Another Old Fart Observation and the Passage of Time

Started by SGOS, October 26, 2018, 10:25:21 AM

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SGOS

The other day, I passed a truck towing a classic 1957 Chevy on top a trailer.  It was mint condition, and I started thinking about classic cars of my youth.  Back in 1957 when I was finishing high school <old fart voice-over>, a typical classic car was the Ford Model T, and classic it was, from a totally different era, built from 1908-1927, they were not as common as the classic Model A, which even in small town Montana were harbored in various back yard garages and driven once or twice a year, but the Model T was coveted most being almost 60 years old and a first of it's kind.

Today, a 60 year old classic car is the 1957 Chevy, a car that was still being used as the family transportation in 1967 when I started my first full time job, and still driven by many of my friends.  They were widely popular, and seen all the time.  Now, it's the equivalent of what a Model T used to be when I entered the work force, but I look at a '57 Chevy, and I see nothing unique or collectable, just an older car that many of my friends used to drive, but today it's a classic.

Baruch

My folks drove our 57 Chevy in 1962, moving from Texas to California, when we completed the multi-generational Westward Ho trek.

Well the early T-bird with portholes ... was neater.  Got to ride in the 1958 one, in the back seat, just one time.

My neighbor's dad bought a 1965 Mustang convertible early issue.  Got to ride in that once.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

I had a '49 Chevy pick-up when I lived in Montana, and a better truck I've never seen. It never failed to start, even when the temperature was well below zero.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on October 26, 2018, 01:15:13 PM
I had a '49 Chevy pick-up when I lived in Montana, and a better truck I've never seen. It never failed to start, even when the temperature was well below zero.

That was before value engineering (for mileage, pollution etc) so it was over designed.  Modern products, not just from China, are designed to fall apart.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Gawdzilla Sama

I rode in a 1927 Plymouth stake truck last weekend. The ride was shit, the wow factor was through the roof.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

This was the first family car I remember from when I was somewhere between the ages of two and four (1937 Plymouth).  I'm not sure why I remember it, because I don't remember a lot from that period of my life.  Ours was a dull green with absolutely no shine.  You could view the pavement through the openings that the floor pedals passed through.  The car may have been only 8 years old, but in my memory it was a total junker.  Although at the time, I didn't recognize that it was a junker.  It was just our family's car, and the best we could afford.  It was held together by prayers and coat hanger wire.







On the other hand, when I was 15 or 16, my 17 year old cousin owned one of these (1947 Ford) that was 13 years old, but in immaculate condition.  I felt like I was riding in a brand new car, with clean soft upholstered seats that were as fresh as a daisy.  I forever marveled that he could find such an old car in his price range, but was in such perfect condition.  His was a two tone color beige like this on dark brown.  He kept it clean and shiny.


trdsf

This was the first family car I can remember: a Buick Invicta station wagon, originally in yellow, then painted blue (and the auto body shop left the windows open when they painted it).



It was followed by back-to-back white Buick Estate wagons, then a beige Plymouth Volaré wagon -- after that, it was vans and sedans.

I recall engines being something even I could work on -- now it's all too technological for me.  I couldn't follow a Chilton's to save my soul, the way modern engines are packed in like some gasoline-powered Tetris kit.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

SGOS

Quote from: trdsf on October 29, 2018, 12:48:15 AM
This was the first family car I can remember: a Buick Invicta station wagon, originally in yellow, then painted blue (and the auto body shop left the windows open when they painted it).



It was followed by back-to-back white Buick Estate wagons, then a beige Plymouth Volaré wagon -- after that, it was vans and sedans.

I recall engines being something even I could work on -- now it's all too technological for me.  I couldn't follow a Chilton's to save my soul, the way modern engines are packed in like some gasoline-powered Tetris kit.
My first car was a Buick from 1954, and I kept it for several years.

trdsf

Quote from: SGOS on October 29, 2018, 04:40:06 AM
My first car was a Buick from 1954, and I kept it for several years.
Now, my own first car was a butterscotch-yellow 1972 Chevy Vega, which was an okay little car. Paid $100 for it in 1986.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: trdsf on October 29, 2018, 12:48:15 AM
This was the first family car I can remember: a Buick Invicta station wagon, originally in yellow, then painted blue (and the auto body shop left the windows open when they painted it).
Earl Scheib franchise?
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Unbeliever

Quote from: SGOS on October 27, 2018, 06:24:59 AM
It was held together by prayers and coat hanger wire.
Apparently you had plenty of coat-hanger wire, since I don't think the prayers helped much...
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on October 29, 2018, 09:53:26 AM
Earl Scheib franchise?
I really have no recollection of that -- I was three or four at the time. I just remember the dusting of blue paint where the window was left open a crack.

Child seat? Hell no, the bags of groceries held me in place!
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: trdsf on October 29, 2018, 03:28:49 PM
I really have no recollection of that -- I was three or four at the time. I just remember the dusting of blue paint where the window was left open a crack.

Child seat? Hell no, the bags of groceries held me in place!
The 'rents were sharecroppers, so we went around in a snazzy ten year old coupe with milk crates for my brother and I to sit on.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers