That is an eye opener for sure. While many of us complain about the computer controls & nanny's, cars really have gotten better. Especially in terms of safety.
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"Don't forget to mention comfort and gas mileage..."
During the gas wars nobody cared about gas mileage. At 20-25 cents a gallon we picked up Coke bottles on the side of the road and got 2 cents a piece for them. Didn't take long to fill up my Dad's '47 Chevy or my buddy's dad's '59 Buick. Only took about 7 bottles to pay for a pack of Chesterfields too.
And comfort? You can't get more comfortable that the seats in a "land yacht" like the '59 Buick. Like sitting on your living room couch. And the back seat of Dad's '47 Chevy? Frikkin' Huge! I could get comfortable even after topping out at 6'4". -
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I would still rather have the 1959 Bel Air over the 2009 Malibu.
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As part of my job, I drive these old cars all the time. I love a lot of them. I wouldn't want to drive any of them on a daily basis. I love C2 Vettes (63-67), but I would only have one as a weekend, sunny day car.
Most of the old cars we see at car shows are restored to levels WAY above the way they came from the factory. The paint on the 50s and 60s cars I photograph is 21st century paint, and the bodywork is months in the making. Those cars came out of the factory with plentiful orange peel and even paint runs. Shut lines were big and varied from on panel to the next, from one car to the next. Quality control testing was done by the first owner of the car.
And rust? You could stick your hand through a rust hole in two years on cars in snow states.
As for comfort, I've driven several 1959 Cadillac Eldorado convertibles (still fetching big dollars), and a 2017 Cadillac is much more comfortable -- not to mention a lot less scary rounding a corner.
Now, if you really want to go back to a time when cars were built by craftsmen, check out my dream car, a 1937 Packard Twelve (V-12 engine) cabriolet (photograph mine).
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