Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/01/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thank you, Felix: I love cars. Am characterized by most friends as a car nut. Serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Saratoga Automobile Museum. My cars: '56 Triumph TR-3, '60 Peugeot 403, '61 Super 90 Porsche 356, '64 Rover 2000, '65 BMW 1800ti, '70 BMW 2800, '84 Peugeot 505S station wagon, one '92 and two '95 Ford Taurus SHOs, '94 Alfa Romeo 164S, '84 Ferrari 400i and '67 Ferrari 365 GTC (last four being the only ones bought "pre-owned"). The two Peugeots were both excellent cars, unexciting but sturdy and extremely well-made. I put over 250,000km on the 505 wagon with nothing more than routine maintenance. It cruised comfortably and handled very well at 80-85 mph and returned 27-28 mpg. A good car is a good car wherever it may be made. A California car dealer friend said to me seven years ago that as a general statement, cars are better made today than ever before because a car company is out of business quickly if it delivers an inferior product. As I write this, it occurs to me that that was before electronics had become so overwhelming a part of automobile manufacture. For myself, I am far happier with less electronics, less drive-by-wire, brake-by-wire, steer-by-wire, less global positioning, etc. Which may be why I still have and thoroughly enjoy the '67 Ferrari that has manual everything and automatic nothing. Far more satisfying to drive. And almost nothing to go wrong, once you have the Weber carburetors properly tuned. P.S. I couldn't remotely afford this car today; I bought it 25 years ago when it was just an old, used sports car, not an ikon and it was affordable. Back to Leicas. Seth LaK 9 - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html