I realized that along with the "old timers" farms and homes disappearing here in the Hudson Valley, the huge new McMansions and Cul de Sac-Vinylville's never have the treasured collection of worn out or re-purposed vehicles that enrichen the texture of the rural landscape. Today I took my camera on the 3 mile drive to town to preserve at least a visual record of the vanishing tradition. The pics are all within the 3 mile drive from my home. Below are a few of the these pics, there are more at: http://photobucket.com/albums/v296/Powerband/ORPHAN%20CARS%20IN%20MY%20NEIGHBORHOOD/? (For 30 years, the directions to my home included,"Turn at the green Buick with the cows in it") =- Powerband ( the Troglodite )
Your rite. I'm from Popughkeepsie and the old tin is going fast as Westchester County folks move north. Pretty soon the local won't be able to afford the real estate.
I spent my first 12 years in Westchester (Ardsley) and there were still many old farms around with fields of cars,trucks, equipment, abandoned houses and barns and no one around to run you off when you went exploring. (and all of those huge old Gilded Age mansions along the Hudson like Lindehurst and some stil abandoned or fallen into ruin)This was early to late 1960's. I remember being about 10 or 11 and walking through some woods throwing rocks. I fired one into the center of a big tangle of blackberries and heard the unmistakable thunk of metal. I tried to see what it was but the thicket was so impenetrable that the only thing I knew was it was a car from the 20's or 30's. When winter came I went to check after the foliage died off and although still virtually unreachable I could see it was a late 20s-early30's roadster type possibly a jalopy or rod. I wonder if it's stilll there? Dream on. but the next time I go back I'm going to check. I used to like going up to Sullivan County. At that time it seemed to exist in a time warp to the 1930's.
Tell me about it. When i was a kid, there was this group of cars in the woods near these old abandoned fields. We used to take walks down there and look for treasures. I got cool old hubcaps, some old bottles, stuff like that. There were 2 model A ch***is with cowls, one of them had a nice grill shell and big steel tractor back wheels. There was an early 40's chevy pickup, mid 30's panel truck, some other later model stuff (newest was a 70 merc wagon) and lots of little odds and ends. Came back from college and wanted to go see if I could get the A's and the chevy pickup. Sadly, the field was developed into houses. Each one basically the same structure, just had a different shade of beige vinyl on em to tell them apart. Made me ill.
Back in the fifties and sixties, my family had a summer cottage on the Hudson River, just north of the Bear Mountain Bridge. The Hudson River Valley is still my favorite place on earth. We used to drive up from White Plains every weekend. When p***ing through Fishkill, just past the old Drive-In Theater, I remember always looking for a farm in a valley beside the road where there was a flock of Model A's. One time my dad and his best friend, who belonged to the Model A Club, stopped and walked down the hill to check out the cars. After a few minutes, an old woman came out of the house screaming, "Yew git away from them cars! My husband is gonna fix 'em up!" I guess chasing old cars is an inherited trait! Where in the Hudson Valley are you?
The Jalopy Journal
