by Rich Sabatini

Created on: January 09, 2009

Oh my stars; if only we could return to the days of the classic cars. Yes; they were the cars that actually LOOKED like what a car should look like, with some flair for design, and some chrome for pizzazz; and in no way resembled the amorphous, truck-like SUV monstrosities that roam the roads of today.

And speaking of roaming, my first car, a 2-door 65 Pontiac LeMans, could be best described as an incredible hulk of pride and beauty, and so ideal for cruising! It resembled its much fiercer cousin in body style, the renowned GTO, but it had a 230 cubic inch 6-cylinder engine that literally sipped .29 cents a-gallon regular gasoline, and was an incredibly cheap way to impress all the high school cretins that hung around at McDonalds.

Back then, I could drive through any fast food place, watch all the heads turn and point, and drive out feeling like I owned the world (or at least the highway). And although the car lacked performance, it was an incredible feeling of importance to impress both the motor-heads, and the lovely gals who all would stare at me, (or the car), wherever I went.

In the 60's, the muscle cars were IT. They were gorgeous. They had shiny chrome, high compression engines, and unbelievably muscular-sounding dual exhausts. You could impress anyone by jamming on the gas, and produce that ear splitting, masculine sound of peeling tires on the pavement. If you pulled up to someone at a stop light, the resulting excitement of a heart-pounding drag-race would be something remembered for the rest of your life.

The old cars had room; you could go to the drive in. They had cache'. Everyone knew you back then by what car you drove. You didn't even need to go anywhere in particular, because just driving around in them and riding in them was fun!

And not only did the cars have sex appeal; they had SENSE appeal. They looked awesome. They sounded awesome, felt powerful, and were exciting to drive. The old crummy AM radios even sounded great because the music back then was awesome. They even smelled awesome. Everybody always liked getting in new cars at the showrooms back then, because they had that SMELL. And whatever it was, a smell like that is something you never forget.

But time never stands still. After seat belts became mandated in 1966, things quickly went south, and were never the same. Federal safety requirements began to pile on for the Big 3 manufacturers, and there was no looking back.

After the seat belt laws, those incredibly stupid front-passenger head

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