When I was younger I loved having an 84 Chevy Scottsdale. It was a cool looking truck and was easy to work on. I used to love getting under the hood to chase down problems and find solutions.

Now my knees hurt when it's cold outside, so crawling around on the ground to fix the fucking u-joint AGAIN isn't that fun, and I also like knowing that my children might survive if we get in a crash; something that's genuinely up for question in old vehicles.

I would pay a premium for a new car without an "infotainment" system, cameras (except backup camera), gps, or any form of touchscreen.

I wonder if the Franework model will ever apply to cars with modern safety. Probably not but one can dream.

I want an electric car. I also wish it was feasible to work on it.

The Volvo 940 had all of those modern safety features, but was still more or less the same car as the older RWD 740.

Mercedes also had that stuff early- I had a 1987 Mercedes diesel that had front air bags, ABS, and was basically modern car reliable.

I do have one newer Toyota Tacoma for the purpose of "just working" and it does a great job of fulfilling that role, but includes a host of features and such that I really have no interest in. But if you have project cars, you really just need a very stable "normal" vehicle for day to day.

For Volvo, I know that the 850s were the first to have airbags built into the seats for side impact, and I think they had anti lock brakes in those as well.