Are classic car people nuts ?

[charged]

Where to start

If you think it is a test of a drivers skill to have ABS, TC, Auto-box et al then fine. Some of us LIKE the more enjoyable experience of controlling the MACHINE not controlling the computers controlling the machine

When something breaks do you liek repairing it yourself ? Do you liek improving performance through your OWN skills in engineering and building ? Canot do ANY of that with a car less than 10 years old. We're not talkign buying expensive bits off of a shelf from some guy in Japan !!!

Now is where I do agree.... If your idea of a car is for it to look original and look as it came off the factory and keep it polished and cosseted in an air-con building then THAT is "classic stupidity" AFAIC

I've been at shows where I drove the car and was parked beside a Lotus Cortina which had NO OIL in the engine in case it dripped or leaked. I've heard of guys aith rallied A110s being told their car wasn't good enough for a show because the TOOLS HAD BEEN USED !!

So just to check, what kind of classic car owner do you mean ??

CD playesr in ALL my cars

Also, own a 100+ year old stone built property. Do *I* want a wooden-framed, modern 'box' to live in - hell no !!!! Stone - gods air-conditioning

Matey I was a diesel mechanic for 5 years ,rebuilt countless petrol engines,car bike you name it,now I tool round with club cars actually just got back from the dyno,we dont buy bits from Japan all though they make the toughest bits in the world,dont be scared of technology embrace it and learn,also about the stone house no aircond come over to Australia plonk yourself in a house in the middle of Australia in summer you would last about 3 days.Diffrent courses (climates)for different horses Nephew car has made extra 30 kw @ back wheels tonight mabybe more clutch was slipping
6 finger style 1 ton cp maybe fluid on clutch ,RMS or input shaft seal pulling the box out tomorrow Matey Im not a person who reads about cars in magazines and think I know it all I actually play around with them,got the extra 30 kw from careful,spark,fuel tuning not expensive bits from Japan

[Matra et Alpine]

Matey I was a diesel mechanic for 5 years ,rebuilt countless petrol engines,car bike you name it,now I tool round with club cars actually just got back from the dyno,we dont buy bits from Japan all though they make the toughest bits in the world,dont be scared of technology embrace it and learn,

Don't know that my post deserved the attitude response as I was just asking your background and trying to pass on ( thourgh the air con analogy ) that sometimes in some situations older is still fine

also about the stone house no aircond come over to Australia plonk yourself in a house in the middle of Australia in summer you would last about 3 days.Diffrent courses (climates)for different horses

Well to be pedantic abotu it, go to Singapore or Indai and go in an old colonial STONE property and see how it CAN work out fine. Remember I said stone, not a corrugated iron dunny
But as I was trying to sugest, it's horses for courses and we agree.
Just not sure we've agreement over the classic car differences

Nephew car has made extra 30 kw @ back wheels tonight mabybe more clutch was slipping
6 finger style 1 ton cp maybe fluid on clutch ,RMS or input shaft seal pulling the box out tomorrow Matey Im not a person who reads about cars in magazines and think I know it all I actually play around with them,got the extra 30 kw from careful,spark,fuel tuning not expensive bits from Japan

I never said you were, I described to alternatives and did ask where you were coming from.
For some reason the point of the comment on the Japanes off the shelf parts was lost. So how many alternative ECUs can you get ? Spend thousadns and you can get a full computerised but then you need sophistciated modelling to create maps etc. It's much easier to alter needsles in twin webers and cam lobe shapes. Any corner engineering firm can do it and do it cheap. That was the poitn I tried to make about the off the shelf. If you can create your own computersed ECU for any engine, I retract the premise that it's difficult and expensive.
Some of the most competitive and enjoyable AND GROWING competition in Eureop just now is classic racing and rallying BECUASE the drivers prefer it. That was all I was trying to poitn out.

[NAZCA C2]

Classic cars are great. Sure their performance by todays standards is not very good but a lot of old cars have character which is lacking in todays cars.

[charged]

Don't know that my post deserved the attitude response as I was just asking your background and trying to pass on ( thourgh the air con analogy ) that sometimes in some situations older is still fine

Well to be pedantic abotu it, go to Singapore or Indai and go in an old colonial STONE property and see how it CAN work out fine. Remember I said stone, not a corrugated iron dunny
But as I was trying to sugest, it's horses for courses and we agree.
Just not sure we've agreement over the classic car differences

I never said you were, I described to alternatives and did ask where you were coming from.
For some reason the point of the comment on the Japanes off the shelf parts was lost. So how many alternative ECUs can you get ? Spend thousadns and you can get a full computerised but then you need sophistciated modelling to create maps etc. It's much easier to alter needsles in twin webers and cam lobe shapes. Any corner engineering firm can do it and do it cheap. That was the poitn I tried to make about the off the shelf. If you can create your own computersed ECU for any engine, I retract the premise that it's difficult and expensive.
Some of the most competitive and enjoyable AND GROWING competition in Eureop just now is classic racing and rallying BECUASE the drivers prefer it. That was all I was trying to poitn out.

The ecu we use are made in australia(Autronic),when I was in late teens,early twenties I has a Charger with a 4.3L inline 6 with big carbs,cam,head and other go-fast bits. Ran the 1/4 @high14s-low15s had great fun now were just doing it with a laptop,Nephew going out tommorrow to test,then race debut a week later to say he is nervous would be an understatement.
Cheers Matra

[Matra et Alpine]

The ecu we use are made in australia(Autronic),

ah, right the 'Japan' comment wasn't meant to mean ONLY Japanese components

On crazy classics though I have to draw the line at the guys setting up for tomorrows show. A Sierra Cosworth and they had the wheels off. One guy was polising the INSIDE of the alloys and worse the other guy was polishing the DISC !!! THAT needs some serious counselling help

[henk4]

There are people crazy about classic cars, hand cleans each and every part of the vehicle and leaving nothing untouched...even parts under the chassis with a tooth pick and cotton balls (I saw it myself) where nobody's going to see

The real "concours-state" diehearts will bring a mirror to put under the car and show the jury what goes on there. These cars come on trailers.

[jcp123]

I don't think so at all. "Who commands the past, conquers the future. Who conquers the future, controls the past"

I personally think it's important to keep us aware of where the cars yall have today came from. I personally don't like new cars, just because i'm old-school like that. So maybe I'm crazy.

I do believe in perhaps modernizing a car enough to make it "competitive" on today's roads as a daily driver, but I prefer cars to stay as they came from the factory because after all, that's how they were meant to be. Even a car that's bone stock would get driven by me. Cars were meant to be driven.

That said, the modifieds are fun to drive. My DD is a "Resto-Mod" '68 Mustang - front power disc brakes, 17" wheels, new suspension, etc. Someday it'll sport a ~430hp 351W, a 5-speed, bench seat, a/c and cruise.

The Cad I'm lusting after will have a bone stock appearance, the original 365ci block with the 390 crank and some other MINOR performance mods aimed at towing (I want to restore a vintage Airstrteam, too), 4-wheel discs, maybe a TH-400 tranny, a CB radio and a tuck + roll interior.

As you can see, none of this is "irreversible", which makes them the most sensible mods of all.

[RS6]

I much prefer classic cars to new cars. New cars are getting uglier and uglier. The modern car era has brought along too many nasty things like Bangle designs and crappy paddle shifts. Why should performance matter in a road car anyway? Soon we will be so limited on how fast we can drive, that performance cars will become pointless.

[Rockefella]

I don't really like classics all that much, never liked the style..... but, no, i don't think classic car people are nuts. (There are some exceptions )

[gtrjazz]

A bit I own a 1967 Mk 2 Jaguar which has sat in my garage for over 8 years I like just to sit in it and start the engine play with the lights etc then I shut the garage door and walk away.May finish it one day ?

[jcp123]

I pretty much won't drive anything else...just as Rockefella doesnt dig the classic styles, I don't dig the new ones. To each their own.

[TIM]

Classic car people are not nuts, they just don't suppress their love. Old cars are about AMORE! You can always tell when you look into the face of a classic car person. (That's what makes them appear different from common people.) I just say AMORE! Live your love, don' suppress it!!!! That's what it's all about and the Italians feel like that with any beautiful car, especially their Bertone or Giugiaro prototypes. They honour cars just the way they honour beautiful girls. But girls are No. 1, of course.

Without love, no car design, no cars, no classic cars.

[henk4]

Classic car people are not nuts, they just don't suppress their love. Old cars are about AMORE! You can always tell when you look into the face of a classic car person. (That's what makes them appear different from common people.) I just say AMORE! Live your love, don' suppress it!!!! That's what it's all about and the Italians feel like that with any beautiful car, especially their Bertone or Giugiaro prototypes. They honour cars just the way they honour beautiful girls. But girls are No. 1, of course.

Without love, no car design, no cars, no classic cars.

That's fine, you may love your car, but the point is what are you going to do with it? Drive it or polish it. IMHO nuts are those who only polish it, and take it to events on a trailer in stead of its own wheels.

[PerfAdv]

That's fine, you may love your car, but the point is what are you going to do with it? Drive it or polish it. IMHO nuts are those who only polish it, and take it to events on a trailer in stead of its own wheels.

Competition of most any kind can get out of hand. The concours type judging where blades of grass and pebbles are removed from tire treads is ridiculous. Also remember reading in a thread, that smoke is painted into the exhaust pipe as the engine has never run. Engines don't even have oil. To me this is a traveling museum, if not a traveling circus!!

This type of competitive extreme is also seen in cooking contests and Olympic gymnastics' (judging). It blinds the competitors, making extremism and fanaticism the rule.

[RS6]

I don't think classic car people are nuts but I shall tell you a group of people I think are nuts (and in most cases, stupid) : RICERS!