Aw...come on...folks. This hobby, this Club...the world - the universe is not what it was. Things change. Roll with it or get rolled over. "CLASSIC"...? We (meaning folks my age) took the word "CLASSIC" because it had a clear and distinctive meaning in our world. Clearly defined in the dictionaries of our area. Go try and find a dictionary printed in the last 50 years or so that bares any resemblance to our world then. "Something unique, of rare and distinct quality"...."an engineering exaggeration...magnificently over-done". "Form follows function"....so that a headlight shell, a fender, a running board, confirms to the Roman and Greek design theory - straight angles".
But that was then. It would never have occurred to us to call a "streamlined" car a "classic". Well...along came the used car dealers and body shops to discover "tacking on" the word "CLASSIC" would help "move" an old Cord or Lincoln Continental...and we needed membership, so the next thing you know we diluted the Club's purpose.
But the world did not end! I recall the fuss over the admission by the Club to late 1930's and 1941 Cadillac 60 S to "classc" status. Oh..horrors...the "camel got his nose under the tent".
Yes, i was part of the group opposing that...because I owned one at the time. An outstanding car that had an all-steel body, hydraulic brakes, pressurized cooling system, independent front suspension - could be ordered with "factory air", climate controlled creature comforts - an automatic transmission with a final drive ratio that permitted effortless cruising at 80 mph plus. Power windows! Try that in your "452"....! So yes, we argued that those outstanding cars were WAY too "modern" in both design and technical aspects to be considered our historical purpose.
Well, one walk thru a supermarket will find it is harder each year to find any product someone is trying to "unload" that is not called "classic".
But so what? At recent car shows, I have had a lot of fun meeting up and renewing friendships, discussing how the planet is going to fall into the sun. When the show breaks up, wonder of wonders...my '38 Packard Twelve starts and runs just as well even tho some guy parked his "classic Chevvy pick up" next to it.
Face it - things change. In the 1950's, we were invited to an old guy's ranch who liked stage coaches and early "brass" cars. There was even a club for the horse and buggy crowd. We in the CCCA did have fun joint meets with the HCCA crowd! But many of us sniffed at some...well....ewwww....a forty year old vehicle - who would actually want that...didn't even come with radios...? (in that era our cars in the CCCA were typically around twenty five year old cars.
Bottom line...WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES....DIFFERENT PEOPLE TODAY WITH DIFFERENT LIFE EXPERIENCES! ACCEPT IT...AND ENJOY THE IMPORTANT THING...THE SUN WILL COME UP TOMORROW MORNING !
(that's me in 1958......)
