Michael Porter wrote:
>In part, that was what attracted many of us to
>the cars in the first place--how they looked.
> . . .
>The cars were distinctive enough not to be
>mistaken for something else, which is a
>common occurrence today.
And Trevor Boicey replied:
>This statement disproves itself.
>For the vast majority of people out there,
>a Triumph is just another old car. Worth a
>smile, but they can't remember the brand,
>or they remember it's British and guess "MG".
Seems to me that you missed the point entirely. Obviously a high school kid
of today isn't likely to recognize a 1960 Triumph (for example), any more
than a high school kid of 1960 would be familiar with all the finer points
of the cars of the 1920's.
In fact, I think Michael said essentially the same thing as you did:
>I'm not talking about the high school,
>drive-in frequenting kid of today, who
>says, "nice MG" <smile>
The point is that our beloved sports cars were (and still are) distinctive -
put a TR4 next to an Austin Healey and your XKE and NOBODY is going to
suggest that they look the same, even if they have no idea what the cars
are.
I agree with Michael that the same can not be said of the great majority of
the clone-cars of today.
I've no doubt that, as you say, the "hordes of modern car afficianados out
there hopping up their Civics, Celicas, Neons, and so on . . . can tell each
other's cars apart from thirty miles on a foggy day". But that's ALWAYS true
of car freaks - and hopefully always will be. To the average Moe like me,
they're different . . . but hardly distinctive.
There may well be some truth in your statement that "Perhaps YOU can't tell
them apart, but that's mostly because you don't really care". But I take the
position that I don't really care BECAUSE I can't tell them apart :-)
I find some support for that in the fact that, when manufacturers want to
produce a car that's really distinctive, they come up with things like the
NEW Beetle, the NEW Mini, the NEW Thunderbird, the Boxster, the PT Cruiser,
and all the other retro-mobiles.
I'm sure my memory has dimmed, but I don't recall car makers of the sixties
and seventies looking to the twenties and thirties for styling inspiration
to set their cars apart.
Jim Hill
Madison WI
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