In the last text I wrote about how a 20 year old car does not feel 20 years old the same way as a 20 year old car felt back in the year 2000. But, a big BUT, old and feeling old does not necesecerily mean bad, because a 20 year old car in 2000, which is a bit more than 40 year old car today can still be cool and amazing and something that gives you a smile everytime you drive it and on top of that be a quality car with a lot of technology and innovations in it.
So lets travel back to 1980 when everything started to become hip, pop and rock n roll with colors and hairs were big and things were just, well, cool.
Now when we are back in 1980 and want to get a cool car, something different from the mainstream… we could always go for a Ferrari or Lamborghini, but the Testarossa was not yet invented in 1980, it came in 1984. We could always go to Lamborhini and the outlandish legend, the Countach, but then we would have to rob a bank in 1980, it might be an easy heist… or not… atleast with the Countach we could outrun most police cars in 1980.
Lets skip doing a bank heist and getting a more reachable without a bank heist. In the 80s we had a lot of amazing cars, but most came out after 1980 so we almost have to go to the late 70s to find something available.
Staying in 1980 it’s really difficult to choose the car which I would buy. First question is style, what kind of car, a sedan, a sports car or a convertible? Hmm… I can’t decide so I will go with all of them which means a sedan for crusing around, a sports car for having fun and a convertible for the French Riviera. Lets start with the sedan. An easy choise would be a Mercedes Benz S class, but of course we want to be a little different and get something with soul even if it’s the everyday cruiser.
Soul? What cars have souls, well, that’s easy, well not super easy, but I wouls say that’s Italian cars and some of the french old cars. This time I think I will go with a italian car, the 1980 Maserati Quattroporte. What more cool than cruise around in a Maserati and if I get tired I can relax in the unbelievable back seats. The price for a 1980 Quattroporte today is around 25 000 eur, which is a reasonable price for being cool!
Then to the more fun part, a sports car. This is easy, because there is on that somehow has always been one of my favorit sports cars from the 80s, the Porsche 928, which you can get for 25 000 eur, which is almost cheap.
I think the car is beautiful, even if some people claim it’s ugly. Most would have taken a 911, but I rather take more personal design with the 928. It’s beatuiful, more than capable and at the same time comfortable on a twisting alpine road through Switzerland while on my way to the French Riviera to jump into my convertible.
The final choise, what convertible to get back in 1980. This is more difficult as there are a lot of cool convertible cars from 1980.
A classic choise would be a 1980 Mercedes Benz SL, but even if it’s really cool, it is a bit to obvious, so lets go with something a bit more fun, a 1980 Fiat 124 Spider. A beautiful little convertible car with a reasonable price, they start at 6 000 – 7 000 eur and go up to around 30 000 eur for a fully restored one. But for around 12-15 000 eur you can get a good shape one. The Fiat 124 Spider fits perfectly on the roads of the French and Italian Rivieras.
Porsche exterior photo credit: Robb Report / Barrett-Jackson
Fiat photo credit: Arnold Classic