Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

2 comments

  1. karohemd

    Both.
    When I was a teenager, I always wanted a Pontiac Firebird or even better, a TransAm (mid 70s model, as seen in Smokey and the Bandit, not Knight Rider, i.e. when it still had curves).
    When I was at the FH (polytechnic uni) in Nuremberg, I would drive past a used car dealer every morning and they usually had a little selection of US cars, including my other dream car, a ’75 Corvette in dark metallic blue, with metal t-top (they usual come in glass as you can see on that Firebird). I could have cracked my savings account to buy it but I wouldn’t have been able to afford the running cost (road tax is progressively linked to cubic capacity in Germany, as is insurance and I’m not even mentioning the fuel consumption although it ran on unleaded). To be honest, I still wouldn’t buy one today even if I could afford it.
    My dream car would probably be one with the body of that Corvette but with a modern chassis and suspension, manual gearbox and a powerful but economic and clean engine.

    This is the thing, 60s and early/mid 70s cars were beautiful, with curves in all the right places but really rather crap in terms of performance and handling.

    Reply
    • neilh

      Funny how they had curves until they started designing them with computers, then they all went to straight lines, now they’re getting back to curves again ‘cos the computers are clever enough.

      But yes, there’s a couple of my dream cars rotting in that wood, it’d be great to have the time and inclination to do something about it, or to get a similar car here. But I’m getting a bit spoiled these days, having a nice european car that hardly rattles at all.

      Reply

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