Reader Question: Common Thoughts?

Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply! 

John writes: Everyone seems to have a car history. When I was around ten or twelve I fell in love with cars and motorcycles of almost every kind. I learned to drive and ride on Hondas  and Volkswagens. I was lucky to have had a 1969 Camaro Z28 as my first car. A car I should have kept. Having worked since I was 12, I was able to buy all of my machines myself starting with an SL100. When I graduated High School before attending college I bought a 1975 Trans Am in Stellar Blue with Honeycomb wheels. It was $4,500.00. A used TR6 after that. The Firebird was stolen. I have had some great cars over the years. The newer cars have a lot to offer but they are so expensive heavy and complicated. I haven’t found one that hits all the marks for me. Price is cost and paying fifty grand for a marginally satisfying car just does not appeal to me. I am jaded. Colin Chapman’s philosophy if I remember correctly was performance through light weight. It is an attribute of all the great cars.

In my opinion of course. My sweet spot is a great handling car with 300 hp or greater, 3,000 lbs. or less. It’s looking like I will need to build one myself if I want one. Maybe a radio. Maybe.  Naturally aspirated of course. Please know there are plenty of us out there that will never bend the knee and have never bought into the mask BS. We know what a hero is. The USSA needs some work. The government tick needs to be limited to relegated powers only. That probably will not be enough. What the feds wont regulate, the states will. Sad. The hunt for my next car is ongoing but still on. The next one will be my retirement car. Probably a GT of some kind. I wanted to wish you well and share my car story. Driving and riding are my top two favorite things to do today just as they were when I was a kid.

My reply: Well, you just made my list of people I’m jealous of! To have owned a ’69 Z28 . . . to have bought a ’75 Trans-Am, brand new! At least I got to see Van Halen – with David Lee Roth (with hair and with his voice) in the ’80s. . .

I agree with you in re weight and power – and also in re the new stuff having too many liabilities, which go far beyond their high cost. The geeks have sucked the fun out of them via the neurotic obsession with saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety! Which defeats the whole point, if the object is to have fun.

The geeks view a car as an appliance; they focus on tangible parameters such as “efficiency” and (again) saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety. These become the focal points of design as well as the enemies of fun design. Eliminating wheelslip, for instance – for the sake of a better 0-60 run and to reduce the daaaaaaaaaaanger of loss of control. But it makes the car less fun because you have less control.

How I wish I could teleport back to 1973 and order a Brewster Green SD-455 four-speed Trans-Am…

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