1966, The Best Year For Cars

Letter to Jay Leno (Jay Leno’s Garage)

Hi Jay,

I absolutely love your show, I have to say. And it’s funny you say 1966 is your favourite year for cars. I was the only person that I knew who thought that way, ’till now. 

The first Lamborghini was released in 1966, the gorgeous and exotic Miura, the world’s first street legal mid-engine sports car, which revolutionized the sports car world, and invented the supercar. (My other favourite Lamborghini is the equally gorgeous Murcielago. The rest look a bit too much like space ships, for my taste. It’s a car, not a George Jetson space toy.)

I didn’t know about the 1966 442 Olds. What a gorgeous car! Thank you for sharing that. Another reason 1966 was the best year for cars.

But yes, there was another car produced in 1966 with more power, and a faster quarter mile. That was, and is, my all-time favourite car: the 1966 Corvette Sting Ray, 4-speed coupe, with a 427 engine and a big four-barrel carb – putting out 425hp, and blowing the doors off pretty much everything. Also gorgeous, and totally unique, the mid-sixties Vettes.

Then there was my very first car: the 1966 Lincoln Continental – with suicide doors. Beautiful car, and so iconic, so distinctive. My dad’s friend had taken me under his wing, I guess, and was scared I was going to kill myself on the little motorcycle I had just bought, so he sold me his Continental for $200, hoping I’d drive that instead.

All in all, yes, it was the best year for cars, I agree. 

Thank you for continuing with the shows during the lockdown, – or better said, crackdown. The authoritarians won’t rule forever, remember. We defeated the fascists 75 years ago, in WWII, and we’ll defeat them again.

Best wishes, Jay. Keep up the wonderful, lovely work. We car freaks need the lift!

J. Todd Ring,

(Author of Enlightened Democracy, and, The People vs The Elite)

March 30, 2021

PS: Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too. These gorgeous cars can be green. An aftermarket kit from BC, Canada, will convert almost any car to a parallel electric hybrid. That means you can run *either* the gas engine or the electric drive – or both, when you want maximum power. So you can use the electric drive 90% of the time, and save the gasoline engine for occassional fun. If you put a small wind turbine behind your house, you can drive your ’66 Continental, 440 Olds, Miura or Corvette around town as a daily driver on 100% home-generated wind power (better and less impact than solar). The electric drive system is $7,000 US, and the wind turbine is about $3,000. For $10,000 you now have a classic car with zero emissions, and zero fuel costs. Very cool, I would say. And that is a tremendous understatement.