One of the unavoidable truths in this world is that things change with time. While we may look at things as they are and think that we have reached the apex of human advancement, there is always something else that will come along and show us that we have a way to go. The same is true in the case of possessions, just as it is in people. The result of this is that we look on the past as a foreign country " they did things differently there (or then). Who would not want to be able to travel in time? Unfortunately, the option of time travel does not currently exist (and may well never exist) so the best we can do as regards looking into our past is to preserve souvenirs.
As souvenirs of the past go, it is difficult to beat the classic car. Historians in the future may well look back at humanity today and use the cars that we drive as a guide to understanding us. They would see from this that we enjoy convenience " because we use GPS navigation systems " and that we at least tried to do something about the environment, from our low-emission vehicles. What can we tell about the past from looking at classic cars? Well, we know that people who bought cars back then were interested in style. The classic cars which survive today all have one thing in common, and that is a resolute devotion to style. It is perhaps this style more than anything, and almost certainly more than any historic interest, that causes most classic car aficionados to become collectors.
Driving a classic car is not usually as convenient as driving a modern-day equivalent. For one thing, the technological development that runs through the history of the automobile has made things increasingly user-friendly. In the past, it was considered impressive that something weighing as much as a car did back then could actually be propelled at such high speeds. Had we known back then that one day, we would be able to program our car to give us directions when we needed them, we would probably have keeled over in shock. Driving a classic car today is not something we do for the convenience. We do it for the feel of possessing something special.
In addition, many classic car collectors join in such pursuits for the enjoyment of restoring an old classic to its previous glories. Today's cars, as functional as they are, rarely look as stylish as a Chevy Impala or a Lamborghini Countach, and that is what we pay for. When we restore one of these masterpieces to its former glory, to the point where we can actually drive it safely and competently, that is a feeling that is up there with graduating from college or getting a major promotion at work. For the classic car collector it is a demonstration of having arrived, in a way. It makes the feeling of driving the car more than worth what you paid for it.
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