Random Picture Thread

Maybe enthusiasts can order the 'glass Cord body' from this boat builder who already did a car . .

 

Yeah I know Paul but if someone offered you a mint 60's car at the original price with a lifelong guarantee of repairs, gas and insurance at 60's rate and free membership of the local classic car club you'd take it in a New York second.

50 years ago I could change my own plugs, oil and light bulbs so I think I'd take the offer - provided I could be the age I was then of course!

Nowadays I can't even see the plugs and light bulb changes are utterly beyond my skill level; I took a Ford into a garage once to have a bulb changed after I gave up; the mechanic sweated over it for almost an hour and gave up - he didn't have the special tools to access the housing from the back and install the bulb. Once I could do that from the outside with just a screwdriver.

I decided never again would I buy a car that didn't have a manufacturer-approved shop in town after I had to take my last Chrysler for an hour drive and wait 2 hours while they adjusted the criminally misaligned headlights, something I used to be able to do on a dark night with a screwdriver in 5 minutes.

Back then I pumped gas for a day and earned enough to pay a year's worth of insurance on my moped for a year. The insurance company didn't seem particularly bothered by the fact I had virtually built the beast out of spares and junkyard parts. My first new car wasn't fast enough to test its brakes severely and had opening quarterlights instead of air. My second car was awful in cold weather until I took the carburettor apart and put it back together correctly, after that it was a first-timer even in Ottawa's vicious winters provided you memorize the number of pumps the gas pedal required for each 10 deg below freezing - no biggy though. My cars only went into a garage for steering and brake fixes . . .

Wow! Hey Paul, we old guys can do a heck of a rant when we get going, can't we!

 

The bad thing is they design them so we can't work on them ourselves without investing a fortune in specialized tools, just so they can rake in the repair profits as well as the initial purchase of the piece of junk.

 

If someone gave be a mint 60's something, I'd yank out the suspension and put in something that actually worked, including brakes that stopped the car in half the distance, without locking up. It would get made into a super muscle car, with fuel injection, so it'll start, just in case I venture into a clod weather area, cruise control, on board nav, electric windows, power brakes, A/C, radial tires and all the other things I've come to expect from a modern car. Yeah, the purists will cry I "butchered" a hemi Roadrunner, but screw 'um, I'm the one that has to live with it. I've actually owned a few of these cars and they suck. They're cool looking monsters, but nothing compared to what can be done today.

 

Officially 3 hours to change a headlight bulb on one of the current Audi range...

Personally, that is bad design, I would like most of the stuff PAR wants but with the benefit of good access etc etc. Now that is good design, which with great thought out industrial design becomes something people swear by and not at!.

 

Like most things light bulbs have improved significantly, I haven't had to replace one for nearly 20 years, and the increasing use of LED lamps will improve the situation further, but I have to agree that making a simple bulb change into almost a major ovehaul item seems less than one might expect from the highly rated german designer! I've driven most of their cars and I would give the Audi a less than enthusiastic OK, the Mercedes was dreadful - took it back and exchanged it - and i was surprised by the VW Jetta - really nice - but the Opel was a sweetie. I rented something with a Brit label in UK which had all German under the hood, and when 1/4" of snow fell it was dangerous; probalem is in canada we get spoiled by the quality of car design and the performance of winter tyres. Best overall vehicle design so far has been Japanes, Korean and (surprise surprise for all the detractors) US - but only in the last 20 or so years.

 

Unlike most of you I have lost all interest in modern automobiles and a total distrust for the companies that produce and maintain them. The trend seems to be the same route as your printer/scanner, sell the machine to you at as low a price as possible but lock you into long term warranty maintenance and correction of factory defects. Some modern features I do like are, basic fuel injection over the carb and disc brakes without antilock as that packs up early in the game. As for engines there are several good old units that can be slightly modified and will outlast many modern units with equal or better fuel mileage to boot. ( My 54 Chevy 6 cyl. two door hardtop got an honest 24 mp imperial gallon.)The European square 4, the old 6 cyl. chev., the slant 6 dodge, the GM 283 V8, The Chrysler 318 all excellent engines, can be equipped with aftermarket fuel injection for around $1000 and most older drum type brakes can now be changed to disc. As for heated seats, gps, heated mirrors, electric windows, electric locks, 500 watt radios, sonar close proximity sensors, and a million other ***** devices waiting to defect and take your hard earned cash plus rob you of the pleasure of operating the machine "DRIVING"-- Nope --not for me. Interesting, when the wife wants to go for the Sunday Drive or when I have to take friends on an errand, they all choose my 88 Jeep Wrangler instead of our modern wheels. Anyhow, don't take these rantings of an old man thats been screwed but not kissed by the auto industry so many times too serious, it's a sort of read between the lines post --"Happy Motoring"

 

I think anti lock brakes, traction control, air bags and A/C should be mandatory on all cars. They save way too many lives. Driving is one thing, but this assumes you're following and being followed by someone that also can, is an assumption I can't live with. The new collision avoidance radar can eliminate 90% of relatively low speed fender benders, so it's a huge cost saver too. Nav systems have solved the age old husband/wife battle of who's actually lost, further improving the advancement of society and life at home. Don't get me wrong, I love a 600 HP roadster, have had a few, but cruising up the interstate, surrounded by idiots on smart phones, needs a level of security and protection that a '32 deuce with a blown big block can't offer.

 

Have to agree with you on the idiots on smartphones, texting to boot, the reason after 46yrs. of riding motorcycle I gave it all up for a cager - the Jeep -- It doesn't have air bags but it does have seat belts and a roll cage.

 

That didn't tempt you eh? OK, suppose you were offered one of these? No seat belts, anti lock brakes, traction control, Nav, air bags or A/C and terrible mileage but . . .

Another Gas-guzzling Classic

 

Horses for courses- my '59 Bugeye/914/ '71 911/Mini Cooper/Morgan etc are so much more fun to drive on Salt Spring Island than any exotic ( I know exotics) though I wouldn't want to drive one across the country,nor get in a head-on with one.

Much the same holds true for boats though as well.
I love the look of the old Chris Craft Connies,the old steel Italian yachts etc etc,but the ergonomics and layouts just don't do it for me. Plus all the maintenance

 

Found today in a parking garage a '56 T-bird.

 

I never liked the baby birds much, all style and little else.

When I hit the lottery (my current retirement plan), I'll only have a few cars. A Sunday car is necessary, something to blast around in, piss off the pastor at church when I pull in, etc. Maybe a Factory 5 roadster with a LS and Tremec 500. The around town car would need to have some utilitarian value and carry a reasonable load, so maybe a fully modernized late 50's Suburban. Of course a nice road car would be necessary to visit family, which all seem to live a thousand or more miles away, so a 1970 SL convertible in European trim, with some custom touches, modern suspention and the obligatory 400 HP 350, replacing the old German mark. I'll need a real pulling machine for hauling boats around, so a mid 90's Suburban, rigged with Siamese doors and a duely rear, stuffed under the fenders. Probably a 454, 4x4 another Tremec but the 600 and maybe electric overdrive so I can have 10 speeds instead of 5. Naturally, the wild hare day with a 68 hemi Charger or maybe a 67 notch back. Lastly, a mini race car, along the lines of a Shelby Corba, except maybe with a LS powered MBG, Jag rear and another Tremec. Well balanced, no room for much, 6 piston brakes and naturally all the amenities (A/C, anti locks, cruise, etc.) a modern car would have, stuffed into a 1,800 pound, 500 HP car. The Cord owners would cringe, but screw 'em, as I'd get there sooner and safer.

 

If you've owned or spent time living with a Cobra replica and can live with one,great.

In my experience:
The guys who can't afford one-want one.
And the guys that can-don't.

 

I've driven a 289 Cobra, both an ERA and a honest to God 1965 289. They are a bit difficult to live, with as a stock machine, but I'd take an updated kit if forced. All race cars, detuned for the street are like this. I have a buddy with a real 917, who races in the classic series every so often. He spends hours working on it, for every minute it's on the track. He is a Porsche nut and has a 906 too, which rarely sees the light of day, let alone gets driven. These are finicky beasts, which is why I'd have to modernize them with real brakes, modern suspensions, etc. It's usually cheaper too, as the race parts can be rare and costly, compared to a bolt in upgrade.