Hugh.
As you are a volunteer in a transportation museum, you already know that
there was a very significant change in the automobile between 1938 and
1958, probably a lot more significant than the next 20 or even 40
years! Cars got a lot more complicated mechanically, and certainly much
harder to work on in 1958. I am sure changing the timing on the 38 model
is quite easier than your 58! However, cars improved significantly at that
time also, and cars of the late fifties and sixties were far more capable
than their 30's counterparts (probably more solid and more safe as
well). However, in the field of luxury cars, the vehicles lost the hand
made touch of the earlier cars. An Imperial of the 50's and 60's was still
a mass produced car, compared with the luxury cars of the 30's. As you
know, a 30's luxury car could cost over 10-15 times a regular car, and this
ratio dropped to 2 or 2.5 in the sixties.
Similarity with the modern days? Yes and no. The most important
improvement of modern cars compared to our old Imps is their ability to run
with 100-200 times lower exhaust emissions per mile. Even though this is
important on a social level, this advantage offers little to the owner of
the car. There are far more minor improvements here and there of various
degrees of importance, which are compensated by lowering standards in other
areas in terms of strength, quality of materials, durability, longevity,
etc. However, the modern car is now almost completely impersonal, and the
"mass production" feel is now so much worse. So, overall, I think you will
find a lot more people looking back to the gracious automobile past now,
than you would back then, and for a good reason. My guess is that Mr.
David R. Christensen, even though he liked his 1938 Imperial in 1958, he
drove that car because that's all he could afford! I bet if he could
afford a 58, he'd rather drive that one! I don't think too many in this
list would rather drive a modern luxury car rather than their Imp, even if
it was given to them, me included! (If somebody gave me a 02 Lincoln, I 'd
sell it right away, buy 2 or 3 more Imps and have gas money for the next 2
decades!). I am not trying to "put down" the 38. These cars have so much
more value now because they are so much different than the cars you see on
the road today. But lets face it, you can't drive a 38 on a daily basis,
can you?
D^2
>(Imperialists, it seems never change. Change 1938 to any year of your
>choice and date your version of this letter as of today. Seem familiar? I
>wonder if Jim Martin, our resident 1939 man, agrees with this letter?)
>
>Hugh
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