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I picked '55-'85 as that period best covers the evolution of style from when the pre WW2 carryover designs finally disappeared and post war economic confidence then the reflection of the space race gave us big fins and lots of chrome, through what I shall call the wonder years of the motor industry, to pretty much the beginning of the end of styling as an art in itself when actual wind tunnel tested aerodynamics began to take over far too much and killed all real styling and the visual differences between marques began to disappear. (plastic bumpers suck yak balls too) I shall include for statistical purposes that I was born in 1966 and was heavily influenced by serial BMC owning grandparents on both sides. Since I got my licence in 1983 I have always owned at least one fwd BMC car. I have owned and dailied a range of vehicles from a '51 Vanguard sedan to a '91 Ford Falcon wagon and enjoyed them all. My current daily is a '90 Falcon wagon. I will admit a soft spot for the styling of the 1920s, particularly the big American sedans and tourers of that era. Although I have never driven any I have enjoyed riding in them. I also love a bench seat and column change, except when the linkages are old and shagged and the thing jams and won't change gear. A big torquey six or V8 wagon with a benchie and column auto makes for a sweet family cruiser that everyone can drive, even my wife. Coon wags for life brothers.
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I started driving in the 80's. There were so many cars I could only dream of. My little 1977 Peugeot 104 was a great car but the Granada's, BMW's, CX's etc they were sooo cool.
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similar story to yours elwoody, except my timeline shifted to the right 5 years.
i was trying to think why i have always owned mk2 astras (so 1980s category for me) it isn't because i think old cars are better, or that mk2s are better than other 80s cars, or that all modern cars look the same or that they are too hard to work on. i guess its just an emotional decision based around your upbringing and what was around when you were impressionable.
contrary to dez, my family, dad, uncles, grandparents were all ford, i've never owned a ford. Thats not a rebellious streak as i would consider myself a "car fan" above any loyalty to vauxhall. needs some more thinking
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Last Edit: Jan 8, 2018 11:24:13 GMT by darrenh
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RWD does it for me hence I went for the 70s where most cars were RWD. My Dad had loads of old 70s Fords then moved onto BMWs and Mercedes.
Most 70s cars interest me but my music taste is heavy metal from the 80s and 90s!
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I was born in '85 and into cars from very young, my parents were pretty involved in the classic car scene and had several, and I was in that world from the very early 90s. Much of the cars I now own or aspire to own are either stuff that my parents had in the 80's and 90's, or my favourite matchbox cars from the same era. While my dad was keenly into motorbikes, and vintage cars, I am more passively into those - enough that I like to have a bike and a vintage car, but a Suzuki and a Riley would satisfy me as much as my Triumph and Austin. What my parents were passively into - Skoda dailies because they were reliable and cheap for pacing the rallies, the Cadillac because it was offered them cheap - those I have developed a very strong interest in. I find that dynamic interesting. Being curtained into picking one 10-year period, means I have to choose between some strong contenders. The elegance of the 1920's, when good design really stood out and craftmanship was allowed to flourish; the artisticness of the 50's(US) & 60's(Europe) when truly beautiful cars and engines were created, and that was all that mattered; the set-square design of the 80's and what someone else pointed out - box arches; the bland-ness of the 90's - while not a great decade style-wise, a time when cross-compatibility really took hold and ECUs were uncomplicated but made cars less laborious to maintain (some may say at the expense of character); the 2000's and on when cars reached a kind of plateau of reliability and focus was shifted onto efficiency, tech and just making them very good at what they are. All of these are great and I'm happy that I have something designed in all these times. But when the crunch is applied, my choicest choices and my strongest wants are focused around the decade I was begat in. I love 60's Camaros, but I want a Gen3 IrocZ. I have about as many 80's cars as I have fingers and my 90's cars were all designed or launched in the late 80s. I think this is interesting. I am a big fan of 80's music. And 90's music and early 00's, much like my car tastes. I wonder if our car tastes are driven more by nostalgia hence the association with the contemporary music, or is it just a coincidence?
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wodge
Part of things
Posts: 455
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60s for style. 80s for Group B and supercars as we now know them. Early 90s because they are the last cars without built in obsolence and the height of build quality!
Mid 90s onwards Euro rules ruined everything by sucking up all the manufacturers funds meeting emissions rules and chasing Euro NCap stars. This is when the bean counters got the ear of board members more than the engineers!
Ironically I own a 70s car, but it was mainly designed in the 60s
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
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Club RR Member Number: 45
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lol. My music taste says I'm still quite angry about Jamiroquai And I own an 80s car designed in the 70s and a 70s car designed in the 30s. No wonder I'm so confused
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If I had to pick an era for music it'd definitely be the '60s - '70s, the hippy era music of my childhood. Also pretty keen on '80s and '90s. When I bought my '71 Wolseley I started pushing radio preset buttons as I drove way and got Steppenwolf belting out Magic Carpet Ride which would have been on the radio a lot when the car was new. That was a special moment.
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My taste in music is very varied, ill give anything a listen, but generaly its a good cross section from the mid60's into the 70's, more the rock side of things like The who, The Animals, pink floyd, and plenty of tracks that i cant even remember who did them, this era is also where most of my love of cars comes from (to be fair, heavily infuenced by my dad no doubt). Into the 80's and theres not alot of music i like, golden brown by the stranglers, down under by men at work and 2 of the few tracks from the 80s i really like and theres not much in the way of cars i really like. Into the 90's is where my own taste in music started, face melting drum and bass, dance, even pop, theres definatly more 90s cars i like than 80s. I still listen to current music now and it tends to be the heavier end of EDM, dubstep, brostep, electro house, and i still look at cars that are being released today. Theres plenty out there to be liked, but its not retro so i'll stop there.
The points is, I think when we are interested in something from a certain era there is a likleyhood that we will be exposed to other things from that era, so it follow suit that, given time, we end up picking out bits that we like from that era. I even like furniture styles from the 60's and 70's. I don't do ikea, all my furniture is restored/modified to make it more suitable for my use, i simply prefer the look of it, and its made out of decent materials.
Heres a quick example of how to compare music to cars.
I would compare this to Seth's A60 (if he doesnt mind)
(one of my personal all time favourites)
Full of period parts, modified in a fresh way whilst retaining the feel of the past.
This one is more like a full on chassis swap, like the MX5/Volvo. Could also be applied to most traditional hotrods with moderm running gear.
(tuuuune)
The origins are obvious, but its still totaly different.
These examples may not be era based, but its still a good example of how I like my music and cars.
Then you might have an example where someone has done a cover version of their own track, ie played their own version of it, a bit like a BMW mini cooper. Its quite good but hardore fans of the original will always hate it regardless.
I could think of more examples but that would mean chocking this up with my (doubtful) taste in music.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,201
Club RR Member Number: 170
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The poll should have had more choices! The domain was a little too restricted which is why I haven't voted. I was going to vote for 70s, 80s and 90s & 00s, but there are 60s cars that I love too and quite a few increasingly. Someone said a Rover P6 was quick and safe enough for today. Quick enough, yes. Safe enough? No chance ; I am unfortunate enough to know a few people who have suffered from accidents and there is a telling story and common thing to them. I'm not silly enough to think that I'll walk out alive from my W124 if a modern day Focus or BMW 5-Series went into me! For me, luckyseven and surprisingskoda encapsulated my opinions. I like the generations for different reasons. Alot like my music. I've been lucky enough to drive a few cars I thought I wouldn't drive and certainly don't turn down the opportunities. However, I'll continue to do so. I lately however have been trying not 'to go back' to cars I have previously owned and going forwards .
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Without a doubt the 80s is my era I was a teenager then and just loved it all Clothes, music, cars.....oh and pubs I started to frequent at 15 !! As said earlier In the thread I like all cars Any era up to 2000 after that I’m Not interested
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Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1998 ex bt fiesta van
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Jan 10, 2018 10:30:58 GMT
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I've gone '75-'85. As a kid you can't wait to grow up, so you don't have to listen to what adults tell you to do. As an adult, you spend your money attempting to re-create rose tinted versions of bits of your life: the car your parents had and you went on holiday in; or your mates dad car that you used to drool over, etc...
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Jan 10, 2018 21:41:33 GMT
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... Being curtained into picking one 10-year period, ... No, you can chose three decades if you like. If you don't make a definitive decision, are you really making a decision at all?
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There are great cars in every decade but it has to be the 60's if only for the Mini and a plethora of iconic Jags including the E-Type. 70's was pretty good too!
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ChasR
RR Helper
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Club RR Member Number: 170
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No, you can chose three decades if you like. If you don't make a definitive decision, are you really making a decision at all? Arguably not. But if you are saying which generations do it for you then that is a decision of sorts . But sometimes a decade doesn´t quite answer the question correctly, that´s why I offered those x5-y5 time spans too. ChasR for instance wanted even more answer options than just three. He really seems not to have a favourite, he loves cars of every decade I guess. So do I, but I can narrow it down to 1-2 decades. I'll be honest. If you asked me the question 5 years ago it would have been an easy decision. 70s cars followed by 80s, and even they would change at the time between each other. My music taste wasn't miles away from that either. Maybe I've become disillusioned with the scene as I've started trying out more shows and generally being part of clubs who are "members only", which are the sort of people you can come across at such places. Maybe the shows and seeing what can be done with cars. Or maybe, I blame Roadkill ; I didn't really have much of an interest in Yank tanks then bar the Mustang.
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Jan 11, 2018 10:07:42 GMT
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I was born in 1970. Did all the custom car shows of the 70's as a wee kid with my dad, and we used to go and watch the drag racing, banger racing and some track racing. Passed my test in 1987 and was dropped into a long line of Austin Metros (so good. Such underrated cars). Also had a friend whose dad was one of the original Morris engineers/mechanics, and he had a nice old fashioned commercial garage where with his dad's help we used to tinker and drive an old tuned up Mg Midget, and we jointly owned a capri 2.0 Laser as well. I lost all contact and interest in cars from the start of the 90's when I went off to art college in London (although I did still manage to have some good times in a Lada Niva as a student in London). I didn't revive my interest in cars until around 2006 when I left London, and I've been on a slow and steady journey of discovery/enjoyment ever since.
My core interest in old cars tends to be (for better or for worse) - British vehicles - Petrol - Carbureted - More than 4 cylinders (though I could be persuaded back into a 4banger by the right car) - Manual (preferably 4speed) - RWD
Anything past 1989 starts to become too technical and complex for my interests. I like the thought that if I really had to, I could spanner my way through most situations... and that requires absolute mechanical simplicity and very spartan electrics. (I don't ever want heaters, electric windows, automatic anything, or even a stereo... I ust don't want them) Anything before 1950, I wouldn't consider without having a nice garage and the ability to steward it through to a longer life. I would consider it selfish and irresponsible to risk ruining a car that old in my current circumstances ie no nice garage and not enough equipment/experience to properly care for it. I felt that way about my ownership of the Super Snipe. In some ways it was saved and attended to in my ownership, but in other ways it would have been better to let somebody more capable take it on. I used to feel guilty about owning it. I love 1950's styling, but with my criteria and budget, 50's cars I could afford would be grossly underpowered for my enjoyment. I love 1960's stuff as there is more potential for some decent straight six power and some good old fashioned tuning to tweak a little more. I *like* the 70's but it becomes a bit of a crapshoot with British cars (< rust, reliability, styling).
So in conclusion, I would say my sweet spot sits between 1959 and 1975... so lets just call it the 60's.
For the reasons stated by GrumpyNortherner, I am really not interested in impressive top end speed. If I had a tuned 60's car that was capable of doing 140mph I wouldn't really feel safe going much over 90mph in it and only for very short spurts. Anything could be ready to fail, and it's not my safety I worry about but so much as the idea of destroying a family in another car due to recklessness.
I do like a lively acceleration though and the ability to snork it a bit around bendy roads. Quite happy to have a top speed of 90mph maximum if there's fun to be had getting there.
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Last Edit: Jan 11, 2018 10:21:37 GMT by Deleted
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Jan 11, 2018 15:57:10 GMT
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Dreaming of a top speed that exceeds the national speed limit, let alone 90mph I agree with the fact it's a bit weird giving three votes. Because that way you could vote for pretty much most of the late 20th century. If the question is "which decade is your favourite?" then the answer "all of them" is ...well, it isn't
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Jan 11, 2018 18:08:00 GMT
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Quartermass has nailed with this statement;
Anything past 1989 starts to become too technical and complex...
Give me a pushrod engine with a simple carby and I have some chance of making it go. Anything with a computer and I'm needing to call a real mechanic.
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ChasR
RR Helper
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Far from it. It complicates things to a degree but they are easier in a number of ways to deal with too. I've bought cars because people have been stumped by a 'simple' carburetor. Some cars people even gave garages a fortune for with them still having lacklustre results; my Dolly Sprint was one such car. I'd have EFI over K-Jetronic for instance now . Like most walks of life things are only as complicated as one makes them seem .
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I'm going for '65-'75 as my decade. I was born in '56 and these are the cars that gripped my fancy as a kid/teenager, the cars I could afford when I started driving. They are also the era of motor I still like to watch race, for preference. Is there anything I'd like to own from then? Yes. Is there anything I'd like to own and be able to afford? A different question. Music? Late 60s to early 80s, mainly rock, so that follows reasonably. As to my cut off? I've always, apart from two, had 'older' vehicles but having had two P38s now, I'm happy that I can look after them easily enough, despite their poor reputation, electrics and all, and there's not really anything more modern that floats my boat. And they're pushrod, and they're V8! So mid-nineties would be my upper limit.
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