A perfect time capsule
Why do we know how sand tastes like? Or dirt, or wood, or mud, or whatever strange material you would never consider eating…? I think the answer is that we have tasted just about every material and substance out there when we were kids. If you’ve been around an infant, you know exactly what I mean. They taste anything they come close to. Which brings me to my second point, Memory.
I cannot recall that I have ever tasted any of the above materials in grown age. I cannot recall I did it as a kid either, yet I can still remember the taste. That leaves just one explanation. Taste, which is closely related to smell, is a very, very early memory. You can play with it in your head for a second. I am certain that you can recall something from your childhood where you remember exactly what it smelled like. This works both ways; When you encounter a familiar smell, chances are an old memory can come back to you strongly, long forgotten but triggered by the smell sensation.
I now understand why people love classic cars. They are the most perfect time capsule I can think of. I am not referring to the taste of old cars, but very much to the smell, the vibrations, the visuals, the sound and noise. So, you have four out of five senses that are fully engaged with the experience. The last one, taste, could be a trip to the café to grab a coffee if you want all five senses. Where else can you find something that can do this? (Except other vehicles).
Wherever you go today, you are constantly reminded in some shape way of form of the present with all its pros and cons. Look around you when reading this; there is a very high probability that you have something in your line of sight that was designed and made in the last five years. But in a classic (unmodified) car, you can look how much you want but you will not see anything else than an environment that has been largely unchanged since the car was made. All you need to do is to drive on a road where you are somewhat alone and not surrounded by urbanisation. Nature and the tarmac haven’t changed. It looks just the same now as it did decades ago. This makes the car a perfect time capsule. It is a literal time machine.
In my case, a classic W124 made in 1993 brings me back to the nineties. I have very fond memories of this time, it was great. I have wonderful memories from my time in high school and gymnasium for example. I also remember the movie The Matrix, where the machine overlords have based the simulation on the World at a time around the year 2000 and late 1990´s, because they had determined that it was objectively the optimal time for a human being to be alive. I guess I am not impartial in this issue, but I think they are right. The late 1990´s was a great time. There was an abundance of hope and positivity for the future, something that is missing at today’s day and age.
I have done some modifications to the audio system to add some easy way to listen to music without transferring songs to cassette tapes or by using crappy FM senders. I added modern loudspeakers all round, and they are invisible after installation. I also added a modern head unit, but I hit the jackpot and found a Blaupunkt Frankfurt which is an exact replica of a car stereo with cassette made in 1992, and I read that it even came as OEM equipment sometimes on the W124. So visually, it is perfectly integrated. It is impossible to spot without a close look that it is a modern high-end unit.
When I was younger, I listened to music all of the time. Constantly. A car is a very good place to listen to music. It makes the journey more enjoyable and with a proper sound installation, the quality can be top-notch. In this regard, I am willing to make an exception to my previous rant about keeping it 100% original. Music, for me, is also a part of the classic experience and I do need a reliable way to enjoy it with good quality. Besides, I used to drive around in a W124 as my first car when I got my driver’s license, and that one also got an audio system upgrade with a subwoofer in the trunk. So I am just going back to my roots. Anyway, I did not expect my classic car journey to be this enjoyable. I have learned so much in these past months. I was just planning to use it as a cheap “backup car”, but I ended up falling in love instead.
Objects can (and should) raise emotions. To say a car can have a soul is accurate. And I now know for a fact, that modern cars don’t.