I miss the chrome

[Paisley]

I've never been called a turncoat before. It's kind of exciting! I'll think about it the next time I'm riding in my air-conditioned car with power everything, listening to satellite radio (tuned to a vintage music station, of course--I haven't gone over completely to the dark side).

BTW, I sold the Mustang to a dealer/collector, who was probably in a better position than I was to give it TLC. It's all good.

 

[Senator Jack]

Posted by Paisley:

I had a '66 Mustang for over ten years, and I've had a '98 Honda Civic since 2001. Although the Mustang was cooler and more fun to drive--it was really fast with the 289 V8--I really do prefer the Honda. The Mustang always had something that had to be fixed and it had emissions problems;

Yeah, that's a pony for you. My wiper motor on the '66 just decided to quit after years of service. I pulled it out myself, and after deciding I couldn't fix it, ordered a new one for a whopping $84.00 (yes, that's sarcasm - I can't imagine how much it would cost to replace a wiper motor on a late model car.) The new one's supposed to be here tomorrow, and I'll be cursing while I'm trying to get it installed, (upside down, under the dash) but at least I'll be saving on labor charges - currently $65 an hour in NY.

What I don't understand about the chrome situation is that not one manufacturer has come up with a chrome substitute. You would think they would realize by now that AMERICANS LIKE SHINEY, GLITTERING OBJECTS! (Duh - We're attracted to Slot Machines like moths) So why they just can't get some men on the job is beyond me. Take a look at this go-round of the Thunderbird. Chrome grill. Great! What would make it better? Chrome bumpers of course, or at least a chrome imitation. But no one over at Ford seems to have thought of that. Let's see what the next round of retro-styling brings.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Wild Root]

Well, riding in comfort is different then riding in style... I prefer style especially since the last few cars I've owned that had AC seem to over heat when I have the AC on in traffic so, I have to turn the heater on any way to keep it from over heatinglol lol lol that's one way to lose friends! Running the heater in 100+ heat... not good! So, I decided that I was pretty much experiencing a 40's car (with out the class) so, I thought I might as well be driving one if I had to deal with those problems... I don't really miss the AC that much any more, I enjoy all the honks and waves I get from people on the road, my little Plymouth is famous! Puts a big time smile on my face!

Enjoy what ever you choose to drive because, you have to drive it!

=WR=

 

[Senator Jack]

Posted by WildRoot
I enjoy all the honks and waves I get from people on the road, my little Plymouth is famous! Puts a big time smile on my face!

What I enjoy is putting a smile on everyone else's face. There are lots of guys driving 60s mustangs around - every kind of classic for that matter - but without trying to sound like I'm tooting my horn (no pun intended) people do seem to have a different reaction to guys like WildRoot and me, those who are fully living the vintage lifestyle. Just the other day I got stopped by a few Brit tourists who wondered how I managed to keep my trilby on with the top down. They were so in awe of the sight of a vintage guy in a vintage car, you would think I were the highlight of their trip!

I've got so used to driving around in a vintage now that I feel out of sorts in any late model car - even as a passenger! I feel like I have bugs crawling over me.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Wild Root]

What I enjoy is putting a smile on everyone else's face. There are lots of guys driving 60s mustangs around - every kind of classic for that matter - but without trying to sound like I'm tooting my horn (no pun intended) people do seem to have a different reaction to guys like WildRoot and me, those who are fully living the vintage lifestyle. Just the other day I got stopped by a few Brit tourists who wondered how I managed to keep my trilby on with the top down. They were so in awe of the sight of a vintage guy in a vintage car, you would think I were the highlight of their trip!

I've got so used to driving around in a vintage now that I feel out of sorts in any late model car - even as a passenger! I feel like I have bugs crawling over me.

Regards,

Senator Jack

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

YES! SO TRUE! I meant that putting a smile on others faces puts one on my face naturally! I'm happy to see others happy! And dressing in period with the car just makes people happier... they always say: What a car and you're dressed to match the car too! They just totally dig it!

Oh and yes, I've felt those "Late model bugs" crawling! Hahahahah I just feel uncomfortable in a late model car, not to mention I'm so tall that these newer cars aren't too kind to tall men! I have to have the seat way back and lowered to sit in a late model car.

You're right on track, Jack!

=WR=

 

[jamespowers]

I've never been called a turncoat before. It's kind of exciting! I'll think about it the next time I'm riding in my air-conditioned car with power everything, listening to satellite radio (tuned to a vintage music station, of course--I haven't gone over completely to the dark side).

I can get all of those things for any one of my vintage cars if I so want them---original in most cases except for the radio. All that power stuff is old hat.

Regards,

J

 

[Wild Root]

I can get all of those things for any one of my vintage cars if I so want them---original in most cases except for the radio. All that power stuff is old hat.

Regards,

J

Yeah, I so enjoy real driving... I don't miss power steering or power windows... those things make us soft... I feel stronger being able to parallel park a 3500lb '46 P-15! lol

=WR=

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah, I so enjoy real driving... I don't miss power steering or power windows... those things make us soft... I feel stronger being able to parallel park a 3500lb '46 P-15! lol

=WR=

Yep, you are the only person I know who can park a brick. lol

 

[NewMexExpat]

Vanity...

Ah, I smell a turn coat in here! lol

... yes, it's more of a vanity thing but, ah life is short ...

=WR=

My Dad tells of a cousin of his who bought a brand new car in the late '50s/early 60s. He drove around the Missouri Ozarks with his windows up just because he wanted everybody to think he could afford air conditioning (which the car didn't have). Now, that's vanity.:eusa_doh:

- Mark

 

[Wild Root]

He drove around the Missouri Ozarks with his windows up just because he wanted everybody to think he could afford air conditioning (which the car didn't have). Now, that's vanity.:eusa_doh:

- Mark

Well, you could say that's vanity but, I say that's just stupid! Wow, that's some AC, it's making that guy sweat bullets!lol

=WR=

 

[Michaelson]

It's amazing to me how car engineers have rethought this entire thing of vehicle safety. The cars today are called 'crash cages' rather than car bodies. They're SUPPOSED to collapse into a heap of parts, but leave the interior intact. I salute them for that, as I WANT my family to walk away from a devastating collision....but to also designed planned obsolence into the equation is wrong, in my opinion, as the car of today will be doomed to fail by design within 10 years....or until if falls off the NADA blue book price list.

Our OLD cars, on the other hand, were built to take a punch, and still look nice. You probably won't survive the punch, but the car sure will look nice for the heirs of your estate. One of the things that kind of opened my eyes a while back was a discussion (Wild, you probably remember this one) at the Plymouth forum that Wild and I sometimes frequent. The discussion was about where one attaches an after market lapstrap seatbelt. There were pros and cons about attaching either to the frame of the seat itself, or bolt through the frame of the car.

Those pros were, good to the frame of the seat, but should you be in collision and the body of the car become detached from the frame of the car, you will be crushed by the steering wheel, as it is part of the car frame system.

Ok, attach to the car frame then? Well, same scenario, but if the body becomes detached from the frame, you will still be attached TO the frame, and the belt will cut you in half as the car body moves forward, as you're now a part of the car frame and not the body.

Uh, well, no belt? No hope of survival at all....but as Jay Leno likes to say, 'Old cars are great. If you get in a crash, all they have to do is hose off the dash and sell it to the next guy."

NOW you know why we drive these things so slow.

Regards! Michaelson

p.s. talking about bumpers....I helped my son-in-law remove the bumpers and grill off the 50 Dodge Wayfarer he's doing a frame out restoration on, and just the front bumper alone weighed out at 85+ (felt closer to 100!) pounds!! If you could reduce the weight of the bumpers without sacrificing the look by using a chrome plated aluminum, you could probably increase the gas milage of our old cars by who knows how many miles per gallon!!!

 

[jamespowers]

It's amazing to me how car engineers have rethought this entire thing of vehicle safety. The cars today are called 'crash cages' rather than car bodies. They're SUPPOSED to collapse into a heap of parts, but leave the interior intact. I salute them for that, as I WANT my family to walk away from a devastating collision....but to also designed planned obsolence into the equation is wrong, in my opinion, as the car of today will be doomed to fail by design within 10 years....or until if falls off the NADA blue book price list.

Our OLD cars, on the other hand, were built to take a punch, and still look nice. You probably won't survive the punch, but the car sure will look nice for the heirs of your estate. One of the things that kind of opened my eyes a while back was a discussion (Wild, you probably remember this one) at the Plymouth forum that Wild and I sometimes frequent. The discussion was about where one attaches an after market lapstrap seatbelt. There were pros and cons about attaching either to the frame of the seat itself, or bolt through the frame of the car.

Those pros were, good to the frame of the seat, but should you be in collision and the body of the car become detached from the frame of the car, you will be crushed by the steering wheel, as it is part of the car frame system.

Ok, attach to the car frame then? Well, same scenario, but if the body becomes detached from the frame, you will still be attached TO the frame, and the belt will cut you in half as the car body moves forward, as you're now a part of the car frame and not the body.

Uh, well, no belt? No hope of survival at all....but as Jay Leno likes to say, 'Old cars are great. If you get in a crash, all they have to do is hose off the dash and sell it to the next guy."

NOW you know why we drive these things so slow.

Regards! Michaelson

Collapse in a heap of parts maybe but if I am in that heap as in that Nissan where the passenger in the back seat got brain damage, which was a child in a car seat by the way, I'll take my chances in the 57 Chevy. I have already had a broadside in it and all I had to do was replace the hood. A car you just drive away from a fender bender. Same with the 59 Olds. :cheers1:

Now that is why I don't wear seatbelts in my cars.

Regards,

J

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I've been reading about late 1930s Plymouths. Their body-to-frame connection looks pretty solid. I wonder how they behaved in a crash?

 

[jamespowers]

I've been reading about late 1930s Plymouths. Their body-to-frame connection looks pretty solid. I wonder how they behaved in a crash?

Like a tank minus the tracks.

Regards,

J

 

[Feraud]

I miss all that metal and chrome too. My old '73 Charger could take a hit from a missle with nary a scuff.
Now I have to baby my Mustang ('03) like a newborn! I need to park in the most obscure places in the neighborhood to avoid every idiot that needs to bump everything around them to parallel park. :eusa_doh:

 

[jamespowers]

I miss all that metal and chrome too. My old '73 Charger could take a hit from a missle with nary a scuff.
Now I have to baby my Mustang ('03) like a newborn! I need to park in the most obscure places in the neighborhood to avoid every idiot that needs to bump everything around them to parallel park. :eusa_doh:

There certainly is that. The door panels on those cars do not require much to show dings.
A '73 Charger! Now there is a muscle car for the ages. Wasn't that the car Daisy drove on DoH?

Regards,

J

 

[Feraud]

I believe the Duke boys had a '69. Close enough tho'.
My ride looked almost exactly like this one.
http://www.californiaclassics.nl/images/sold/dodge/charger-1973-01-01.jpg

 

[J. M. Stovall]

What about people that do this to thier PT Cruisers.

At least it's a little closer. Someone in my neighborhood did this and it kind of changed my mind about those cars.

 

[Feraud]

don't kick me but I like it! [huh]
It is cooler than some of the junk I see rolling around out there.
It has Retro spirit.

 

[Pilgrim]

Every time I drive an older car, I enjoy the experience, but I'm reminded how much more comfortable and easy to drive modern cars are.

Like Mark the Shoeshine boy, I understand that modern cars are much safer, and designed to protect occupants infinitely better in an accident. Having more steel in the body of your vehicle may result in more shock from a collision being transferred to the occupants; I'd much rather have the car absorb the shock, totaling it if necessary, so I can walk away.

I remember clearly that in the 1960' s if you got 100K miles from a car before rebuilding the engine, you were doing very well! Now a car with 100K on it may have only gone halfway through its service life. Today's cars are built with much better engines and drivetrains, and they last much longer. I've bought two cars with 95K miles on them in the past five years. My wife and I just bought a 1994 BMW 325i with 88K miles on it, and we're confident she can drive it to close to 200K miles. (Her last two cars, both Audis, have gone 160-180K miles before se sold them.)

So although I'm a big fan of vintage cars (witness the '58 Fiat Roadster in my garage), for everyday driving and long trips, give me a nice, recent model car every time. I'll travel in more comfort with better suspension and air conditioning, easier and more accurate steering, and better safety equipment. I enjoy and admire nice vintage cars, but I accept that they're outdated and better for fun driving than for everyday use.