When I first read this thread, i figured, WTF it's just a car and we are really going off the deep end. But cause it turned into a ******* contest I figured it would be a goner. But the quote above makes so much sense to me, that I have to agree. Everytime I sit behnd the wheel, and it is not road worthy just yet, all the memories of riding, seeing and smelling come back as strong as ever. I don't know what you call it but it's there. Thanks!
Sometimes the Greenhorns make me laugh out loud. Have you ever had a piece of literature in your hand?? The word soul, along with thousands of other words, has several different meanings. In this instance we are discussing soul meaning essence, individuality, spirit, marrow, personality, quintessence, texture, character, self, essentiality, substance the list goes on and on. You, along with several other overly religious people that I can think of, should put your bible away for 3 seconds and grow some tolerance. After that you MAY be able to 'tune your frequency' as Tommy has so eloquently expressed.
We're just caretakers of the vehicles, but the keepers do have a soul, or special bond with us. I may be parting with a car this weekend that I've had for over 12 years, and it's the only one I don't share a strong connection with. It's also the FIRST car in over 40 years in the hobby that I had someone ask about buying. The future owner has a bond with the car, remembered it from when he was a kid. He's the right guy to have it now, and I'll get to see it rebuilt. Parting with one vehicle will help rebuild the ones I'll have forever.
Let him pull it apart & find out its a "chain reaction" to change anything time & $$$. there it will sit for 10 years until someone ends up buying it & putting it back together the same as it is now. although if someone buys a car they need to personalize it somewhat to their taste.
One day a long time ago, FarmerJohn and I were trying to explain to Kojack about how a car has soul, how you need to treat your cars nice etc. We were telling him about the similarities between treating a woman right, and treating your car right. I feel soul in an inanimate object is really a projection of your own soul. It is a culmination of all the senses stamping an imprint in your inner being. The nice curved wooden handle on your great-grandfathers hammer, feel it's smoothness, it's heft, think about all those years of use, a connection to times past. Similar with a car, a car can sound mean, look mean. It can sound smooth and look smooth. Anything that connects people over time, that is shaped by design and use, can have soul.
did you guys check out the "updated exhaust pics" post? hot rod pro has soul. probably a little more than James Brown!
My thoughts exactly. Much better put than I. I just want it known that a 1/2" hole has no more soul than a 1/8" hole, or a two-speed fan has anything over a one-speed, or that AM radio picks up soul better than FM. Gotgas, can you store this reply in your computer too? Thanks
Soul? Sure! To me, it's more a matter of respect for these cars and parts that have somehow managed to stay out of the crusher the last fifty to eighty years. They have paid their dues and now they DESERVE to be respected. Rich
.....a first edition book, let's say Moby ****, written in 1851, you open that book and the paper is different, like most people have never seen, parchment, rough edges, it has a certain smell, the typeset, it's yellowed, it's brittle, the cover, it was built and ***embled over 150 years ago....people of the 1850's read and held this book when the world was a whole different place. It stimulates your imagination and makes you wonder....it's inanimate, but it has soul. Then you have the one you just bought at Barnes & Noble yesterday laying next to it... dig ?
my ford has soul, my plymouth is more jive Me: **** man, that honky mus' be messin' my old lady... got to be runnin' cold upside down his head. You know? the plymouth: Hey home, I can dig it. You know he ain't gonna lay no mo' big rap up on you man. Me: I say hey sky, s'other s'ay I wan say? The plymouth: UH... Me: Pray to J I get the same ol' same ol'. The plymouth: Eh. Yo knock yourself a pro slick, gray matter live performas down now take TCB'in man. Me: Hey, you know what they say... See a broad, to get that booty yak 'em. Together: Leg 'er down 'n smack 'em yak 'em Me: Cold got to be. You know? Shiiiiit.
Hello? Anyone home? It's as if the attempts to explain the use of the word soul have gone in one ear, and out the other. I suppose I wouldn't expect the owner of a F/G car to understand... Your defective statements are excused sir.
Well,.... let the firestorm of flaming me begin, Even though I have in the past mentioned the soul of a "true traditional Hot Rod" be it steel or gl*** , I don't believe inanimate objects can possess a "Soul" as in "your ever lasting soul",....... hovever I do believe they can have a extension of the original builders vision and dreams put into a object. I have a very close connection to the Frank Mack roadster because of my history with Frank and his Roadster, the look of his roadster just blew me away the first time I had ever seen it, but my friendship with frank went well beond cars,....... It's hard to explain but when a builder pours himself into the construction of his Hot Rod, you connect that car with that person and it mirrors some of there personallity, that's why the Mack roadster, the Spencer roadster and the other names like Christman, McMullen, McCoy, Person, Matranga, Nittie, Grammel,..... (the list is endless to varying degrees from state to state and city to city) ...cars will continue to have there name connected to those people because they are a extention of builders personalities,........ I think we as Humans want to humanise objects around us that mean something to us, and we can feel that connection and want to give objects something they cannot truly posess in the way of soul's ,..... I am guilty of this,..... *Here is where it's going to get a little wacky*, The last time I seen Frank Mack's roadster was at the 50th. Autorama when Frank was still alive but literally on his death bed,....... he fought to stay well enough to go see it when it came to town, but he was just to frail,.... when I had a moment alone with the roadster I actually talked to it about why Frank wasen't there,....... did it hear me ?, no...... did it make me feel better ?, Yes,..... the only soul it has is what others and I have given it,... but unlike a Human, it has no "Soul" that can be lost or need salvation. So let the flaming begin. I really miss my old friend Frank,.... but part of him will always live on in his Roadster.
A car has soul when it brings people together for the right reasons. Look very, very carefully at this picture, especially the older couple. It's ***le is. "The Old Family Car".
Harms Way - no flaming from this HAMBer. I hear what you're saying. I might have my own delusions that run contradictory to yours, but I'm glad to hear you weren't ashamed to share that you actually talked to the car. It made you feel better ... and whether or not it "heard" you or not is one of those great mysteries and matters of faith, at least in my book. It sounds like you were a good friend who did the best he could, that you were compelled to explain the situation to the car.
This post should be closed because it's a religious war from the get-go, and "we" aren't supposed to discuss religion on the HAMB. It's obvious,,, some one said "**** you" and meant it. That's always a sign of a religious disCUSSion! Edited to add...
With all due respect ( and I truly mean that) Dr.J and 3W Larry,.... I have seen you both respond to "prayer request" posts several times,..... Ya' can't get more religous than that,....... IMHO
you know...reading about the Mack car really hits me.... i have a car that was built an awful long time ago. when i bought it it wasnt how i wanted it to be...but it had that illusive feeling of soul. the suspension was bottomed out in the back...it was hard to remove that reversed eye model-a main leaf....the rear tires were missmatched and shot...but boy was it hard to pull them off and replace with new tires...the front axle on this car looks like one of the very first dropped axles...i think from 45 or 46?...but it twists like crazy when you steer. so im going to take it off...am i ruining this car? i dont think so. i paid for it...i can do with it what i want. but i think it had some soul and i too sometimes talk to it...i sit in the seat that has probably held countless people...hold down that right pedal and hear that same tone thats been heard literally around the world. look at that dash that someone so lovingly hand engine turned. look through that gl*** with that old worn out gas ration sticker. just something about it...something from deep down in that car...just talks to me...and i talk to it...i pat the quarter pannel on my way out the door on the way to work each day i may not say anything outloud but we have a connection that car and I. we both know...we've gotta suffer our daily grind...me making signs...the car resting in the garage but we both know...when the suns out we're going for a ride. that car talk to me without words...sometimes it'll give a little shimmy around 80mph just to say...hey! watch it...im old take it easy on me...and sometimes it'll leave a chirp into 2nd saying hey...i may be old but i was built to GO...LETS GO! it all boils down to saying.."to each their own"...im just typing cause im bored at work! Zach
either that, or guys throwing rocks at tanks...wait that's politics. perhaps they are the same thing.... HEY! I LIKE CARS AND GIRLS!! anyone with me here?
I still think you are missing the point. Sure, when you put it on a microscopic level, those items you mentioned have no more soul over each other. But put them together, the Am radio playing an old Tommy Dorsey tune, the one speed fan blowin' hot summer night air off the dash, and that half inch hole all jagged on one side.... If you had been in my philosophy cl***- my instructor would have eaten you alive.
He showed up in an oilstain on my driveway once. BTW, everytime you say "**** you" God kills a baby armadillo... think about that Mr Potty Mouth!!!
Queen Vitoria said it, "The Blues got soul!"... Bob Dylan said it, "The Blues got soul!"... Mahatma Ghandi said it, "The Blues got soul!"...
Saying your car has "soul" isn't a lot different than saying you're "spreading the gospel".. it's just a way of elevating the car and the idea over those that have no "soul". Does my car have a soul? I hope not when I get the sawsall out Is it The Gospel?.. not for me, but I understand the idea.
i belive its the builders soul comming out in a soul less pile of metal its the same thing my art teacher told me the art happens in the time the piece is being created what you see is the bi product ...This is when you see the soul of the creator... I see alot of guys in the scene and have tried to coach some... That think a cool car is buying rare or inovative new stuff and putting it on..or trying to put some custom technic that does not flow with the car.. They try and try and every car still looks like ****..Some have alot of talent in other fields even famous ... this is why you see rock stars buying cars from Rudy or have them built by Cole or Blue Collar..
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