At Home Mechanic

No, the cars were not better back in the old days. Today's cars are environmentally cleaner, far safer, more fuel efficient and generally faster than anything you could buy back in the classic Muscle Car era of the late 1960's and early 1970's. And today's cars are lightyears ahead of the smog-choked monstrosities that were foisted upon the American Public during the Energy Crisis of the 70's and 80's. But way back in the day there was one fun feature of buying a new car that has largely disappeared in the modern automotive era, the long list of options that could be ordered from the factory 30 years ago.

In today's car buying environment the consumer has a fairly short list of choices once he gets inside the dealer's show room. As an example, let's examine the purchase of a mythical car that represents how most cars are sold in America these days:

If you want to buy a World Wide Wicket Belchfire, you will find that it comes in three levels of trim. The cheapest version of the Belchfire is what we used to call the "stripper model" because it does not have all the nice features and chrome trim of the next level up. Generally this lowly model is reserved for government fleet sales and rental car duty. The middle model of the Belchfire is the version mostly likely to be bought by the average consumer. It costs a bit more than the stripper, but it has a nicer stereo, plusher fabrics on the seats and shinier hubcaps. And at the peak of the Belchfire food chain is the luxo-version with a sunroof, leather seats, a bigger engine and four-wheel disk brakes.

The dealer will be happy to sell you chrome wheels, floor mats and other revenue enhancers from the showroom floor, but the basic list of choices when buying a new car today are stripper, basic and luxo. The manufacturers limit your choices not to prevent buyer information overload, but to simplify their supply and construction streams. It is far more efficient for the factory to crank out only a couple of versions of the same model than to try and customize a dazzling variety of features for every car sold. And if the factory can get all the consumers who want a sunroof to also buy the bigger engine model with the fancy stereo, etc. etc. the profit margin increases with every extra feature packaged onto the model with the sunroof.

But back in the old days (there is that phrase again) it was not so simple. When Mr. And Mrs. American Car Buyer found themselves in the dealer showroom circa 1967 they were given a very long menu of option choices they could select to create the car of their dreams. Interior and exterior trim options were only the beginning of the list, manufacturers allowed you to match as many as five different engine choices with multiple choices for rear axle, brake styles (Manual or power assisted, front disk or drums, heavy duty or standard and so on) and carburetors (single barrel, two barrel, four barrel or multiple carb setup) were available by checking off a box on the option list. At one point it was possible to order certain General Motors cars in ten thousand different variations by mixing and matching various option choices that could be custom ordered from the factory. Today, Muscle Cars from the classic era have a greater value to collectors if the original build sheet, list from the factory detailing every option ordered at purchase, is included in the car's documentation.

Consumers loved the choices but the factory eventually grew weary of stocking so many potential part combination and the dealers preferred to sell an existing car off in their inventory rather than taking a customer order and waiting 6-8 weeks for delivery and final payment from the buyer. American auto manufacturers believed that they needed to offer consumers a wide range of choices, but it was the success of the Japanese cars during the gas crisis years that proved that Americans were willing to buy a car with limited optional choices.

The long list of optional choices for consumers is not completely a thing of the past, the high-end German manufacturers are still willing to special order a car to a buyer's exacting expectations. They will even invite the buyer to come to the German factory to witness their car's construction and take delivery as it rolls off the production line. Porsche has a particularly impressive list of options available for order; maybe the most entertaining reading for a gear head is to imagine the possibilities that can be selected from the Stuttgart factory.

The next time you consider buying a new car know that you are getting a much better car than your father could have bought back in the day. But dear old dad had a lot more choice when he visited the dealership.