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Originally Posted by Rawknees'Turbo
I don't understand this sort of thinking and chuckle at how it doesn't infect small aircraft owners; many put as much modern instrumentation and electronics in their old planes as they can afford (very common to see $25K + instrument panel components in aircraft built in the 60s and 70s). The fact that so many vintage car owners are averse to combining and taking advantage of the best of modern and antique is very amusing.
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I think I get your point but also think I understand some of the reasoning behind the difference.
Most of us have these cars as a virtual step back in time to our own past or a desire to experience a generation old classic sports car. The vintage aesthetic is an important aspect to that. We
want it old. Or at least to seem that way. I have added some "modern" touches to mine but they retain a large portion of the vintage feel and are not immediately recognizable as not original. Examples are LED tail and signal lights as a safety factor to potentially avoid someone crashing into me, the CD player in my dash is a Porsche branded Becker CDR unit with which I can play or charge my iphone or an ipod. Some add upgraded air conditioning or heated seats or headlights like HID or LED. But those retain the vintage the original vibe and are not noticeable except to those who know these cars inside and out.
When someone buys an old Super Cub or similar, I don't imagine the original appearance of the dash is really a deciding or contributing factor. The experience or performance (or cost) is. They might, however, retrofit with large tundra tires and leverage its STOL capabilities to be able to drop into an isolated sand bar on a river that looks like a great fishing spot or place to camp, or a solitary flat patch near the peak of a mountain, areas only accessible to others in a helicopter.
The things that concern those people are features like navigation and communication, their ability and ease of use. Some find nav in the middle of nowhere (and growing up on the north west coast of Canada not far from Alaska, I know what that is) difficult or impossible using just a paper map, an E6B and a compass.
Yes, there are some that want it just because. A full glass cockpit's bling factor in a vintage aircraft is certainly cool. But it does serve a valuable purpose, too. Car guys want the vintage feel and experience. If it stops working for some reason, it's hardly a life changing experience. In a Beech 18, it might mean never seeing your wife and kids again.
I don't begrudge the OP's desire or question. I wish him all the best in his search if he embarks on such a plan. If someone created digital instrumentation that mimicked the original look, that might be interesting to me, but it seems unnecessary and unlikely to ever happen. So as for myself, I'm going to look onto my iconic five gauge analog panel with nostalgia and enjoyment as I travel back in virtual time.