懷舊沒有錯！WHY DO WE FALL IN LOVE WITH OLD CARS

「 玩舊車不是一件奇怪的事情，很多人玩過一部舊車後，就愈買愈多，想試下各種不同的東西。有人很清楚自己想要的 collection；有人則買最特別、最「怪雞」的舊車。這具有傳染性，大家因喜歡舊車而聚在一起。不關乎身家多少，就算是富有的人，也會買平車去玩。」

Published in August 2019 Classic & Sports Car Magazine | Written by Kenneth E Y Wong

KENNETH WONG 黃恩揚- Classic insider 創辦人，經營高級經典及跑車買賣。對處理高檔車種擁有豐富經驗。曾是香港首間經典車拍賣行的營運總監。經常參與高端古董及跑車的相關活動，貼近市場脈搏

我常在想，為何我們甚麼經典車都喜歡，經常留意着大大小小的拍賣會，尤其最漂亮的那些經典車。現實生活中，車迷各有不同喜好，但新事物是否永遠都較好？我記得有人曾經說過：「人生之中，要盡量試遍所有東西，試完你就能安心的死去。」現時的新車質素非常好，就像高級傢俱一樣。

就連現在所謂「好玩」的新車，例如跑車，都好像比以往的舊車欠缺了些甚麼。人們開始買舊車，好像我有些朋友，竟買回有20 年車齡的三菱Pajero Evolution，平平地覺得好玩。造成這現象的原因是新車太貴，差不多價錢的新車，每間車廠出品的愈來愈相似。要找它們之間的不同之處，是非常之難。

可能以買新車價錢，能夠買到三部價格較便宜、但個性各有不同的經典車，這就是我所謂的「試多點不同事物」。

新車質素愈來愈好，是社會和科技進步的副產品。例如新款寶馬(BMW) M3，相信任何一代不會比現行販售的一款好。新車加速力強，馬力充足，既可急激地駕駛，卻同時能安靜地享受舒服的日常行車，E30系的M3 根本「冇得比」。從工程師角度出發，現在的新車不用駕駛者再遷就它們，相反汽車會遷就駕駛者的開車風格，只不過這是件樂事嗎？

舊車講求「妥協」，主要是因為需要駕駛者去遷就。舊車的機械結構簡單、體積也小一點。加上過去的撞擊測試沒有那麼嚴格，車架能造得薄一點，令操控性和駕駛樂趣都比現在好。就算不把舊車開得太快，卻已感覺到整部車全權掌握在自己手中。新車再沒有這些感覺，對我來說就像一部巴士般穩陣。

近年的經典車價值分析師開始發覺，舊車不斷升值，是因為新車進化得太快而導致。例如法拉利 458 和488，雖然它們是非常優秀的跑車，但科技和機械亦很複雜。跟十年前的法拉利跑車相比，上述兩者是複雜了許多，所有系統都有電子輔助。再者，現在的跑車比舊時長和闊，這帶來良好的穩定性。

現在的跑車都用上雙離合器自動波箱，轉波快得像閃電。但正因為手動轉波是跑車的樂趣之一，取走手動波箱換上高科技波箱，反而令人想起舊款法拉利的樂趣。那些鐵造的open gate 手波波箱，是經典法拉利的特點之一。失去了特點，造成每次當有新款法拉利推出，舊款的價值就立刻上升。故未算古董的型號如手波版本F430，近年亦已升值。

大家都知道，世界各地政府有許多法例，令很多排放標準和安全性不合格的舊車，設定了一個「死期」。這些法例對當地來說絕是好，環保是百利而無一害的東西。只是這卻令現在的新車都不能保存得長久，就像智能手機一樣，車廠為新車設定了一個生命周期，可能是開了五至十年後，那部車就開始出現各種不能修復的毛病，屆時車廠亦會鼓勵你去換車。

可是，當所有車變得完美後，甚麼才是「不完美」？那就是駕駛者本身。因此，現在很多車廠都在研究無人駕駛。在不久的未來，我們找到一部能靠人手操作的汽車，可能已算是「天大思賜」。有開過經典車的者，會發現它們不是只為一個生命周期而造，相反車廠希望此車能一直保存下去，20、30 年也不成問題。這個想法，從舊車的造工就能看出來。

玩舊車不是一件奇怪的事情，很多人玩過一部舊車後，就愈買愈多，跟我一樣，想試下各種不同的東西。有人很清楚自己想要的collection；有人則買最特別、最「怪雞」的舊車。這具有傳染性，大家因喜歡舊車而聚在一起。不關乎身家多少，就算是富有的人，也會買平車去玩。

其實我們在找甚麼？我們只想尋回往日最簡單和單純的汽車來開，它們每一部都具有獨特個性，不會因時間輕易沖淡。好像某些舊車的油門安放在地板上，開法跟現在的不同；又例如法拉利的鐵鑄手波波箱，以及保時捷充滿金屬感的開門聲。開得新車愈多，就愈會發現舊車的美好。喜歡舊車亦不是一件新鮮事，早在汽車剛發明後，有些老人家也寧願騎馬而不開車，覺得還是舊時的方式好，他們不願改變。

到底，喜歡玩舊車的我們，正是這班老人家嗎？

A wise man once said, ”Experience as much as possible and then you die." Modern cars are now built like an appliance, they all feel the same and a little too good at their jobs. They are bigger, heavier, more comfortable, they do everything well. Even the fun ones are missing something. This is why people started buying old cars and seek out 20-year-old Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution. Part of it is because newer cars are expensive, similarly packaged and their differences is becoming less and less apparent. If you're of modest means and willing to sacrifice, you can actually have three neat and very different old cars for the price of a single new one.

It is a byproduct of progress. On paper, a new BMW M3 is superior to any before it. The modern car accelerates harder, stops quicker, and is quieter and more comfortable than an M3 built in the 1990s. Any engineer will point to it as a less compromised product. But compromise is character. The older car is simpler and smaller. It was built to less aggressive crash standards, so it has thinner pillars and weighs less. You can see out of it easily, and the lack of weight helps the car give you feedback, so it’s more fun to drive at legal speed. The new one feels like a bus by comparison.

Many analysts, now believe that the boom in classic-car values is due to the progress of new-vehicle development. Take the Ferrari 458 and 488 as example. Fantastic cars, but complex by the standards of even ten years ago. The electrically assisted EVERYTHING. The car’s extended wheelbase and track improves stability and ride, but at the expense compact footprint. It’s also available only Duo-Clutch transmission that takes an engaging job out of the driver’s hands. Ferrari of yesteryears were deeply involving to drive and only available with manuals. That’s why when the new car was announced, older examples or even relatively recent models such as F430 with a Manual saw a noticeable increase in value.

Everyone knows that the law killed the unsafe or heavily polluting car. That is inarguably good. But as a result, flocks of look-a-like, crushable and recyclable vehicles filling showrooms. Yes, these cars are better than ever before. They're more reliable and efficient than at any point in history. Given time and engineering attention, anything would evolve to be perfect. The inevitable march toward perfection would one day label human input as a “flaw”, and we are already seeing the industry slowly engineering the human out of the automobile.

Many people share my affliction. Some express it by carefully curating a collection of classics; others choose a one-car shotgun approach with, one very special classic. This has little to do with income and everything to do with personal taste.

Old car obsession isn't rare. The more new cars I drive, the more I find myself drawn to the “bad” old ones. Old cars seem to have been built with an eye toward multiple lives, with a simple, honest functionality at the heart of every piece. This root of this love is what we've “lost”. Call it simplicity or purity, especially “character”. An obsession with the fundamental quirks that give a car personality. Things like floor-hinged pedals, gated shifters, or doors whose latches feel deeply mechanical, like winding a film camera. And if you drive a lot of new cars, you realize that these stuff is growing rarer by the minute.