Post by Dennis the menace on Dec 11, 2013 15:21:35 GMT -5
Every once in awhile I'll meet a younger person who is not like the rest of that set and who is polite or respectful and I'm always kind of shocked. So there is hope. As a nun once told me when I wasn't doing so well in Algebra and I was worried about passing a test -- I said "I hope I pass this exam", and she looked at me with this hard look and said "Oh, there's always hope. There is ALWAYS hope."
I agree about the new Mustang, its pretty ugly looking. Same goes for the new Corvette. A BIG change happened in Detroit about five years ago when GM and Ford decided that America is no longer a growing economy and it is not worthwhile to design a car for the American market or buyer. As America becomes a failed empire, and transforms into a third world economy of most people working at low wage jobs with few if any benefits and a dying middle-class, these companies were forced to act or else get left behind. The "new" markets are India and China. So with that in mind they designed the new Corvette and Mustang for the Chinese buyer wants design wise, not what the American buyer wants as far as styling. That's why this new Mustang looks like a Japanese cartoon book character's face, sort of a Kabuki nightmarish face, and it has sharp angles because younger Asian buyers consider that to be "aggressive" and that is what sells.
I owned and drove for ten years a 1965 Mustang convertible. It was Rangoon red with a black top and interior. I had a ton of fun with that car and the styling was classic and still looked fresh even in the 1980s when I was driving it. It had more front and rear seat leg room, more trunk space, and more shoulder room than any newer Mustang has. I saw a new Corvette, same thing, everything designed for the Asian buyer, not the American buyer. It has no comparison, and never will have any comparison to my 1965 Corvette Sting Ray convertible. When we were number one, we built cars that appealed to us, and the rest of the world could take them or not. Now that 30 years of Reaganomics has transformed us from being the largest creditor nation and exporter of machined goods to that of the world's largest debtor nation and the world's largest importer of machined goods, we build cars that are designed to appeal to foreigners and Americans can either take it or just lump it.
My idea of a "real" car.....(my 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 XL hardtop, and my little red Opel Astra in the background). I love the quasar/sputnik ornament on the grill and roof pillars, and Ford's description of its "cockpit styled dash", "astro bucket seats", "jet tube exhaust tail lights, and vented "turbofan" design wheel covers. Ford described it as having "space-age Thunderbird design, with an out of this world Jetmatic performance that will rocket you down the highway like never before". They really played up the whole space-age, jet-age theme in the sales department, unlike today where everything is presented as just sensible and "practical".
See, even today, its possible to still have a trace of that 1962 JFK world; I just drive around in my '62 Galaxie, listen to some '57 to '62 hits, then pull in for a burger, fries and shake, and come home to my 1962 house and fly flight simulator with all this fine classic scenery and aircraft we have. It's all just lovely until you have to pull in to the filling station for gas and find out you need 20 gallons at $2.94 a gallon.....suddenly its NOT 1962!
I agree about the new Mustang, its pretty ugly looking. Same goes for the new Corvette. A BIG change happened in Detroit about five years ago when GM and Ford decided that America is no longer a growing economy and it is not worthwhile to design a car for the American market or buyer. As America becomes a failed empire, and transforms into a third world economy of most people working at low wage jobs with few if any benefits and a dying middle-class, these companies were forced to act or else get left behind. The "new" markets are India and China. So with that in mind they designed the new Corvette and Mustang for the Chinese buyer wants design wise, not what the American buyer wants as far as styling. That's why this new Mustang looks like a Japanese cartoon book character's face, sort of a Kabuki nightmarish face, and it has sharp angles because younger Asian buyers consider that to be "aggressive" and that is what sells.
I owned and drove for ten years a 1965 Mustang convertible. It was Rangoon red with a black top and interior. I had a ton of fun with that car and the styling was classic and still looked fresh even in the 1980s when I was driving it. It had more front and rear seat leg room, more trunk space, and more shoulder room than any newer Mustang has. I saw a new Corvette, same thing, everything designed for the Asian buyer, not the American buyer. It has no comparison, and never will have any comparison to my 1965 Corvette Sting Ray convertible. When we were number one, we built cars that appealed to us, and the rest of the world could take them or not. Now that 30 years of Reaganomics has transformed us from being the largest creditor nation and exporter of machined goods to that of the world's largest debtor nation and the world's largest importer of machined goods, we build cars that are designed to appeal to foreigners and Americans can either take it or just lump it.
My idea of a "real" car.....(my 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 XL hardtop, and my little red Opel Astra in the background). I love the quasar/sputnik ornament on the grill and roof pillars, and Ford's description of its "cockpit styled dash", "astro bucket seats", "jet tube exhaust tail lights, and vented "turbofan" design wheel covers. Ford described it as having "space-age Thunderbird design, with an out of this world Jetmatic performance that will rocket you down the highway like never before". They really played up the whole space-age, jet-age theme in the sales department, unlike today where everything is presented as just sensible and "practical".
See, even today, its possible to still have a trace of that 1962 JFK world; I just drive around in my '62 Galaxie, listen to some '57 to '62 hits, then pull in for a burger, fries and shake, and come home to my 1962 house and fly flight simulator with all this fine classic scenery and aircraft we have. It's all just lovely until you have to pull in to the filling station for gas and find out you need 20 gallons at $2.94 a gallon.....suddenly its NOT 1962!