Well let me be the first to say this about that; we talk about old cars, because this site is about old cars. I, probably more than most here get off on a tangent about this or that, not necessarily about F M or J bodies. If Janet's biopsy comes back okay, she'll be driving a Dart II before all too long. There aren't many colors to choose from, & I liked being able to pick which options I wanted, not what "package" of options they want me to have. We can all bitch about this or that, but the bottom line is that as long as the gov.'t is there to bail them out, it will be business as usual. As far as quality issues, thank God they don't build them the way they used to! My Dad was a total neat freak who washed his car whether it neede it or not. But door skins were flapping before they had any right to be. Tops of fenders, bottoms of doors, 1/4's, frames etc.. Sent more than a few cars to the junkyard with excellent drivetrains. Cars go 3-4000,000 miles between rebuilds if properly maintained. In American society, if it ain't new, it ain't sh*t! Everything is disposable or throwaway. From marriage, all the way down. Watch the European car shows. They talk about handing down their cars. Over here, if you don't get a new car every couple of years, people think you must not be doing very good financially. Personally, if I get something good, I tend to stick with it. Most of my guitars are 30 yrs old, or older. Once again Big Brother stuck his nose where it doesn't belong. Most guitars used to be painted with nitro-cellulose lacquer. It kills the enviorment, but is reasonably safe for painters. Now, BB has outlawed nitro-cellulose in favor of polyester urethane BC/CC. Without getting too deeply into instrument refinishing, nitro allows the wood to "sing", whereas urethane tends to deaden the tone of the wood. The crap they've re-released as lacquer isn't much better than BC/CC in so far as allowing the wood to breathe & sing. The natural yellowing & patina of lacquer more than out ways the benefits of BC/CC have when used on cars. We obviously like our F M J cars. That's why we come to this site. Everything else is opinion, & we all know what people say about opinions... Never before in history have we been able to buy vehicles that do so many things well. Considerably better than the cars of yesterday. Compare apples to apples. Take the "stripper" of today, & compare it to the one from yesteryear. The wrapper might not appeal to you as much, but in almost EVERY other way, the new vehicle will out do the older one. Better brakes, handling, economy, power, comfort, you name it. Now while a '74 225/904 Dart with genuine/imitation plastic carpet, roll up windows, plastic fantastic interior may appeal to some, I'll take the new DartII. Now while I seriously doubt if we'll be lauding the praises of it 30 some years later, no one is building cars to last 30 some years anymore. The manufacturers worked for years to get us right where that wanted us all along: "If it ain't new, it ain't sh*t!"
