DominicBest wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 9:34 pm
A couple of weeks ago I was talking about a particular Mini Cooper S that my father had owned. They are very valuable now because so few with that engine were ever made. I started telling a friend how I wish it was still in the family but added that when my father bought it it was already rusting apart.
I can attest to your criticism of the original Mini having owned three and worked on many more. In addition they are a bitch to work on under the bonnet if your hands are any larger than a child's. There is a UK TV series about a Yorkshire car auction house. They went to collect an early Cooper S and as they were pulling it out of the garage it was clearly a total rusted mess and wouldn't even roll but at auction it made £10,000. It was purchased to get the logbook and the I.D. plate from the car to enable a rebuild using mostly new/reproduction parts. I forget what the value was said to be upon completion but a figure only a rich "collector" would pay.
I still maintain my opinion that people are less influenced by "so called" mechanical features than the visual aspect presented by a new model. Of course there will be a significant number who don't give a damn but will buy anything that gets them from A to B as long as it is grey. The Retro models are an attempt to cash in on nostalgia and to some extent have been successful, only limited by being expensive mid range models rather than entry level models that would have been accessible to tighter budgets.
Over the years Porsche spent a great deal of development to make their rear-engine design work properly to earn its place against the competition that chose to keep their engine at the proper end. They also hedged their bets for a while by dabbling with the front engined 924 and 928. I owned a couple of 924s and loved them. In comparison to the 911 range they weren't real roadburners but what a delight to drive. Best seats I have ever sat in and they corner like they're on rails. That was a car you could drive like a lunatic and it would make up for your shortcomings. Such a shame I can't afford one today. I would dare to suggest part of the appeal of the popular 911 shape is one of nostalgia, certainly today when 98% of new cars are indistinguishable clones of crumpled designs. It is laughable seeing their efforts on TV ads. Thinking people will buy them because of the excellence of their "infotainment" systems, connectivity (to the internet), and touch screen controls.
Humanity landed on the moon over fifty years ago but it seems too much to ask for a reliable telephone/internet service in rural France.
