What makes you feel vintage?

[Kishtu]

I was thinking about this the other day while making some new curtains for my kitchen. (Red gingham with a crochet lace edge, naturellement.)

For me I get a real sense of connection to the past when I pull my 50s Frister and Rossman sewing machine out of the corner, set up the cabinet, and start work. Especially if I've got some period tunes on in the background.

It gives me such a glow to think that 50 years ago someone was using exactly this sewing machine, to carry out exactly the same tasks.

So what gives you all that feeling of connection?

 

[Forgotten Man]

Birthdays...

lol J/k

I get that old time feeling wile driving my '46 Plymouth, sleeping in my 30's Sears bed, seeing the soft glow of a 90 year old Edison light bulb, opening my 1940 GE refrigerator to get a bottle of milk... hearing the bells ring on my '38 Western Electric 302... talking on a vintage telephone... the list goes on... oh, and music... music has a very powerful effect on me... just the old recordings of the past have that effect of course.

I've been living with one both feet in the past and one hand in the now... Wish I could be fully in the past... these days just make me wanna yak some times.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Walking down the sidewalk in one of the old parts of town, in my suit and fedora, along with a few similarly dressed Loungers.

Riding in Forgotten Man's '46 Plymouth with our fedoras on the way to Bob's Big Boy.

 

[CharlesB]

Going in to an old corner bar in Fishtown after doing my deal downtown, theres barely an air conditioning and the closest thing Ive got to a hanky is a pocket square so in rarified moments yanking that puppy out to dab my brow while waiting for a beer and then jamming it back in there

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I feel no connection to the past. I'm quite happy with how society is doing right now.

bk

 

[Eyemo]

What I see through the view finder of my Eyemo or Leica while making retro pics is good enough for me!..

 

[Micawber]

My age.

 

[Spitfire]

When I look in the mirror every morning!

Naaahh...serious. When I am attending the airshow Flying Legends at Duxford. That gives me a serious kick back to the 40's.
Just the sound of those Merlins......

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Although I love living in today's world, I do bury myself in the past whenever I pull out one of my vintage magazines to read. I'm instantly there! While I love today's technology and beliefs, I DO NOT love today's pop culture! As the wonderful Janet Klein says: When I flip through the latest fashion magazines I see nothing that appeals or relates to me. When I flip through my vintage magazines, I see people like me!

I ALWAYS wonder about the magazines, too. Like, who originally bought it? Why did it survive all these years? Was it something very special to that person for it to have survived? I especially like it when there's writing in it. In one of my magazines someone wrote "I Love You!" above a photo of John Boles. I get such a glow whenever I see that!

 

[LizzieMaine]

For me, it's when I'm forcibly confronted with the cheesiest aspects of modern culture -- when I'm standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, and have the trashy magazines thrust in my face: SEX SEX LAME CELEBS SEX LAME CELEBS SLEAZE SLEAZE. It's then that I most feel like I must have gotten off the bus in the wrong generation.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Naaahh...serious. When I am attending the airshow Flying Legends at Duxford. That gives me a serious kick back to the 40's.
Just the sound of those Merlins......

Oh, man, isn't that an amazing experience? The incredible sound when they have everything that can fly in the air flying past the field. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap I can't believe it's been 10 years since I went there! :eusa_doh: Time sure does fly...

Cheers,
Tom

 

[pgoat]

aches and pains when I roll outta bed every morning

 

[Copper]

I was cleaning the dust, bugs and road muck off one of my motorcycles the other day, plus doing a bit of routine maintenance and had a moment of realisation that made me feel like a bit of an anachronism:

I am no mechanic by any means, but I know what each part on my motorcycle does. Apart from the small electronic ignition module, everything has a mechanical purpose that I can picture, that I can visualise working in partnership with the mechanical bits around it. When I ride, I can feel the mechanisms in play with each other, feel the different vibrations coming from the gearbox and the engine. I like that I can smell the heat in the brakes, that I can tell the road speed by the changes in the suspension. I like knowing that I have timed a shift spot-on by the smooth glide of the shift lever.

My modern car has many bits that I just can't be bothered knowing about, and the computer takes the place of what is in some machines beautiful and elegant engineering. Even though it is supposed to be a 'driver's car' with manual transmission and 'sport suspension' and all, it has all sorts of things to isolate me from the driving experience and protect me from myself - drive-by-wire throttle, ABS, traction control, yaw control...

I get the same feeling in my old Piper Cherokee too when I am in the circuit for landing and pull up the big metal flap bar; completely unlike deploying the electric flaps on a Cessna, I can feel the weight of the airflow over the flaps through the bar, and sense the change in the air movement at the same instant that the plane begins to change pitch.

As computers take over, and our interaction with the mechanical devices of the world becomes masked, compensated for and illusory, something beautiful and 'vintage' is being lost. I think that it speeds our decent into a throwaway society where nothing is worth fixing anymore.

 

[cherry lips]

For me, it's when I'm forcibly confronted with the cheesiest aspects of modern culture -- when I'm standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, and have the trashy magazines thrust in my face: SEX SEX LAME CELEBS SEX LAME CELEBS SLEAZE SLEAZE. It's then that I most feel like I must have gotten off the bus in the wrong generation.

lol You're funny LizzieMaine! I feel the same. Modern culture makes me yearn for wholesome stars like Doris Day and Sandra Dee. Sometimes it feels like I'm the last virgin queen (and proud of it!).

 

[chrgod]

Great read..

I am (only) 33 years old, but I feel a bit vintage when I drive my 1991 Mazda Miata.. Compared with more modern cars, it feels more lively. And, a nice no-airbag wooden steering wheel with chrome spokes adds to the feeling.

And, whenever I put on some of my vintage 60ties wristwatches, and have to set the time and wind it or shake it gently to get it started, I feel vintage!

 

[thebadmamajama]

dancing in a roadhouse to live music with a rowdy crowd to the old songs and the old dances--feeling freer within yourself helps you to feel more concretely in another era. a feeling unlike any other--the soul of it.

 

[shortbow]

Racking the lever on an old Winchester....

 

[Minerva]

Having my mother complain that I'm not wearing modern/trendy clothes for one. Then, while looking through some old family photos my cousin's scanning in, discovering that I've been channelling my great-grandmother for the last fifteen or so years -- right down to the hairstyle and shoes. I never met her (she died in the Forties), never saw a photo of her till recently, and don't look like her, but the style is unmistakable.

 

[Burnsie]

Everything about the wonderful experience of playing 78's!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

"That Vintage Feeling" also hits me when I'm doing pincurls. I live in a building built in 1926. Pretty much everything is still original except for the toilet, fridge, stove, and kitchen sink.

When I stand there in that spot in my minty-green tiled bathroom, giving myself a vintage hairstyle, I think of all the women who have stood in that exact spot doing the exact same thing. My imagination goes too wild in here!