Art & Inspiration A Distinct Minority

I drove my 57 suburban to the central valley of California yesterday. I noticed, driving a 58 year old vehicle, that I was in a distinct minority out on the road.

I did see a car on a trailer, that looked a lot like this...but nothing else from the era driving on the highway.

 

Jim, you sound surprised. Average life of a car is probably less than 10 years, yours should be heading to China for its 5th time already. Happy driving!

 

I work for a "high tech." company. There's a bunch of small cars(some electric) in the parking lots. I'm afraid that with the "green" movement of our current era-there will be a time of public ridicule and shame coming our way. I'm 62 so I may make it to the end before I have to start defending my rights to enjoy my vehicles of choice. Our fuel is ****, the zinc is gone from our oil-it's coming friends. I would rather take my road trips with an old vehicle than anything new. Glad you got to enjoy your suburban out on the open road. Sam

 

I think that's why I enjoy those few shows held in a historic downtown somewhere. They often block off the streets to only allow older cars into the event. Sometimes in the moment, when you look around, you're almost transported back to a time when cars like ours were everywhere on the roads.

 

you should drive around Tulsa...nothing

 

...just got a letter from a good friend from Maryland, he & his wife took a road trip last fall from Maryland to Mt. Rushmore and back over a 4 week period...in this...

 

I believe Jim is pulling your collective legs ...
He drove out to Famoso Raceway (home of the Smokers) to participate in the 56th annual March Meet. Perfect weather for it, too

 

My old cars are just not that great at long trips. 10mpg, no heater, no radio, no a/c, road/wind noise... I know all that stuff can be addressed but for the amount of effort I'd just as soon use them locally and use my 'modern' (20 year old) truck for trips. That said, even locally I don't see that many old cars being used. Sure are a lot of them that come out for events, so they are out there.

 

Weather is getting better,they'll be out there.

 

I see old cars on the road all the time around here. Most are in excellent shape and are driven regularly

 

Lots of old beat up firewood hauler/work type trucks around here. Common to see mid 60's and later on the roads. Seems like mostly Fords, a Chevy once in a while and almost never a Dodge. Generally driven by long scraggly haired low income types ( we often refer to them as "Woodsies"). Seldom a car.

Of course, the fancy ones are here too, they come out for Wednesday evening cruises and the car shows.

 

Unless you live way out in the country anything older then say an '88 is going to be a minority anyplace in the US.

Made me chuckle I drove through LA in about '85 in a '71 Blazer and I was a minority back then.

 

I use my 30 Model A pickup as a daily driver and hardly ever see anything older than the 70's on the street. We have a car club dinner on Tuesday nights and even there I'm the only one driving an old car 75% of the time.

 

Cash for Clunkers got 'em all.

 

Think of all the smiles you provoked Jim,
people still get a kick out of the unexpected (like us!).

 

i saw a 65 impala on the road the other day, it put a smile on my face! i live within sight of a two lane highway,during the summer i see quite a few hotrods going by.

 

Yep, and smog checks. I do have to admit though, the air is a lot cleaner these days around here. Not because of me...

Jay Leno had something interesting to say the other day:

A 1977 Ford Galaxy, one of those big ones. Park it on the street, with the engine off...pollutes more than a Ford Fusion going down the road at 60 miles an hour.[...]Because A) the gas tank is [unclear part] vented, closed, so it just goes to atmosphere. The plastic used, ever notice old cars when they sit in the sun, the windshield gets all clouded up, and it's grease because it's gas, it's toxic gas, coming off the plastics and the oil used to make that. They don't use any of that anymore.

 

I would rather not see any oldies on the road near me, the last couple of days, with all the snow and nasty muck, I hope to start to see a few out next week tho, when things start to warm up and clear up a bit.

 

Even in winter in Colorado I see old cars daily. I drive my daily (an O/T '74 Ford Econoline) and see at least one car older than mine driving every day, unless the weather is extremely bad. I hope this hobby stays alive for another 50 years, as I'm only 27. If the **** hits the fan in the next ten or so, prices on old cars will really drop.

 

...........................................I saw that car at the Jalopyrama last year. He had a list on the window of all of the places he had been to and how many miles he had traveled. He deserves a lot of credit. He drives that Chevy!

 

on my 50 mile drive into work I'm in the oldest car I see, and I drive a '91 POS

 

You don't see many hot rods or customs being driven daily anymore - sad reality. You see them on the streets of Boise on Saturdays or Sundays if the weather is nice. I'll bet that if you got off the freeway and drove through Bakersfield you'd see quite a few. When we lived there back in the 90's Friday was kinda an unofficial "drive your rod" day - it was cool!!!

 

my daily is a 97, i think its the oldest one in the lot at work.

 

Even threw the winter I've seen a pre 66 car or truck every day on the road but I know it varies by what area of the city your in

 

You guys do realize Cash for Clunkers applied to vehicles 25 years old or newer, don't you? That would have been 1979 or newer back when it started in 04. And most places antique vehicles aren't subject to smog checks. Hardly the reasons you don't see HAMB friendly cars on a daily basis...

Anyhow, I rarely see anything older on the road around here, most of the old stuff only comes out for shows, which is odd to me considering most of that stuff around here has power steering and brakes, a/c, radial tires, and whatever else that makes em more like a new car anyways. Why not drive em?

 

I see a bazillion cars every morning and afternoon in my 25-30 minute commute. I don't even see cars from the 70's on the road but on rare occasions.

 

As the weather warms up you will see more on the road but they will always be in the minority.

I was sitting at the drug store waiting on my wife and got to noticing that the good old American marks (Ford,Chevy,Buick,GMC) are few and far between,hondas,toyotas,kias nissons make up about 75% of the cars on the road around here and then there are the bmw's,lexas and mercedes ...sad...but that's the world we live in. HRP

 

have you driven a California Freeway lately. I imagine others are similar. Its a deathrace. I drive on backroads like the few other old car owners do. I do see a few old pickups on the freeway, not much else. There is also the fact that there are very few cl***ic cars in California. At least in my part of the Rat race.

 

Yes I do realize that. I had to smog lots of '50s and '60s cars for many years until they set an age limit. Fortunately I had a friend who did smogs. Others were putting funky smog devices on, re-installing air pumps or just junking them.

 

****** ,you were a minority in LA for sure ,but it had nothing to do with what you were driving.