Depressed by the modern world

[LizzieMaine]

Probably one of those silly fashion forums.

Most likely the Island of Misfit Clothing Dummies, where all the flotsam and jetsam of The Fora eventually washes up.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Also, like AtomicEraTom, I grew up in an isolated farm area that hadn't changed much since my dad was a kid on the 40s. When I was a kid I used to like to have my mom take me for rides to look at the old houses and buildings. Something I still love doing today (although I take myself these days!!) I'm sure that has contributed heavily to my love of the 20s-40s. And like LizzieMaine has been saying -- in my town well into the 80s there was that "small community" vibe going on. Nothing but small businesses. Main Street Market was our local grocery store and you'd always run into your neighbours there! I think all the local teenagers worked there at one point or another! If you wanted to shop in chain stores or if you wanted to avoid anyone from town (!!) you had to travel an hour to the Philly suburbs. In 1995 they brought a Wal-Mart into town and ever since it's been constant development in the bigger city of the county (though the outskirts remain untouched farm and marshlands). All the mom-and-pop shops were torn down and replaced with chains.

The town I live in now had the same thing happen around the same time -- Wal Mart hit here in the early/mid-nineties, and within two years of its arrival we'd lost our downtown hardware store, our four-story downtown department store with the hand-operated elevator, two big downtown clothing stores, our downtown five-and-ten, and a whole bunch of smaller independent downtown merchants. And then the gentrifiers came along, so now we have a Main Street populated almost entirely by tourist traps, "upscale" restaurants, and art galleries. The theatre where I work is one of only four businesses on Main Street to survive from the pre-Wal Mart era -- the others being a bookstore/newsstand, a greasy-spoon lunchroom, and an insurance agency -- and that makes me very sad, because I preferred the honest, timeworn community feel of what we lost to the trendy preciousness of what we now have. Progress, phooey.

As far as how people dress, that's something that's very low on my own list of gripes. I'm not especially fond of seeing portly middle-aged men dressed like Charlie Brown, and I'll complain about that from time to time, but on the whole I really couldn't care less if someone is decked out head to toe in Schiaparelli, wearing homemade, or wearing their husband's old t-shirt and a pair of ski pants (a combination not uncommon here.) "Vintageness," to me, is what's inside, not outside.

 

[MisterCairo]

You know, I'd sort of given up on the Lounge because casual conversations about vintage clothing, old fashioned values and things like courtesy and politeness got out of hand into drag-em-out mudslinging fights.

Like this thread has evolved over the last 24 hours.

Then I gradually came back, made a few posts, thought things had calmed down.

Wow, was I wrong.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I'm as shocked as you are there. What's the point? I don't wanna be rivals with anybody. I can't speak for the rest of the FL, but I'm here to discuss topics that pertain to my interests. The discussions on other forums have little value and are of little interest to me, that's why I don't visit them. Same with threads, here. If I enter, fully aware that it's a topic I don't enjoy, I'm making my own problems. Voicing your opinion and discussing it like an adult is one thing, but the way some people drag topics down into the mud, because they disagree is just sickening.

There's a rival forum?

Absolutely. I had a 2000 and 2003 Interceptors and have a 1990 Grand Marquis Colony Park wagon currently, and I'm a GM guy lol GM threw away my interest in purchasing an automobile from them in 1996, when they discontinued the Caprice, Roadmaster, and Fleetwood. My newest GM car, a 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood and about the newest they'll ever get out of me, except maybe a Silverado.

With FoMoCo now out of the body-on-frame, RWD platform business, I don't know where I'll turn to. I'll probably be driving relics the rest of my life. Either that, or I'll have to join the world of SUV's.

You guys must be truly bummed out by the Ford decision to close plant and cease production. I live about an hour away from the St. Thomas, Ontario plant where they, and the Lincoln Town Car, were last produced. Being de-machined and mothballed.

My local PD like most Canadian forces relied on the Crown Vic Police Interceptor as their primary vehicle. They now have one Dodge Charger (!) and I've seen the first of the new Ford Taurus "Interceptors".

Neither is to be taken seriously!

 

[Shangas]

I've seen a few other forums which are similar to the FL. But none of them really held my interest like the Lounge has.

The Lounge has that mix of Experience, Gentility, Advice, Style, History, Fashion, intelligent discussion and possibly...other things...which I can't immediately name...which I don't seem to find on other forums of this type. I guess that's the main reason why I keep coming back.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Cars are made much better and much safer now.

That may be true in terms of engineering and technological advancement but I wish they had an ORIGINAL elegance and style comparable to the great classic cars instead of the ugly Darthmobiles we commonly see on the road.

 

[Shangas]

Automobile bodystyles of the 20s and 30s are probably not as popular today because their, admittedly, rather boxy profiles, mean that there's a lot of air-resistance. Air resistance means more fuel burnt. Sleeker bodystyles reduce drag and air-resistance, and therefore improve fuel-efficiency.

Car-bodies of the later Art Deco/Streamline Moderne style were designed with drag and air-resistance in-mind. But then, during the 1930s, everything was streamlined for reduced air-resistance. Even things that didn't move!...Like typewriters...

Perhaps it improved typing-speed, I dunno!...

Cars of the 30s were more like this. I'm thinking of models like the 1930s Auburn Speedsters...

...and the Chryler Airflow...

Although personally I think the airflow looks too much like the VW Beetle.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I prefer automotive styling that looks like a rocketship

 

[Shangas]

50s car-styling is about where it ends for me. After that, all the "styles" just make no sense to me. But then it may be because I'm not a car-person. Postwar cars were heavily influenced by rocketry, sci-fi, space-travel, nuclear threats and so-forth. I seem to recall a friend of mine telling me about a car (manufacturer of which currently eludes me), which was designed to run on nuclear power! Fascinating, but deadly.

Oh! Here it is. The Ford Nucleon.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Although personally I think the airflow looks too much like the VW Beetle.

Or the Beetle looks like the Airflow -- not unreasonable, since they were designed around the same time.

I actually prefer the hunched-up-cockroach styling of late-prewar cars over the stateliness of the twenties, the tubbiness of the early prewar models, or the fins-and-rockets look of the late fifties. They might look lumpy or dowdy to some people, but then, so do I.

Modern cars, on the other hand, seem to either have no character at all, or the sort of character they do have is forced, contrived, and utterly self conscious. Functionally they don't strike me as anything more than blister packs for overwrought suburban mothers with cellphones grafted to their palms.

 

[Shangas]

My issue with modern cars is that they either look really bland, or they look all identical, or they look...what's the term...ostentatious? Arrogant? Show-offy?

Older cars, even the cheap ones, had style and class. Today, you have a cheap Ford, and it looks...like a cheap Ford.

Back then, if you had a cheap Ford, or an older car, yes, it was cheap. Yes, it might be an older model. But you would be proud rolling up in your 1920s/30s Model A, or later-model T. Could you imagine someone rolling up in a 1970s Ford Fairlane...

...thinking that they actually looked good?

I may be biased about this, but I honestly loathe the 70s. Almost everything about it, I can't stand. The music, the movies, the fashion (OH GOD THE CLOTHES!!)...everything! And especially the cars.

I think you can see why.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My issue with modern cars is that they either look really bland, or they look all identical, or they look...what's the term...ostentatious? Arrogant? Show-offy?

"Aggressive" is the cue I pick up from them, but aggressiveness in a phony, caricatured way. "You better watch out for me, you poky little nobodies, because I'm a wild, free spirit, like YAH! Even though all I'm doing in my Aggressively Styled Performance Vehicle is sitting in the drive-thru line at Wendy's preparing to stuff another Double Baconator into my vast bovine craw."

 

[bulldog1935]

I know, but it gets so old.... this constant bickering between us and moderns. I don't go on their sites and tell them that they're stupid, so why do they do it here?

you're totally missing the point
the people you're bickering with are not "moderns" any more than you are venerables - several of you are just bickering, and people offering honest discussion don't find it worth the trouble

regardless, you are in 2013, and will remain here. I suggest you make the best of it - that doesn't mean model yourself after generation Z, it means be an example of all that is important to you.

the bad thing about modern cars are modern commercials. Probably the worst of them is dodge trucks - the snide and contemptuous voice of Sam Elliott

 

[LizzieMaine]

you're totally missing the point
the people you're bickering with are not "moderns" any more than you are venerables - several of you are just bickering, and people offering honest discussion don't find it worth the trouble

"Moderns" is used by some of us here as shorthand for "people who advocate or epitomize 21st Century attitudes, tastes, or customs," because typing out the latter phrase every time the idea comes up gets tiresome.

Another modern custom we don't care for here is what we call "thread crapping." That's coming into an ongoing discussion for the sole purpose of telling the participants how wrong/missing the point/deluded/incorrect they are just because they don't agree with your own opinion on the matter. You have expressed your point of view. Most of us in this thread disagree with various arguments you've offered. Best you should accept that and move on -- or someone will move you on.

 

[bulldog1935]

I'll be a modern if you'll be Queen Prig

thanks again for quoting me out of context

 

[LizzieMaine]

You've had your gentle warning.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

...Then there is the computerization of todays cars. The successful electronical interjection of 'must haves' into the car buyer mindset. Continual updates and downloads. GPS(never get lost) screens and those even willing to pay monthly fees for the 'Onstar' road security racket..XM stereo needs...etc...and,of course,then the needed 'extended warranty' to insure everything is kept 'in sync' for free(?)all incorporated into 'the monthly payment'. The long length of the loan allows a monthly payment affordable to 'get into'. The actual costs of the vehicle is secondary(if really considered at all) since many(most?)will go'upside down'on a loan for the next latest and greatest,anyhow. Plus rebates! You can even add in "paint protection"!!..back up camera!...lane change alerts!....forward radar that even brakes for you so you don't run into the car ahead of you! And you can even 'LEASE'all this! All for just a monthly payment of blah blah. Don't worry that the car may be actually costing $30 or 40 grand or more. Doesn't need to actually ever be payed off. Good deal..huh?

 

[bulldog1935]

You've had your gentle warning.

that's fine, just make sure you have a name to call anyone with independent thought

 

[Feraud]

that's fine, just make sure you have a name to call anyone with independent thought

Strike two chum. One more and the bulldog goes out to the doghouse..for good.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

...Then there is the computerization of todays cars. The successful electronical interjection of 'must haves' into the car buyer mindset. Continual updates and downloads. GPS(never get lost) screens and those even willing to pay monthly fees for the 'Onstar' road security racket..XM stereo needs...etc...and,of course,then the needed 'extended warranty' to insure everything is kept 'in sync' for free(?)all incorporated into 'the monthly payment'. The long length of the loan allows a monthly payment affordable to 'get into'. The actual costs of the vehicle is secondary(if really considered at all) since many(most?)will go'upside down'on a loan for the next latest and greatest,anyhow. Plus rebates! You can even add in "paint protection"!!..back up camera!...lane change alerts!....forward radar that even brakes for you so you don't run into the car ahead of you! And you can even 'LEASE'all this! All for just a monthly payment of blah blah. Don't worry that the car may be actually costing $30 or 40 grand or more. Doesn't need to actually ever be payed off. Good deal..huh?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just hire a chauffeur and a tail gunner???