No cash for my Clunker!!!!

Growing up in the 80s, there were few cars that looked good both inside and outside, appeared to offer good performance, did so and were reliable. Among those were the 80's F-Body Camaros and Firebirds, Corvettes, Buick Grand Nationals, and probably the best "Bang for the Buck", the "Fox Body Mustang 5.0. Those were the "Domestic" side of "80's sports cars. On the Japanese side, there was the Mazda RX7s, The Mitsubushi Starion/Eclipses,The Toyota Supras. The Nissan 280-300Zs and the Honda Preludes. I have had a few of each, Including a 92 Trans-Am(last year of the "Knight Rider" style) an '82 280ZX and a'90 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I have also had 2 Honda Civic CRXs in there too, but those are smaller I don't consider them in the same class of car. Having had both, I have become partial to the Japanese styling. I believe that as time goes by those low slung sports cars will be remembered as an era just as the SUV era that came after them, this was the time when I was growing up and I will always look at those cars fondly. I came to like the smoothness and styling of the japanese imports better. The American cars had more grunt, and far more add on performance potential, but the Imports had a stylistic and technological edge when it came to thee smoothness and driving experience that totally out classed the domestics at the time. I guess the only way I can describe it is when you drove one, you came to appreciate how everything worked together from the precise gear shifting, the light but but very effective braking and clutch and the effortless sound of the high RPM mulitvalve engines and the perfectly weighted power steering that was light but gave excellent road feel. Those cars were built for handling in Japan which is extremely mountainous. Most were not as fast as their American counterparts but were far more fun to drive on a twisty road or in the rain. They are almost reminiscent of a well made swiss timepiece with every part working in harmony. A perfect example of that is my current Honda Prelude. It is a 1991 model. It still runs great, and has been left original, unmolested by the "boy racers" and their desire to take the biggest engine and stuff it into the smallest car possible to go racing. That is why I did not touch that "cash for clunkers deal," I'm very happy with my "clunker" although the only clunk sound it makes is when you close the hood. It even has that old japanese dinging mechanical bell for a warning when the lights are left on. Now it seems quite "retro". There is a lesson to be learned in all this, that maybe our car companies should tale a long look at the quality that went into those late ''80s sports cars and compare THE QUALITY of those cars to what are being made now. Much like our government, the car companies are trading quality and focused products for frills and gizmos. My Prelude is so focused on being a sports car, that it did not come with a cup holder. If you wanted a cup holder you could get one on a 2 door Accord Coupe or a Civic Coupe only. It has non power seats, and door locks too to save weight. The sunroof/moonroof still work and do not leak a drop after 20 years. Camaro and a few Mustang owners with T-Tops, take note.

My point here is that now our government is trying to be all things to all people and is doing a bunch of things poorly. They could stand to learn a lesson from My '91 Prelude, and my friend's 1990 300ZX because Honda and Nissan did the one thing (being a dedicated sports car) right and did that one thing well.

Here is my Prelude from outside, It looks low, but that is how it came from the factory.

When you stand outside the car and look in that is what you see. It came exactly like that.
That is a classic Japanese sports car interior. It is all business and serious looking. I love it. There is no waste, everything is functional. I wish our government was like that.
Well, now you've seen my car all close up and personal. I never thought I would use it to criticize our government, nor would I share it with you like this.