Classic V Everyday Car - Three Key Differences

[Keep it stiff]

To set the ball rolling, these are my top three. (After this weekend I was also tempted to add wipers, or lack of!)


1. Headlights, '60's & '70's cars really were in the dark ages.

2. Brakes, the original highway code recommended stopping distances were not wrong!

3. Classic driving listening for the slightest out of place sound.

[BillyWhizz888]

Power steering. How many times in a tight spot and had to dry steer to turn

Mirrors. Like the early mk3 cortina with mirrors of the front wings. Hopeless and
Older cars with no n/s mirror

Seats. Most classic seats weren't designed to hold you in the seat and most with no seat belts

[Isimmo]

Gearbox and clutch in heavy traffic, modern car gearchanges are light and fluffy, older cars (esp. our quattros) are like Victorian Signalboxes in comparison.

[//j17]

I'm assuming the question is really Classic V Modern Car, as I use my classics as everyday cars.

1) Ignition keys. Turned in expectation, as opposed to hope of the engine starting.
2) Crash protection. Quite a lot vs. naff all.
3) Central locking. Done from anywhere at the press of a button vs. done from the centre of the car!

[austin]

We now have a Morris Minor as a second every day car. The thing that gets me is how much light comes into the car as the pillars are all so narrow.

I've got round some of the issues above by fitting decent lights, seat belts and it's had a disc brake conversion.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Isimmo said:

Gearbox and clutch in heavy traffic, modern car gearchanges are light and fluffy, older cars (esp. our quattros) are like Victorian Signalboxes in comparison.

I find my wife's Qashqai very difficult to drive smoothly because I can't feel when the clutch or brakes are about to bite. None of my cars are that old (90, 91, 97, 99) but I can feel what's going on in all of them.

[Riley Blue]

1) Suspension - our Fiesta diesel 'shopping trolley' has more comfortable suspension than our '65 Riley 1.5. I've uprated or changed the lights, brakes and seats for comfort and/or safety but the suspension is still leaf springs, torsion bars and lever-arm dampers.

2) Heating/demisting - poor to non-existent in the Riley and not easy to improve.

3) Security - let me just say that on the Riley, it could be better...

[a8hex]

Keep it stiff said:

2. Brakes, the original highway code recommended stopping distances were not wrong!

The stopping distances always depended on which car you were driving. I'm sure I remember reading somewhere which car the highway codes distances were measured using but I can't remember which car it was, but it had drum brakes all around. I learnt to drive mostly in a 1969 Hillman Husky (and Imp estate) the brakes in that didn't like to remove more than about 40MPH worth of speed before they needed a rest. On the other hand my 1958 XK150 left the factory with 4 wheel disk brakes, the hand brake might not with worth the parts it's made from but with that original setup on the track I could happily brake from over 120 at points well past where my road brain was streaming that I was definitely going to die. Sure my 2010 XKR would out brake it, but much of that is down to the tyres, it puts down twice the rubber of the classic. The XK150 will still happily lock up all 4 wheels any time, any place and any speed. OK, so the brake pads and such like aren't original now but they'd still lock up when they were.

[300bhp/ton]

Classic Mini's brake pretty good too.

Although I agree, wipers are probably the thing I notice the most from pre 1980's cars compared to anything newer.

Heaters would depend on the car. My TR7 heater is fine.

Handbrakes however, most older cars I've driven the handbrake has always been far worse than in a modern car.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

1. The noise.

I mean both engine noise and wind noise. I much prefer the noises of my classic when out for a hoon, but at 70/80mph it makes a bloody racket. The wind noise is the most noticeable compared to my modern car, add it to the engine noise when the soundproofing is non-existent and it makes it pretty hard to have a conversation at m'way speeds.

2. Size and seating position.

I feel like I'm almost lying down in my tiny classic, and you sit very close to the ground. It amplifies the sensation of speed and makes it much more fun to drive, but being anywhere near an artic on a roundabout is pretty damn terrifying, everything else is so big! For the first few miles after switching to my modern car, it feels like I'm sat bolt upright about 5 foot from the floor.

3. Starting it up.

No matter how long I abandon my modern car in airport carparks or the garage whilst I drive my MG, it starts on the first turn of the key with no fuss. With the classic, if it fires up first time after it has been sitting for a few days I feel like I have won the lottery. The normal routine is to sit in the drivers seat preparing myself, then turn on the ignition, listening for any worrying sounds. Then it's one hand on the choke the other on the key, then turn and prey once it's got going, it's then a very careful and tentative drive for the first 10 minutes while I get used to a 40 year old, stone cold engine and gearbox.

Wouldn't have it any other way

[mph]

Blimey, my classics seem to be the opposite to some of the previous posters.

1) Starting. My 1950's Jag starts instantly every time even after it's been sitting for two months in the garage. If I leave my modern car for even half that time the battery will be flat.

2) Suspension. My 1970's XJ6 is far more comfortable at sensible speeds than any modern car that I've owned recently. If you include modern BMW's even my 1950's cart sprung car rides better.

3) Modern cars are white goods, they serve a purpose and are disposable. Classic cars are interesting and emotive.

[300bhp/ton]

mph said:

3) Modern cars are white goods, they serve a purpose and are disposable. Classic cars are interesting and emotive.

The thing is, all classics were once modern cars too though.

[EskimoArapaho]

I haven't got three, but just the most obvious one: the smell. Not the charming smell of wood, old leather and minor oil leaks, but the smell of unburnt fuel from the exhaust.

I can tell when I'm catching up with a classic way before I see it.

[//j17]

Hell, I can give you 3 smells for a classic you don't get with a modern.

1. Unburnt fuel - wishfully thinking it's coming from the exhaust but probably from a leak anywhere from the filler cap to the inlet valve!
2. 'Wet dog' - from the carpets due to some I've-looked-bloody-everywhere-and-I'm-buggered-if-I-can-work-out-how-it's-getting-in leak.
3. Oil (engine and/or gearbox) burning off on the exhaust.

[varsas]

mph said:

2) Suspension. My 1970's XJ6 is far more comfortable at sensible speeds than any modern car that I've owned recently. If you include modern BMW's even my 1950's cart sprung car rides better.

I'll second that. I've had two SI XJ6's and they ride amazingly well. The odd thing is the handling isn't that much worse than a modern car; moderns destroy the ride but give little back in return. For a sporting saloon car the XJ6 is a better compromise than any modern I've driven.

[Poisson96]

Today was easy for the contrast, as my classic turned 50.

Wipers - Moggy ones smear instead of clear

Gearbox - I feel like I'm throwing signals or driving a steam loco

Steering - Heavy as a heavy thing at slow speeds

[lowdrag]

I can't find the starting handle for my new Mercedes; perhaps it is an extra? Oh, there are so many differences such as the fall in potato sales since we don't need to carry one for demisting, the sale of rugs has plummeted since the introduction of heating, inner tube sales likewise and today what is going to happen to light bulb manufacturers with the introduction of LED's? Tyres don't blow, they don't follow every ruddy lorry track in the road, they last five times as long. Then Dinitrol sales have gone south too. One can see behind in winter because the rear screen and the mirrors are heated. Overheating in traffic is unknown. Oil changes used to be every 3,000 miles, now more like 15,000; and we don't change between summer and winter oils. I could go on, but I still miss the lack of traffic, the lack of speed traps and radars, and driving in general in those halcyon days. But at least we are pretty certain nowadays that we are going to arrive! Pass me those rose-tinted glasses please.

[roscobbc]

Take a ride in a 'modern' car, (say 50 miles for comparison) and it's likely that you will get out of the car (whether winter or summer) in a fairly refreshed condition not really thinking about the uneventful journey. Do the same thing in a 'classic' and you'll probably get out of the car with a stiff back, left leg that aches a bit from the clutch, ears ringing from the noise and either sweating profusely in the summer from the lack of a/c and the engine/exhaust heat entering the cabin - or - in winter thinking how wonderfully warm the car is inside for an old car and that you don't really need to use the heater. Irrespectively, the 50 mile journey (if you actually got to the destination) will be a memorable 'event', hopefully one to cherish (or hate depending on your mental state at the time)

[pacoryan]

1: Start
2: Go
3: Stop

In my experience all 3 are fundamentally different experiences in classics vs. moderns!!

Tongue firmly wedged in cheek of course but I think the lack of individuality amongst brands is the main thing, my BMW 420 displays absolutely no defining BMW characteristics of yore, such as amusing rwd handling (Nanny says no and runflat tyres), granite-hewn interior quality (pretty cheap all over, very built to a price) and even looks, although the BM isn't unpleasant it is quite bloaty to look at and has none of the fine chiselled appearance of everything they produced from the sixties to nineties.

Legislation and safety of course have defined handling and a lot of parameters to do with external appearance, and the accountants have seen to the quality with the consequence that BMW were (are?) selling more 3's than Ford Mondeos for a while.

Ironically the current Mondeo has moved substantially up market in relative quality terms to say a Cortina, so perhaps I'd be happier in one of those!

I'd be happiest of all with a decent classic, being currently confined to relative "moderns".

[a8hex]

varsas said:

mph said:

2) Suspension. My 1970's XJ6 is far more comfortable at sensible speeds than any modern car that I've owned recently. If you include modern BMW's even my 1950's cart sprung car rides better.

I'll second that. I've had two SI XJ6's and they ride amazingly well. The odd thing is the handling isn't that much worse than a modern car; moderns destroy the ride but give little back in return. For a sporting saloon car the XJ6 is a better compromise than any modern I've driven.

Hell, I was once lucky enough to get picked up from the station in an original D-Type, that rode better than most modern cars.

lowdrag said:

I can't find the starting handle for my new Mercedes; perhaps it is an extra?

Everything on a MB is an extra. I'm sure it will be there somewhere.

lowdrag said:

Tyres don't blow, they don't follow every ruddy lorry track in the road, they last five times as long.

I don't know, when we were buying LadyB8's current E-Class we took a test drive in one of the demonstrators, a "Sport" with stupid blinged up wheels, it tramlined worse than my 150 did on crossplies.
For every advance the car industry makes there seems to be someone determined to do something to knock it back down again.