Do you love or hate musclecars?

[Negus]

Nice article:

Car Hack's Notebook: Tomorrow's Classic, Today


My dad's love of classics always bemused me as a child. This was a time of radical leaps in horsepower, performance, styling, every facet of car design, and he was buried in some edition of Pipe Smokers and Classic Jaguar Lovers monthly, with a free anorak with every subscription. He clearly knew nothing...

Of course I was also convinced Baywatch and Beverly Hills 90210 were unmissable entertainment, wrestling was real, Cyndi Lauper was a *** goddess, Soda Stream was a good idea and that dressing like a bad rip-off of Don Johnson would have the girls flocking to my door. I was a child of the 80s and we made mistakes.

And now it looks like my dad can serve me a huge slice of humble pie on the car front, something that won't give him any pleasure at all. Oh no...

See I never quite figured out how we suddenly got turned on to old cars, how the process happened. The only kids that grow up liking old cars lose their hair at the age of 12 and go on to become Science teachers, so there's a breaking point involved -- a rejection of modern values that lands eccentric characters on the humorous section on local news.

Mine came, behind the wheel of the BMW M5, at the age of 30. Not wishing to believe it, not wishing to accept this sign of passage into old age I refused to write this column, or anything like it, for nigh on a year. See, I grew up with Bimmers and genuinely believe they were the very best drivers' cars in the sector. They still are, which is even more depressing.

So, with this bias in mind the M5 got another chance, and another, and then the M6 got a crack, but it's not getting any better.

This is the advance of technology in all its glory, a comfortable four-seater with supercar performance. Not only does it come with the adjustable 507 hp powerplant, you can also adjust more or less anything, from the suspension and super clever seven-speed sequential's level of aggression right through to the time it takes the lights to dim when you switch it off at night.

It took three Playstations' worth of computing power to get all that done, and it feels like one too. On a games console you can blow the limbs off Armenian children all day without feeling a whiff of emotion. And you can hurl the M5 at the horizon at such velocity the sound of maniacal laughter should drown out the bang of your exploding heart, yet the World Staring Championship would be more exciting.

I hate it with every fiber of my being. It would be easier to bond with a Korean serial killer.

You can forgive crap cars for being crap, they're cheap, they're comfortable, they have something going for them. The M5 is a mass of muscle and speed, it should be great, yet it has the worst crappy-paddle gearchange, traction control that feels like it's driving for you and Necrophiliacs probably get more feeling, more warmth, from their "lovers."

And this pains me so, because the E39 M5 was arguably the greatest sports saloon of all time. This was a huge four-door saloon with subtle looks, monumental pace and the capacity to take every bend at progressively ludicrous angles, so it had the same strengths.

Yet the old-school M5's beauty lay in its simplicity: a well-balanced chassis, a proper gearbox and traction control that was either on or off. The car changed gear when the driver told it to, it slid wide when the driver told it to, it did everything the driver wanted to. We didn't need all the Starship Enterprise rubbish then and we don't want it now.

But that is the march of progress, wrapped up in one model evolution. And the start of a love affair that I don't really like. In 10 years, probably less, the E39 M5 will be a classic car, and in my eyes will almost certainly be better than anything that has replaced it.

I will be a classic car enthusiast, and my children, should some woman be so unlucky, will look at me as if I know nothing. I can always tell them those school-age kids are 35 years old and those brave wrestlers are far better actors, but such hollow victories will not compensate for the glaring defeat that now stares me in the face.

Kids be careful what you say about your dad's dream cars, for just like his waistline and his hairline, you are staring at your own future. – Nick Hall

hehe tatanda din tayong lahat......

[Jun aka Pekto]

Well, another whole can of worms just opened........ I'll sit this one out.

[midinite]

*midnite: yep. anything that could relate to the era. however, you can't blast it all the way in NLEX. mahigpit dun masyado.

as for me, i think i would prefer a 55 Thunderbird, a fastback Shelby GT500, a Mercury Cougar (forgot the model though) or a Dodge Challenger.

Nice choices. and yup mahigpit na sa NLEX. even when i go with the porsche boys medyo nanghuhuli sila. sayang kasi someone took out the kevlar (or non-metal) bodied porsche (cant remember what model since i am euro challenged) at mejo ingat sa parak. sayang. what is interesting is that when we used to pedal to the metal in the 80s okay lang.

[ian_rex]

*midnite, sa STAR tollway siguro pwede pa. kaya lang di ako natutuwa sa road surface dun e.

i can relate to the article. dati i hate vintage cars in general. but as i got older, i began to appreciate its beauty. and yes, i remember being exposed to cars at a very young age- (in a '64 VW Beetle as far as I could remember) not knowing that it would be a lifelong passion.

now, i'm already planning a strategy how to acquire my own car (i guess, a classic in the making in the philippine shores though, it's a japanese car- AE92). all and still, i still love modern cars- especially if it will be given to me free!

[chr1smj_15]

[ronw123w124]

I'm not really into musclecars but my favorite among the musclecars is the 69' Mustang Boss 302, I find it really nice.

[hominid]

Keep em on ur garage where u can stare at them all day.

Better on car shows dahil mas mapapansin at kabibiliban. Kesa sa daan hindi naman lahat nakatingin sau.

[uls]

If u are pinoy in ur 20's or 30's and lived here in the islands all your life, having seen nothing but japanese econocars, it doesnt make sense as to why u would be a fan of american muscle cars.

Unless sobra ka nabilib sa movie Gone in 60 Seconds...

na-in love ata kay Eleonor

[scharnhorst]

I like the noise of the humming V8's

[saint_benidict]

i dont love muscle cars, i think its more of a LIKE thing, kasi gusto ko lang,
maganda tignan, pero kamahalan naman.

i cant use it as my daily driver, and if i've got one, parang sa tingin ko hindi bagay sa age ko....nyahahahhahaha.....


maganda sila tigna sa ma shows at sa mga movies.