2jakes
I'll Lock Up
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- 9,680
- Location
- Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
The main thing I like about my old car is that I can always find it in the parking lot.
What is it about old cars? Modern cars are objectively probably better in every way. And, yet......yet....old cars hold our attention. Is it a sense of true style? A sense of romance of the open road when it was, at least in legend, still open.? A sense of the romance of the early 20th century when everything seemed possible? The response to an aura of mechanical honesty? Perhaps it is an atavistic response to when an automobile, any automobile, promised freedom, a certain societal cache be it Ford commoner or Dusenberg elitist. Perhaps the heart-felt emotion of the common man – I've made it! - I have a car!-Freedom!
What is interesting is that almost everyone seems to respond this way, with more than passing interest they will watch one on the road; they will stare at an auto show. Put a classic Dusenberg, or Studebaker ,or Plymouth next to the modern stuff. Who draws the most rapt crowd? I cannot explain it. I cannot explain these people. I am only glad that I am one of them.
There are a lot of soft reasons for me - style, vibe, feel, connect to the past, weight - but the one that really does it is that I can pretty much understand how a pre-'70s car works, what each part does and why. And while I might not be able to fix all of it - I probably could with time and study - I can at least understand how it needs to be fixed. Today, cars are computers with wheels and a lot of "solid state" hardware - with many of the problems requiring software diagnosis leading to the "switching out" of a "component -" sigh.
True about older cars. I can understand
and appreciate the simplicity.
But found out without the right tools,
the task is impossible in certain situations.
Such was the case with my ‘63 VW
beetle.
My brother being a pilot helped me
to remove & replace a part with the
machine equipment at the hangar.
I am fascinated by the older cars in part because I built plastic models of them in the Sixties. Some of the kits, the Lincoln Continental, the Mustang, the Corvette Sting Ray, were current cars then. But Revell and AMT among other companies also offered the 1940 Ford, the 1941 Willys coupe, the 1936 Ford coupe, the 1958 Chevy Impala, the 1955/56/57 Chevy, the 1950s Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing," and others -- many of which came with extra parts so you could customize them or make them into racing style cars. My creativity found an important outlet as I matched body color to the style of the car and interior color usually as a contrast (which I still like in my full-size cars).
Ever since I saw this film, I’ve had a passion for this woodie.
View attachment 91916
View attachment 91915
Some favorite films with woodies from different years
which I enjoy.
Bringing Up Baby ~ Grant & Hepburn.
Out of the Past ~ Robert Mitchum & Jane Greer.
Dark Passage ~ Bogart & Bacall.
White Heat ~ James Cagney.
It’s only shown briefly but it’s in color from the ‘40s.
View attachment 91923
I am fascinated by the older cars in part because I built plastic models of them in the Sixties. Some of the kits, the Lincoln Continental, the Mustang, the Corvette Sting Ray, were current cars then. But Revell and AMT among other companies also offered the 1940 Ford, the 1941 Willys coupe, the 1936 Ford coupe, the 1958 Chevy Impala, the 1955/56/57 Chevy, the 1950s Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing," and others -- many of which came with extra parts so you could customize them or make them into racing style cars. My creativity found an important outlet as I matched body color to the style of the car and interior color usually as a contrast (which I still like in my full-size cars).
I haven’t seen “Dark Victory” or perhaps right now, I’m not 100% alert.
I did mentioned “Leave Her To Heaven”.
I love the colors of that film.