They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To

I got my first car in 1987. It was a 1979 Chevy Chevette. Mint green, 2-door, 3-speed automatic with a whopping 70 hp.

There is no way to sugarcoat this — this car sucked.

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to have a ride, but every day it was something. I carried around a large adjustable wrench. Not because I might need to tighten some bolts (although that, too) but because sometimes I needed the all-metal handle to short the starter motor terminals. Sparks would fly, but the motor would kick over, and we’d be on our way.

I still have the wrench. Here it is, and you can easily make out the distance between the terminals on a 1979 Chevette starter motor.

The Chevette followed directly from the 1973 oil crisis. American car manufacturers, who had been spending most of their engineering effort on bigger, faster, musclier, and more luxurious cars, suddenly had to pivot to fuel efficiency. But it took time. It took real products out in the real world to figure out how to make them better.

In 1987, this car had less than 50k miles. I passed it on to my brother when he turned 16, and when he finally put it out of its misery, it had less than 75k.

How many miles are on the cars sitting in your driveway?

They don’t make them like they used to.

And thank goodness.