Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,732
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
My grandmother's Ford had one of those tops -- and she was very very un-hippielike. Although one time she did eat tofu.

The Plodge is again back on the road -- they backed off the piston in the master cylinder and the brakes seem to be working normally now. I had it out for about twenty miles yesterday and nothing froze up. We have a parade this coming Saturday in which I'll be driving, festooned with signs for the theatre and carrying a load of squealing concession kids, and am hoping for a problem-free event.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
So far, I've had two vinyl-topped models.

My current daily car:

553365_10151044381309330_679699135_n.jpg


I really liked the one on my old '79 Electra, too:

21960_311689924329_7641065_n.jpg
 
So far, I've had two vinyl-topped models.

My current daily car:

553365_10151044381309330_679699135_n.jpg


I really liked the one on my old '79 Electra, too:

21960_311689924329_7641065_n.jpg
I always wonder why they kept doing the full hippie top on the broughams after 92. They just look weirdly positioned on the 1993-1996 models. The top starts over 2 inches too high on the back and doesn't end down the door posts like the previous models. The Electra is a good example of how it should look. The full one on my 86 Brougham is starting to wear. If it cracks---it is gone. :p
 
Eh, well assuming you're not being jokey, that's highly debatable. No question Woodstock was the hippie high point, but then the Rolling Stones' Altamont speedway disaster and old Charlie Manson and his crew drove the movement into disrepute.

The final nail was that murderous one-sided shootout at Kent State. After that, no more counter-culture. They stopped protesting, cut their hair, got jobs and went corporate.
Obviously you have never been around here. The hippies never left here. They are still here. You can go over the bay to The Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum and see them on the street begging right this minute. Time may have past for the rest of the country but not here. Remember Jim Jones? Well he was around until 1978---well past those incidents you mentioned. Even Liz Taylor's crazy hippie brother tried to open a commune in Hawaii. You know not the epicenter of loonyness that you speak of. lol lol lol
 
We have a parade this coming Saturday in which I'll be driving, festooned with signs for the theatre and carrying a load of squealing concession kids, and am hoping for a problem-free event.

It should be good for that now that everything is fixed. :eusa_clap I hope the theatre is providing some kind of renumeration for having squealing kids in your car. Lots of renumeration....:eeek::p
 

Big Man

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,781
Location
Nebo, NC
Ah yes, spoken like two people who have had children in their cars. :p

Tell me about it. When I load up my grandchildren (12, 9, and 3) in the back of my '48 Plymouth, it's a constant "move away from the doors" kind of ride. We always hade a great time, but it can wear on you a bit.
 
Tell me about it. When I load up my grandchildren (12, 9, and 3) in the back of my '48 Plymouth, it's a constant "move away from the doors" kind of ride. We always hade a great time, but it can wear on you a bit.
The doors without locks are interesting that is for sure. :p Fortunately most of my older cars are coupes. Get in back and stay in back. :p Mine are 7 and 5.
 

Big Man

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,781
Location
Nebo, NC
Then there was the first time one flew open ...

My father-in-law (now 89 years old) tells a story on himself about falling out of his dad's car. It must have been around 1932 or so. They lived at Plumtree, NC (in the NC mountains) and were riding on one of the typical mountain roads of the day. The car went around a sharp curve and my father-in-law fell out. He said he remembers it well, because he was eating a banana at the time and had on a leather aviators hat. He said he hit the ground and rolled a couple times, but never dropped the banana. The way he tells the story, especially the details of the banana and the aviators hat, you have no trouble visualizing the scene.
 
My father-in-law (now 89 years old) tells a story on himself about falling out of his dad's car. It must have been around 1932 or so. They lived at Plumtree, NC (in the NC mountains) and were riding on one of the typical mountain roads of the day. The car went around a sharp curve and my father-in-law fell out. He said he remembers it well, because he was eating a banana at the time and had on a leather aviators hat. He said he hit the ground and rolled a couple times, but never dropped the banana. The way he tells the story, especially the details of the banana and the aviators hat, you have no trouble visualizing the scene.
Like something out of the Marx Brothers. "Hey Harpo! Do that again!" lol lol
 

Gregg Axley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,125
Location
Tennessee
The doors without locks are interesting that is for sure. :p Fortunately most of my older cars are coupes. Get in back and stay in back. :p Mine are 7 and 5.
Mine are suicide doors on a coupe.
The locks are manual, and they lock into the cowl.
So far I've tested it up to 73mph and the doors didn't come open, I give that a good rating. :D
Of course the car tends to wander a bit at that speed, and I can't even imagine doing it when the car was new (1929) on those skinny tires and wooden spoke rims! :eeek:
Which is why I "street-rodded" it.
 
Last edited:
Mine are suicide doors on a coupe.
The locks are manual, and they lock into the cowl.
So far I've tested it up to 73mph and the doors didn't come open, I give that a good rating. :D
Of course the car tends to wander a bit at that speed, and I can't even imagine doing it when the car was new (1929) on those skinny tires and wooden spoke rims! :eeek:
Which is why I "street-rodded" it.
I am surprised the fenders didn't fall off. lol lol
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
We put a new choke cable in the Dart today, painted the wheels, and took the silly decals off.

Also adjusted out the carb and adjusted the electric choke on the Roadrunner.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
They were great for the winter!

Is that car wearing truck tires? ;)

I think the tops should have been done differently, but they were the last to come with a factory vinyl top. The '96 Fleetwood Brougham was sort of the end of an era in a lot of ways. It was the end of GM's body-on-frame, RWD, V8 sedan. It was the end of all metal (chrome) bumpers, vinyl tops, and of the big car. These were the biggest Cadillacs GM had offered since the seventies.

I always wonder why they kept doing the full hippie top on the broughams after 92. They just look weirdly positioned on the 1993-1996 models. The top starts over 2 inches too high on the back and doesn't end down the door posts like the previous models. The Electra is a good example of how it should look. The full one on my 86 Brougham is starting to wear. If it cracks---it is gone. :p
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,144
Messages
3,075,092
Members
54,124
Latest member
usedxPielt
Top