How we dress and what we drive

how we dress and what we drive.

Always wear a fedora, always wear a collar shirt, alway wear dress work pants, 4 weeks ago I bought a pair of blue jeans to wear to a toyota plant, because of welding you had to wear 100 percent cotton clothing, so the next week, i picked up my old hired hand too go to the market on tuesday and he saw me in blue jeans and he said holy ............... , are we going to the market or are we going to clean pens in the barns. I have not worn blue jeans, bib overhauls etc in over 25 years, i always said that the smell of the pig barns came to me when i put blue jeans, have already put away those blue jeans. My summer car is a 59 studebaker Lark, sedan with 259 v8, and auto trans, cream coloured and sooooooooooooo ugly its cute, that what the girls say. Our second car is a 90 buick century, reliable and made in Canada but starting to get old, and our everyday wheels is our 2000 gmc safari mini van, over 300,000 km, and still runs well, rear wheel drive and made in the usa. Though i sell sewing machines made in asia, i really would like to encourage people too buy goods made in north america, my hats are canadian made, my shirts i try to find canadian ones really hard, my pants are gentleman jeans made out west , and socks are mc gregor happy foot, bought a case of black, when i found out the plant was moving to pakistan. shoes, forget it. i have a pair of police leather boots made in Canada but there old.
cars that i have owned.
1960s rambler
1974 gremlin x
1969 ford falcon sedan
1968 ford coupe
1967 falcon futura sport coupe.
1974 chrysler newport
1977 dodge tradesman van.
1988 ford ranger.
1990 ford econline 150
1963 studebaker lark sedan
1970 oldsmoblile cutlass sedan
1990 mazda protege
1992 mazda lx van
1985 olds cutlas brougham.
2000 gmc safari
1959 studebaker lark.
1995 pontiac sedan
1990 buick century sedan
1977 ford mustang ghia. almost forgot that one was my wife first car we got rid of it, and got the 1970 olds couldnt stand small cars, being hearing he made me get rid of my mustang evermore, gotta buy her a new mustang some year when i get rich. dont hold your breath. 59Lark.

Always a skirt, usually a Jaguar.

We have (last time I counted) about 5 Jaguars... three of them running just fine, and none of them built by (sacrelige!) Ford.
Of course, if it was me, and without Mr. Fix-it, I would probably be on the bus!
We buy them very cheaply as people think they will cost the earth to fix - and they will, if you pay someone else to do it, but really there is not reason, even the parts are not as expensive as some makes of cars' parts are.
And you're wondering about the years...1993, 1988, and 1967. Black, gray and white respectively.
We call the driveway the Cat Farm.

I've always been a pick-up truck guy.
I wish I could get a 50's era truck in good shape but...
My grandpa had a sweet 50's GMC. I got to ride in that so I have that memory.

A pencilskirt that hits the knees or lower so I won't be making a 'Paris Hilton' when I exit my quite low Mercedes.. It's an artform how to exit a car gracefully.

I drive a knackered 12 year old Fiat that just cost me £500 for a new radiator. The clutch is going, the brakes are going, the suspension has gone... I'm driving a 50 quid heap of crap with a £500 radiator under the bonnet.

If I had the money for maintenance and a driveway or garage I'd buy one of these:



A sixties Ford Consul Capri. Ideally in red with white leather interior Yumsk!

Miss Hannah that is a cool ride! Hope you get one someday!

Still driving the Eldo. Last year got 29.8 MPG over a 300 mile section at about 65-70MPH and 26.8 over 465 miles at about 75-80MPH in the last section.

Shame it's such a wet summer here...

Nothing like a ride with the hood down, the A-2 or Irvin on and the sun beating down. She even smiles at me each morning

Darhling said:

A pencilskirt that hits the knees or lower so I won't be making a 'Paris Hilton' when I exit my quite low Mercedes.. It's an artform how to exit a car gracefully.

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It's too bad I didn't post a picture of her when she's nice and shiny!!

Darhling said:

A pencilskirt that hits the knees or lower so I won't be making a 'Paris Hilton' when I exit my quite low Mercedes.. It's an artform how to exit a car gracefully.

It's too bad I didn't post a picture of her when she's nice and shiny!!

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The car, not Paris Hilton, right?

MissHannah said:

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Your car is just too cute for words, MissHannah. Definitely a keeper, no matter what the upkeep.

Lily Powers said:

The car, not Paris Hilton, right?

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har har har.. no!

You people and your cars, just give me some cake and a bike, and look at me goooooo! lol

The problem with that, Miss Laura, is that if any baggage needs to come along bikes become ridiculously impractical for anything bigger than a briefcase...:eusa_doh:

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Now playing: George Martin - Boat Chase
via FoxyTunes

Diamondback said:

The problem with that, Miss Laura, is that if any baggage needs to come along bikes become ridiculously impractical for anything bigger than a briefcase...:eusa_doh:

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Hehe, yes, I was kidding, I'd totally love to have a car, so I was just envious. lol But we have bikes like these, they can be quite practical for transporting smaller things. And they cost no gas, no co2, and you get exercise!

True... 'course, the fact that I tend be be loaded about like a nuked-up B-52 tends to color my perspective a lot too.

Having a 30-pound "field office" hanging off one arm everywhere you go will do that to ya... lol

Alan Eardley said:

This depends where you grew up. Neither my father or mother or my wife's father or mother (they were born in the early 1900s) ever owned or drove a car. Both were sucessful professional families and were typical of UK people of their age. Car ownership in the UK was slight until the late 1930s and then only the most well-off could afford a car until the late 50s. That's what I see in photographs taken in my home town. Hollywood was probably different.

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I miss Alan's posts.

I think in this one, he identifies perhaps a significant difference between the US and the UK? At least nowadays, it seems to me, there's much more emphasis on car ownership in the US than over here.... possibly because it's ridiculously cheap to run a car over there as compared to here.... was it ever thus - or do we just think most people in the US back in the day had cars because that's what the movies depicted? Certainly, my family were the norm in Ireland in the mid twentieth century in that they weren't car owners. My grandparents on my mother's side had a car by the late 50s / early 60s, so far as I know. On Dad's side, he poured almost every penny he had into running a car from he was 17 (which would have been in mid 1963, a Morris Minor which I believe was ten years old then), but it was many years later that my paternal grandfather was able to afford his own car. I'm not sure what public transport was like back then - it's pretty shoddy in Northern Irelandd these days (not much coverage, and not much running past 11pm). I suspect, though, that it was less an issue of cheap, available public ttransport and more a case of a car being a luxury many simply could not afford. As for myself, it's hard to imagine me ever running a car. I do have my licence - back in the old country, it would have been a necessary evil to drive, even though I always hated it - but here in London i simply can't see the point. Too expensive, especially with reliable public transport on my doorstep 24 7, and totally impractical (average speed of traffic in inner London is something like 8mph these days. It's quicker to walk Oxford Street end to end, 'm sure, than it is to drive most of the time. lol

That said, there is just the occasional day when it's sunny and warm (I never miss driving when it's wet) where I think it would be just grand to jump in a '57 Ford Zodiac and drive to Brighton, or a '49 Triumph Roadster and pootle off to Oakley Court for high tea.... I can't see that ever being a reality while I live in the city, though.

If we're talking dream cars, I can see me in one of those cutesy little two-seater roadsters.... I can't for the life of me remember the brand or model name, but they're a current-build Japanese car that look like the offspring of something French from the early sixties and a 356.... maybe with a touch of Karmann Ghia in there..... perfect compromise between modern motoring advantages and old school styling. Until I first saw the dealership in Hackney, I thought the one or two I saw go past on the road were genuinely vintage, something obscure.

The ultimate would be a Morgan - and not just any Morgan, but one with the power system behind the LIFECar concept model, which is, if memory serves, hydrogen powered with zero emissions.

I adore the styling of US cars from the 30s through the 50s (moreso the rounder, eqrly 50s styles than the pointier late 50s), and assuming a conversion to RHD was possible (LHD for driving in the UK would be a deal breaker for me), the main thing holding me back would be the size and running costs. Probably due to much lower fuel duties in the US, there doesn't seem to have been the same impetus back them to improve fuel consumption (last time I checked, you could still run a 10mpg car in the US for the cost of a 30mpg over here). I'm more a fan of the smaller, more efficient engines than a V8 - partly cost, partly environment. The size of some of the US cars would make them impractical on our smaller roads - that's one reason I love the Ford Zephyrs and Zodiacs in their Mk I and MkII incarnations: all the style of their American cousins, but 7/8 the size, rhd, and a little easier on the fuel.

Darhling said:

It's too bad I didn't post a picture of her when she's nice and shiny!!

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Not to be ungentlemanly, but I'd prefer photos of your good self in the aforementioned pencil skirt...

Diamondback said:

True... 'course, the fact that I tend be be loaded about like a nuked-up B-52 tends to color my perspective a lot too.

Having a 30-pound "field office" hanging off one arm everywhere you go will do that to ya... lol

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OKay, yes, I have to admit there is one time I miss a car - the ten minute walk from the supermarket with a dozen heavy shopping bags! :lol:

(BTW DB, you keep on reminding me of Slim Pickins.... lol ).

Edward said:

If we're talking dream cars, I can see me in one of those cutesy little two-seater roadsters.... I can't for the life of me remember the brand or model name, but they're a current-build Japanese car that look like the offspring of something French from the early sixties and a 356.... maybe with a touch of Karmann Ghia in there..... perfect compromise between modern motoring advantages and old school styling. Until I first saw the dealership in Hackney, I thought the one or two I saw go past on the road were genuinely vintage, something obscure.

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Edward, do you mean this?



Its a Toyota MR2 Spyder, and is the closest thing I could think of to fit your description.

I dont know if my car says anything about me, but I know I can say things about it.

I have a bought-new-in-'05 MINI Cooper. I wanted one the first time I saw one at a local auto show in '02.

This is the first car that I've ever owned that didnt make me feel like I was missing riding one of my motorcycles. I love everything about it, from every angle, inside and out. Ive done a few mods to it, all minor: intake and exhaust, suspension, and cosmetic.

Is it as reliable as a similar-sized Japanese car? No. But the emotional attachment is stronger than Ive had with anything else Ive owned in 32 years of driving. I dont even ride anymore, but thats because of a small variety of other easons, as well. Still, nothing has kept me off my bikes as effectively as this car.



And this is how it feels to drive it:



There has been some mention here about the changeover in '07 to the newer (R56) version of the Cooper line. My car's generation (R50/R53) and the R56 are completely different cars. I would never purchase the newer one. Just my own personal opinion.

Edward said:

Not to be ungentlemanly, but I'd prefer photos of your good self in the aforementioned pencil skirt...

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LOL I think 95% of all the outfits I have shown in the outfit thread consists of a tight pencilskirt, so photos shouldnt be hard to come by