Make you humble ... and mortal too ..

When taking my 29 A Roadster apart, we found a nickel from the late 1890's stuck between two panels at the cowl. It had obviously been there since it was just a used coin and not an antique. Make me wonder if someone at thew factory dropped it or the first owner... I've kept it with the car as a good luck charm!

jay

 

I was just thinking about this exact thing last night. I brought home a 53 DeSoto a couple weeks ago that had outlived both it's previous owners ( the person who bought it from the dealer in 53 and the very same dealerships owner bought it back in 1980). Spent yesterday getting it running (runs sweet btw). I was sitting in the drivers seat, arm hanging out the window, when it dawned on me that right where I put my arm was the only spot on the door where the paint was worn off. The wife got home from work about that same moment, walked up to the car and for just a brief moment, everything went black and white. It was almost eerie, yet so very, very cool. It seemed like the car was reminding me I wasn't the first to sit in that seat and look out that window, but I was the next.

Bruce

 

These thoughts have occured to me as far back as 1958 when I was 14 years old and working on the 1940 2dr I had bought without my dad's knowledge. The old boy I bought it from told me to take care tearing it apart as the guys who built it would not want it abused.
Since then I've let every old car I've owned "talk" to me. It's amazing the marks that you will find under the upolstery or inside a door. Marks that only the ***embler could have made.

Frank

 

For some reason I tend to think of this ever time I melt the lead out of a seam on an old car, thinking about some guy leading it years ago, the craftmanship involved in building cars before automation. I also wonder if he died at an early age from lead poisening, doing nothing else but working lead day in and day out in the pre-OSHA world!

 

I like old things...cars... furniture...it just calls to me when something is supposed to follow me home...this last mothers day i lost my grandmother...i knew from stories that my dad had told me she was an original hell raiser...Her mom was a flapper in the 20's...my grandma used to tell me some wild tales and i kinda would wonder are you pullin my leg or are you telling me the truth??

Well the truth is starting to come out...we have found pictures of my grandma at motorcycle club runs back in the 40's...a**** other family heirlooms were all of these journals...they had notices of marriages,births deaths, things that happened every day...what gave me a chill were some of the journals had these beautiful poems and the penmanship is unreal...i was reading one such poem and when it ended the author signed her name and the date...the date was August 26, 1801....she is one of my relatives ... what spooked me was i read that poem on August 26, 2007.
Its hard to put in words what i went through..here i was holding someones private thoughts and experiences that happened over 200 yrs ago and yet i was reliving it with them...it was unreal...kinda hard to put in words ...Its not just the cars that retain the memories

 

I get a smile when I see the wear mark (worn right into the metal) on my door of my old Ford, made from the watch of the original owner - will never paint over that!

 

Model A 's do the same thing for me and they are older than your 32.

 

We were watching the grandaughter (shes 7)and we went to a show in the 46 ford,but no seat belts,first time in her life she ever got on her knees and looked out the rear window of a car.
I was driving and looked in the rear view,did a flash back to her mom doing that ,that was before we st****d everyone in tight,
Remember when a car seat slipped over the front seat and had a steering wheel and gear shifter.
Thats why everyone had two doors,The kids could not open a door and fall out.
Russ

 

It's not just my cars that I think that about. Anytime I see an old rusted, neglected car I can't help but think back that it once was a shiney new vehicle sitting out in front of a dealership while the new owners were inside paying for it and driving it off.

Any late 60's, 70's GM I see I wonder if my mom sewed the sunshades (she worked for Fisher Body in Cleveland during that period).

Not just cars either. I collect old toys and I really prefer ones with some play wear. Most want perfect examples which works good for me. When I find a perfect one, I can sell it for good money and have enough to buy 2-3 that a kid enjoyed for a time. A scratch or two or a little play wear makes it more enjoyable for me.

 

Funny you bring this up. I'm way to sentimental and nostalgic for my own good and whenever I get in my car I think that someone drove this off the lot thinking it was a million bucks. Maybe someone was driving it when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Maybe after a wedding, or bringing their new baby home from the hospital. I have had a lot of memories in my cars, old and new, and I just wish my old ones could talk.

 

Homo Faber (man the fabricator or maker) leaves his sticky little fingerprints everywhere, that way we can track him down and study his soul.
Thank you for creating this thread, there's a poem in here somewhere.