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“There’s something else going on here. Red CHina does not have cars that compete with Porsche, but it dropped twice as much as the other brands. That tells me that people are going downscale because they have less money.”

Manufacturer’s focus on electric cars, hybrid cars, and generally, cars with overly complex electronic systems prone to failure. This has resulted in lost sales. It has happened to large truck sales too. The idea of elegant, simple design has disappeared.

But, because the replacement/aftermarket auto parts market has also been decimated, keeping your old car running is getting tougher too.

But, because the replacement/aftermarket auto parts market has also been decimated, keeping your old car running is getting tougher too.

That is a problem. There might be three choices for aftermarket alternator, all of them substandard. There are some interchange guides, and some creative hacks. So, for instance, when I owned my 1965 Chrysler 300 two-door hardtop C-Body, parts were very hard to find, because they weren't muscle cars. However, enthusiasts machined a simple part to allow use of GM pick up truck motor mounts to hold up the big 383ci engine. If you are not bent on keeping things all original, you can do a lot (though plopping a GM 350 in the "wrong" car would be sacrilege to some). It all depends on what you want the old car for. For everyday drivers that are not TOO old to easily maintain due to parts availability, but also don't have TOO many electronics, I would lean towards 1990s GM 3.8l drivetrain or the 350 ci B-Bodies (Roadmaster, Caprice, Impala). Be aware that some of those have a hard to replace optical distributor.

Money helps, but the knowledge of the older cars is fading. I was describing my frustration with not having an alternator gauge in my vehicles, and he downplayed their usefulness. He was knowldedgeable, but he had confused the old GM GENERATOR gauges (of minimal usefulness) for the Chrysler ALTERNATOR gauges that I described.