LMAO Thanks. Insane, who me? Where are we off to? What are we doing riding in this handbasket? X2 on the need for a creative outlet, with an inability to leave **** alone.
It may not be that so much of this is in our blood, I like to think that we are "wired" this way - it is a mindset, a compulsion to satisfy the "WHAT IF". We then proceed to ceaselessly activate our gazillion mental neurons to create tools to build what nobody else has built, to spill blood, to lose sleep, to run with what you got, to transform the mundane, to see "diamonds in the rough", to in fact make "silk purses out of sows' ears"! We are wired this way. Walked into cl*** one day (38 years ago), the prof had printed on the blackboard in large letters, T H I M K . One duf*** asked, "Shouldn't that M be an N" ? Here's the point: hard-core rodders enjoy the process of THIMKing! We're wired that way. North America needs millions more original THIMKers than they need more sponges. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a "Model Engineering Show" do it! These guys do mostly engines (motors:gas, steam, electric, compressed air) radial, in-line, Vs, Sterling, Atkinson 5cycle, etc. - V-8 engines that run that fit in the palm of your hand. I could fill a whole page. Just go! These guys are KIN - they're wired differently too.
You'll get no argument from me! Check out this guy's work, the V8 video...and his shop! Absolutely UNREAL!! http://weberprecision.com/
Although old vehicles arn't really practical, we are. I love the style and adventure of driving a 46 year old daily driver. For me it's a life style thing. They do require a little more owner input, but that's part of it. You develop a trust in your workmanship and the reliability of your ride over time. I don't need no stink'n power steering, bed like buckets, climate control, automatic trans, sealed silent ride, ABS, ESP, etc. to isolate me from the driving experiance. Ask your self, is it only about the destination, or the journey too? Just my 2c.
As did the great writer William F. Buckley, traditional hot rodders are standing athwart history, yelling STOP.
Ryan, with all due respect, we're not crazy. We're lonely. American culture got up and left us in the name of "progress". Modern technology is wonderful, but modern cultures blows chunks. I think we desperately wish that American culture would some how again recognize, appreciate and laud those qualities mentioned in the article (CREATIVE, EDUCATIVE, COMPE***IVE, CONSTRUCTIVE, MASCULINE). Main stream culture is now cr*** and/or limpwristed and we can't relate. I think to many of us, our hobby is more than just a hobby, but a genuinely different way of life. It's an appreciation for an earlier time when things, at least in perception, were more wholesome, black and white, right and wrong, cool, fun, and not so serious; when it was cool for a boy to be a boyscout and girls wanted to wear a skirt...........................I'm also considering trading in my 2000 F150 for an old wagon of some kind. I dream of dropping off the kids at school in, say a dropped 57 Ford longroof with white walls ,custom caps and bellflowers. Today, I received my Elvis complete 50s masters box set. My kids (8,6,&3) love it. We danced ourselves silly all over my shop. We're not crazy. We're unique in a world of sheep. .............................................I'll second that.
On scalemodel building... I just remembered a funny conversation a couple of years ago; The local glider airfield had a "youth day" and had invited all kinds of airplane hobbyists to show all the different ways to get involved in flying. I was attracted to an older guy who had built a RC model of a Worldwar 1 German Fokker, it had a wingspan of at least 4 feet and was correct in every detail, it even had a scale straight 6 up front. I asked the guy how much time and money he had invested in the beautiful airplane, he told me he worked on it for about three years and in materials alone had spent around $10.000 ! I told him he could have got his private pilots license for half that money ! His reply was "No way man, flying scares the **** out of me, you won't see me in one of those contraptions !" Makes you wonder....
We drive a 2002 discovery landrover (yeah, I know, but it's been good so far) and Work gives me a new car every 2 years, this year it's a Toyota SUV. but my sons and I only get excited when we see something that's from 1970 or earlier, the earlier the better. We don't care what breed it is, as long as someone is loving it and living it. Our 38 Bedford truck cabin is going on a 60's toyota ute ch***is, with four link and airbags, suicide doors, 350 chev and T400 box and a Chrysler Centura diff. Wont' be a daily driver, as I do 1500 km each week, and I won't be leaving it unattended for more than an hour at a time, let alone airports. Biggest thing for me is getting to know my 16 and 17 year old sons, over a spanner or two.Best thing ever, and the wife likes the quiet in the house.
It all makes sense to me,my dad,the wife and sadly even my boys said" I would grow out of it",I,m 55.When the first boy was born I said we better sell the vette and get something sensible.Dad and the mrs. were so proud of me when I turned up with a 2 seater Model A........made sense to me?????
Never saw that article. I know it doesn't make since, but I'm in the same boat. I'm currently giving-up my late madel car to a 60 car. I have two others, 53 truck and 40 Mercury coupe. With these cars, I feel I have a handle on the situation and can make them run better than what's on the road today. It's also bring back simple and yet having a car that is YOURS. Who doesn't feel at peace when driving their old heap. I do! Ken
It started back in 1974 in high school when I saw my first hot rod. Model A two door with tilt steering. Couldn't get over that tilt steering. My dad was never a gearhead, and so I had to learn everything on my own. Why do it? Stated earlier, and quite eloquently, its an artistic form of expression that not everybody can do or even understand. I do it because I can, quite simply. Its inside of us, and we need to express it. Its part of being human, and a need to dedicate your time and effort to something bigger than you alone. Our fraternity and kinship. We recognize each other even without saying a word. A simple nod of the head is all thats needed. They say that everyone has a book to write inside of them. Maybe we just write with a torch and steel. This thread really hit me! http://so-car.blogspot.com/ Check out the 34 stuff
It's been in my bones since birth! The guys I work with,who have to have the latest "IT" thing(Chrysler300 w/22's,F250 w/10" lift,latest BMW) all think i'm crazy for "wasting my time and money" on an old car. They just don't understand what it means to drive a car that has had years of care and p***ion to bring it back to life,and enjoy every minute of it. Having the money to buy whatever,and choosing a 50+ year old car,is all about acheiving a dream we once had as kids. My best friend drools over the latest Honda and can't wait to drop 30K for a car that will be worth less than half of what he paid for it when he sells it! If I have to drive to get where i'm going,why not drive with a smile.......I'll take old iron everytime!!!!! My brother-n-law has no problem spending $1000-$2500 for a gun to put in his collection! Which has no daily use! We all have some kind of p***ion.
It's about time to quote the signature of one of my favorite HAMbers, Beatnik. "If I have to explain it you probably wouldn't understand" AMEN!!! Let the civilians wallow in their ignorance, More old stuff for us crazies. Frank
Last year I sold my last late-model car, and for the cost of a year's worth of car payments, bought a cherry '65 Falcon for a daily driver. I couldn't be happier. Plus, the Falcon (with a stock two-barrel on the 289) gets better gas mileage! I only fill it up once every two weeks.
Now I'm even losing money on the stories I write, but it's all part of the same thing: I'm a creative type and I can't help that. I started wrenching for approval from my gearhead Dad and older brother. I soon discovered "tab A, slot B" was a lot easier to deal with than the human emotions I was taught to stuff. It all finally caught up with me a couple years ago and I had to deal with it before it dealt with me. Today wrenching is strictly a creative outlet, just like my music, writing, art, etc. Ahhh... I'm much better now. And nowdays when people say I'm crazy, I can just smile and nod - if they only knew.....
I think I am a different breed than many of you here. I have no desire to take my 58 year old Plymouth up to 110 MPH. Since I've gotten her into my driveway, I have found myself driving it far more often than my "boring car" (2000 Lincoln LS). For me, it is a lifestyle issue. I eat up the looks I get. You know the kind, waiting for a left hand turn while everyone who p***es you stares with a half open mouth. Driving to pick up takeout at lunch as two buses worth of elementary school students walk out and hearing the "OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THAT" coupled with the cheers and thumbs up. For me it is about pulling up next to a Toyota Yargis (or whatever that little car they make that looks about as much fun to drive as it would be to try and contract Avian Flu by copulating with a chicken) and realizing "Hey, I'm not like you". It's about having little things break and staring, confounded, underneath the hood and actually having to think about how to repair it (as opposed to hooking up a computer). It's about smelling the musk of an old car and turning a wheel and revving an engine the same way countless others have done over 6 decades. Some wore bell bottoms, others wore Stetson hats, etc. By driving these old cars you are connected with the past in the most simple of ways. Think of it, 50 years ago a man may have driven that car to his Sr. Prom in hopes of getting lucky, or driven his girlfriend to the place he was to propose. My car saw the Kennedy ******ination, the landing on the moon, the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc. It's a way for us to connect with history, and in turn preserve it for future generations. While I will never know what it was like to fear nuclear annihilation from missiles located 80 miles off the coast of Florida.... I have a way to relate, in a small way, to those who did. Then again, maybe I'm just a *****. John
Like a lot of you guys, I do not own a car newer than 1966 and thats only because its been in my family for 37 years. My next newest car is a 59 and a 57 then it goes downhill fast. My most driven car for the last 16 years is my 1939 Ford pickup. For more on the hotrod way of thinking, see my post on my 1949 air compressor with Model A engine. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258614
The Jalopy Journal
