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Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

David Conwill

David Conwill

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Sadly, you can't really trust many people to work on old stuff (of any stripe) correctly. They want to substitute modern techniques and materials and they often don't understand systems used before standardization within a given industry.
 
LizzieMaine

LizzieMaine

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You'd think a garage that specializes in "vintage vehicles" would know enough not to ball it up, but one never knows. The guy who has it now used to own a 1940 Plymouth, which is identical in all meaningful ways to my car, so at least he knows his way around it.

The worst part of it is they loaned me a 2003 Impala to drive home in. This is the first car I've ever driven that was made in the 21st Century, and I couldn't even figure out how to adjust the damn seat.
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

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You'd think! Of course, cars have been around for so long now that a lot of people apply the term "vintage" to stuff built in the '70s and '80s. Which to me (and probably many others on this board) is actually "modern"!
 
HudsonHawk

HudsonHawk

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David Conwill said:
In this context, pre-1973 (5-mph bumpers and catalytic converters). I believe in the collector-car community it is 1919 to 1930 (which is an era I find particularly fascinating, actually).
Click to expand...

I think the strict definition varies from country to country, collector club to collector club. I was just curious if it was an age thing for you or if there were particular mechanical or style characteristics that defined the term for you.
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

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Don’t get me wrong, though. There are certainly interesting and collectible cars from after 1973, but once you have government-mandated technology creeping into the mix, I think it really changes the scene as a whole. A quote from Hank the Deuce sums up the modern ("appliance") era for me:

"I think the glamour of the automobile is decreasing.... People are looking at it now as a machine to get from place to place to do something else." - Henry Ford II, Time, February 23, 1970
 
jamespowers

jamespowers

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David Conwill said:
Don’t get me wrong, though. There are certainly interesting and collectible cars from after 1973, but once you have government-mandated technology creeping into the mix, I think it really changes the scene as a whole. A quote from Hank the Deuce sums up the modern ("appliance") era for me:

"I think the glamour of the automobile is decreasing.... People are looking at it now as a machine to get from place to place to do something else." - Henry Ford II, Time, February 23, 1970
Click to expand...

Classic cars have to be at least 50 years old. 70s and 80s cars were largely junk. Headliners fall, engines dealing with increased CAFE standards were junk and the advent of plastichrome has a place reserved in Hell for the inventor.
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

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"Classic", now there's a word that starts fights.

And then you've got the legal term "historical" which in most states has a rolling 25-30 year cutoff. Nothing says "historical" like an '88 Cavalier.
 
LizzieMaine

LizzieMaine

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I feel a bit queasy about driving a car with "Antique Auto" plates that I can remember seeing as just another car on the road. By the 25 year definition all but one of the cars that I've owned in my life would now be considered "antique."
 
P

Peter_E

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Oklahoma
jamespowers said:
My wife used to have a Granada. if it looked like that then I would still own it. :p
Click to expand...

USA Ford Granada and UK Ford Granada are not the same cars.
280px-Ford_Granada_Mark_I_(Europe).jpg
ford-granada-03.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Granada_%28Europe%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Granada_%28North_America%29
 
vitanola

vitanola

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Well, there is "classic" and then there is "Classic". A "Classic", these days oft referred to as a "Full Classic" to distinguish them, I suppose from Empty Classics (for example a 1953 DeSoto), is sescribed by The Classic Car Club of America as "a "Fine" or “Distinctive” automobile, American or foreign built, produced between 1925* and 1948. Generally, a Classic was high-priced when new and was built in limited quantities. Other factors, including engine displacement, custom coachwork and luxury accessories, such as power brakes, power clutch, and “one-shot” or automatic lubrication systems, help determine whether a car is to be considered a "Classic".
 
S

Stearmen

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LizzieMaine said:
I feel a bit queasy about driving a car with "Antique Auto" plates that I can remember seeing as just another car on the road. By the 25 year definition all but one of the cars that I've owned in my life would now be considered "antique."
Click to expand...
Colorado got real strict on the definition Classic. It has to be made in 1975 or earlier. My neighbor gave me a 1976 Honda CJ360T, if he gave it to me just a couple of months earlier, I would have been grand fathered in on the 25 year rule before they changed it.
 
SamReu

SamReu

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IMG_8433.JPG caps.jpg
A couple of machines I picked up after selling a Model A Ford. The '63 Falcon was a gift to my family; the truck, a banged-around '54 Chevy Thriftmaster, was a birthday present to myself.
 
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