticed the other day that Ford is reimbursing all the owners of cars for defective ign modules. Yeah right, I have probably had to replace one on all the Fords I ever owned that had them. The cars are long gone now and so is my money since I cant get my money back if I dont own the vehicle any more. I still have the 89 f250 and I garantee I will make them pay me for that one. A little is better than none. mm

 

[ChadInman]

I'm still a kid and I'm glad I never touched any of the new stuff that's out there on the market these days. So far I've never had a problem I couldn't fix in my garage. Also why would I want to buy a car that I will have to choke to death, performance wise, by smog regulations? - Chad

 

[73XR-7owner]

who's Steve?

Mark, my name isn't Steve. Maybe yours isn't Mark?

And Chad, apparently you don't have a wife who works an hour from home. Mine wouldn't even consider driving anything except a new car, especially when the snow starts flying. that's when the Subaru tank hits the road...

 

[73XR-7owner]

oh, yeah, and then there's...

the fact that I have absolutely no mechanical talent whatsoever. I don't even change my own oil. And where we live, it isn't easy to find a mechanic who is qualified to work on anything a computer can't fix.

The Cougar will get the tender care of the one guy who is qualified but he's so expensive I couldn't afford more than one out-of-warranty vehicle.

 

[modifiedmark]

Sorry. I meant to only type , yeah your right. I was talking to a Steve when I wrote that. Beer, typing, talking = too much for me to do at one time. By the way you have to talent to work on your car, all you have to do is want to use it. Get a good repair manual for your car and read it and dont be afraid to just get in there and get your hands dirty. I'm not talking major overhauls or the like but you can still do alot of the smaller things. I also try too keep my wife in a fairly new car for the fact I dont want them breaking down with her and the kids out on the road. But they can be a pain also. mm