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Summer is going by way too fast
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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-08-21 9:09 PM (#453851)
Subject: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
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Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
Hi everyone, summer has been a busy time, & I have been absent from the site for the most part. On one of my last posts I was lamenting that I did not have a secure storage option for my 55 Royal. Well thanks to "Doc's" advise I have decided to do something about it. My original plan was to add 10 ft. on to my existing shed, & put a gable front on the addition. After taking some measurements, we soon figured out that the existing roof did not have adequate height to permit this to happen. So now I am in the process of removing the roof, & will install new rafters running the opposite way. My building will be 16 x 22, which is almost double the size it is now. so hopefully I can have it buttoned down by the end of October. My two part time jobs support all of these 'extras", but they cut into my working time. Could have sworn that I 'retired' a couple of years ago.
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BigBlockMopar
Posted 2014-08-22 4:17 AM (#453885 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Posts: 3575
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Location: Netherlands
Summer has been gone for a few weeks already overhere. We're having serious autumn weather at the moment with a recordbreaking amount of rain.

Retiring is funny word. I wonder who came up with that.
Cars need to be retired once a in while...
If a human is 'retired' it should mean that he's become tired again in a too short of period in time, so something has to change
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wizard
Posted 2014-08-22 5:32 AM (#453889 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Posts: 13042
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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island
Same thing here Herman, lot's of rain and flooding in Sweden and the temperature has dropped to 12-16 degrees Celsius. Still we have some nice days though and I want to do some more driving before the winter hibernation..
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horace
Posted 2014-08-22 1:22 PM (#453917 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: MN
If I had choose between summer & winter storage in MN, I'd be more concerned w/ summer fading rays, shrinking window gaskets from heat etc. I've been blessed by building a shed years ago, good luck.
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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-08-22 10:30 PM (#453962 - in reply to #453885)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
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Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
The English language is well known for making it "complicated"
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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-08-22 10:35 PM (#453963 - in reply to #453917)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
1002525
Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
Gerry, we have had a fair bit of sun this year as well, but my main concern is winter. I did get the old roof off today, so hopefully I can be on the way to putting it back together in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your comment. -Garry
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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-09-16 11:48 PM (#456541 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
1002525
Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
Well it's been a while since I have given an update, but things have finally come together on my storage option for my 55 Dodge
As mentioned before, I had a small 12 x 16 shed that I decided to convert to a small garage. I removed the roof, & after waiting 3 or 4 weeks for rafters, I was able with the help of my brother to get the roof closed in today. The building is now 16 x 22, so that should be a good space, & will give me the protection I need from the elements.
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-09-17 9:58 AM (#456572 - in reply to #456541)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
Take some advice from Arne Nilsson and make your garage into a shop where you can work all
winter (what else are you going to do anyway ?) and get all those problems squared away so that
when the nice weather returns, you are free to drive the wheels off your car !

I poured concrete floors in the front 30x37 part of the shop and am now going to stand walls and
get the thing buttoned up before the snows. It took 3 months too long .... delays, stalls, complications ...
... to get ready to pull the trigger, but the time has come and now I need to follow your lead and
get my place ready for winter. I met with my engineer to double check my uneducated calculations
on bearing points, loads, and stress and he tells me I am overbuilt as usual.

Summer is a total loss for enjoying the cars, but I have between now and next summer to get my
sh!t together. Full speed ahead !
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big m
Posted 2014-09-17 11:20 AM (#456581 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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No sign of autumn here, just heat and a lot of wildfires.

---John
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d500neil
Posted 2014-09-17 5:34 PM (#456601 - in reply to #456581)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!

Posts: 19146
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Location: bishop, ca
It's supposed to begin the Autumn cooling-off, starting tomorrow.




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BigBlockMopar
Posted 2014-09-17 7:00 PM (#456615 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Netherlands
We're having some 25/26 C weather overhere this week.
That's the 2nd fulltime summer for us this year.

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soiouz
Posted 2014-09-17 7:20 PM (#456618 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Montreal, Canada
It's been awful here the last two weeks. We went from beautiful summer temperatures to cold, short and wet days in about two days... I hate it here, summers are way too short and I hate winter. I should really find a way to move down south.


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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-09-17 7:51 PM (#456625 - in reply to #456572)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
1002525
Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
Doc, thanks to your advice a few months ago I bit the bullet & decided to do this shed/garage conversion. As far as me working on my car, I am not gifted in that department at all . (at least not mechanically) So any mechanic work that is done I do in my brother's garage under his eye, & he has a hoist that make things easier
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d500neil
Posted 2014-09-17 7:51 PM (#456626 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!

Posts: 19146
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Location: bishop, ca
Cold short and wet days; yeah, we get two months of that every year.


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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-09-17 7:55 PM (#456627 - in reply to #456618)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
1002525
Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
We have actually had a beautiful summer (albeit hot) this year, but based on last winter I will take it. Not to mention 8 inches of snow in Calgary/Canmore Alberta last week. That will be here soon enough.
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-09-17 9:23 PM (#456635 - in reply to #456618)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
soiouz - 2014-09-18 4:20 PM
I hate it here, summers are way too short and I hate winter. I should really find a way to move down south. :(


=========================================================

I have written about this before, but I will say it again with a new twist ....

I "woke up" one day while in my mid-30's (can't believe how this thought never entered my head before that time)
and realized I hated the cold and wet of Seattle and that there was no reason at all for me to live there other than I
had never taken the initiative to pick up my sorry ass and move some place that better suited my temperment and
interests. Basically, I just went on living where my parents had chosen to live because it never occurred to me to do
something else !

It took me a year to get my affairs in order. Sold my excess baggage, finished the houses I was building, and looked
around for where I wanted to go .... job potential, weather, cost of living, old stuff, did I mention weather ?

I made the move and starved the first two years. But slowly my business came around and I have never looked back.

After my AFG experience, the mortality concept really sunk in. I made the move out of Seattle thinking I had pissed
30 good years down the drain in a swamp that I'd never get back, but being north of 50, I might best expect another
20-30 years and hope for good health, and I'll be dammed if I am going to waste another moment putting up with crap
I hate. And by extension, I am going to refine my Pleasure Principle to more sharply focus on what gives the greatest
jollies for the time and money spent. That's kind of why I am backing away from the finned cars. I enjoy the pre-war
stuff more. The 50's car scene is too car-show-centric. I just have no use for that scene. That's just me. I like a car
group that meets up at each other's garages and help one another, or learn a new skill, etc. ... and I have found that in
the older car groups. But, to each there own. I would only advocate, much like people say "Never miss the chance to
tell you friends and family that you love them", that people not do what I did and piss away a lot of their life doing stuff
that ends up being meaningless or wasted time. We only get one pass on this track. Make the most of it and don't wait
for something drastic to happen to make decisions. Follow your heart.
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soiouz
Posted 2014-09-17 10:00 PM (#456638 - in reply to #456635)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



Expert

Posts: 3480
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Location: Montreal, Canada
Doctor DeSoto - 2014-09-17 9:23 PM

soiouz - 2014-09-18 4:20 PM
I hate it here, summers are way too short and I hate winter. I should really find a way to move down south. :(


=========================================================

I have written about this before, but I will say it again with a new twist ....

I "woke up" one day while in my mid-30's (can't believe how this thought never entered my head before that time)
and realized I hated the cold and wet of Seattle and that there was no reason at all for me to live there other than I
had never taken the initiative to pick up my sorry ass and move some place that better suited my temperment and
interests. Basically, I just went on living where my parents had chosen to live because it never occurred to me to do
something else !

It took me a year to get my affairs in order. Sold my excess baggage, finished the houses I was building, and looked
around for where I wanted to go .... job potential, weather, cost of living, old stuff, did I mention weather ?

I made the move and starved the first two years. But slowly my business came around and I have never looked back.

After my AFG experience, the mortality concept really sunk in. I made the move out of Seattle thinking I had pissed
30 good years down the drain in a swamp that I'd never get back, but being north of 50, I might best expect another
20-30 years and hope for good health, and I'll be dammed if I am going to waste another moment putting up with crap
I hate. And by extension, I am going to refine my Pleasure Principle to more sharply focus on what gives the greatest
jollies for the time and money spent. That's kind of why I am backing away from the finned cars. I enjoy the pre-war
stuff more. The 50's car scene is too car-show-centric. I just have no use for that scene. That's just me. I like a car
group that meets up at each other's garages and help one another, or learn a new skill, etc. ... and I have found that in
the older car groups. But, to each there own. I would only advocate, much like people say "Never miss the chance to
tell you friends and family that you love them", that people not do what I did and piss away a lot of their life doing stuff
that ends up being meaningless or wasted time. We only get one pass on this track. Make the most of it and don't wait
for something drastic to happen to make decisions. Follow your heart.




I can relate and I might really be at the same page in my Life, where you were when you moved. Mid 30's, I know much better what I like and don't like in life.. But as far as really getting my stuff together and moving where there's no or at least much less winter months, the canadian citizenship makes it a bit harder...

Edited by soiouz 2014-09-17 10:02 PM
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-09-17 11:59 PM (#456648 - in reply to #456638)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
Well, at least you have hockey !!!
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d500neil
Posted 2014-09-18 2:26 AM (#456654 - in reply to #456648)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!

Posts: 19146
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Location: bishop, ca
And they don't have to play it indoors.



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1955Coronado
Posted 2014-09-18 8:16 AM (#456672 - in reply to #456635)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



Expert

Posts: 1918
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Location: Hell's Outhouse - a.k.a. Buckeye, Arizona
Doctor DeSoto - 2014-09-17 7:23 PM

I have written about this before, but I will say it again with a new twist ....

I "woke up" one day while in my mid-30's (can't believe how this thought never entered my head before that time)
and realized I hated the cold and wet of Seattle and that there was no reason at all for me to live there other than I
had never taken the initiative to pick up my sorry ass and move some place that better suited my temperment and
interests. Basically, I just went on living where my parents had chosen to live because it never occurred to me to do
something else !

It took me a year to get my affairs in order. Sold my excess baggage, finished the houses I was building, and looked
around for where I wanted to go .... job potential, weather, cost of living, old stuff, did I mention weather ?

I made the move and starved the first two years. But slowly my business came around and I have never looked back.

After my AFG experience, the mortality concept really sunk in. I made the move out of Seattle thinking I had pissed
30 good years down the drain in a swamp that I'd never get back, but being north of 50, I might best expect another
20-30 years and hope for good health, and I'll be dammed if I am going to waste another moment putting up with crap
I hate. And by extension, I am going to refine my Pleasure Principle to more sharply focus on what gives the greatest
jollies for the time and money spent. That's kind of why I am backing away from the finned cars. I enjoy the pre-war
stuff more. The 50's car scene is too car-show-centric. I just have no use for that scene. That's just me. I like a car
group that meets up at each other's garages and help one another, or learn a new skill, etc. ... and I have found that in
the older car groups. But, to each there own. I would only advocate, much like people say "Never miss the chance to
tell you friends and family that you love them", that people not do what I did and piss away a lot of their life doing stuff
that ends up being meaningless or wasted time. We only get one pass on this track. Make the most of it and don't wait
for something drastic to happen to make decisions. Follow your heart.


No more fins, Doc? Not even your '58 Plaza?

I'm on the threshold of 43 and, one thing I've experienced over the past 20-25 years is that my bulls**t meter is ever more calibrated & fine tuned - with my already thin patience distinctly resembling gauze when it comes to "enduring" people and situations. Call it a sort of justified selfishness or whathaveyou, these days i'm focused more on pleasing me as opposed to catering to others. Sounds bad, but that's the way it is in this stage of my life.

I'm tired.
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-09-18 10:48 AM (#456683 - in reply to #456672)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
I sold 3 cars. Still have the two 58's and a 66, and they can provide "interest" to the shop area.

I like backwater trekking .... back roads, no roads, ranch roads, often no pavement. Sometimes
no road at all. Think American Pickers without the script and cameras. Old barns full of "stuff",
ravines used as dumps, scrap piles, shop yards, any place people stashed stuff and then forgot
about it. THAT, is my idea of a good time. Going out there and finding those places, meeting those
people, maybe even finding something super cool.

You don't go to those places in a fancy car. You go there with a truck. You go there with a fancy
car (or fancy truck), you are likely to be run off by armed ranchers. Nevermind getting stuck and
tearing up your fancy vehicle. But roll up in your TT truck and it is disarming to the typically suspicious
crowd. It opens conversation and demonstrates a motivation that these folks can often understand
and support.

On the flip side, what DOES one do with their fancy car ? Go to shows ? BORING. Go to cruise-ins ?
BORING. Hang out with other Forward Look car owners in my area ? Who might THAT be ???
And even if I did have a bunch of FL guys in my area, chances are they'd relate to cruises and drive-ins
and car shows. That just ain't my scene.

I like dust and dirt, weathered wood, and rusty metal. I like old tools and sun-baked paint, abandoned
right-of-ways, cinder piles, colored glass, sage brush, old fencelines, barbed wire, meadowlarks, and the
smell of pine trees in the evening.

I still like my finned cars. But I like them more as barn relics than I do as recreational vehicles. Because,
face it, that IS what these cars are to us ... a vehicle used to recreate. I have just come to accept that
the typical recreation surrounding a finned car is of very limited scope, at least as a group social event,
and that scene just doesn't hold much charm for me. I want to be out doing and seeing and discovering,
meeting genuine people who have no time for fake drive-ins, fat old women in poodle skirts, reproduction
cliche junk like Coca-Cola coolers and gas pumps ... stuff that looks better all rusty and weathered out behind
the barn anyway ! I guess, if I break it all down, one is an "honest" or genuine experience. The other is
forever trying to be something it is not.


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1955Coronado
Posted 2014-09-18 11:28 AM (#456689 - in reply to #456683)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



Expert

Posts: 1918
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Location: Hell's Outhouse - a.k.a. Buckeye, Arizona
Doctor DeSoto - 2014-09-18 8:48 AM

I sold 3 cars. Still have the two 58's and a 66, and they can provide "interest" to the shop area.

I like backwater trekking .... back roads, no roads, ranch roads, often no pavement. Sometimes
no road at all. Think American Pickers without the script and cameras. Old barns full of "stuff",
ravines used as dumps, scrap piles, shop yards, any place people stashed stuff and then forgot
about it. THAT, is my idea of a good time. Going out there and finding those places, meeting those
people, maybe even finding something super cool.

You don't go to those places in a fancy car. You go there with a truck. You go there with a fancy
car (or fancy truck), you are likely to be run off by armed ranchers. Nevermind getting stuck and
tearing up your fancy vehicle. But roll up in your TT truck and it is disarming to the typically suspicious
crowd. It opens conversation and demonstrates a motivation that these folks can often understand
and support.

On the flip side, what DOES one do with their fancy car ? Go to shows ? BORING. Go to cruise-ins ?
BORING. Hang out with other Forward Look car owners in my area ? Who might THAT be ???
And even if I did have a bunch of FL guys in my area, chances are they'd relate to cruises and drive-ins
and car shows. That just ain't my scene.

I like dust and dirt, weathered wood, and rusty metal. I like old tools and sun-baked paint, abandoned
right-of-ways, cinder piles, colored glass, sage brush, old fencelines, barbed wire, meadowlarks, and the
smell of pine trees in the evening.

I still like my finned cars. But I like them more as barn relics than I do as recreational vehicles. Because,
face it, that IS what these cars are to us ... a vehicle used to recreate. I have just come to accept that
the typical recreation surrounding a finned car is of very limited scope, at least as a group social event,
and that scene just doesn't hold much charm for me. I want to be out doing and seeing and discovering,
meeting genuine people who have no time for fake drive-ins, fat old women in poodle skirts, reproduction
cliche junk like Coca-Cola coolers and gas pumps ... stuff that looks better all rusty and weathered out behind
the barn anyway ! I guess, if I break it all down, one is an "honest" or genuine experience. The other is
forever trying to be something it is not.




A '66? You ended up selling the D-500 sierra, too?

Though I haven't the bankroll for an "American Picker", I'm right there with ya. I went to New Orleans in 2012 and do you know what the highlight was?

Spending 2 solid days in the moldy/mildew soaked back of a 19th century building - an area that was never repaired after Hurricane Katrina - digging through what was about 20,000 78rpm records, taking 77 out and getting stuff like what's below. Only thing better would've been sitting in at a jam session :



(78 Jelly Roll Morton Shoe Shiner's Drag.jpg)



(78 Fats Domino Ain't It A Shame.jpg)



Attachments
----------------
Attachments 78 Jelly Roll Morton Shoe Shiner's Drag.jpg (179KB - 98 downloads)
Attachments 78 Fats Domino Ain't It A Shame.jpg (125KB - 97 downloads)
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big m
Posted 2014-09-18 2:05 PM (#456699 - in reply to #456683)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



Expert 5K+

Posts: 7805
50002000500100100100
Location: Williams California
Doctor DeSoto - 2014-09-18 7:48 AM

I sold 3 cars. Still have the two 58's and a 66, and they can provide "interest" to the shop area.

I like backwater trekking .... back roads, no roads, ranch roads, often no pavement. Sometimes
no road at all. Think American Pickers without the script and cameras. Old barns full of "stuff",
ravines used as dumps, scrap piles, shop yards, any place people stashed stuff and then forgot
about it. THAT, is my idea of a good time. Going out there and finding those places, meeting those
people, maybe even finding something super cool.

You don't go to those places in a fancy car. You go there with a truck. You go there with a fancy
car (or fancy truck), you are likely to be run off by armed ranchers. Nevermind getting stuck and
tearing up your fancy vehicle. But roll up in your TT truck and it is disarming to the typically suspicious
crowd. It opens conversation and demonstrates a motivation that these folks can often understand
and support.

On the flip side, what DOES one do with their fancy car ? Go to shows ? BORING. Go to cruise-ins ?
BORING. Hang out with other Forward Look car owners in my area ? Who might THAT be ???
And even if I did have a bunch of FL guys in my area, chances are they'd relate to cruises and drive-ins
and car shows. That just ain't my scene.

I like dust and dirt, weathered wood, and rusty metal. I like old tools and sun-baked paint, abandoned
right-of-ways, cinder piles, colored glass, sage brush, old fencelines, barbed wire, meadowlarks, and the
smell of pine trees in the evening.

I still like my finned cars. But I like them more as barn relics than I do as recreational vehicles. Because,
face it, that IS what these cars are to us ... a vehicle used to recreate. I have just come to accept that
the typical recreation surrounding a finned car is of very limited scope, at least as a group social event,
and that scene just doesn't hold much charm for me. I want to be out doing and seeing and discovering,
meeting genuine people who have no time for fake drive-ins, fat old women in poodle skirts, reproduction
cliche junk like Coca-Cola coolers and gas pumps ... stuff that looks better all rusty and weathered out behind
the barn anyway ! I guess, if I break it all down, one is an "honest" or genuine experience. The other is
forever trying to be something it is not.




I enjoy doing the same things as you know, Doc, but it has never mattered whether I show up in a restored car, or one that appears to be on its last legs. In fact, the only way I got my '58 Fury after much time of making offers, etc. was to drive up in my '57 Fury. The previous owner told me if I was going to fix his old car up like that, he would let me buy it. I recently went to some friends who needed some sheetmetal work, had a couple beers and BSed for several hours after completing the job, and didn't charge them a penny. Without asking, they arrived here one weekend, and helped me with several things on my '59. I really don't think the years of the vehicles is what matters, just the comraderie that goes along with friends showing similar interests. By the way, these fellows are all nearly 20 years younger than me.

---John
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d500neil
Posted 2014-09-18 5:30 PM (#456727 - in reply to #456699)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!

Posts: 19146
5000500050002000200010025
Location: bishop, ca
There is a double-edged sword about restoring or even hot-rodding a car, that occurs once you think that your ride is "too-nice"
to drive, and that you will be depreciating your investment by driving it.

The other side of the not-driving-it sword occurs when you start to be spooked about its general age, and that it might break down
and leave you stranded by the side of the highway/freeway.

The more that you don't exercise your car(s), the more psychologically fearful you become, about their reliability; E.G.:

1) the Bogeyman that will cause your single-resevoir master cylinder to fail catastrophically...and you'll go off screaming out of control
into an on-coming Semi-tractor....

2) and/or that you can not 'live' without having disc brakes being installed in your ride.....or:

3) the "necessity" to install a late 60's rear end into your car, "because", otherwise, ever 10 years, or so, you'll have to
use an axle-puller to service the rear axle bearings.

...Some people just want to live forever.




Edited by d500neil 2014-09-18 5:31 PM
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-09-18 11:36 PM (#456748 - in reply to #456727)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
John,

I hear what you're saying and agree ... to a point, .... YOUR point. Chasing Furys with a Fury is
a good plan. Having likeminded buddies like you describe overrules all, for sure. You have a great
magnet with your business to draw in likeminded crazies. If I lived nearby, I'd always be over or
asking you over.

And for reasons like these and my long love for the cars I have, I will keep on to them.

But when I speak of all that backwater trekking I enjoy so much, in MY situation, I feel a Model T
flatbed better suits the conditions as I find them, AND I just love Model T trucks. That's just me and
MY tastes/interests. I don't expect anyone else to agree or follow me. Just saying that this is what
turns my crank on a larger jolly scale than the fin car scene as I find it.

My point here really is to not piss away one's life doing stuff we don't love. Don't put off doing what
DOES bring the most happiness (whatever that might be for each of us). We all get old and die. Have
no regrets.
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LD3 Greg
Posted 2014-09-19 1:12 AM (#456752 - in reply to #456748)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast


Expert

Posts: 1906
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Location: Ontario, Canada
Well John, Doc and Neil, I'm a different type. To be honest, I Hate old cars. Whenever I could afford a new one I bought it! On the other hand, I Love 57/58 Mopars!!! Sure I love the styling but first and foremost I love the engineering. Please let me put it this way:

When I restored my Spring Special 58 Dodge, I won the Willistead Classic show, WPC club show, Hershey first junior and the next year the Senior class! Of course I was proud of my efforts but, more importantly, I was pleased that this 58 Mopar got it's just deserves. When I told the onlookers that in order to appreciate these cars they had to drive 'em ,they just looked at me as if I was nuts!! I guess, ignorance is bliss!!!

When I restored my 300 C and later my Regal, I made a point of taking them to several of our local cruise nights. I had the show stuard give me a parking spot close to the exit. All during the evening I would take, in turn, a full car load of guys for a high speed spin on the freeway. It was a couple minutes from the show site and I would run at 120 MPH plus and hard brake for the next interchange and cloverleaf back to the the show site to pick up the next load of recruits.

Bottom line: There is no one in my part of the world who doesn't RESPECT 57/58 Mopars!!!!

Gteg
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horace
Posted 2014-09-19 2:50 PM (#456796 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Extreme Veteran

Posts: 471
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Location: MN
I attended the last "boring" cruise not enjoying a great evening last night. I hadn't driven my 60 D500 Ram for 4-5 years so I had it out last week & last night besides a couple hundred miles of driving. The Ram Induction set up & the 60's different style interested a good many people. Myself after being a shy person for 30 or 40 years I've found I can converse/BS with best of them! Meet new people rekindle old relationships. My hang up is paying $10 or $20 for a car show to show a car to "free walkers", just backward me thinks. Cruises seem to be free which resonates big for this Scotsman
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Ray Bell
Posted 2014-09-19 5:40 PM (#456811 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Expert

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Location: Dalveen, Queensland, Australia
Doc... there's a couple of things I'll get you to look out for for me!

I understand what you are saying here, and I understand the views of others. The sheer enjoyment of making the most out of the toys from your chosen era of the past is what it's all about. I could do it with an Austin Healey, any vintage car (vintage is pre-'31), a fifties Peugeot or many other beasts. I have a '70 Valiant and a '70 Peugeot in the works to put on the road in the next few years and both will have some updates. More power for the Peugeot and improved engine, transmission and suspension for the Valiant.

But I will also have my '87 RAM van out here in a couple of years too, and it will cover a multitude of miles for me.

I've now lost my fifties sporty car built around Peugeot mechanicals, but I have to move right along. I want to build an older-style sporty car with L-head Chrysler power, a 4-speed from an unspeakable British marque and early forties Ford suspension and brakes.

Any of these cars will see people gather when you arrive. All of them will start conversations. All of them will bring fellow 'believers' out of the cracks... what more do you want?

Oh, yeah... Summer is starting to shine through the cracks here...
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d500neil
Posted 2014-09-19 5:48 PM (#456814 - in reply to #456811)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!

Posts: 19146
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Location: bishop, ca
What Greg says, above, is absolutely true, and predates the Intraweb by decades!

Distinctly recall his mea culpa at the mid-90's Detroit WPC national meet, where he "showed" up, towing/pulling his mind-altering
(CORRECTLY done; not merely "pretty") 58 Coronet restoration, behind a new-ish CHUBBIE (the horror) pick-em-up truck!

He confessed that the HATES MoPars....except for the Finned derivations thereof.






Edited by d500neil 2014-09-19 5:52 PM
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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-09-19 9:19 PM (#456832 - in reply to #456727)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
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Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
I am going to weigh in on the topic, & more specificly about how this car hobby relates to me. (or how I relate to this hobby) I consider myself a very unlikely candidate to own a classic car, for two reasons. 1. Give me a wrench, & I can easily take a simple mechanical problem & make it worse. I just do not have a natural intuition in this area. 2. I do not have a surplus of disposable cash, nor do I have a huge income. I do however have my health that allows me to work a couple of part time jobs (I'm retired) so that I can persue this interest, & I have a great brother who is a mechanic that enjoys spending time with me & the car. As far as the car shows go, I am not a huge fan, but have enjoyed a couple of them this year, but the positive thing about them is the new people that you meet. But more than anything I simply love to drive my 55 Royal. I know that they are not for everyone's taste, but for me it is just a simple way to have fun. Now Doc, I have to agree tat what you have listed as being your source of enjoyment is great too. I have had a friend for 48 years who is the local scrap dealer. Many years ago when local dumps were "open", we used to spend Saturday's combing the banks for brass, copper & "treasures". not only fun, but profitable. So as different people have expressed , we have only so much time to do what we are passionate about. Most of my life I spent doing what mattered to other people. Then I came to the realization that twenty years from now it will not matter weather I persue this hobby or not, & I decided then that I didn't want to look back & say I wish I had , but now it's too late. So there you have my two cents worth. (You'll have to round that off to a nickel as we don't have pennies in Canada any more)
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-09-19 11:52 PM (#456852 - in reply to #456832)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
As a kid in the 60's, the most notable "old" cars on the road were what I called "old fashioned cars" ....
open fender jobs from the early 30's and back. For reasons unknown to me, I liked those at a very
young age, whereas the late 30's-to-mid-50's cars with their more bulbous shape did not appeal to me,
or I flat-out thought they were ugly. I liked finned cars when they weren't beat up. I still find that our
finned cars suffer badly when even a hubcap is missing. Kinda like wearing a tux with no shirt !

When the muscle cars started being a big deal, I really liked their muscular styling and own a 66 Coronet
today as an example of one of the first new cars I ever really took a strong liking to. But that era lasted
about 4 years and by 70 car styling was blubbery and pointless and it only got worse from there.

I guess I am a visual kind of guy, because aesthetics, design, and proportion are EVERYTHING to me.
I've had guys glaze my eyes over countless times with their jocular proclamations of greatness about
Porsches and Ferraris and whatever. Sorry, I'd just as soon use that 82 Ferrari to plug a ditch as I would
give it a second look. With all the good looks of a splitting wedge, may be a technical marvel, but it is just
plain dull to this aesthetic-driven observer. That 63 might be interesting, if it weren't worth a half a million
dollars. Kinda takes all the fun out of that idea !

I like lots of cars. It seems everyone managed a good hit, if not a home run every now and then, but
Exner achieved a rare air for that brief moment when his body sculpting crossed paths with Mother Mopar's
other engineering projects. I got pulled in to the fin scene via 59-60 Buick, but soon discovered Mopar's
rare moment in the sun and have never looked back.

Owning any vehicle built after 1970 involves a careful study in reliability and performance, crossed with a
minimally complicated maintenance potential, ease of parts accessibility, and chased with a bitter pill of dull,
if not totally repulsive styling. Much like my Grandfather refused to have a radio in his cars because it was
a reckless distraction to the responsibility of driving, I look at much of what modern cars off as "goodies"
and scoff. I'd rather eat my own stool than have TVs in the back seat area or a navigation system. That
is why we have windows and maps.

But to each their own. I know people that just eat that stuff up ! And three years from now, it will be old
hat and they'll want to shell large for the newest gadget box on wheels. Meanwhile, I just want to putter out
to some lonely place and listen to the meadowlark's call and soak up the intoxicating smells of the desert.

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58wedge
Posted 2014-09-20 4:12 AM (#456861 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 133
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As Dr Desoto says ,play(work) w cars,and time flys in the Garage, suddenly there is 3 of them apart and then spring is comming faster........
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55 Dodge
Posted 2014-10-11 10:36 PM (#458898 - in reply to #456541)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast


Veteran

Posts: 164
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Location: ST. Stephen NB Canada
My original plan was to have my shed>garage reno completed by the end of October. Surprisingly all that I have left to do is paint the trim one more coat, & install the garage door. So I guess that puts me ahead of schedule for a change. Meanwhile I am able to park the old girl under cover. Six weeks more driving time, then it's hibernation.
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Doctor DeSoto
Posted 2014-10-11 10:59 PM (#458900 - in reply to #458898)
Subject: RE: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Parts Unknown
I am slammed to the wall putting up the front half of my shop that I left undone when I deployed. Graded for concrete
(no small task after parking on that area for nearly 5 years), dug up and place sewer lines where needed, compacted those
areas again, set steel, poured the 30x40 slab, stick framed perimeter walls, then interior walls, built landings and stairs, ...

... today I plumbed and lined the walls and picked up a small load of 2x12 to begin setting my rim joists. I am in a race
with the snow. I will stop with the 2nd floor decked and roll out a membrane type roofing to keep the weather out while I
finish the walls and do interior work. This area will be heated this winter ... a first in many years !

Gotta take Arne's advice on having a good shop to hole up in during the winter months.

I will hit the ground running in the spring and build the 2nd floor walls and very complicated roof.
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Ray Bell
Posted 2014-10-12 3:48 PM (#458942 - in reply to #453851)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast



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Location: Dalveen, Queensland, Australia
Will make a nice change for you, Doc!
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ruchaven
Posted 2014-10-12 6:41 PM (#458950 - in reply to #453917)
Subject: Re: Summer is going by way too fast


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Location: York County, PA
Mice don't eat cheese, whoever told you they did doesn't know mice.
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