Pocket rockets, GT packages, Euro trim. There used to be a lot of fun little cars out there, and they didn’t cost an arm and a leg to buy and own. Today, Honda still gives us the Civic Si, and Nissan’s Sentra SE-R won’t cost you a kidney to buy, but that’s pretty much it. Where have all the good cars gone?
The quintessential pocket rocket – the VW GTI – has moved up-market and from that perch it looks down its nose at our skinny wallets. Even Mazda, who goes zoom-zoom in their ads doesn’t seem to want to go cheap-cheap with their 3 as they load up the fun version with turbos and all wheel drive, making it heavy and expensive.
But back in the day you could pick up a Colt, or the original Rabbit GTI, and you wouldn’t have to mortgage the house to do so. Suzuki’s Swift GTi was equally affordable and fun, so of course they killed it.
Setting the Way-Back Machine for the sixties puts us in the midst of a ton-o-fun with Cortina GTs, Hillman Imps, original Minis and other amazingly engaging but cheap to own cars. Most of those, owing to their low price points and disposable nature have gone to the crusher, and today the survivors command premium dollar for their rarity.
Sure, modern safety and emissions controls demand cars weigh a lot more than even a decade ago, but that doesn’t mean that we should be denied cars that make us feel special while not sucking up all our fiduciary resources.
So what cheap fun car from the past would you like to see resurrected? Do you hanker for that Colt’s twin-stick four speed? Or maybe you’d like a Mini that’s more go than show and doesn’t cost the Crown Jewels to own. Whichever it is, let us know.
Image sources: [productioncars.com, philseed.com]
![]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Corrado_VR6_Storm.JPG[img]](http://]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Corrado_VR6_Storm.JPG[img]){kind=link}
Leave a Reply