Were new cars ever cool?

I was doing a bit of pondering tonight... elbow deep in mineral turps cleaning off all the old contact cement from the inside of my trunk (no I wasn't high before I started!)

Got to thinking about stuff and one question that I've often thought about. Did car guys EVERY think that new cars were as cool as 20 year old shit?

I've owned my car just over 20 years now, longer than the original owner (my Granddad) had it. Back when I got it, it had been on the road 19 years, but to me, it was still a cool old 60s car.

I'm pretty sure NO-ONE these days goes: "Wow! Look at that really cool 80s car!"

It just doesn't happen (at least I hope it doesn't!)

My real question though is, at the beginning of popular hot rodding, i.e. post-war when it really took off, did those pioneering hot rodders think that new cars were just boring pieces of shit, or was it just that most couldn't afford a new car, and if they could they would go out and buy one?

If that's the case, then when did new cars stop being 'cool'?

My own tastes kind of stop in the early 70s somewhere (depending on the manufacturer), definitely once they started using those ugly-arse 5mph bumpers and shit, but is that really when new cars stopped being cool?

Or were they never cool?

 

I dunno, a properly preserved IROC or Formula Firebird with T-tops and a stick is starting to look pretty sweet.....

 

I like my wifes 81 Vette.

 

If new cars ever were cool, it was before the use of the word "cool" to describe a desireable car

 

Cars were pretty lame in 1974. On both side of it I can remember when my mom's new '68 Cyclone GT was cool and got a lot of comments and then I remember fondly when I had the first teal '91 Camaro RS in southern Cal. and it was cool for a minute. Thought I was the king of the world with that car in the garage next to my Steel '32 Cabriolet and I wasn't even 25 yet. New cars are cool again, but even out out of coutesy I remember all the family taking a look at my grandma's new '78 Ford Fairmont and checking it out- come to think of it same goes for new Pintos, Vegas and Mustang IIs. They were only lame after the newness wore off. So I guess as long as they were new they were cool.

 

They were cool enough for a lot of guys to pick up a payment book.

Think:
56 Chevy with dual quad factory engine.
57 Chevy.
57 Ford with factory blower.
57 Chrysler's with 392 Hemi and LeMoupoussant 4 speed trans.
57 Vettes.
58 Impala's and 59's & 60's.

60's era Chryco's with 426 wedges and Hemi's.

GTO's.

Lay off the mineral spirits . . . lacquer thinner is much better....

 

When I was 14, my brother and I tried to talk my mom into buying a 1070 GTO judge,it was a new car at the time, and Cool,also. We went for a look, and test drive,but that was bout all. It was cool ,cause it had a tach on the hood,bright orange,with Judge stickers on the front fenders. So the answer for me would be yes. BTW, the ended up buying a '71 caprice,not cool at the time , but cool now., sparky

 

Buick Grand Nationals and Regal T-Types catch my eye

 

I think there hasa been at least one cool car in every manufacturer's lineup. Maybe not enough for me to plunk down the money for a payment book and lose my ass, but still cool to look at til there were a hunnert of them in town(New Mustang). I have always had old unique cars i built myself from old basket cases that probably should have been crushed. Everybody knew they were my cars and I thought they were cool and didn't give a rats ass what others thought.

 

I remember being in the showroom, while mom was picking out a new car...and drooling over a bright red shelby gt500kr. Told dad that they ought to buy it.......didn'nt work. She ended up with a 4 door LTD demo with a 289

 

At least your mom's car had v8 power, my mom had a freaking Kharmann-Ghia vert. I preferred dad's custom van if we had to go somewhere.

 

My issue with NEW cars is that any ASSHAT with $$$$$$$ can buy one.

 

I was a teenager in the '60s. I thought anything that "the factory" built as a hot car was cool. I just loved 'em! GTOs, SS Chevs, Mustangs, GTXs. Long about '72 I finally figured out "the factory" was now building dogs. I then went back to my first love,hot rods.

 

IMO - For the most part, Detroit went to hell when the gov. started mandating all the polution shit, early-mid 70's. Sure, there were special cars, and always have been.
I am sure there are a bunch of guys here that would wait until September to go to the car dealers and see the new models. Hell, dad and I would go a month prior, to pick up brochures on the new models, then see them when they rolled 'em out. It was fun.
Now, new models come out 'whenever', and they all look alike. Not a ton of creativity.
Anyway, that's how I remember it.
YES, a lot of new cars were pretty cool.

 

I think they look completely stupid, but there is a growing number of what is known as "donks, boxes, and bubbles" cruising around here. Even have their own magazine....Some kids really are facinated with the 80's (including the cars). The fifties and sixties are ancient history to them.

 

I think every once in awhile, whether we want to admit it or not, we see one on the road or on a commercial that "trips our trigger", if even for just a moment.

I can't imagine somebody looking thru a saleslot window in 1969 thinking, "holy shit... that new camaro is absolutely AWFUL! Nobody is ever gonna buy them, and they most certainly won't go up in value throughout the next 30 years!"

Think the guy in 1954 liked the new body style of the '55 Chevy??

Yeah, there was a decade or two when automakers failed us miserably, but I forgive them... ...they are cheap and useable!

 

GODDAMN -a good damn coat of FIRE would do that thing wonders.

 

Thought new 63 chevys w/327 4-speed were cool.

 

It's not the glue...I think about stuff like that too....
I was just talking about this the other day while driving a '40 Ford. Sure everybody wants them now but did anyone really jones for one in '40? When I drive an old car I often ponder if someone was really in love with the car I'm driving when it was new or if it was just a necessity "appliance" purchase.

 

Some of you guys dont read the thought that goes on behind the heading of a post. This isnt about the new cars of today or even back in the 60's for that matter.
Its about the beginnings of hot rodding after world war 2.
Did those guys think the new cars were cool. In other words..
Were the 1948 through 1958 cars cool to those guys.
The answer can be found in all the customs that came out during those days.
My answer is.. the hotrodders were involved in making any car go faster. The smaller cars were cheap and available. The 48 up cars were big and slow. Why throw a motor with zip into a dinosauer?

 

New cars always looked good whenever I was driving an old POS and it broke down in -10 degree weather.

I haven't lusted after a new car in longer than I can remember, but the new Mustangs really do something for me. Maybe it's because they look kinda like the old Mustangs - so am I longing for something old that's new or somthing new that's old. If I 'borrowed' a blue Mustang would that mean I'd have to get married? Holy crap, I need some more sleep...

 

the GTO was a very big hit in 1964..i still rememeber when i saw my first one

 

Now if we could just get that purple DONK mobile in front of that train!!That would be cool.

 

...and it hasn't changed a great deal these days. For a while it was looking pretty grim, but these days (in Oz at least) we can go down and by a brand spanking new, 400hp V8, six-speed manual trans, rear-wheel-drive, honest to goodness muscle car.

But that doesn't make me want to go out and buy one. Yeah, they go fast (real fast these days!) but as has already been said, any dork can pony up the cash and get one.

You've got little to no chance of working on it yourself and really, what can you do to them anyway. Wheels? Maybe change the paint...

I think back in the 60s, the cars weren't too far removed from the hopped up hot rods that were ruling the streets, so if you did opt to buy one, you already knew how to make it go even faster!

I'm thinking these days it's somehow different. Not sure I can put my finger on it, but it's definitely not the same.

I'll take your word for it, mate!

 

I could have done without the lesson on "donks"......hahahaha. WHat the hell is that all about?

 

"If that's the case, then when did new cars stop being 'cool'?

My own tastes kind of stop in the early 70s somewhere (depending on the manufacturer), definitely once they started using those ugly-arse 5mph bumpers and shit, but is that really when new cars stopped being cool?"

Mind reader!

 

Unfortunately, rods also fall into that category these days.

 

LOL... it's just an Aussie thing. You wouldn't understand.

(In other words, I have NO IDEA where it originated from, it's just what we call engines down here)e.g. "What kind of donk has she got in her, mate?"

 

Well, I was born in '56 and I thought lots of the 60's and early 70's cars were cool when they came out of the factory.

But in answer to your question - Darryl Starbird once told me that back in the day, customizers worked on new cars. Old cars weren't considered much for custom material.
He also thought that todays' customizers should "step up to the new sheet metal" and start reworking Detroit's latest, instead of building another '49 Mercury. He put his money where his mouth is, too - all his latest cars (whether you liked them, or not) are late model customs.

So, yeah - he thought the new iron was cool.

 

Not necessarily. I remember reading an interview with Ak Miller in which he stated that he REALLY wanted a '49 Olds 88 when they came out, but couldn't even come close to affording one. He was overjoyed when an Olds dealer he knew offered him a 303 that overheated and was warrantied, and he rebuilt it (making most of his own speed equipment for it because it was so new that none was available for it yet) and put it in his '32. All of his flathead loving friends made fun of him for doing it....until he shut them all down with it. Then, they just pouted and wouldn't talk to him for a while!