when the cars were new every other car on the road was pretty much sluggish and maneuvered like a yacht and less driver distractions (pre cell phones and MP3 players!)
nowadays when the basic economy car is 2x as fast as the chevette and 90% of the cars on the road go 0-60 in 8 seconds their just not that safe anymore.
not to mention the whole finding parts, finding someone willing to work on them, etc. its getting a tad hard to even find tires anymore.