Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[LizzieMaine]

The art museum crowd rules this town. What they want, they get, regardless. There's a lot of big wallets being slung around -- but parking is far too plebian an issue for them to bother with.

Just around the corner from the theatre, there's a plan underway to build a five-story glass-walled art-storage warehouse, for the "storage of world-class private art collections." Construction of this ridiculous monstrosity will obliterate two lots now used for business parking, but the owner of the property is the one building the monstrosity, so he does what he -- or his rich underwriter -- wants.

Our current governor believes government money to towns and cities is a sin. The private sector uber alles, and too bad if it screws the untermenschen.

 

[tonyb]

Oh yeah, that's what you get in a town that's been "saved." I accept that new money has to come in for the place to be economically viable, what with the old industries dying off and all. "Gentrification," and all that. The twelve-buck grilled-cheese sandwiches you've mentioned before.

But I advise those moneyed newcomers against throwing out their shoulders while patting themselves on the back. The reason those charming old districts remain as "intact" as they do is because the moneyed types a generation or two or three ahead of them abandoned those old places for the suburbs. No, Mr. and Ms. Wellheeled, you didn't "save" the district. The district was saved by those who stayed while your parents and grandparents went away to pamper you in your money-lined cocoon.

 

[Braz]

Our current governor believes government money to towns and cities is a sin. The private sector uber alles, and too bad if it screws the untermenschen.

From what news makes its way to here in the heartland, I get the impression that your current governor is something of a whack-doodle on many levels.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep. The Cracker Factory is missing a saltine, if you get my drift.

 

[Nobert]

From what news makes its way to here in the heartland, I get the impression that your current governor is something of a whack-doodle on many levels.

Picked up on that, didja?

 

[Nobert]

For those who advocate better rail transportation. You already have in the US the most complete airline transport system in the world. I don't think you could get most air passengers to switch to a slower, more expensive railroad ride no matter how much safer or more comfy. I like trains too but let's face it, the airplane is here to stay for trips over 400 miles. For trips less than 400 miles you can't beat a car.

Gotta disagree with you there, on a personal level. I would rather take a train than a car for any trip under 400 miles. If I never get on a plane again, it will be too soon.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I *hate* flying. I'll pump a handcar along rusted railroad tracks in the rain with Howie Carr sitting on the other side eating an onion and garlic sandwich and singing the complete score to "Cats" before I'll willingly get on another plane. I *hate* flying.

I went coast to coast twice by Greyhound bus in the '80s, and the experience beat any plane trip I've ever taken.

 

[tonyb]

I'd rather see the countryside from car seat altitude, if I have the time. And I don't enjoy being aboard commercial aircraft. Indeed, I start counting down to ETA from the moment I step aboard. But if it's just the people and a bag each taking the trip, it's a helluva lot faster and usually a helluva lot less expensive to fly than to go most any other way.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I don't like flying either but once the jet airliner was invented, the train was obsolete for passenger use. They get away with them in Europe because distances are shorter and the railroads are heavily subsidized by the government.

 

[tonyb]

One advantage passenger rail has over air travel is that the train deposits the passengers in city centers, whereas airports are almost always at some distance from business and residential hubs.

Still, though, in most of the U.S. people wish to get around in a personal vehicle once they've arrived at their destination city. So they may as well fly and pick up the rental car at the airport.

 

[Rich Conaty]

Here's what I drive: 1950 Nash Ambassador Custom. It's the car I'd wanted since seeing all the Nashes on the Superman TV series.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I *hate* flying. I'll pump a handcar along rusted railroad tracks in the rain with Howie Carr sitting on the other side eating an onion and garlic sandwich and singing the complete score to "Cats" before I'll willingly get on another plane. I *hate* flying.

I went coast to coast twice by Greyhound bus in the '80s, and the experience beat any plane trip I've ever taken.

I have this discussion with my wife every time that we go on vacation: she's of the, "get there fast so that we can enjoy ourselves more at the destination" school, while I am more of a "the journey is the destination" kind of a guy. I've been trying to finagle a trans- Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary II for years and those negotiations still continue. I've flown across several times (London, Frankfurt, Moscow) and even though the meals are nicer and the seats bigger than on a domestic flight it's still 7- 10 hours in a single seat along with the usual joys of preflight security.

We got in last night after a 2 week vacation in Vancouver and Victoria BC: flights home were via Calgary, not crowded, and the first leg was on a turboprop plane: actually, kind of fun. But O! For those good old days when we could have gone by train on the Soo Line and Canadian Pacific on the Mountaineer via Winnipeg in a Pullman car. Next big trip will be to Seattle for a pediatric conference, and I have scored a victory by getting an Amtrak bedroom on the way home. Three hot meals, a nice hot shower every morning and night, and a fairly decent bed to sleep on: I love first class train travel, and to me, that type of travel is the destination.

But, Greyhound, or any intercity bus? No way. That's even worse than riding coach class on Amtrak with my bad back issues. I remember short (200 miles) intercity bus trips during college, and even then, it was pure torture.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I don't like flying either but once the jet airliner was invented, the train was obsolete for passenger use. They get away with them in Europe because distances are shorter and the railroads are heavily subsidized by the government.

Three factors, actually, killed intercity trains in the US. In addition to jet travel, the building of the interstate highway system, and the elimination of government mail contracts for the railroads. That mail car often paid the bills for the passenger service, and when they were being eliminated, the passenger services often deteriorated to the point that it was as if they wanted to get rid of the passengers. This while fighting the airlines, which were heavily subsidized by the government all along.

But there were exceptions. Santa Fe's Super Chief and the Southern Railway's Southern Crescent were first class operations to the very end.

 

[tonyb]

I've gone coast to coast by bus. And back again. And I've motorcycled coast to coast. And back again. And I've hitchhiked coast to coast. And back again.

I did those things back when I was still young and bulletproof.

I'm still up to a long road trip, though. In a car. With a well-functioning heater. And air-conditioning. No ancient 40 horsepower VW microbuses. (I've gone coast to coast, and back again, in one of those things, too. Never again.)

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We have major road problems here, too. Seeing its first European traveler in 1673, my town is a very old one, especially for the midwest. There are many one-way streets, and the River and the canal make travel even worse. I could walk to work every day, if not for that darn canal. I can see the plant from my front window, but have to drive all the way around...

The problem here is that we're still driving our 20th and 21st Century cars on a road system that was, by and large, laid out in the 19th Century. I live fifty miles from the nearest modern "highway," and all we have are two-lane roads which were put into their current form when the state speed limit was 45mph. And our towns and cities were laid out in Colonial times and the arrangement of streets and roads still shows it.

In this town, in particular, the arrangement of roads is byzantine if you're a tourist -- to try and control the tourist traffic flow, we've got an arrangement of one-way streets that's hopelessly confusing if you've never been here before, and only two public parking lots, both of which are usually filled by people who actually work in town. So the tourists drive around in circles looking for somewhere to park, and then end up taking it out on me when they come to the show and there's nowhere to put their car. "WHY DON'T YOU HAVE PARKING????" they yell. And all I can tell them is "WE WERE BUILT WHEN PEOPLE CAME TO THE SHOW ON THE TROLLEY!"

And as far as building modern roads goes, forget it. They've been trying for forty years to build a bypass around Wiscasset, the most notorious bottleneck on Route 1, and it'll never, ever happen because it'll "ruin the scenery."

And meanwhile, hundreds of cars with one person inside just sit there not moving.

Me and the better half are a 6 car household, well really 2 cars, two pickup trucks, a dump truck, and a station wagon lol

Of course, things were much different back in "the Era," before jet planes and the Interstate Highway System and two- and three-car households.

Practicality is bland, in my opinion. I prefer the beautiful, and sometimes the ostentatious.

Thanks for your wishes, and I hope so, too, that's a six-figure car lol

Great point on "the purpose" of fins etc. - many aesthetically pleasing things exist simply to be aesthetically pleasing. The old Soviet Union gave a window into what life looks like when everything is "practical."

I'm hoping you get your dream Eldorado one day - it's a full-throttle fins car.

My brother told me GAZ still makes a twin of the Model A, or did until recently. Too bad they're so pricey to send here.

No Cadillacs besides mine in my neighborhood either, and mine's almost 20 years old. Lots of Buicks, some foreign jobs, and a Chevy Caprice come to mind.

If fins are a metaphor for the Cold War, then comparing the '59 Eldo and '59 Gaz, it's no wonder the US won.

I will admit, the Gaz has more styling than most USSR cars I've seen. While Cadillac was hardly a car for the masses, they did sell a lot of cars and you saw them in a few driveways in neighborhoods like mine (think "Wonder Years" - not rich, just regular guy middle class - when my dad saw it in a neighbor's driveway, he'd say they probably owe more on the car than the house) - did the Gaz make it to the people or just the nomenclature?

 

[Stearmen]

I saw this in the grocery parking lot yesterday. I had to laugh!

 

[Talbot]

Here's what I drive: 1950 Nash Ambassador Custom. It's the car I'd wanted since seeing all the Nashes on the Superman TV series.

Pic is not showing

 

[HeyMoe]

Having a spare hubcap for my 39 Dodge, I decided to get a bit creative today. After cleaning the cap up and repainting it, I decided to turn it into a clock for my office at work!



Here are the 39 hubs on my extremely dirty 39 dodge. Living on a dirt road sucks sometimes.

 

[Big Man]

I brought my old '48 Plymouth home from the shop today, washed it up good, and took it out for a much needed (for me) drive this afternoon. The old car has new brakes all around, complete with all new wheel cylinders all the way around. I also have new motor and transmission mounts, a new emergency brake, and new axle seals. The wheel cylinders and axle seals had been leaking like a sieve and had been in need of replacing for a long time now. Same for the motor and transmission mounts. The emergency brake never did work (the lining was shot), so it was high time that was repaired.

The old car is a pleasure to drive, especially now that I don't have to cross my fingers and hope it will stop or that the transmission will fall out (the old mounts were that worn out). I sure do enjoy driving an old car.

 

[dh66]

Brakes are good.

The car looks great, Big Man. Glad you are enjoying it again.