Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Al Capone? Bonnie and Clyde?

[padgett]

"About 15 liters/100 km" is always good.

[kuhner]

Kids really love our old T. I always encourage them to set in it, and blow the horn.  It is a 27 with the electric horn that sounds like a ruptured cow, not very loud and not too annoying.

if I had a quarter for every kid that had their photo taken in it, it would be restored by now.

[CatBird]

On 1/24/2021 at 11:01 PM, keithb7 said:

The one I sorta find funny is “What’s the fuel economy?”  
 

I really don’t know. I really don’t care. How can you put a price on what fuel costs are per mile, to drive the car you put all your blood sweat and tears into? Totally irrelevant.

I usually, and it is true, I don't know about economy. Doesn't have a gas gauge. Some don't even have a speedometer/odometer. Carry an extra gallon of gas. If you are talking about a big brass car, you may carry a five gallon gas can! Between us, my brass cars get less than 5mpg.

Let me tell you about our 1916 Pierce. The seller told me he just put five gallons into it before I bought it. Adds to the "story" about what it is like, walking to get a can of gas.

I use a stick and show them my gas gauge from Model T (see picture) and we both laugh about it.

[CatBird]

On 1/24/2021 at 11:01 PM, keithb7 said:

The one I sorta find funny is “What’s the fuel economy?”  
 

I really don’t know. I really don’t care. How can you put a price on what fuel costs are per mile, to drive the car you put all your blood sweat and tears into? Totally irrelevant.

Sorry, double post

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by CatBird (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

11 hours ago, Bryan G said:

You never know when you're making an indelible impression on someone. There are cars I saw, briefly, when I was 7 or 8 years old and they're stuck in my brain like it was yesterday. Personally, I like questions and the conversations it can lead to. I'm an introvert myself, but get me on a topic and I can talk quite a bit (perhaps too much.) 

 

I almost never participate in shows; I just find them rather joyless (once I've walked around and seen everything else that doesn't have a 350/350.) One of my most rewarding was a "touch-a-truck" event where kids come and get to climb all over big-rigs, tractors, etc. All I had was an old IH pickup from the 70s but the kids still liked it and much to my wife's chagrin I let a few get behind the wheel. It made me feel good.

 

A not so good feeling, repeated too often? I go to a show and fall in love with a car. I really want to know more, and have some intelligent questions lined up, but it would take a firecracker through the window to get the owner to amble over here and give me 2 words. He's too busy sitting there in a lawn chair with several other guys he sees ever weekend. They're probably chatting about how the hobby is dying, younger guys aren't interested in their kind of cars...and I walk on.

I try to get to as many shows as possible, only because I like driving my car and it gives me a place to drive to. I try to park in a spot that I can leave at will though, I usually get bored after about a half hour! As far as people sitting in chairs, I will go directly to the person and strike up the conversation. By not doing so you are as bad as they are. A lot of times the owner will be more than glad to talk about their car. On the occasion that they start off by telling you how theirs is the best one on the lot and its one of one because it was cloudy the day it was painted....... well you know how that one will end. I politely take the bs then walk away to look at another.

[Captain Harley]

On 1/24/2021 at 3:14 PM, alsancle said:

Every Cadillac must have been a gangster's, 

Cadillacs were Al Capone's favorite car,...just saying....

 

Capt. Harley😉

[alsancle]

22 hours ago, TAKerry said:

I try to get to as many shows as possible, only because I like driving my car and it gives me a place to drive to. I try to park in a spot that I can leave at will though, I usually get bored after about a half hour! As far as people sitting in chairs, I will go directly to the person and strike up the conversation. By not doing so you are as bad as they are. A lot of times the owner will be more than glad to talk about their car. On the occasion that they start off by telling you how theirs is the best one on the lot and its one of one because it was cloudy the day it was painted....... well you know how that one will end. I politely take the bs then walk away to look at another.

 

I'm never shy about chatting up the owner and it usually goes pretty well.   I'll never say anything bad.    Once in a while you will get a guy that doesn't feel like talking but that is rare.   

Usually I forget the chairs and I don't like to sit anyways.

[padgett]

I remember a gangster movie with Ma Barker firing a tommy gun from a '53ish Caddy.

[Frank DuVal]

On 1/24/2021 at 8:22 PM, Rusty_OToole said:

Before the model A came out they were just called Fords. You see this all the time in books stories and movies made in the thirties and earlier.

 

Nope! Tin Lizzie or Flivver!😉

[CatBird]

8 hours ago, Captain Harley said:

Cadillacs were Al Capone's favorite car,...just saying....

 

Capt. Harley😉

 

Nah, it was Franklin D Roosevelt with that gangsta's car.
https://forgottenhistoryblog.com/president-roosevelt-used-to-ride-around-in-al-capones-limousine/

 

[CatBird]

On 1/25/2021 at 10:36 PM, Bryan G said:

A not so good feeling, repeated too often? I go to a show and fall in love with a car. I really want to know more, and have some intelligent questions lined up, but it would take a firecracker through the window to get the owner to amble over here and give me 2 words. He's too busy sitting there in a lawn chair with several other guys he sees ever weekend. They're probably chatting about how the hobby is dying, younger guys aren't interested in their kind of cars...and I walk on.

Respectfully I am probably one of the old guys swapping stories with my buddies and usually with a handful of young enthusiasts in lawn chairs. My feeling is if someone wants to talk cars with me that they amble over and ask.

-- EDITED: from what I originally wrote. --

Edited January 27, 2021 by CatBird (see edit history)

[maok]

       Bonnie                                          Clyde                                      Capone

 

Naming my cars is good for business.

[padgett]

My lawn chair has an awning.

[Ken_P]

Having a black 37 Packard with whitewalls and suicide rear doors, I get told "looks like a gangster's car" and "did it come with a tommy gun?"

 

It gets a little old, but I try to remember that most people have only seen cars like this in gangster movies.

I do love letting kids sit in mine, and my kids have gotten to sit in a LOT of cars over the years. A few years ago, I was at a car show, and my son (must've been about 4) got to sit in a Model A and toot the horn - you would've thought he was in heaven!

 

The look on peoples faces when I'm at a show, and my kids hop on the running boards and then get in the car are priceless! Especially if I'm a few feet away.

[Rusty_OToole]

On 1/27/2021 at 8:23 AM, Captain Harley said:

Cadillacs were Al Capone's favorite car,...just saying....

 

Capt. Harley😉

In the old days Cadillacs were favorites of characters from the wrong side of the tracks that struck it rich, gangsters, crooked politicians and the like. The real rich people drove Packards or, if they were really old money, Pierce Arrows.

Lincolns had a vogue among underworld characters in the early twenties right after Ford bought Lincoln. He tried to sell Lincolns through Ford dealers,  this went over as well as selling Rolls Royces through Kia dealers would today. Ford forced Ford dealers to take Lincoln cars whether they wanted them or not, and a lot of them sold them off cheap just to be rid of them.  A wise boy from Detroit called Goose Island Tommy did a good business buying Lincolns from small town Ford dealers and selling them to gangsters and bootleggers.

[39BuickEight]

My grandfather always said, you knew you had made it, when you drove a Packard.

[Morgansdad]

2 hours ago, Ken_P said:

Having a black 37 Packard with whitewalls and suicide rear doors, I get told "looks like a gangster's car" and "did it come with a tommy gun?"

 

It gets a little old, but I try to remember that most people have only seen cars like this in gangster movies.

I do love letting kids sit in mine, and my kids have gotten to sit in a LOT of cars over the years. A few years ago, I was at a car show, and my son (must've been about 4) got to sit in a Model A and toot the horn - you would've thought he was in heaven!

 

The look on peoples faces when I'm at a show, and my kids hop on the running boards and then get in the car are priceless! Especially if I'm a few feet away.

I always let people get in my Model A while I'm at shows. I remember being at a show and an older feller walked up (with the help of a cane). He said, it's been awhile since I've been close to one of these.  I told him he was more than welcome to crawl inside and rest for a spell. I helped him up on the running board and he sat down. I walked around to the passenger side, got in and said, let's go! Of course he said he better not but, I have never seen a wider smile in your life. It truly made my day.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Morgansdad
spelling (see edit history)

[Terry Harper]

2 hours ago, Morgansdad said:

I always let people get in my Model A while I'm at shows. I remember being at a show and an older feller walked up (with the help of a cane). He said, it's been awhile since I've been close to one of these.  I told him he was more than welcome to crawl inside and rest for a spell. I helped him up on the running board and he sat down. I walked around to the passenger side, got in and said, let's go! Of course he said he better not but, I have never seen a wider smile in your life. It truly made my day.

 

A few years ago our Building Trades students made a tool box for the Lombard tractor on display at the Maine State Museum. While I was talking to one of the curators I mentioned how I played on that machine back in 1974 when it was at Churchill Lake. Joking that I hadn't been able to play in since then she had me climb up in the cab so she could take a photo. Just about then another curator came around the corner, saw me up there in the cab and had a complete meltdown. "DON'T MOVE!! Your not supposed to be up there!" etc. etc. Eventually he figured out that I had been invited. 

 

So... whenever a curious young person asks me questions my mind goes back to that summer day in 1974 and how my deep interest in history, machinery, antique cars, trucks etc. all started and I will always answer their questions and yes.... take a seat behind the wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[Morgansdad]

12 minutes ago, Terry Harper said:

 

A few years ago our Building Trades students made a tool box for the Lombard tractor on display at the Maine State Museum. While I was talking to one of the curators I mentioned how I played on that machine back in 1974 when it was at Churchill Lake. Joking that I hadn't been able to play in since then she had me climb up in the cab so she could take a photo. Just about then another curator came around the corner, saw me up there in the cab and had a complete meltdown. "DON'T MOVE!! Your not supposed to be up there!" etc. etc. Eventually he figured out that I had been invited. 

 

So... whenever a curious young person asks me questions my mind goes back to that summer day in 1974 and how my deep interest in history, machinery, antique cars, trucks etc. all started and I will always answer their questions and yes.... take a seat behind the wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You never know when one small act on your part changes someone else's day or, even life.

[CatBird]

Take seat behind the wheel (or tiller) and feel the people who have sat there over a hundred years...... Sit there quietly and absorb the moment. I am bet that you did? Wasn't that better than just looking?

To me, feeling is paramount. Get the feeling in your gut as you sit there. Visual is OK, but the feeling matters most.

[Bob Roller]

On 1/24/2021 at 2:45 PM, Paul Dobbin said:

To a lot of people, all really old cars are Model T's.  No matter what it is, their grandfather has one just like it, that he bought new.

Sometimes I ask how old their grandfather is and they say, about 65 or 70.   They don't mean to lie, they just want to be part of

the fun of ancient cars.  Humor them, even of the grandfather has a Model T Roadster just like my 34 Ford Fordor.

I have been told the Model "T" Ford was the only car ever made that started at the bottom and went down.

 

[Bob Roller]

On 1/27/2021 at 9:37 AM, padgett said:

I remember a gangster movie with Ma Barker firing a tommy gun from a '53ish Caddy.

That was Hollyweird at its best.I do object to the folk hero status assigned to 

Bonnie and Clyde.They were murdering morons that finally were rehabilitated by

retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer and his posse.I have looked at that Ford and

it was taken all over the country.

[MotiveLensPhoto]

They just want to make conversation. I don't take offense. My 73 is always confused with early 1960s. I'm happy to educate if I'm not in a hurry. Yes, I drive it a lot in the summer.

 

83 days until May 1st, when default driving coverage begins.

[Bob Roller]

On 1/24/2021 at 2:50 PM, 1937hd45 said:

In all my years in the hobby the only car that amazed some young kids was a 20 year old daily driver I had at the time. A nothing car I don't remember, scrapped when it wouldn't run any more. Bob 

Our every day driver is into the 24th year and nobody can give us a real reason

to get rid of it.The car is a 1997 Lincoln Town Car and everything except us still

works.Smooth,quiet and more than enough power.

[CatBird]

2 hours ago, Bob Roller said:

I have been told the Model "T" Ford was the only car ever made that started at the bottom and went down.

 

Why would you say that?

 

[padgett]

Sorry but always think of Mad Magazine's take on "Balmy and Clod".

[Bob Roller]

16 hours ago, CatBird said:

Why would you say that?

 

Because it continued on and on with few or no improvements.

I have a friend who owned a 1919 Chevrolet that has a water pump

and oil pump PLUS a 3 speed transmission.It may have had a

distributor as well. 

[Bob Roller]

On 1/28/2021 at 9:33 AM, padgett said:

My lawn chair has an awning.

I like your ad.You might add "We will trade for anything old except eggs or 

anything that has to be fed.

 

[CatBird]

1 hour ago, Bob Roller said:

Because it continued on and on with few or no improvements.

I have a friend who owned a 1919 Chevrolet that has a water pump

and oil pump PLUS a 3 speed transmission.It may have had a

distributor as well. 

Yes. You are right! Henry Ford had a great idea, innovative methods and put America on wheels. But to me, He stagnated, perhaps more or less, 1915 and did not progress with new technology and the Model T was outmoded as you mentioned. 

There was a continuing American love affair with the Model T that had momentum, but at some point this love affair became "tired."  Even though there is still a few die-hard fans, myself among them that cherish the mystique of the Model T.

I am fortunate that we live within a mile of Stone Mountain Park. We have over 15 miles of paved road, wonderful sites to enjoy and there is a 25mph speed limit, but I would not spend time on regular surface roads in a Model T. 

[JACK M]

2 hours ago, CatBird said:

Yes. You are right! Henry Ford had a great idea, innovative methods and put America on wheels. But to me, He stagnated, perhaps more or less, 1915 and did not progress with new technology and the Model T was outmoded as you mentioned. 

There was a continuing American love affair with the Model T that had momentum, but at some point this love affair became "tired."  Even though there is still a few die-hard fans, myself among them that cherish the mystique of the Model T.

I am fortunate that we live within a mile of Stone Mountain Park. We have over 15 miles of paved road, wonderful sites to enjoy and there is a 25mph speed limit, but I would not spend time on regular surface roads in a Model T. 

 

Look at the Ford ads on TV today as they brag about being innovative and not afraid of change, not standing still or something to that effect.

Made me think about how Henry didn't want to change when he had a good thing going.