The Sunday Drive

[1mach1]

my first post here, so Hello to everyone...
well in fact it was a Monday drive, but I didnt had to work and weather was just beautifull, so I took my old Peugeot for a very nice ride along small roads in german autuum:

Fantastic photo of your car!

 

[Pat Spade]

thank you...

 

[Big Man]

After church today, I decided to take the old '48 Plymouth out for a Sunday afternoon drive. The weather is so unusually warm for this time of year, that we had the windows down and the cowel vent open.

We drove about 30 miles around the back side of Lake James, passing by where my 4X great grandfather lived in the late 1700s. Along the way, we passed by several old graveyards where family members from the late 1700s through the mid 1800s are buried.

To add a more in lined theme to the Fedora Lounge way of thinking (and to the time line of the old Plymouth), we passed by a couple old places that were once honkeytonks and night spots back in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (one of which was owned and operated by a relative of mine). We even passed by the cemetery where Wash Turner is buried. Wash was a bit of a local legend, having been put to death in the electric chair in 1939 for his part in a string of bank roberies and the murder of a Highway Patrolman.

I just love local history, especially when viewed through a split windshield on a Sunday Drive.

 

[Big Man]

After almost 10 inches of snow, howling winds, and freezing temperatures last weekend, everything was gone this weekend and the temperature was in the mid 60s. What a difference a week makes! It was so nice today that we loaded two of the grandchildren up in the old '48 Plymouth and took them for a "Sunday drive" after church.

About 20 or so miles up the road from where we live is the Andrews Geyser. It's a man-made geyser that was built in the late 1800s as an attraction along the rail line from Old Fort to Asheville in western NC. there was once a huge hotel there as well, but it burned in the early 1900s.

All in all, on today's Sunday drive, we put about 50 miles on the old car. It sure was a great day to spend with family.

 

[Big Man]

After church today, I took the '65 Ford for a nice long drive up NC 226A, across the Blue Ridge Parkway to Crabtree Meadows (where we had a really nice picnic), then as they used to say, "motored" on over to Linville Falls and back home. It was a nice afternoon for a ride in a great old car.

 

[GHT]

Fabulous scenery, great cars and lovely shots of your family, a real treat Big Man. Moving from London to a present location in The New Forest. Not that new, it's about twelve thousand years old but for dating purposes it was declared new by William the Conquerer around 1086. It makes for a great Sunday drive, great scenery and some wonderful old thatched pubs where a roast sunday lunch can be enjoyed. Next time I'm out for a Sunday drive I will post a few photos.

Today we were on Poole Quay for Poole goes Vintage, when I have uploaded the photos I'll put them on one of the vintage car threads. Keep yours coming Big Man they are so enjoyable.

 

[GHT]

We live in such a beautiful part of our country and so different from city life. We were at our favourite watering hole today, where we enjoyed a traditional Sunday lunch. Roast pork with all the trimmings and a side dish of pigs in blankets. In other countries pigs in blankets might be know as something different, here in the UK they are small sausages wrapped in bacon, so moorish.
Our restaurant is a thatched pub, centuries old, called The World's End. There's great, deliberate graffiti on the walls, like: The church is near, but the road is icy. The pub is far, but I will walk carefully. Here are some photos that I have had to lift from the web. Driving along and seeing the wildlife is amazing, get your phone or camera out and, where did they go? in no particular order are pics of the restaurant and some of The New Forest animals. There's also a couple of shots of orphans being hand reared before being released back into the wild. Enjoy.

 

[GHT]

It's not easy to get a photo of us both, with the car, so I have used a previous one. Not taken at The World's End but similar.

 

[scottyrocks]

The Sunday drive.

So much is different these days.

I've been reading through this thread again. John in Covina's experiences were similar to mine, as I lived in Brooklyn and had relatives on Long Island that we would drive out to visit on Sundays a couple of times a month. Those were our Sunday drives.

Here, Sunday drives are not really possible, or worthwhile, anymore.

The cars.

Today, driving a car that was manufactured in the last 20 years, give or take, is nothing like cars made prior. These days, you're strapped in, the view out is obstructed in almost every direction, windows are almost always up, and isolation from the outside world is almost complete.

Never was this more apparent than after I got my Beetle, and then the Mustang running.

My car life prior to the VW has been a series of upgrades every few years. Every new car was more competent than the prior one. More silent, faster, quicker, more competent handling.

Driving the Bug and the Mustang is a completely different experience than our 2015 and 2018 Hondas. The old cars demand a more relaxed pace. Neither one has AC, so becoming one with the environment is basically mandatory in warmer weather. The old cars supply engine and road noise. The VW, especially, offers an unencumbered 360 degree view of the outside world. As a driver or passenger, you are one with the environment, instead of being cut off from it as in the new cars.

The roads.

Traffic keeps getting worse and worse around here. I can see it every year when I start my school year. It takes longer and longer to get to work. Roads are congested at times when they weren't in the past. Going shopping can be a PITA due to traffic and parking. Driving for pleasure is becoming very difficult, at least around here.

Technology.

Children now are completely distracted by handheld devices, usually a relief to their equally distracted parent in the front passenger seat.

When I was a child, my brother and I were often engaged in some activity by Mom. Sometimes it was the 'name a place that starts with the same letter as the last letter of the place named just prior' game, sometimes it was 'count the VWs' game, as well as some others.

I remember my Mom telling me that the only time my brother and I were a quiet on the way to Brighton Beach was when we passed Knapp Street on the Belt Pkwy. We'd see the sign and 'konk out' in the back seat. Mom would tell us that we're still at Knapp Street way after we had passed the exit to keep us 'sleeping' and quiet for as long as possible. On the way home from the beach we didn't need the sign. We were worn out and either asleep or quiet.

Early in this thread, Big Man made some posts about his Sunday drives back in 2010. I suspect living on the mainland, away from a big city, would still, in 2018, offer many great driving experiences that are not available to me unless I brave at least 2 hours of horrendous traffic getting off this island.

When I retire in about a year and a half, we plan on relocating about 500 miles inland. It is then I will be able to enjoy driving again, in my old cars, being able to head off in any direction into the countryside, and not having to even think about crossing a bridge or driving into a large body of water, or the almost constant choking traffic that is a feature an over-populated island near a major metropolitan area.

 

[GHT]

Scotty, what you have described is endemic of the developed countries. The baby boomers was the last big population explosion, since then with improved birth control and much lower infant mortality rates, subsequent generations have been having far fewer babies. But the developing nations, as always, are being left behind, their populace, wishing to make a better life for themselves, have emigrated to the developed world on a scale never previously witnessed, who can blame them?
The consequence is that our infrastructure is groaning. It's a difficult problem though as we in the UK know only too well.

 

[Big Man]

After church today, we took a nice long drive in my '65 Ford

across the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at Crabtree Meadows for a picnic, then on back home. It was a good day to be out motoring in a great old car.

 

[GHT]

After church today, we took a nice long drive in my '65 Ford View attachment 143352 View attachment 143353 across the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at Crabtree Meadows for a picnic, then on back home. It was a good day to be out motoring in a great old car.

A great car and a breath taking view. There's a fantasy that I have long nurtured and that's to do a US road trip and although the more popular tourists sights are tempting, I know, from going around my own country, that there are some spectacular sights that most tourists simply fly over. We learned that one year when visiting Chattanooga. We had done the Nashville and Gracelands tour, (I did like Nashville) then on a whim we took off for Chattanooga. It was absolutely briiliant. On our return home we were asked about our visit and when we mentioned Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls we got perplexed expressions. Where?

Ruby Falls is a 145 foot high underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

 

[GHT]

The weather cleared after this morning's rain, it gave us the chance to get out into The New Forest. Otters abound this time of the year, but when the weather is extremely wet, cubs can get separated from their mother. If you are not fortunate enough to see otters in the wild, you can go along to the rescue centre where there's always a few orphans being reared, ready to go back into the wild.

 

[belfastboy]

The Sunday drive.

So much is different these days.

I've been reading through this thread again. John in Covina's experiences were similar to mine, as I lived in Brooklyn and had relatives on Long Island that we would drive out to visit on Sundays a couple of times a month. Those were our Sunday drives.

Here, Sunday drives are not really possible, or worthwhile, anymore.

The cars.

Today, driving a car that was manufactured in the last 20 years, give or take, is nothing like cars made prior. These days, you're strapped in, the view out is obstructed in almost every direction, windows are almost always up, and isolation from the outside world is almost complete.

Never was this more apparent than after I got my Beetle, and then the Mustang running.

My car life prior to the VW has been a series of upgrades every few years. Every new car was more competent than the prior one. More silent, faster, quicker, more competent handling.

Driving the Bug and the Mustang is a completely different experience than our 2015 and 2018 Hondas. The old cars demand a more relaxed pace. Neither one has AC, so becoming one with the environment is basically mandatory in warmer weather. The old cars supply engine and road noise. The VW, especially, offers an unencumbered 360 degree view of the outside world. As a driver or passenger, you are one with the environment, instead of being cut off from it as in the new cars.

The roads.

Traffic keeps getting worse and worse around here. I can see it every year when I start my school year. It takes longer and longer to get to work. Roads are congested at times when they weren't in the past. Going shopping can be a PITA due to traffic and parking. Driving for pleasure is becoming very difficult, at least around here.

Technology.

Children now are completely distracted by handheld devices, usually a relief to their equally distracted parent in the front passenger seat.

When I was a child, my brother and I were often engaged in some activity by Mom. Sometimes it was the 'name a place that starts with the same letter as the last letter of the place named just prior' game, sometimes it was 'count the VWs' game, as well as some others.

I remember my Mom telling me that the only time my brother and I were a quiet on the way to Brighton Beach was when we passed Knapp Street on the Belt Pkwy. We'd see the sign and 'konk out' in the back seat. Mom would tell us that we're still at Knapp Street way after we had passed the exit to keep us 'sleeping' and quiet for as long as possible. On the way home from the beach we didn't need the sign. We were worn out and either asleep or quiet.

Early in this thread, Big Man made some posts about his Sunday drives back in 2010. I suspect living on the mainland, away from a big city, would still, in 2018, offer many great driving experiences that are not available to me unless I brave at least 2 hours of horrendous traffic getting off this island.

When I retire in about a year and a half, we plan on relocating about 500 miles inland. It is then I will be able to enjoy driving again, in my old cars, being able to head off in any direction into the countryside, and not having to even think about crossing a bridge or driving into a large body of water, or the almost constant choking traffic that is a feature an over-populated island near a major metropolitan area.

I agree with much of your post and your words about the VW bring back many great memories. Our one divergence is as a previous owner of 5 VW's the newest a '69 cargo van (the oldest a '59 Ghia) is being at one with the outside world. I drove my 1965 Beetle while I worked about an hours drive down the freeway from home. In winter driving with no heater, having to learn how to shift gears and hold a scraper with my right hand simultaneously as the inside of the windows would ice up and only continuous scraping allowed me to see my way. I loved my VW's but that is one experience I do not wish to replicate. I do enjoy the comforts of my modern vehicles.

 

[scottyrocks]

I took a Sunday drive this morning in the VW. I mention it here only because the car has been off the road for 4 months while I chased down a problem. I am happy to say that it was fixed as of last night. I am not happy to say that the solution was uber-simple, but because of my lack of knowledge, a fix that I did a couple of months ago that was the solution to the problem I did incorrectly, which masked the problem. More research revealed to me what I did wrong, and now all is well.

 

[Dan Allen]

The wife and I enjoy Sunday drives in the Western Ozarks in our Genesis coupe. m Not vintage but a relaxing day non the less.

 

[GHT]

If the winter sunshine is bright and there's no salted grit spread over the roads, we love a drive out in the Forest. Look at frost on the pony's back, must have been a chilly night. Of course if the ground is too hard for foraging you can always steal an easy meal.

Holmsleigh Station has long disappeared, but an enterprising family took over the building and turned it into tea rooms, and very popular it is too. The last caption is also a New Forest watering hole, from when the weather was a lot more clement, makes me think that spring will be on us in a few short weeks and that will bring the old cars out of hibernation.
In fact the first gathering is at the end of March, it's called, The Cobweb Spin, so named because it's time to brush off the cobwebs, turn the engine and take it out for a spin. Do you recognise all the marques in the photo?

 

[scottyrocks]

Jag, A-H, MG, Triumph.

 

[GHT]

Jag, A-H, MG, Triumph.

You know your British sports cars. The Jaguar, is an early version of the E-Type. Next to it is the Austin Healey 3000, then comes the MGA, I'm not sure if it's an early version or one fitted with the later, twin cam. I've no idea if it's possible to tell. The Triumph is the TR6, and like the Triumph Stag it had notorious overheating problems. A problem solved today with waterless coolant, a chemical that can survive extremes of temperature on either end of the spectrum.

 

[scottyrocks]

You know your British sports cars. The Jaguar, is an early version of the E-Type. Next to it is the Austin Healey 3000, then comes the MGA, I'm not sure if it's an early version or one fitted with the later, twin cam. I've no idea if it's possible to tell. The Triumph is the TR6, and like the Triumph Stag it had notorious overheating problems. A problem solved today with waterless coolant, a chemical that can survive extremes of temperature on either end of the spectrum.

The only model I wasn't sure of was the A-H. I knew it was either a 100-4 or 3000, though.