You know you are getting old when:

[tonyb]

... Notably, this is an isue for the film and TV industry; those who scout for period cars to appear in productions are often frustrated by the bulk of what is offered being like-new, showroom-fresh when what they really need is an MG Magnette or a MKII Ford that looks like a family car that's been looked after, but is a decade or so old. (Not unlike the old interior decor difference between 'real' homes of 1958, and the wholly MCM Ideal Home Show version....). … ).

A friend since my teen years (who succumbed to AIDS in 1995) was an old-car enthusiast with a particular fondness for Packards. After high school he moved to New Jersey for a couple-three years to take a job with a vintage car parts business. He told of being on crews of drivers who shuttled vintage vehicles to and from NYC to park on the streets for film and TV shoots. He also spoke of what he called "over-restored" cars, cars with hardware and especially finishes superior to what the vehicles had when they rolled off the assembly lines. He wasn't necessarily critical of the practice, just as he wasn't necessarily critical of heavily modified old cars. But in either case, originality is lost.

As to "the wholly MCM Ideal Home" of 2019 …

Yeah, no foolin'. The interiors in particular seen in today's MCM design rags scarcely resemble even the high-style mod interiors of 50 and 60 years ago. It isn't that some of the new stuff isn't nice, but the "updates" will themselves be dated in a decade or two. Here in God's Country, billions are spent annually on residential remodels, the overwhelming majority of which are far from necessary.

And don't get me started on the architectural sins committed daily on HGTV and the like.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most collector hobbies dealing with industrial products of the Era suffer from this kind of restoration mania -- walk thru any Anteek Mall and you'll see radios covered in high-gloss varnish, with their brass escutcheons polished to a bright shine, or Coke machines with forty coats of hand-rubbed gleaming enamel, or powder-coated telephones that shine like mirrors -- or worse, with the paint stripped off and the metal polished like a tuba in a marching-band.

None of these objects ever looked like this in real life. The idea of taking something that came off an assembly line and was intended for hard, everyday use and tarting it up to where it looks like a cartoon of itself just leaves me cold. But then, none of my stuff looks like that and I don't have to buy anything that does.

 

[Fading Fast]

Most collector hobbies dealing with industrial products of the Era suffer from this kind of restoration mania -- walk thru any Anteek Mall and you'll see radios covered in high-gloss varnish, with their brass escutcheons polished to a bright shine, or Coke machines with forty coats of hand-rubbed gleaming enamel, or powder-coated telephones that shine like mirrors -- or worse, with the paint stripped off and the metal polished like a tuba in a marching-band.

None of these objects ever looked like this in real life. The idea of taking something that came off an assembly line and was intended for hard, everyday use and tarting it up to where it looks like a cartoon of itself just leaves me cold. But then, none of my stuff looks like that and I don't have to buy anything that does.

I used to know more about the antique/classic car market as I haven't paid it any real attention for many years, but back in the '90s, there were shops doing "100 point" restorations - these restored classic cars were meaningfully nicer (each bolt shined, paint perfect, every stitch aligned and of equal length, etc.) than when they originally came off the assembly line.

That said, and again, my knowledge is dated, but at that time, the most valuable cars were still the near-perfect originals. And, in general, original cars in very good shape were worth more than the same model car in better restored shape. Hence, the collectors still valued originality over obsessive restorations. Of course, that might have changed with a new generation of collectors, but that was the case in the '90s.

 

[EngProf]

Most collector hobbies dealing with industrial products of the Era suffer from this kind of restoration mania -- walk thru any Anteek Mall and you'll see radios covered in high-gloss varnish, with their brass escutcheons polished to a bright shine, or Coke machines with forty coats of hand-rubbed gleaming enamel, or powder-coated telephones that shine like mirrors -- or worse, with the paint stripped off and the metal polished like a tuba in a marching-band.

None of these objects ever looked like this in real life. The idea of taking something that came off an assembly line and was intended for hard, everyday use and tarting it up to where it looks like a cartoon of itself just leaves me cold. But then, none of my stuff looks like that and I don't have to buy anything that does.

One area of industrial-era products-collecting that emphatically rejects the refinishing craze is gun collecting.
An old saying is that if you want to turn a $1000 dollar gun into a $500 gun, just refinish it.
There are some uninformed amateurs who seem stunned when they find out that they have spent $250 on refinishing which cut the value of their gun in half.

There are a few collectors who specialize in "new and unfired" guns, but those are original and not refinished to simulated new condition.

 

[GHT]

That said, and again, my knowledge is dated, but at that time, the most valuable cars were still the near-perfect originals. And, in general, original cars in very good shape were worth more than the same model car in better restored shape. Hence, the collectors still valued originality over obsessive restorations. Of course, that might have changed with a new generation of collectors, but that was the case in the '90s.

It's hard to say, the example that I put up had a great deal of interest, and it really is an aesthetically pleasing restoration, but to me, it's just as Lizzie so eloquently described, a metal polished tuba. She's got such a way with words.

On the other hand though you get, so called purists. They won't tolerate any deviation from the factory finish. The wheel size on my car allows me to fit radial tyres, much safer than the original cross plies. No matter about safety, one MG type berated me so rudely, you might have thought that it was his car and that I had borrowed it, then returned it with radial tyres.

I have also had a finger wagging for having clip on flashing indicators. Today's motorists simply wouldn't know that a trafficator is a semaphore arm that pops out to signal the direction intended. No matter, I have deviated from the original, such heresy.

 

[3fingers]

^^^ I have observed that many of the purists and stitch counters have never themselves put the effort into restoring or owned the items that they so freely criticize others about. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the only one who matters is the joker paying the bills.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I have decided that I do not wish to live forever. I am also afraid that all of these measures that the super-rich are taking (see article) will ultimately split humanity into two separate species; the all powerful beautiful people who live forever (aka gods and goddesses), and the lowly workers who are poor, homely, and all too mortal. Actually, it kinda sounds like mythical ancient Greece, where Zeus was fond of mixing with humans and causing all kinds of trouble.

• Expensive genetic "cures" for aging?
• Computer chip brain implants?
• Luxury bomb shelters?
• 'Young Blood" transfusions?
• Digital consciousness?

No thanks.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/91941...ways-billionaires-are-trying-to-live-forever/

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep. Dystopia? We're soaking in it.

The only hope I have is that fate and revolutions have a way of catching up with would-be immortals. I wouldn't mind living long enough to see it happen, but I probably won't. At least I'm too old and too shabby for them to want to harvest any of my parts when I go. They'll just go ahead and render me right down to Soylent.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

You can run but you can't hide, the Reaper will have his due.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've read articles like that before (these ideas are also tucked into a very niche-y part of the investment world), but whenever I see Bezos and his big bald noggin talking about "curing ageing," I always think, I might be willing to take him a bit more seriously if he'd first find a cure for baldness.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Maybe he was rendered bald in a lab accident and it drove him mad. Oh, wait, I'm thinking of Luthor.

 

[3fingers]

I have decided that I do not wish to live forever. I am also afraid that all of these measures that the super-rich are taking (see article) will ultimately split humanity into two separate species; the all powerful beautiful people who live forever (aka gods and goddesses), and the lowly workers who are poor, homely, and all too mortal. Actually, it kinda sounds like mythical ancient Greece, where Zeus was fond of mixing with humans and causing all kinds of trouble.

• Expensive genetic "cures" for aging?
• Computer chip brain implants?
• Luxury bomb shelters?
• 'Young Blood" transfusions?
• Digital consciousness?

No thanks.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/91941...ways-billionaires-are-trying-to-live-forever/

A former coworker of mine had a pretty good theory about such people. They have everything in the world and there's nothing left for them so they end up going insane. There are levels of insanity of course, but he thought that nearly all of the super wealthy were mentally ill.
Stories like this reinforce his ideas.

My paternal grandmother lived into her mid 90s in physically and mentally good shape, but she thought she had lived too long. She was a widow for over 20 years, all of her friends were dead and my father preceded her. She was released by a massive heart attack that came out of the blue. I was crushed, but I knew she was ready to go.
It's all about perspective.

 

[3fingers]

Maybe he was rendered bald in a lab accident and it drove him mad. Oh, wait, I'm thinking of Luthor.

I'm not sure there's a difference.

 

[GHT]

I have decided that I do not wish to live forever. I am also afraid that all of these measures that the super-rich are taking (see article) will ultimately split humanity into two separate species; the all powerful beautiful people who live forever (aka gods and goddesses), and the lowly workers who are poor, homely, and all too mortal. Actually, it kinda sounds like mythical ancient Greece, where Zeus was fond of mixing with humans and causing all kinds of trouble.

• Expensive genetic "cures" for aging?
• Computer chip brain implants?
• Luxury bomb shelters?
• 'Young Blood" transfusions?
• Digital consciousness?

No thanks.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/91941...ways-billionaires-are-trying-to-live-forever/

In ancient Rome, as a Roman general rode a golden chariot in his triumphant parade, a slave stood beside him and whispered in his ear “Memento mori”—Latin for “remember that you will die”—a not-so-subtle reminder to the soldier that, despite the glory he receives today, he will eventually be worm food. In other words, don’t let success or riches go to your head.

 

[scottyrocks]

I've read articles like that before (these ideas are also tucked into a very niche-y part of the investment world), but whenever I see Bezos and his big bald noggin talking about "curing ageing," I always think, I might be willing to take him a bit more seriously if he'd first find a cure for baldness.

The likely outcome is that the world will be overrun by young, good-looking, bald people.

Buy that Hair Club For Men stock while you still can.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Whatever became of Sy Sperling, anyway?

 

[tonyb]

I don’t think that human immortality is such a far-fetched notion. But I suspect that if it should ever come to pass, it will be quite unlike anything that’s been envisioned to date.

To what degree are humans capable of realizing what we can imagine? I suggest it’s a pretty darned high degree.

Are we capable of cracking the code of time? Are we capable of transforming ourselves into something that won’t wear out? Is it likelier we’ll drive ourselves to extinction before we ever get there? (In a ’57 Bel Air?)

 

[tonyb]

In ancient Rome, as a Roman general rode a golden chariot in his triumphant parade, a slave stood beside him and whispered in his ear “Memento mori”—Latin for “remember that you will die”—a not-so-subtle reminder to the soldier that, despite the glory he receives today, he will eventually be worm food. In other words, don’t let success or riches go to your head.

On the news of the passing of Steve Jobs, and again when I heard Paul Allen had croaked, I found myself feeling all the more satisfied with my meager (but still well more than adequate) material comforts.

 

[GHT]

On the news of the passing of Steve Jobs, and again when I heard Paul Allen had croaked, I found myself feeling all the more satisfied with my meager (but still well more than adequate) material comforts.

Years ago I saw a cartoon depicting a fat business man, descending the stairway to hell, carrying a large washing basket stuffed full with bank notes. He's being greeted by Old Nick, who compliments him on being the first ever to bring his wealth with him, then asks what he plans to do with it.

 

[Tiki Tom]

You can run but you can't hide, the Reaper will have his due.

As in "Appointment in Samarra".
In the story, a man is doing his morning shopping in the bazaar in Baghdad when he spies the Grim Reaper looking at him with great interest. In a panic, the man runs away and steals a horse. Riding like a madman, he races towards a random city, Samarra, many leagues away. Surely death will not be able to find him.
Meanwhile, back in the bazaar, Death's companion sees the funny expression on the Grim Reaper's face. "Why did you look at that guy like that?" the companion asks.
The Angel of the Abyss shrugs. "I was just surprised to see him here in Baghdad. I have an appointment with him this evening in far-off Samarra."