For decades, Americas were able to cheaply fix many of their car problems—but advanced technology is forcing higher costs and more expertise.
CASA GRANDE, Ariz.—Given the choice between a sporty new Chevy Corvette and his 1963 Dodge 330, Bob Hughes will take the 60-year-old classic any day.
The simplicity of automotive design from yesteryear has its virtues, Mr. Hughes said, relaxing in a lawn chair next to his former “daily driver” at the Thunderfest Car and Bike Show in Casa Grande, Arizona, on Nov. 4.
“You can change the plugs—you can see the plugs—which is something you can’t do on most new cars,” he said.
“I built this thing from nothing. It was a $75 body when I bought it.” That was in 1970.
All around the big parking lot were classic hot rods and muscle cars—tricked-out mechanical masterpieces from when vehicles were easy to work on if you had the tools and the skill.
It isn’t the same with newer automated vehicles, vintage and classic car enthusiasts say.
“For one thing, the electronics can screw you up,” Mr. Hughes, 76, told The Epoch Times.
“You mess up the electronics by arcing the battery. I’ll walk before I buy an electric vehicle. And I can’t hardly walk at all.”
Mr. Hughes of Casa Grande isn’t alone in criticizing the new car technology.
Mary Jo McDonald, a senior from Glendale, California, held similar views as she sat under an umbrella watching over her husband’s 1959 Pontiac Bonneville convertible with the hood open.
She said comparing vintage cars and newer models is like comparing cats and dogs.
“My husband is an electrical engineer. But the new stuff? It’s like Star Wars,” Ms. McDonald said.
Though her husband, Donald, has tried working on the newer cars, he’s been having trouble “getting all the bells and whistles to work,” she said.
“It’s complicated. You can figure out how the older vehicles come together and come apart. This car, he completely tore down and redid the whole thing.”
“There’s no comparison,” Ms. McDonald told The Epoch Times. “There are definite advantages to the new technology. But being in my 80s, I would rather have it the old way.”
By Allan Stein
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