Every time I see a clean black 87-93 Mustang 5.0 coupe I think, "that's really cool. I want one." It's all relative I guess, because I was 5 when that body style came out. My first (and only, so far) "performance" car was a 95 stang 5.0; I guess you could say I've got a soft spot for em. J
This is a great thread...for me, it's easy to forget that not everyone was like myself...stuck growing up with Berlinettas, Grand Ams, and Accords as the new cars everyone was buying. I guess that's why my first car was 25 years old when I bought it. While he wasn't around when they were new, my Dad has ALWAYS spoke of a duece coupe as the car to have. He also speaks fondly of the '66 GTO with 3 dueces my uncle picked up new and how cool they were driving around blowin' doors off all the cars in town. Each era has cool new cars...some more than others, of course. I do realize that this is a far cry from a response to the original question, but we've been off track for a while. Bryan
Funny, my girlfriend was asking the other day if in 50 years we'll be fixing up cars of the 80's and 90's...I told her the style just isn't there and nature won't let 'em last that long anyways. A barn find B2200 just doesn't sound right... Bryan
Brutal, Yea, back in the day (late 50s) when i was a young teeager new cars were cool. Anybody over 60 can remember where they were when JFK bit the bullet, but I remember that fateful Saturday morning in late september '56 when i walked past the town hall and there in parking spot 1a was the mayors new ride,a spanking new black and white 57 Chev 2DHT V8. I was in love. Can you imagine how guys felt seeing a 54 stovebolt chev 6 mutate in 8 years into a rocket ship in the form of a '62 Impala 409 ! Technology ,if you can call it that, never moved so fast as the late 50s - 60s. think of a 2006 VE Commodore, go back 8 years to a '98 VT... same old, same old but it didnt glow in the dark with electronics as VE does. My opinion ... new cool cars peaked right there on that fateful Saturday in '56. After that it was all legislation and down hill to hell in a handbag.
I agree and judging by the amount of songs about cadillacs in the 50's every man and his dog wanted one too..............Marq
New cars were great until about 1975 or so, especially the downsized stuff that appeared in 1977-1979. Most of those cars have all the styling and beauty of a lump of clay (or something else brown) with a hood and deck carved out of it, and a lot of them (GM especially) looked so similar you had to read the nameplate to tell one from the other. (compare 1979 GM mid-size wagons, from the rear). If new cars today looked like any 1973 or older lineup, I would think they were cool. There's a few of the current crop I can deal with, but a lot of them... great cars to beat the hell out of, use up and run into the ground, not much else to them.
Just another thought on new cool looking cars, I wonder why is it that all the big three are making retro cars if they werent so cool when new? The 'new' 2008 / 69 Camaro will rate its socks off when it hits the streets. If only they could make '57s again !! Sadly the body shape isnt aero enough.And maybe there would be too many sharp pointy bits to legislate around.
Well i remember in Australia in the 1960s that every year a new model Holden would be introduced and they were cool to me.All the Holden dealers had their showrooms curtained up for weeks before the introduction. Valued customers were mailed invitations for a sneak preview. From about 1964 the accessory ***ortment was growing as well. You could even get a heater & demister & carpets & bucket seats. My favourite would have to be the 1965 HD Holden with the scalloped fenders and fins protruding out next to the headlights.
Unfortunately I was born in 1975, there for I have not witnessed too many new cars that I would consider cool. There have been a few though. Some I would not consider cool today but on that day I seen them new I thought it was the neatest thing I had ever seen. The first was probably when the guy across the street bought an 81 Z28, blue with white stripes. The second was a new camero my uncle bought when they went to the 3rd generation bodies, I cant remember the year but it was such a drastic change from the old camero bodies that they were a huge hit when they came out. The Monte Carlo SS cars were really cool to me also. I woiuld say yes there have always been cool new cars. People bag on new cars all the time but there is just something about a new car. It is brand new, and how it holds up and with stands the test of time is up to you and how you want to keep it. We have a new Mustang that I love to clean on and look at and think that no one else ever owned that car. That doesnt mean I dont like getting in my 29 Sedan and driving the wheels off of it. I chose the no heater having Sedan to come to work this morning over the new mustang when it was 30 degrees out. But I will tell you this, that Mustang still looked pretty cool as I was pulling out of the garage. I would have loved to see a 70-72 chevelle SS big block car new at a dealer, and a 66 L79 Nova. Those are the two cars I often wonder what it was like driving as a new car when they were new.
My '91 Caprice wagon is the coolest late-model I've ever owned. I even liked them when they were 'new'. I was the only kid in high school who wanted a Caprice wagon.
Going back to the original question every post war hot rodder that I have talked to that was older than my dad (he is of the mid to late 50's hot rod era) has told me that the 49-51 Fords stood out as revolutionary to the guys back then. When those cars hit and the cars that followed from the other companies they were so different and new it blew them away. Most that I have talked to about this also without fail mention Cadillac’s often. For those guys and the guys my father’s age I know that when the V8 55 Chevy hit with all the hoopla that used to occur with new car launches everything was forever changed. Like them or not the potential for the small block Chevy stood out to hot rodders from day one. Some mention olds, Buick, a bit about the Y block Fords, and even a few talk about the “radical” stude stuff, but the 49-51 Fords and Mercs and the 55 Chevy seem to be universal events for many of that time. Those post war hot rodders that survived the war and the new kids hitting the streets pretty much were all into anything car related, the old kustoms of today were new cars then for the most part. They thought everything was kool and it was all good from what I gather.
WHAT in the **** is that??? I gotta stop this early morning coffee 'til after my Prozac. Holy Balls!!!!!!
I'm 30, so I wasn't around for the September unveiling of cars at the dealership, but my Grandfather was a car junkie, so he told me stories of going to the dealerships after the cars were finally available to the public. I find it hard to believe though that anyone around in the 50's when they walked past a Chevy dealership and saw a brand spankin new shiny 57...or any of the 50's era Cadillacs, or any of the earlier Vette's didn't say to themselves.....HOLY **** that's beautiful. I'm not a Mopar fan at all, but I would have a hard time not getting a ***** looking at most of the 60's era Mopars sitting brand new on a lot. I know that most of the new cars that are coming out now...hell, if not 90 percent of them, just plain ****. I mean they really, truly ****. I don't mean just the small economy cars, I'm talking larger cars, trucks, SUV's....they all pretty much just ****. Every time I see a new car nowadays, I think to myself "man, whoever designed that must have been a Fisher Price fan growing up" because everything on the road now is covered in plastic. Plastic dash, knobs, hood release that breaks, gas door release that breaks, even the ****ing car itself. These cars won't even be around in 30 years for the next generations to customize, because they'll all biodegrade! Now, with that rant about new cars over, there still are some cool cars coming out now, and anyone who loves speed and horsepower, you gotta have some sort of a soft spot for them. The new Vette Z06. Holy **** that car is cool! I know its brand new, but come on! The new Challenger that's coming out...followed by the concept Cuda that's coming out too. Even the new Mustang does something for me. The Dodge Magnum. That thing is awesome. Thats the car that when someone from the HAMB's wife tells them to go out and buy a minivan for the groceries and the kids, they come home with the Magnum. A fast as hell, Hemi powered grocery getter. I know its a foreign car, but the new Mini Cooper S is a bad *** car. I'd love one of those. The 1996 Impala SS. That was a brand new car, but that car was a bad *** ride. I know none of the newer cars will have the cool factor 30 years down the road, but you really can't deny that if you saw some of these newer cars in a showroom, it wouldn't put some sort of a smile on your face.
I think car guys of every generation have always found something "cool" in new cars, as well as old. My dad was around when Hudson Hornets were brand new and he said they were the Cat's *** to him back then! He also dug the Max Wedge and Hemi powered Mopars of the 60s and early 70s, and was heavily into Brittish sports cars as well. He bought a brand new 1958 MGA roadster, and later a new 1964 Triumph Spitfire. He wanted a Plymouth Superbird back in 1970, but said he couldn't justify the cost as a new father of two! He wishes he would've bought one now! I always liked some of the new cars myself. I remember when the 'new' Camaro and Firebird arrived in 1982 and the new Vette in 1984...I thought they were the coolest things ever! Then there was the 1983-87 Monte Carlo SS...another new car I lusted after at the time! Luckily, I worked at a Chevy dealer back in 86 and got to drive lots of new Camaros, Corvettes and Monte Carlos on a daily basis...a real thrill for an 18 year old car guy at the time! Years later, I owned a Monte Carlo SS. The new cars I really liked as a kid started becoming accessable to me a few years ago, but prices are starting to sneak back up! I had to pay a STUPID amount of money for my current ride...so I'm going to have some fun with it before parting it out as a donor vehicle! Back in 1979, I would've done ANYTHING to talk one of my parents into buying this car... ...now I drive it everyday!! (Cool back then...still cool now in my eyes!!) One curious thing about all this "retro madness" is the ****ed-up prices people want for Geekmobiles...at least around here! Here's what I mean...the above Camaro Z28 with all the options that one has would've gone for close to six grand brand new in 1979, and I got this one for half that (still outrageous in my book, but well in line with current prices on these rides.) Okay, that's 50% of what this car cost BRAND NEW! Now, you find some dope selling a six cylinder MAVERICK around here, and he's asking the same $3000...for a car that didn't cost $2300 brand new!!! Ha Ha...a loaded Z28 is only worth half of it's original sticker price, but a lowly six banger MAVERICK is worth MORE than it cost new?!? That's ****ed up! Those cars weren't cool then, and are only "cool" now as novel alternatives to driving some boring import! I still dig some new cars today...with the new Charger being at the top of that list! I'm actually GLAD that Chrysler didn't cop out like Ford did with the Gawd-Awfull "new" Mustang!! If Ford had designed the latest Charger, it would've looked like a gay, bloated General Lee with composite headlights or some stupid thing...insted, it looks like...a new Charger! (I think it bears a very SUBTLE resemblence to the 1978 Dodge Magnum...but it's a clever, subliminal likeness...not a blatant attempt to re-hash some past design and label it as new and fresh!) I hate the proposed "new" Camaro, though...I hope GM squashes that ugly design or changes it. The Camaro died a dignified death as a new model a few years ago...why cave in to this sudden retro craze and exhume it only to piss all over it's legacy?! Yeah, new cars were and always will be cool to car guys...but sometimes it's mighty slim pickins!!
I agree with ya on the Camaro. That car does nothing for me, yet every car magazine on earth loves the **** out of it. I just don't see it. It died a few years ago for a reason. I agree with you on the Charger though, that's a cool car. I just hate that they still haven't released a 2 door. For a car like that, I think a 2 door should have been released first, but that's just me. I know their reasoning was...all the guys who drove them originally now have kids and golf bags and groceries and shopping trips with the wife, and they need 4 doors. I just think the 2 door first would have been a better choice.
I 100% agree with that!! I LOVE my 93 Caprice wagon.I could not afford one when they were new.I bought it in Feb of 99 and have been in love ever since
Welllll the only Camaro I liked was the 1970, because I thought if you painted it red and put wire wheels on it, it would kinda sorta look like a mid-60s Ferrari. I remember quite clearly in 1964 when the Porsche 904 (AKA Carrera GTS) was unveiled I resolved to do whatever it took to own one someday. Bwahahaha I was twelve years old, okay . . .
I can see it now, the 50's, no not those 50's, the 2050's. Looking back on the double O's. Running into some punk kid with a 50 year old car he's restoring, and what is it? A PT Cruiser! "Son I remember when those were every other car on the road." We'll say. Ah who am I kiddin, only the fibergl*** cars will last that long, if anything does, cause the steel ones are made too thin. It will be interesting to see a bard yard find of the 2050's of something like a 2006 Corvette Z06. Man I know it's hard to imagine but I run into people all the time telling me about how they're restoring an old cl***ic and I find out it's some 80's car or truck. I think I'll always keep my rides Pre1953.
in the early to mid 1970's, things changed. the whole persona of a car. the transition began from viewing a car in the eyes of pride and enjoyment on the road, to viewing a car as utility (gas mileage, cookie cutter throw away design, etc.) it was all down hill from there. By the mid 1970's, 1960's and before cars were cool. In the 80's those same cars were cool. 90's - 2000's - now, same deal. It's now 2006, and 1980's cars are generally not cool. Most of them are pieces of ****. Hmmmm. Is it a coincidence that the american car market went to **** starting in the mid 70s - now as well? I'd say the view of a family car has gone japanese--- which is all about mpg, how many miles it will last, throwing it in the trash when you put the miles on, etc. What about the pride, pleasure and enjoyment of driving a beatiful car that has soul? I only drive my old cars. I dont own a new one for the reasons above. -scott noteboom
Ya know if ya look at old movies like hot rod girl...you'll see some kool "late model" rides like new f100s and Olds........hell even some fords and chevys to boot..........some of us were lucky enough to grow up through the sixtys when it seemed like there was always some thing new and really kool.........me Ive still got the 68 montego convertable my mom & dad bought new at selby mercury in tucson early in1968........kool maybe ,,,but I dig the **** out of it.and it looks good next to my 39 pontiac
Yes, I am old enough to add to this thread. 1948 was when the cars started to change after the war, and yes we thought they were cool. We couldn't wait for the new cars to hit the dealers showroom. A !949 red convertible in just about any make was cool. Yes the word "cool" was in play back then, and had been for many years. I bought my first car on credit, 1956 Chevy 210 Hardtop with powerpack, jet black. I also sold it a year later and built a Caddy powered 1940 Ford Sedan. I was Bi-Vintage, I liked it all. Check C9's list, it is pretty accurate. 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. Add Chrysler 300's 1959 Chevy El Caminos and Impalas Early Vettes up to the Sting Ray of 63 1953 Buick Skylarks 1953 Studebaker Coupe, and then Golden Hawks Little Birds Shelby Stangs Yes, the new stuff was exciting, but remember the drastic styling changes that took place in the fifties. The older stuff really looked old. Now they all the new ones look like jelly bean wedges, and have for twenty years. I guess a person has to see the things that they like in a car and dismiss the rest, without making a big deal out of it.
If you look in the roots of hotrodding books the grainy old pics of the dry lake bed and salt flats will show the "old" Model T & A hotrod/race cars and for the most part, brand new or newer tow cars and trucks in the pits and around the track driven by the spectators. You think Olds 88's with the J2 engine weren't popular? The problem with this question is then, as there is now, there were the people who always and only bought "new" cars and the people who never bought new cars. The '06 Civic Wife bought this year is the FIRST brand new car I have ever signed my name on the contract for, ever. Not that I don't like new cars, just up until now I either didn't have or didn't want to take that first year price beating that happens to the new car buyer. I don't know whether some of the guys on this board are actually as "poor" as they make out tobe, but when I was first out on my own, I would "make shiny" and sell my current beater $200 car hopefully for a small profit every six months, just to make the next car insurance bill and hopefully find a replacement with what was left so I could drive to work. There wasn't any driver and hotrod/race car in the garage. There was about $400-$500 a MONTH coming in with $125 for rent, utilities, food and an insurance bill every bit as high as what I'm paying now coming out of it. New car? Dream on! Having a "work car" and "The wife's car" and still another "race car" was and probabaly still is something only people with better than average "Expendable income" had. Or maybe they didn't have families... I knew a guy who always biught new cars, but he lived alone in a converted garage in a "low-rent" neighborhood. Most families on my block had only one car. If I had the way to go I would have bought a new GTO in '67 in a heart beat. But what I could afford was a 6 year old $365 VW someone traded in at the Olds dealer I sold cars at I drove a '66 GTO that was on the used car lot at the Olds dealer I worked at. 4 speed, ran circles around the 442's some the other salesmen would sell whitehaired old guys who came in and said "I want a Cutl*** with everything on it" just because it had the highest bottom line, ($4800 in '67) then a couple days later if they *****ed about the hard ride to the owner loud enough they'd have to switch them into a Cutl*** Supreme without the 442 rock hard suspension... Did you know that in '69 '60% of all Pontiacs sold were Red? I doubt it was because 60% of the buyers wanted a Red car, more likely because the Dealers ORDERED 60% or their stock in Red! Why do you think there are hard tosee out the back of Fleetline fastbacks, and Chevy Impala Super Sports, and Rivieras and Grand Prix's to be had now if some "car guy" didn't want to spring the big green fo them when they were new? As said by someone above, some time in the 70's the American car maker's started losing sight of what they needed to build to keep people in their showrooms. Car guys have always only been interested in certain models. They started listening to "Marketing surveys" when it came to styling instead of "car guys" who have the p***ion. I went to one of those survets once, and the surveying company obviously had the questions rigged in a wayto get their preconcieved "right answers". Take the mentioned Grad Prix for instance. It was concieved as a "personal luxury sports car". It only came in a 2 dr hardtop with bucket seats and a console. If you wanted a sedan you bought a Catalina Ventura or a Bonneville. Then they came out with this odd car called a "Grand AM" I couldn't figure out what that was since it was similar to a Grand Prix, but it came in a 4 door sedan version too. OK, they did that to have a similar sedan. But then the blew it. They made a 4 dr Grand Prix And then they QUIT making a Grand Prix 2 door! When I saw the new Charger at the car show, in a crowd of guys, I said out loud, "IT'S GOT TOO MANY ****ING DOORS!" and the Yuppie looking guys checking it out standing on either side of me looked at me and both said, "you're right." and they quit looking at it and walked away. I think it was Bill Mitchell who said car designers have to have gas running in their veins or they just can't design "cool" cars. (or it was Harley Earl, I get confused) otherwise they're just refrigerator makers. And this is why even old 4 dr cars will NEVER be "cool" customs. They're just old cars that happened to "make it". Keep them stock. Rent them out to movie productions. The first car I remember being cool was the '48 Studebaker with the wrap around back window my Dad bought when I was about 5 or 6.
the first car i recall as 'cool' was of course my Dads 39 pontiac straight 8 business coupe in which we came to california in 1944. He liked to drag from stoplites, [I think thats where i got infected with cars]Then it was my uncle's 39 Buick Century sedan, which was really a snazzy car. he said it was the fastest car made, all i knew, it was WAY faster than my Dads coupe! and the speedo went to 120! We lived near Vermont and Slauson in L.A. and i saw many hotrods around there, roadsters and coupes,etc.My Dad wud jump on it at the stoplites to get them to race, hiboys smokin away, that was really exciting!
We didn't call them "Black Widows" at the time, Jay. The common term by which they were identified, at least in SoCal where several dozen of them dominated A/Stock drag racing in the first part of the year, was "Duntov Chevys." Once the NHRA created the new Super Stock cl*** to accommodate them and a few other factory-built hot rods from other manufacturers as well, the common term was then "Super-stock Chevy." "Black Widow" was first applied to the 8 or 10 (the number is in question) SEDCO-prepped '57 150s Chevys Vince Piggens ordered for NASCAR compe***ion, and the term didn't filter down to SoCal drag racing until well into the model year. Even then, it wasn't as definitive for drag racers as was the term "SS Chevy." The success of those early SEDCO-built Black Widows earned Chevy a ton of orders for a "m***-produced" version from both NASCAR and drag racers, which the factory met as quickly as possible. I've heard that there were perhaps as many as 1100 built, but it's not certain how many of those were the true kick-*** cars. I ordered mine in late Winter 1957 but didn't receive it until early Summer -- about 10 weeks after order. Chevy was more concerned with filling orders from NASCAR racers than they were those from young no-name drag racers, and while I can't fault them for that now, it sure pissed me off at the time! All the '57 BW/SS/Duntov Chevys (after the SEDCO cars) were built in Flint, and included all the modifications incorporated in the SEDCO cars, plus some further refinements, plus tailoring to application. They were all two-door post bodies, although they were not all 150s. I ordered mine as a 210, initially requesting a two-door hardtop. That was rejected which cost me at least a week, but probably more when it was clear to Chevy that I wasn't a serious roundy-round racer. I relented on the body configuration but was firm on trim level, which was clearly no problem for Chevy because most of the SS cars that showed up in SoCal for drag racing were trimmed as 210s. Also, more than a few of those "Black Widows" were delivered in red, with several in the handsome Sierra Gold that Chevy had intro'd in 1956. For my 50-percent premium for the "performance group" over the base price of a 1957 Chevrolet 210 two-door sedan I received that wonderful solid-lifter, select-fit and ***embled Duntov 283 SBC with a pair of WCFB carburetors, trick 12:1 heads, 2-1/2-inch rams-horn exhaust manifolds built expressly for the sedan, three-speed close-ratio transmission, HD LSD differential, HD radiator, HD suspension, special frame reinforcement, six-lug HD hubs and brakes, quicker steering ratio . . . All very cool at the time, particularly for a ****. Mike
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