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" MARK THESE WORDS: We are living in perhaps the last great era of the automobile. If you account for inflation, cars have never before been\u2014and may never again be\u2014faster, cheaper or more comfortable than they are now. Waltz into your Chevrolet dealer, you can buy a 638-hp Corvette for $110,300 that cushions like a Cadillac. March down the street to the local Ford shop, you can have a $13,995 Fiesta that rides and handles better than many cars costing twice as much. Win the lottery, a 253-mph Bugatti Veyron that costs $1.7 million can be yours, and it won&amp;#039;t even misbehave in traffic.  Admittedly, that last one is a bit out of reach for most. But progress trickles down. Computeraided design, digital engine management and rustproofing have been around for decades, and the nation&amp;#039;s used-car market is littered with durable, low-maintenance machines. Yesterday&amp;#039;s sport sedans, luxury liners and even exotics are now available for pennies on the dollar. Most still have thousands of miles left to give. In a nutshell, this glut of old steel is the best thing to happen to the car freak since cheap oil.  History is replete with automotive golden eras. The period following World War II was arguably a high point, giving us lust-worthy and affordable sports cars, V8 muscle, even head-turning family sedans. When those machines hit secondhand lots, they fueled the engine of America&amp;#039;s burgeoning speed culture. Suddenly, style and burned rubber were dirt-cheap.  Only the sweet deals didn&amp;#039;t\u2014some would say, couldn&amp;#039;t\u2014last forever. Classic cars have always been expensive, but in recent years, those postwar masterworks climbed to new heights. Baby boomers got older and wealthier. The cars of the &amp;#039;50s, &amp;#039;60s and early &amp;#039;70s were canonized, and because the supply was and is finite, more people with money began clamoring for a piece of a shrinking pie. Everyone wanted the same stuff, the cars that films such as Vanishing Point,The Italian Job and American Graffiti made famous.  &amp;amp;gt;  This is how we ended up with $70,000 Chevrolet Bel Airs and million-dollar Plymouth Hemi &amp;#039;Cudas. And because a rising tide floats all boats, it&amp;#039;s also what gave us $25,000 Triumph TR6s and $50,000 BMW 2002s. Maybe you think these cars\u2014sprightly and fun when new\u2014are worth big money. Maybe you light your cigars with hundred-dollar bills. We do neither.  Part of the blame belongs to circumstance. The machinery in question was glorified for a reason; it was stylish, fun to drive and historically important. But the new cars that followed, the ones that took their place at the low-buck end of the classifieds, stunk. Blame ballooning federal regulations or an industry slow to change with the times, but most cars of the 1970s and early 1980s were horrible. As the selection of interesting iron shrunk, more people turned to the rides their fathers and grandfathers lusted after. Prices continued to rise, and the classic-car hobby grew stagnant.  Only now there&amp;#039;s movement. Museum pieces are out; enjoyable drivers and low investments are in. The signs are everywhere, from cheap-classic websites such as bringatrailer.com to the rise of low-cost clunker racing \u00E0 la 24 Hours of LeMons. The generation born in the 1970s is now old enough to have disposable income, and the obvious answers\u2014the Bel Airs, the Austin Healeys\u2014are too expensive, too temperamental. But thrillingly, the cars of this generation&amp;#039;s youth are affordable. Thanks to modern technology, they&amp;#039;re also still running, still safe, still practical. To wit: The modern speed demon can buy and modify a 20-year-old, 150,000-mile BMW or Porsche that will shame many new sports cars. The luxury freak can have an old Jag that drives almost as well as a modern Lexus, with functional HVAC, three-digit capabilities and leather seats. Heck, even a mid-&amp;#039;90s (C4 or C5) Corvette is the performance bargain of the century. Where else can you find a reliable 170-mph car for the price of a new Honda Civic? This has only recently become possible. Thirty years ago, the average 10-year-old car was falling apart, with a worn-out carburetor, rusty body and nonexistent interstate manners. You could live with cars like this, but it took a certain amount of masochism\u2014or at the very least, the weekly use of tools. The 1980s were a turning point, when the mass-produced automobile was advanced enough to last for decades with just regular maintenance, yet still simple enough to be repaired by the home mechanic. It was a nexus of light weight, usable performance and relatively low emissions.  Call it the first real appearance of the modern car. And now this stuff is cheap. Not that the market is all wine and roses\u2014there are, and will always be, bad ideas. No one needs a 150,000-mile $5000 BMW 750iL. (Rather, no one needs to pay to fix its complex V12.) No rusty $500 Toyota Supra Turbo is a good idea. Sound judgment matters, just as it does with any other purchase. Caveat emptor. Still, there are countless options that make sense. We&amp;#039;ve outlined a few for you here, but this is the tip of the iceberg. Welcome to the party, and happy hunting!  &amp;amp;gt; Used Cars for Pennies on the Dollar &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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