You know you are getting old when:

[GHT]

I am not driving 99 miles for a cheeseburger.

Quite wise, as we get older we tend to exercise less. The walk will do you good.

 

[Woodtroll]

IMO no one makes country music any more, it died sometime after the mid '70's.

Maybe that's another sign that I'm old.

There are a few hanging on, but for the most part that's pretty much true. I almost never listen to the radio these days, prefering flash drives of my own music, but when I'm forced to listen to the local stations I hear almost nothing that interests me. The female singers sometimes come up with something original and nearly-country, but the male singers all seem to want to sing rap songs about country things they've probably never done.

Oh well, time and life go on...

 

[ChiTownScion]

Went to a Nissan dealership yesterday as a lark, to check out the electric cars. Did that, but also saw a really sporty Z type model on the showroom floor that really caught my eye. Dawned on me that now that I can actually afford a sexy car like that, the body is too damned old to climb down into it without at least some aches and pains. Now I know why a lot of other geezers my age prefer Cadillacs.

 

[belfastboy]

Went to a Nissan dealership yesterday as a lark, to check out the electric cars. Did that, but also saw a really sporty Z type model on the showroom floor that really caught my eye. Dawned on me that now that I can actually afford a sexy car like that, the body is too damned old to climb down into it without at least some aches and pains. Now I know why a lot of other geezers my age prefer Cadillacs.

My complaint about old age.....at the point I can afford a sports car I can't get into it. At the point I finally understood how to hit a curveball ...well I can't....and the point in my life I can afford to travel where ever/whenever the hell I want.....truth is I want to stay home.

 

[Trenchfriend]

 

[tonyb]

Went to a Nissan dealership yesterday as a lark, to check out the electric cars. Did that, but also saw a really sporty Z type model on the showroom floor that really caught my eye. Dawned on me that now that I can actually afford a sexy car like that, the body is too damned old to climb down into it without at least some aches and pains. Now I know why a lot of other geezers my age prefer Cadillacs.

A large part of the reason I could afford such a toy is because I don’t buy such toys.

But they do catch my eye. Sure would like to own a ’61 thru ’65 Lincoln, for instance, impractical as I know it would be.

 

[belfastboy]

A large part of the reason I could afford such a toy is because I don’t buy such toys.

But they do catch my eye. Sure would like to own a ’61 thru ’65 Lincoln, for instance, impractical as I know it would be.

The model with the suicide doors?

 

[GHT]

The model with the suicide doors?

Suicide doors was always a misnomer for me, a would be suicide has far less painful ways of popping their mortal coil. Having said that, I do understand, from experience, why the doors are so called. Out driving in the old MG, I realised that the driver's door wasn't correctly fastened. How stupid was I to open the door with the intention of slamming it shut? The wind got hold of it and ripped it straight off the retaining strap, leaving me exposed to the elements, without a seat belt, of course. I had no need of laxatives for weeks.

Went to a Nissan dealership yesterday as a lark, to check out the electric cars. Did that, but also saw a really sporty Z type model on the showroom floor that really caught my eye. Dawned on me that now that I can actually afford a sexy car like that, the body is too damned old to climb down into it without at least some aches and pains. Now I know why a lot of other geezers my age prefer Cadillacs.

Back in 1987, I treated my wife to a little sports car called, The Sirocco Scala, a car that she absolutely adored. It was made by Volkswagen.
Her new car is also a VW, but it couldn't be more removed from that little sports car: T-Roc. But at least the latter has a choice of a cabriolet version. Cabriolet? Sales speak for rag top.

 

[Fifty150]

The proliferation of "redneck culture" to parts of the country where it is in no way native is another example of this.

I know a guy who lives in a suburb, works in an office, wears a cowboy hat, boots, and all the clothes. He identifies as a redneck. But he's just another middle class guy from the subdivision, with an identity crisis. Just like all the other guys from the gated community who mimic rap videos. I guess there's nothing cool about being middle class suburbanites.

 

[GHT]

You know you're old when you sit in a rocking chair & can't get it going.

 

[tonyb]

The model with the suicide doors?

Yup. The much restyled later version, the ’66 thru ’69, also had back doors hinged at the rear, but I much, much prefer the earlier ones.

Lincoln doesn’t have a sedan among its offerings anymore. The last one, which had a short run just recently, also had suicide doors. I can’t say that I ever actually saw one on the road. Very few were produced.

 

[tonyb]

I know a guy who lives in a suburb, works in an office, wears a cowboy hat, boots, and all the clothes. He identifies as a redneck. But he's just another middle class guy from the subdivision, with an identity crisis. Just like all the other guys from the gated community who mimic rap videos. I guess there's nothing cool about being middle class suburbanites.

Yeah, it can seem kinda silly to us, but through the eyes of many others it’s no sillier than dressing in the latest 1940s fashions, as is the habit of some among us here.

It’s really no skin off my nose in either case. As the Savoy Brown song had it, “Wouldn’t it be a real drag if we were all the same?”

 

[LizzieMaine]

The fashions are far less troubling to me than the attitudes. When I see a Confederate flag flying in Maine -- and I do, often -- I get very very angry.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
A person could have predicted (as I did, several years ago) that marketing consumer items to appeal to a “redneck” slice of the population would come back to bite.

Witness Harley-Davidson, for instance. Harley riders aren’t uniformly old, white, pot-bellied racists, of course. But old, white, pot-bellied racist motorcyclists uniformly ride Harleys. (Okay, almost uniformly, anyway. Hedging my bets here.)

The suits at H-D finally got wise and introduced models to appeal to a younger, more melanated demographic, seeing how old, white, pot-bellied racists are literally a dying breed, and how anything associated with them is anathema to others. Harley even has an all-electric bike now. And you can bet what’s left of those old 1 percenters (and the wannabes) are grumbling “that ain’t a Harley.” And from their perspective, that’s absolutely true.

You know those Ram (used to be Dodge) truck TV ads with the deep-voiced announcer intoning “Guts, Glory, Ram”? Or the Jeep ads strongly implying that Jeeps are patriotic?

I got nothing against Jeeps or Ram trucks. But I find the ads off-putting.

And I got nothing against Harleys, either. But making cultural signifiers of them is hazardous.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandfather owned a successon of pickup trucks, from 1930s models to 1960s models. Their primary role was to haul the family's junk and garbage to the dump. At no time did he, or we, ever consider them symboilic of "guts and glory." Fish guts sometimes, but never glory.

 

[tonyb]

My grandfather owned a successon of pickup trucks, from 1930s models to 1960s models. Their primary role was to haul the family's junk and garbage to the dump. At no time did he, or we, ever consider them symboilic of "guts and glory." Fish guts sometimes, but never glory.

I am convinced that the “guts, glory, Ram” campaign is aimed at guys whose little captains don’t stand at attention anymore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nothing's more American than performance anxiety.

 

[belfastboy]

Yup. The much restyled later version, the ’66 thru ’69, also had back doors hinged at the rear, but I much, much prefer the earlier ones.

Lincoln doesn’t have a sedan among its offerings anymore. The last one, which had a short run just recently, also had suicide doors. I can’t say that I ever actually saw one on the road. Very few were produced.

60 years or so ago I was an avid Revell model builder and one of my faves was I think a 61 Linc with the suicide doors. Painted a pearlescent (sp?) winter white. Lowered the frame and chopped the roof...I too dreamt of owning one for real.

 

[GHT]

^^^^^
A person could have predicted (as I did, several years ago) that marketing consumer items to appeal to a “redneck” slice of the population would come back to bite.

Witness Harley-Davidson, for instance. Harley riders aren’t uniformly old, white, pot-bellied racists, of course. But old, white, pot-bellied racist motorcyclists uniformly ride Harleys. (Okay, almost uniformly, anyway. Hedging my bets here.)

Admittedly, it was taken thirty odd years ago. I didn't even have a pot belly back then, and I had hair on my head.

 

[belfastboy]

You know you're old when you sit in a rocking chair & can't get it going.

I imagine then a defining sign of very old age would be the motorized rocking chair/lazy boy?