Will we ever get to the coolness of the late 60s, early 70s again?

[HRH]

I was looking through youtube trying to find a particular song, which I couldn't and I know who plays it, but can't remember. Anyway, started getting into some ELP stuff. IT ocurred to me that most of the best music (IMO) came from the same period of time our PL510s were being born. (Arguably some of the best cars EVAR!)

 

An example here: How kick ass is this?

 

 

And then you have the automobile. I've heard it said before and I'll say it again: "Automotive evolution stopped in the 70s." Everything that was available then, is available now, only it's cheaper and there are better electronics. But other than crapping up the engine bay, what has changed? Relatively little. The pinnacle of the age of the automobile as we know it as a strictly mechanical machine, not a latte-making lounge chair with wheels, has come and gone. Unless we go back, automobiles will only get worse, and heavier.

 

What pisses me off most was I wasn't around to enjoy the pinnace of automotive evolution!

 

Anyway, just randomly ranting about the state of the nation, etc., etc., probably ate too many juju berries. Fokker out!

[thisismatt]

That sounds like something I would expect to be subjected to while locked up in a torture chamber.

[Z-train]

Keith Emerson is in the top 5 of greatest keyboardists of all time.Aboslutely mind blowing

[datzenmike]

.... And then you have the automobile. I've heard it said before and I'll say it again: "Automotive evolution stopped in the 70s." Everything that was available then, is available now, only it's cheaper and there are better electronics. But other than crapping up the engine bay, what has changed? Relatively little. The pinnacle of the age of the automobile as we know it as a strictly mechanical machine, not a latte-making lounge chair with wheels, has come and gone. Unless we go back, automobiles will only get worse, and heavier.

 

What pisses me off most was I wasn't around to enjoy the pinnace of automotive evolution!

 

Anyway, just randomly ranting about the state of the nation, etc., etc., probably ate too many juju berries. Fokker out!

 

Music aside I agree. I was a teen through the 60s and used to run downtown to watch one of the young local Dodge dealer mechanics back his full race '66 HEMI Cornet up on the trailer Fri night to haul down to Cayuga Raceway. Open headers. I swear if you lean forward your loose T shirt would shake with the sound. Faawk me! The height of the muscle car era. All cars from then until '72 were fast looking even sitting still. All of them. It was a style never to be repeated again. The '69 GTO, the finest Pontiac made, certainly the best GTO (I drove a new one once). The '70 Chevelle SS and early Nova and Camaro/Firebird, the '67 Mustang and Boss 302, (I drove a '71 Boss 429 4 speed new once too!) AMC Javilin, Dodge Roadrunner, GTX, '70 440 Challenger/Barracuda, I owned new '70 Dart 340. The things I did with that car... 150 MPH... monster burn outs.... (sigh)

 

The Boss said it best:

 

Now i think i'm going down to the well tonight

And i'm going to drink till i get my fill

And i hope when i get old i don't sit around thinking about it

But i probably will

Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture

A little of the glory of, well time slips away

And leaves you with nothing mister but

Boring stories of glory days

 

Chorus:

Glory days well they'll pass you by

Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye

Glory days, glory days

[sick620]

datzen mike. He is like ratsuns own mr. miagi

[HRH]

Yeah, but it's funny, I can't stand the boss. :) Just never liked his music. To each his own, only to be unified by Datsuns! :D

[Guest kamakazi620]

I don't Think cars will EVER be as cool as the 60s versions!!! KUSTOMS,LOWRIDERS,HOT RODS,Nothing will EVER top the 60s in My Opinion!! thats why i had Rat Fink tattooed on ma neck helps weed out idiots,when someone says "whats that on yer neck???? a mouse??" immediate Idiot!!! in the immortal words of Ed"Big Daddy"Roth "If I Gotta Explain You Wouldn't Understand"!!!!!!

[pharouh]

You guys hit it right on the noggin'.

I was in high school in the 60's. We used to look forward to seeing the new cars come out so we could drool on them. now ,you see a new car,it's like "what is that. a Toyota? a Chevy?,no I think it's a Ford,not sure"

like you said,'couches on wheels' and they all look the same----boring!

Don't get me started on how much better the music was.

 

Thanks for the rant, i feel a little better. :console:

[Guest kamakazi620]

You guys hit it right on the noggin'.

I was in high school in the 60's. We used to look forward to seeing the new cars come out so we could drool on them. now ,you see a new car,it's like "what is that. a Toyota? a Chevy?,no I think it's a Ford,not sure"

like you said,'couches on wheels' and they all look the same----boring!

Don't get me started on how much better the music was.

 

Thanks for the rant, i feel a little better. :console:

You should feel Alot better,Todays cars come from a plastic car poopin' butt thats why their "taperd" at both endes!!!

[datzenmike]

Marv: These keys say the Padre drove a Mercedes,

Or at least that's what they're passing off as a Mercedes these days.

Modern cars. They all look like electric shavers

[HRH]

You should feel Alot better,Todays cars come from a plastic car poopin' butt thats why their "taperd" at both endes!!!

 

 

Haha, not to encourage any of your shenanigans, but that's just awesome! Except the "e" migrated from tapered and ended up on the end! :D

[Iowa Mark]

Having started my working and driving in the 60's and 70's, I feel the nostalgia with the era is clouded by your rose colored glasses. The music was great, but so is so much of the stuff being made today. There was also a layer of crap on the radio of the day, just like there is a layer of crap today. The cars of the past were a bunch more personal to the average person because more people acually thought they could work on them. Today things are so much more complicated, and the tools and skill level needed to tinker makes it intimidating to even pop the hood. That being said, the older cars had the beginings of the management systems our cars of today have. Mechanical over vacume, antique electric relays, carbs, points, blah, blah, blah. Most of the old junk was exactly that, junk. The simpler way of getting from here to there is nice to think about, but it extracts some effort from us to do that. Let's face it, mankind will always find an easier way out. It will always take someone different to either live in the past, with all it's hand's-on technology, or in the future with all it's mistakes to be steered around. Choose steam-punk or star wars. They are both related, but only cool to others that feel like you do.

[datzenmike]

There was no need to be complicated. Gas was 30 cents for premium. Air and water pollution was not even a consideration. I think our civilization reached it's peak in the mid '60s... an endless summer.

[dat521gatherer]

i wish i had been around in the 60's. everything now is all about quantity instead of quality. the golden years for all the good shit is over. everything made these days is junk in my opinion. fucking planned obsolescences has taken over in a bad way. i will have my 70 torino gt fastback again someday.

 

music as a art will never be surpassed from the 60's and 70's. rip randy rhoads!!!!!!!

 

my partner i work with delivering appliances with (and yes all new appliances are junk i dont care if it is a wolf,subzero,viking,thermador,jennair ect) anyway he is like 23 and is in a death metal band but knows more 60's songs and lyrics than i do and i'm 33. so there is hope to keep the golden past alive. i think the really good music will still be listened to 100 years from now cause it cant be reproduced. i mean really who's going to record a album in analog that takes 1 day and last's for hundreds of years. they say history repeats itself but in some cases i dont think so, just cheap imitations.

 

the good stuff will live on (music/mechanics) but will never be recreated.

[Z-train]

Having started my working and driving in the 60's and 70's, I feel the nostalgia with the era is clouded by your rose colored glasses. 1)The music was great, but so is so much of the stuff being made today.2) There was also a layer of crap on the radio of the day, just like there is a layer of crap today. 3)The cars of the past were a bunch more personal to the average person because more people acually thought they could work on them. 4)Today things are so much more complicated, and the tools and skill level needed to tinker makes it intimidating to even pop the hood. That being said, the older cars had the beginings of the management systems our cars of today have. Mechanical over vacume, antique electric relays, carbs, points, blah, blah, blah. Most of the old junk was exactly that, junk. 5)The simpler way of getting from here to there is nice to think about, but it extracts some effort from us to do that. Let's face it, mankind will always find an easier way out. It will always take someone different to either live in the past, with all it's hand's-on technology, or in the future with all it's mistakes to be steered around. Choose steam-punk or star wars. They are both related, but only cool to others that feel like you do.

 

1)Really?Show me todays equal of Leslie West,Iommi,Jeff Beck,SRV,Ricck Wakeman,Richie Blackmore,Alvin Lee

2)True-however,there was no crap like rap then.

3)Wrong-you could order what you wanted and they were built to last UNLIKE today.

4)Junk?try state of the art at the time.

5)Really?-i'm doing it.

[Iowa Mark]

There was no need to be complicated. Gas was 30 cents for premium. Air and water pollution was not even a consideration. I think our civilization reached it's peak in the mid '60s... an endless summer.

 

While I agree to part of the idea on the need for complication, I would like to add that back in the 60's an engine was toast if it ran 80,000 miles. Cars, in general, were discarded for no other reason than the new models looked "nifty". The population was a quarter of what it is now and we got payed $1.75 an hour. When our grandparents reached 65 they retired and died shortly after that. Head-on crashes were mostly fatal. Fewer than 5% of our population was overweight. You could get a good job and buy a house without a master's degree. Our phones were hard wired to the wall and sometimes had several people using the same line. Food was prepared at home and eaten there at a table. Television had only a handful of channels, if you could afford one. And if you got your girlfriend pregnant, You 'had to' do the right thing.

I love old cars, but I really think the advances that have been made to get them to the level of reliability, power, milage, and safety is amazing. The same is true with lots of things today. The trick is to get yourself through the minefield of all the waste that is offered up to us. Do we really need movies on a tiny screen as we wander the mall looking for light-up flip-flops? Do we really need the extra expense of GPS when we are only driving to grandma's house? And do those 32" Donk wheels really make me "cool"?

[DanielC]

A different opinion.

Did you forget about engines with points, that needed a tune-up every 3000 miles, points and plugs replacing every 12,000 miles, sitting on bias ply tires, stopped by drum brakes on all four wheels, with only a single hydraulic circuit, that left you without brakes if you had a fluid leak?

How many of you have worked on a car from this era, that are dealing with rusted out panels? we now have modern electropainted planes the have rust protection built in, from the factory. Paints you can buy these days are far superior to the alkyd enamels, and lacquers that used in the 1970's

Cars now are expected to be able to go 100,000 before needing even a spark plug change. Cars now tell you what is wrong with themselves. Cars now can automatically compensate for altitude changes.

 

I was in high school from 1969 to 1973. There were some great cars in that era, for that era. Anyone remember a 1965 Shelby GT-350? but how would that cars performance stack up against a 2010 Shelby Mustang?

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/09q1/2010_ford_mustang_shelby_gt500-auto_shows

 

It is human nature to remember the good, and forget the bad. In many ways, the good old days were worse than we remember.

[datzenmike]

True, both of you. Any idiot could usually fix a stalled car back then and limp home. Today you are totally at the mercy of technology. Sure there were fatal accidents but people were more careful because of it. Today ads tell us disc brakes/anti loc brakes/active accident avoidance systems/reactive suspension/air bags can make you safer to the point we are less careful. And don't get me started on drivers and their total lack of respect for others. I think it was a lot safer driving in the 60s. Some of the tech of today is great and I would welcome it if it didn't come in a FWD CVT POS wrapper. The fact that GPS is even offered on cars tells me that the wrong people are driving.

[Jesse C.]

I was just a kid in the 70's and my teenage years where in the 80's. I would not change a thing and I do not long for someone else's past. While I do appreciate the music, culture and cars from those eras, Mine is fine.

 

Now where did I leave those Parachute pants? :rolleyes:

[Guest kamakazi620]

Haha, not to encourage any of your shenanigans, but that's just awesome! Except the "e" migrated from tapered and ended up on the end! :D

Wank wank WANKER!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIInySnQe4I&feature=related :lol: :lol:

[hang_510]

two words describe the 70's for me

 

 

Aboslutely mind blowing

palmer OR powell???

 

the '67 Mustang and Boss 302,

(I drove a '71 Boss 429 4 speed new once too!)

my first car was a 67 w/a swapped 302 :)

my neighbors 69 cobrajet was blown!

 

 

 

and bruce springsteen is not boss!

[Figbuck]

I saw Emerson Lake and Palmer at the Berkley Community Theater about 1970 I think. They had a big presence on stage and the music was kind of theatrical rock but they had good rock chops. I remembered that my friends that wanted to go see them had to talk me into spending six bucks for a ticket. I also remember thinking as I walked out, that cat ain't no Jimmy Smith, ha, ha, some lame-assed white boys.

 

The past VS now... it's all apples and oranges. I have a friend that loves his old Triumph Bonny. What a piece of junk. He can't ride it anywhere with out something needing to be messed with or it breaking. He won't get on a modern sportbike. I always say that there is a reason why they don't make them like that anymore. Even the cheapest 250s or 500s sold today are superior in every way. But he still relishes the nostalgia and I think it's his ego thing. It's the way he wants people to see him. It's an emotional thing not rational, logical or pragmatic at all. Sort of the reason I drive a Datsun.

 

My younger brother and me used to sit on a bench at bus stops on El Camino Real the main drag where we lived. People called it the "Elco" or the "Elk". On Friday and Saturday nights the cruise was on. There was an A&W burger joint with roller skating car hops on one end of town and a McDonalds at the other end, that had a big parking lot. It was also in kind of and industrial stretch of El Camino so it was ripe for street racing. We used to sit on our bikes so we could see the light at the intersection but be up where they were going through the gears. There were some fast cars in those years. There were a lot of guys that worked as mechanics or had good jobs where they could build street rods that they could take to either Fremont or Half Moon Bay drag strips on Sunday. Cars would come from all over the Bay Area. I remember seeing Roy Brizio's '32 coupe one time. That guy was on a par with the best LA builders.

 

There were Vettes, GTO's. Camaros, Mustangs, you know all that hardware. There were some guys that worked for the Dodge Crystler dealership and had 427 Firepower engines in Darts or Valiants. There was a Falcon with a 427 Ford and a blower. Stuff was relatively cheap in those years. I started driving in '68 and gas was like twenty-six or twenty- seven cents. When we were kids, we would get some candy bars and watch all the cars cruzng by and say what year and model each car was. Oh, man that's not a not a '52 Chevy... it's got no turn signals! We knew what all the makes, models were. Now If I witnessed and bank robbery and the FBI ask me what the make of the getaway car was, I say white or red sedan... I dop't have a clue what make, model or years cars are anymore.

 

I saw a car last night that was really swoopy looking. It was kind of racy, fucking nice wheels, but over all it just didn't do it for me. Kind of to cold, no passion. It was a BMW. I had to look at the badge. A little later I saw a new car that i have never seen, it was sort of the same swoopy kind of design it was a Mercedes. I'l bet they are really nice cars to drive and take a trip on, but I would never consider parting with that kind of cash for a car, even if it money was not a problem. It's just not something that means that much to me.

[datrod]

I grew up in the 60 & 70's I just don't remember anything.

[Guest kamakazi620]

I grew up in the 60 & 70's I just don't remember anything.

Good LSD Huh?