Today’s bland models will kill enthusiasm for car restoration

Over the summer, I attended several classic car shows and relived the ’50s and ’60s through the cars. Back then, every make and model was distinctive. And every year at this time, dads and sons looked forward to the debut of the new models. Every year, they actually changed — unlike today, where the only way to tell a Chevy from a Mazda is to get up close and read the badging. There are no distinctive grilles, fenders or fins.

The car factories enhanced the new model year rollout by shipping the first units wrapped in sheets or tarps, on the car carriers, so the public could not view the cars until their official debut date. My dad was a car salesman, and he always took his vacation when the factory was retooling for the new models, and the output of new cars from the factory stopped for a while.

It is the opinion of many car buffs that 40 years from now, there will be much less interest in restoring the cars of today. Why bother? They all look alike. LOUIS LAMANNA

Murrysville