My car for 1965 Posted 2010/05/27 @ 08:00 AM By Myles Kornblatt
I started the RetroVision posts a little while ago because I wanted to share a fascination. I’m entertained by the absolutely overt ways auto sales were handled a few decades ago. While I don’t doubt there will be plenty of people making similar comments about our current car ads in the future, that’s not why I’m writing this. Instead, as I’m pouring over material from Detroit’s “Lower, Wider, Longer” heyday, I wonder what I would buy if I had a license back then.
Today my personal vehicle is an imported hatchback from a semi-prestigious brand. I like the car because it has great handling and there are few others like it on the road. It is not modified; It is just nimble, distinctive, and tasteful. These are the qualities I believe I will always look for in a car, so where would I belong if I lived in the land yacht world of a pre-1973 oil crisis world?
I chose the summer 1965 as the time period to be in the market because 45 years is a nice round number, and it predates my preference for an Opel GT. Also, I’m going into this as if I have no knowledge of the future, so I can’t go buy a car like Shelby Daytona Coupe and sit on it until retirement.
The obvious choice would seem like a Ford Mustang, but I want something more distinctive. By the summer of ’65 Ford had produced almost a half-million examples. Even with many different options available, the mass of Mustangs on the road means I doubt it would make any girls at the carhop say “Gee, I haven’t seen that before!” (hey, it’s my daydream, so it includes cruzin’ for chicks at drive-ins.)
I have also crossed muscle cars off my list. I love muscle cars; I really do. But I’m looking for a daily driver, and I want something that doesn’t make me pucker during sharp turns.
It is starting to look like I would be leaning towards the imports, but there are a few problems there. My WWII veteran father would disown me if I bought something from a former Axis power (it was my grandfather who was the WWII vet, but I’m skipping a generation.) So that only leaves Britain. Their cars of that time were fun, but it would have to be pretty special for me to want one. After all, in ’65 most British roadsters came with tweed jackets and carbs that constantly needed oil – neither of which I’m particularly fond.
That leaves me with one strong candidate: the Chevrolet Corvair. Chevy had already sold plenty of these rear-engined cars during its firs five years on the market, but it had just received a very stylish update. More importantly, the problematic suspension elements had been fixed with an anti-sway bar in front and an independent rear suspension. 1965 is the same year that Unsafe at Any Speed was published, but this is summer and that won’t hit the bookstore until the end of November. I could easily see myself in a new Corvair Corsa convertible with the 180 hp turbo flat-6 engine.
But there is still a car sitting in the back of my brain, clawing for some attention. It is the Triumph TR4. Yes I know that the car is likely to be less reliable than a hippie showing up for work (damn hippies,) and its image usually includes people with friends named “Muffy”, but there’s just something alluring about the TR4. It was an Italian design with a peppy 2.2-liter engine making about 105 hp. Plus its “Surrey Top” was still a few years ahead of Porsche’s Targa. If I’m lucky, I may even be able to get a new TR4A, which had an available independent suspension.
Yup. I’m sold on the TR4. This means I'm going to have to join a country club, and I will likely be pushing the Triumph there half of the time, but I will be doing it with a smile on my face.
Anyway I won’t have to live with my decision for too long. Once 1968 rolls in, my choice for 1965 will be traded it in for an Opel GT…I will just have to tell dad it came from the Buick dealership.
Anyone reading this post should take 5 minutes to try this yourself. What would you drive in 1965? Or if you were driving in 1965, figure out what the “you” of today would drive back then. Trust me, it’s a fun timewaster for work.
That leaves me with one strong candidate: the Chevrolet Corvair. Chevy had already sold plenty of these rear-engined cars during its firs five years on the market, but it had just received a very stylish update. More importantly, the problematic suspension elements had been fixed with an anti-sway bar in front and an independent rear suspension. 1965 is the same year that Unsafe at Any Speed was published, but this is summer and that won’t hit the bookstore until the end of November. I could easily see myself in a new Corvair Corsa convertible with the 180 hp turbo flat-6 engine.
