You Know You Are Old When

[MossRoad]

Yeah, you're just living in a whole different world, though. I never pull trailers over 7000 lb.

I used to work part of every year in Germany and always had to hear those guys laugh at us Americans for buying high-horsepower vehicles, back when most of their Autobahn system was still totally unregulated for speed. They'd always say, "you can't even drive faster than 55 mph, what's the point in having 500 horsepower when you can't even use it???"

I'd have to remind them that 1) our speed enforcement is pretty lax, and 2) I can still get from 0 to 55 mph in quite a hurry. The accelleration is the fun part, more than blasting down a straight stretch of highway at 200 mph.

Acceleration is fun! So is top end. Hard to find places for top end ah, err, testing. Yeah, testing.

I enjoyed bracket drag racing my motorcycle. It's an affordable way to get into the sport. But boy, getting out on an abandoned piece of road, no one for miles, and just winding it out is really exhilarating.

Watch out for woodchucks.

 

[masseyrider]

You go to bed late (10PM) tired but can't sleep, tossing and turning.
Get up late (after 6AM) tired.
Sit down in the recliner after lunch for 5 minutes and wake up at 5:30PM just in time for supper.

 

[Runner]

Acceleration is fun! So is top end. Hard to find places for top end ah, err, testing. Yeah, testing.

As of late, I have had the desire to find some "fun" roads to drive on. When I was a (dumb) kid there were some roads I used to really tear up around here. However, somewhere over the last 50 years, the conditions have changed (housing developments, more traffic, etc.) and my judgement for places that might be appropriate for "spirited driving" has improved dramatically. Those roads that were a blast at 16, now are places I wouldn't dream of driving that way.

For many years I just had my truck and commuter car and didn't have time or inclination to drive for fun, but always wanted to get another "fun" car.

So now, I'm old, finally have a fun car again, but no place to drive it.

 

[WinterDeere]

So now, I'm old, finally have a fun car again, but no place to drive it.

This is one big appeal of small Euro sports cars, especially when shopping classic cars. Similar thrills are achieved at lower speeds in tiny 200 hp British and German cars, versus big 500 hp American muscle cars. I had lots of fun in MG B's and Midgets, in high school.

Mazda brought that into modern times, at least somewhat, with the Miata. I wouldn't buy one for myself, but I can see why they have a loyal following.

 

[rontaki]

This is one big appeal of small Euro sports cars, especially when shopping classic cars. Similar thrills are achieved at lower speeds in tiny 200 hp British and German cars, versus big 500 hp American muscle cars. I had lots of fun in MG B's and Midgets, in high school.

Mazda brought that into modern times, at least somewhat, with the Miata. I wouldn't buy one for myself, but I can see why they have a loyal following.

I drove aircooled VWs in my youth. Every drive was flat-out full sped and acceleration, without breaking the speed limits! I sure learned how to navigate crowded freeway traffic to get around congestion, at moderate speeds.

A friend was moving, and had me drive his Miata to his new address. Along the way were some twisty roads. I found myself effortly drifting around corners in full control. A really fun car to drive!

 

[BleedingOrange]

The miata cars are fun cars to drive in the twisties. They do handle great. Her is my 1990, that we converted into a Monster Miata, with a balanced Ford 347 stroker motor, and 5 speed T5Z tranny. It provides lots of fun in the twisties, and the straits.

 

[not2old]

I can honestly say I never did, all I cared about was/is reliability.

Acceleration is fun! So is top end. Hard to find places for top end ah, err, testing. Yeah, testing.

I enjoyed bracket drag racing my motorcycle. It's an affordable way to get into the sport. But boy, getting out on an abandoned piece of road, no one for miles, and just winding it out is really exhilarating.

Watch out for woodchucks.

I remember having way more fun in my 1967 Volvo 123GT than my 2014 CTS-V. You could get out on a twisty highway and run as fast as it would go. Top speed was about 115 MPH if you had all day. Can't do that when your top speed is over 175 MPH. Just a few moments doing that, get caught and you are going to jail or kill someone. Same thing with my 2005 Sportster at 65 horse power compared to some of the modern crotch rockets.
I too started racing motorcycles because it was cheaper than racing cars but was never serious about it. Cross country racing was fun because I didn't have to wait all days for my trail riding friends.

 

[WinterDeere]

…we converted into a Monster Miata, with a balanced Ford 347 stroker motor…

Very cool car! But you’re sort of stepping on my point, in bringing them up.

 

[rontaki]

I put a Subaru engine in my Vanagon. Now it can almost keep up with its shadow.

 

[Runner]

I drove aircooled VWs in my youth. Every drive was flat-out full sped and acceleration, without breaking the speed limits! I sure learned how to navigate crowded freeway traffic to get around congestion, at moderate speeds.

A friend was moving, and had me drive his Miata to his new address. Along the way were some twisty roads. I found myself effortly drifting around corners in full control. A really fun car to drive!

I remember drag racing VW's in my Morris Minor. No one else knew we were racing