Show us your vehicles

[Bill Taylor]

Scarlett, those old Buick straight eights may take off a little slow as the Dynaflow transmission was not a fast one and they always had that great roar at take-off, but once going, you can set those babies at 70 or 80 miles per hour and hear a pin drop on the carpet in the back seat. They are that quiet. And the ride quality is magnificent' they just glide over the road.

Bill

 

[Corona Smith]

After having seen this thead, and several others with eye-catching images, I've decided that I am in dire need of a camera. So once that's accomplished, I'll be able to show off my '72 BSA Thunderbolt and my true baby, my '73 Buick Riviera...with the boat-tail! Sigh...she's a true beauty!

 

[SamMarlowPI]

got my grandmothers 1986 Buick Regal with about 55k miles on it and almost mint everything else..drove it for a year and sold it b/c i moved...but i still have a 1972 Chevy P/U longbox that is in the process of reconstruction...nice little project...

 

[Forgotten Man]

Because Riot....Original is always better Why do you need to mess with perfection???

I couldn't agree more! Just need to swap out those MOONS for stock Merc caps and trim rings.

Most of you all have seen my daily. Just for the new comers, here's a link to her page.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cf...&MyToken=9aa90457-1c81-4555-a710-8fdb1903f2a9

Just got the front breaks fixed up a tad... getting her ready for the paint shop.

PS. I want a raccoon tail for my aerial like that Merc has!!!

 

[cowboy76]

That Mach1 needs to be rescued! It wouldn't take much to bring her back to life and looking good again. Did you ask anyone about it?

This is next door to where I work. It's a '33 (or '34) Dodge longbed. That's rare enough, but I love the sidemount spare. I'd love to save it. *singing to the tune of, It I Only Had a Brain,* If I only had the means . . .

Lee

You NEED to rescue that truck!!!!

 

[Forgotten Man]

Bet if ya asked to buy that truck you could get it for a song! lol

Seriously, that truck could probably be bought for no more then a 1000. in it's current condition... or, maybe less... depends on who's selling it.

 

[RIOT]

Not mine anymore.. but i still want to show it off.. oh well.

Hopefully I could start my next project, a '28A RPU, with suicide front-end, etc. by sometime next year.

 

[Antje]

wwwwwwooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww

I love all your old cars and things great,

i cannot afford an oldy, and I'm driving a renault kangoo, because thats the easiest with al my dogs.

but I really enjoy wacthing yours
so cool

Antje

 

[Twitch]

Forgotten Man- you can see how little it took to make the Mercs of that era very mild customs with a different look. Cool thing is you can switch between Moons and stock easily.

My Packard since I got wheel trim rings

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Bet if ya asked to buy that truck you could get it for a song! lol

Seriously, that truck could probably be bought for no more then a 1000. in it's current condition... or, maybe less... depends on who's selling it.

Then again, "Oh, I'm never selling that truck! I'm gonna restore it, yes sir-ree! Ya see, it belonged to my third cousin Zeke, and he once gave Barton MacLaine a ride in it, and blah blah blah..." :rage:

 

[scarlett]

Twitch - what a beautiful beast of a car. Such style...

 

[Twitch]

Thank you Scarlett.

And Tony, that is a good guess at the owner's mindset. There have been lots of old vehicles that were sitting, people would have purchased, but the owners had some idea that:
1. age would make the car more valuable even as it rotted
2. they honestly did wish to resore it but had no $ and foreseeably wouldn't
3. like to tell people about the vintage vehicle they own even if it is crap

 

[John in Covina]

Vintage restorations and upgrades?

One thing that I tend to balk at is when in the pursuit of making a nice ride the owner changes everything possble. Out goes the original motor and in with some crate race motor, then put in a Mustang II front end. I understand that you'd like dics brakes now that you are capable of out running an F15 on the dragstrip but please! Wasn't there some charm to the vehicle in its original design? If you want a hot rod go and get a repro body and build the dream car, don't sacrifice something old and original and make a Frankenstien funny car out of it especially if it is pre fifties...

 

[Forgotten Man]

One thing that I tend to balk at is when in the pursuit of making a nice ride the owner changes everything possble. Out goes the original motor and in with some crate race motor, then put in a Mustang II front end. I understand that you'd like dics brakes now that you are capable of out running an F15 on the dragstrip but please! Wasn't there some charm to the vehicle in its original design? If you want a hot rod go and get a repro body and build the dream car, don't sacrafice something old and original and make a Frankenstien funny car out of it especially if it is pre fifties...

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

AMEN!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

And what's the deal with grafting some mid-'70s front suspension parts on and calling it "Modern"? Parts that were engineered for a completely different vehicle and which aren't particularly "hi-tech" anyhow?

Off brand engine swaps mystify me as well. If it's a Mopar or a Buick or a Mercury car, why not, if you must swap, put a Mopar or a Buick or a Mercury(or a Ford, anyway) engine back in?

I think there's a misconception around that automotive engineers in the 1930s were idiots. Believe me, they weren't.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Forgotten Man- you can see how little it took to make the Mercs of that era very mild customs with a different look. Cool thing is you can switch between Moons and stock easily.

My Packard since I got wheel trim rings

You have a beautiful Packard, Twitch. That body style is one of my favorites.

Before I joined the lounge, I'd see one in West Covina, waiting for a buyer. It was in primer, needed new chrome and interior, and had a couple cracked windows, but it still had the swan on the hood and it seemed to be complete. I do know that it ran, though.

I know what you mean, Tony. I tend to tune out conversations about cars when they go in that direction, and then I just lament the loss of another fine classic turning to dust. As far as the truck, though, I haven't spoken to anyone over there.

I completely agree with you there, John. I've never understood dropping a Chevy engine into a Ford, either. If you're a Ford guy, use a Ford. Mopar, use Mopar, etc. Diversification is one thing, but what good is it to claim you have the fastest Ford at the strip when it has the same engine as the Camaro you just beat?

I like cars of all stripes: classics, muscle, hot rod, and such, but there are things out there that people do to their cars that make absolutely no sense at all. . . . Like, well, this! YIKE!

Lee

 

[Twitch]

Restoration and modification are 2 different things. Returning a car to its original-when-newer condition is restoration and upgrading, modifying and customizing is another thing. Often a modified car looks completely stock from without but has modifications under the skin.

Mostly the reason to use modern tech on older cars is safety for extended mileage. Guys want to drive their vintage car all over like we would our everyday cars. Well brakes, suspension steering and a bunch of other stuff from 50+ years a ago preclude that. Gonna drive all over the country or even daily, you want A/C too.

When I drive the Packard I have to anticapate stopping all the time and coast to decide whether to brake at an early stage of any event unfolding in front of me. The 4 old old drums do not begin to stop like my 96 Caddy's 4 discs!

At times it is an issue of cost. I can be cheaper to replace a frozen 1947 flathead 6 with a V-8 crate motor. Rebuilding old engines can be more expensive and has to be done by folks that have experience in such. Same with transmissions. And since the interior is probably destroyed modern seats and upholstery are often no more costly than finding fabric specifically like the original if possible at all.

Most of the hot rods like the white one above have no original parts! You can, and should buy a rolling chassis and fiberglass or steel repro body, put a modern V-8 in it and you have a modern car that can take the power of the engine, turn and stop safely and isn't rusting away deep inside.

That is what most folks are doing now. It is cheaper to buy all the modern-produced components and assemble basicall a new car that looks like on from the 30s than it is to find rusty hulk and attempt to use it. And rodders aren't dumb enough to pay like $20,000 for a restored car and then modify it since they'd end up at a loss due to all the original parts they'd need to replace for modernization.

But yes some cars are modified originals. However the vast majority of them were done up to the 60s-70s at latest. Cars that people call classics now were just old cars then- junk if you will cause most were not running since they were old and it would have been money down a drain for the owner.

These cars were only saved by kids who thought old cars were cool. No one wanted to be seen driving 20-30 years old car back then. There were relatively only a few people who thought having 100% original old cars was neat. There weren't even that many museums that saw the relative value in them by and large.

The fact that production quantities were very high also lent to the fact that these cars weren't even particualrrly rare. About 9 million Fords alone were cranked out from 1930-40. Duesenbergs, Pierce Arrows, some Packards, Mormons and such were truly rare old cars that could be called true classics.

All that said I still like to see original cars most but understand and acknowledge modified ones too.[huh]

 

[John in Covina]

There still are a fair amount of 1930's / 1940's cars that are tucked away as "Barn Finds" and in rural areas there are some old family junk yards as wellas those that grabbed them and warehoused them because they were hoping to do something with the someday. Plus there are true hand me down family cars out there, and yes people do cut them up and make hotrods out of them or Heaven forbid- Ratrods.

From where I work (Egge) I get to see orders for parts for engine restrorations everyday, and what is being done from 'clean original as possible' to the mild performance, to the vintage hot rodding efforts, to actual race motor work.

We get the Old Car Trader and Hemmings Motor News (?) at work and I love going thru the car ads, there is some great stuff. There is a new publication , I think it is called classic cars and every issue they get a series of shots from those junkyard, barn finds and such, it is truly astonishing what is parked away and hidden out there, waiting for the restorer's hands... oh and the owner's check to clear.

 

[$ally]

One thing that I tend to balk at is when in the pursuit of making a nice ride the owner changes everything possble. Out goes the original motor and in with some crate race motor, then put in a Mustang II front end. I understand that you'd like dics brakes now that you are capable of out running an F15 on the dragstrip but please! Wasn't there some charm to the vehicle in its original design? If you want a hot rod go and get a repro body and build the dream car, don't sacrifice something old and original and make a Frankenstien funny car out of it especially if it is pre fifties...

:eusa_clap Be careful, I was once attacked for making that same statement lol

 

[MrNewportCustom]

There is a new publication , I think it is called classic cars and every issue they get a series of shots from those junkyard, barn finds and such, it is truly astonishing what is parked away and hidden out there, waiting for the restorer's hands... oh and the owner's check to clear.

If you're talking about Collectible Automobile, John, there's nothing new about it. It's my favorite magazine, and I've been a subscriber for many years. The section you're talking about is "Car Spotter". The photos are submitted by readers, and the pictures come from around the world. That's always the first section I look through. Great magazine, and I love that there are no advertisements, other than their own books and back issues.


Lee