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Hemmings Motor News Blog

Hemmings Motor News has been around since 1954. We're proud of our heritage, but we're also more than the Hemmings full of classifieds that your father subscribed to. Aside from new editorial content every month in Hemmings, we have three monthly magazines: Hemmings Muscle Machines, Hemmings Classic Car and Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car.

While our editors traverse the country to find the best content for those magazines, we find other oddities related to the old-car hobby that we really had no place for - until now. With this blog, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what we see and what we do during the course of putting out some of the finest automotive magazines you'll ever read.

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Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

Posted March 12, 2015 8:30 AM by dstrohl

Recently, Porsche Classic announced an available navigation system for pre-1998 models using a DIN-1 sized original radio, which includes the 911, the 912, the 914, the 924, the 928 and the 944. As a selling point, the system includes a choice of control knobs to more closely match the original design of the car's interior, but the DIN-1 size limits the display screen to a mere 3.5 inches, measured diagonally.

That makes it potentially hard to see, particularly when positioned to the right of the HVAC controls. On the plus side, the system does provide Bluetooth connectivity, meaning that owners of vintage Porsche models can now enjoy hands free phone conversations and, presumably, audio streaming, all with a genuine Porsche product that requires no cutting of the dash to fit.

So what belongs in a vintage car?

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#1

Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/12/2015 3:58 PM

I would consider it as an add-on after market accessory, applicable to any make of car for whoever wants it. My former 1952 MG would be considered a classic, but I wish it had come with a heater.

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Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/12/2015 4:15 PM

Unless you are going to concours the car, it looks like a perfectly acceptable thing to me.

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Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/13/2015 12:11 AM

I say whatever the owner wants, as long as it's safe.

My '72 Vette has an HEI distributor. Does that count as modern tech?

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Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/13/2015 2:40 AM

By that time the HEI was original equipment in Government Motors products,

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Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/13/2015 8:02 AM

Not quite.

High energy ignition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've still got the original breaker point ignition, with mechanical tach drive.

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Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/13/2015 4:29 AM
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Re: Does Modern Tech Belong in Classic Cars?

03/13/2015 3:05 PM

I use this navigation system in my classic Rambler station wagon:

I have trouble getting it to stay on the windshield.

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