What car to go with your flight jackets?

[beckster]

Sounds really cool. Any photos of it?

 

[Flightengineer]

Sounds really cool. Any photos of it?

Sure!

 

[Edward]

I liked the PT Cruiser. They didn't last long on the UK market, but I saw some that were given great custom makeovers that gave them a really "vintage" look. It's always nice to see something on the road that isn't the usual wind-tunnelled sameness.

 

[Flightengineer]

I liked the PT Cruiser. They didn't last long on the UK market, but I saw some that were given great custom makeovers that gave them a really "vintage" look. It's always nice to see something on the road that isn't the usual wind-tunnelled sameness.

Yes, this is a hot rod for every day. Very positive car, guaranteeing a good mood. I owned two, the first version and restyled (on pics). I loved this car very much, myself tuned it and made a DC-3 sketchdrawing for arographing, painted by my good friends from one art studio later...but for 9 years I bit tired of retro plays and eventually sold it. Besides, became more children in my family and I needed a bigger car.
But still when I meet PT on the road, its always make me smile like old good friend

 

[Big J]

@Flightengineer, that's pretty cool!
It's a shame you had to let it go!

@Edward, there was also the Prowler, which had a great retro hot rod look.
If you want something more 'European' vintage looking, the Nissan Figaro and Pao were neat looking little cars. Both based on Micra/March mechanically, it's a shame no one ever took the turbo out of the Figaro and put it in the Pao. Both have got a 60's Italian vibe.

 

[Flightengineer]

@Flightengineer, that's pretty cool!
It's a shame you had to let it go!

@Edward, there was also the Prowler, which had a great retro hot rod look.
If you want something more 'European' vintage looking, the Nissan Figaro and Pao were neat looking little cars. Both based on Micra/March mechanically, it's a shame no one ever took the turbo out of the Figaro and put it in the Pao. Both have got a 60's Italian vibe.

Thanks, my friend.
Yes, this little car was a star here and was really eye catcher.
But nothing stands still... I was younger, I had more time to take care of all these numerous chrome parts on it ....
I had more time ... I was a member of local PT Club, we regularly met and even went on these cars to Holland for an international meeting of the PT Cruisers clubs.
This PT is in good hands with my old friend, a former ATC controller, he lives in another city and takes good care of this beauty.

 

[GHT]

A few years ago I owned tuned silver PT Cruiser with painted Douglas DC-3 airbrushing for half car. When I parked usually it to my airline parking, all old pilots/veterans turned they heads and said - look at this beauty , that's a decent car for pilot . Sadly I sold it to my good friend 4 years ago, sometimes I miss this car ...

That's not only an inspired airbrush, it's just so original too, I love it. The PT Cruiser hadn't been in production very long when a 'Woody' version came out. It was never an option available in Europe, I saw it the US. I don't know if it's a Chrysler special or a specialist company's own conversion, but it certainly looked the part. Not nearly as good as DC-3 though.

 

[Flightengineer]

That's not only an inspired airbrush, it's just so original too, I love it. The PT Cruiser hadn't been in production very long when a 'Woody' version came out. It was never an option available in Europe, I saw it the US. I don't know if it's a Chrysler special or a specialist company's own conversion, but it certainly looked the part. Not nearly as good as DC-3 though.
View attachment 155109 View attachment 155110

It's not Chrysler special for sure. It's first generation PT, probably styled and tuned by it's owner.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

This...

Full disclosure, we are building this, and it is almost done.

Or, a '94 Rag top. The last 'Vette that was built for performance, and not by a committee.

 

[GHT]

That has got to be the best wow moment ever. There's only one car to transport you to that beauty, not quite as iconic, but classy all the same. (What engine are you fitting?)

 

[GHT]

Pilots these days are less likely to wear the sort of warm jackets that their forefathers wore. For example, The Red Arrows wear a red overall. Had you been around back in 2010, you might have held the lucky ticket to have won you this car, and with it came a red arrows flying suit.

 

[rocketeer]

I liked the PT Cruiser. They didn't last long on the UK market, but I saw some that were given great custom makeovers that gave them a really "vintage" look. It's always nice to see something on the road that isn't the usual wind-tunnelled sameness.

Hi Edward. A while back I had a copy of Motor Trend from 1957, sorry I cannot remember the month but the first line in the editorial read like this ' Have you noticed that all cars these days look the same'. That may not be a word for word quote but it says just the same as your 'wind tunnel' theory. Many folks go on about these cars having character, a style of their own etc, but in actual fact we are saying what many motoring journalists were saying 60 years ago. But after all that, I kind of agree with you that the PT was pleasingly different for a modern car..

 

[rocketeer]

And what car would I drive to go with my A2 or otherwise vintage or retro jacket? Basically anything that got me from A to B regularly and got me where I wanted to be on time

 

[scottyrocks]

Hi Edward. A while back I had a copy of Motor Trend from 1957, sorry I cannot remember the month but the first line in the editorial read like this ' Have you noticed that all cars these days look the same'. That may not be a word for word quote but it says just the same as your 'wind tunnel' theory. Many folks go on about these cars having character, a style of their own etc, but in actual fact we are saying what many motoring journalists were saying 60 years ago. But after all that, I kind of agree with you that the PT was pleasingly different for a modern car..

People often say these days that all cars look the same. But yes, that has almost always been so.

In any given era, cars looked the same. It's when you compare a classic/vintage/antique to today's offerings that today's cars look the same, in comparison to the older car(s), of which there are not (as) many left, magnifying their uniqueness.

 

[Peacoat]

Red 1958 MGA. I didn't choose the car to go with my flight jacket (nylon) as I had the car before the jacket. This was the mid 60s and the car was already a classic. Wish I had kept it. Last I heard, years ago, it was in Kansas.

This is a stock image, not a picture of my car. Unfortunately, no pictures of my old MG exist. Time has taken its toll.

 

[Big J]

@scottyrocks, IIRC, you're an engineer, right?
I was thinking about your comment, and I was thinking that maybe the reason that most cars from the same era look so similar has something do with safety regulations/requirements (or lack of?) being applied equally to all manufacturers, and then I was thinking that a lot of the similarities maybe reflect the the state of technological progress in manufacturing and safety (at cost effective levels?) in any given era. Maybe that's the biggest driver of design similarities?
I was also thinking that another reason why so many vintage/classic cars look so great is maybe because so many surviving examples, and cars we see because they were in movies were not 'ordinary' cars? For example, I was wondering if more high power/sporty versions survive because they were always more special than ordinary four door sedan versions? Do more DHC examples survive than FHC?
People wouldn't save, say, an ordinary Ford Falcon four door saloon, but they would save a two door coupe like Mad Max drove. For U.K. members, who saves a standard bottom spec blue Ford Cortina? No one. Who would save a 2 door Lotus Cortina? Everyone.
And I was wondering if this meant there is a bias in what vintage cars we see because they survive or we're cool back in the day, and if that makes us feel that all cars back in the day were cool.

 

[Flightengineer]

I think the reason in vintage shapes of old cars. In those cars there was more individuality or soul... Although the soul probably is in every car, even modern and "faceless". I can't think differently, maybe it's just the imprint of the profession.

 

[GHT]

@scottyrocks, IIRC, you're an engineer, right?
I was thinking about your comment, and I was thinking that maybe the reason that most cars from the same era look so similar has something do with safety regulations/requirements (or lack of?) being applied equally to all manufacturers, and then I was thinking that a lot of the similarities maybe reflect the the state of technological progress in manufacturing and safety (at cost effective levels?) in any given era. Maybe that's the biggest driver of design similarities?

Cars, aviators and leather jackets have been around for a good many years. I wonder if the designer of this car knew that the bullet shape was aerodynamic:


Some cars are unique, and when it comes to what car an aviator would drive, there's one model that tends to merge between plane and car.

 

[scottyrocks]

@scottyrocks, IIRC, you're an engineer, right?
I was thinking about your comment, and I was thinking that maybe the reason that most cars from the same era look so similar has something do with safety regulations/requirements (or lack of?) being applied equally to all manufacturers, and then I was thinking that a lot of the similarities maybe reflect the the state of technological progress in manufacturing and safety (at cost effective levels?) in any given era. Maybe that's the biggest driver of design similarities?
I was also thinking that another reason why so many vintage/classic cars look so great is maybe because so many surviving examples, and cars we see because they were in movies were not 'ordinary' cars? For example, I was wondering if more high power/sporty versions survive because they were always more special than ordinary four door sedan versions? Do more DHC examples survive than FHC?
People wouldn't save, say, an ordinary Ford Falcon four door saloon, but they would save a two door coupe like Mad Max drove. For U.K. members, who saves a standard bottom spec blue Ford Cortina? No one. Who would save a 2 door Lotus Cortina? Everyone.
And I was wondering if this meant there is a bias in what vintage cars we see because they survive or we're cool back in the day, and if that makes us feel that all cars back in the day were cool.

No, not an engineer, but I occasionally play one on TV.

Car design, as well as the design of most things mechanical, is influenced by many factors, including need, want, regulation, efficiency, etc. Sometimes they overlap. There is nothing to stop a refrigerator designer from shaping one in the style of a 1950s icebox, except that space-efficiency-wise, straight lines and square corners make better use of space, both internally and externally. Refrigerators are rarely free-standing anymore, instead fitting into very tightly designed spaces that include cabinetry and everything else crammed into a kitchen.

Re cars: up until about 1960, little regard was given to safety in cars, and those manufacturers that did incorporate were not put upon by government agencies to do so. Tail fins reached a literal peak in 1959 on the Cadillac de Villes.

Then in the '60s, Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed (1965) brought poor auto design into the bright light. By 1968, the U.S. government was beginning to require certain safety features on new cars. Thus began changes for reasons other than style.

In 1973, the first fuel crisis was the genesis of industry-wide aerodynamic improvements for something other than speed.

Aerodynamics was certainly a known science for decades previous - look at cars such as the lowly VW, beginning in the early-mid '30s. Its smooth, rounded lines were first and foremost to aid its movement through the air, as the first cars had about 25 hp.

Economics, in general, and its effects on society's wants and needs, also played into car design, especially by the end of the 1970s. After the rampant inflation of the Carter era, cars, in general, were designed to a price point. Luxury cars of yore were now mere shadows of themselves (see Cadillac Cimarron, Chrysler New Yorker, etc).

As of the last 10 or so years, science has caught up to passion, and we now have cars that are fast, safe, efficient, and desirable. But does that mean all cars? Certainly not. As always, desirable, collectible cars will be the ones that in addition to their competence, inspire passion in the people who own, want to own, and drive them.

How do we know what present day cars these will be? We cannot be completely sure, but it's a better chance than not that they will be the ones that people lust after today. More than likely, people will continue to lust after them in the future.

 

[ShanghaiJack]

Nothing goes better with my 1930 La Salle Roadster,
than my Good Wear Leather A-1.