Since it rained last weekend…

I went and looked at cars…LOL

And since I’m on the road myself, this kinda makes sense…

One of our local dealers opened his personal ‘museum’ to the public, no charge, just donations to a local christian school, or a veterans wellness center. And it was both interesting and eclectic, to put it mildly!!!

There were newish cars, hot rods, trucks, collector cars, old trucks, a Rolls hearse, a horse drawn fire truck (from Germany no less, how the hell it go here, nobody knows), and farm tractors…

This old Cutlass is rather interesting. He said he sold it new, when he was just a car salesman, then it was traded in at his dealership years later. He ‘sold’ it to one of the secretaries, then bought it back again a few years ago. It’s a survivor car, basically unrestored!!!

And this is a 1922 Caterpillar… Not too many of these floating around!

A rumble seat Chrysler from the 1930s, completely restored…

A 1928 Ford roadster pickup…

And quite a few more… I’ll continue the pics tomorrow and Friday.

Comments

Since it rained last weekend… — 12 Comments

  1. I love the old cars from 50+ years ago. The ones from my wasted youth. Cars back then had personality unlike the cookie cutter designs of today. I know the newer models are more reliable and economical, though not as easy to work on, and I’m not going to give up my ’07 Silverado, but I sure wish I still had that ’53 Chevy pickup that I used to own.

  2. Those are really beautiful, and I totally understand the place they hold in the world of Cars and Guys. I will never be able to have the massive extra resources it takes to do justice to one of these old beauties. I think you either have to be IN the business, so you can hear of the sleeper items just entering the market, or you have to have chosen that as a primary for your time, thoughts, and money (and have plenty of all three).
    But as long as we are talking about beautiful machines, what would be a car you might get if you are Slightly-Above-Average Joe? It would have to be something you could be all-in for 20K or less, and also something that you could use to drive to the grocery store, to church, pick up the grandkids, and drive with your lovely/handsome significant other on a getaway weekend?
    I’ve got two:
    1969 Mustang, with the 289 V-8 engine, automatic transmission, factory air, upgraded sound system, otherwise, box-stock. I had one of these in 1971, but it was the 200 CI straight six. The standard radio, as I think they all were at the time, was AM. No air, which wasn’t great in Georgia summers. I’m ambivalent about convertible vs. hard-top.
    My second is almost any two-seater convertible. I’ve driven an Austin-Healey Sprite,and (briefly) a Fiat Spider, and a Miata. It seems that everyone I’ve known who drove an MG in college always had to park on a hill, so they could bump-start it. That’s no longer an option for me, although 40 years ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem.

    • Get the Miata. It’s popular with sports car racers, parts are easy to come by, and it’s easy to work on. It’s a rag top and gives you all the fun of the convertible without the cost of a high end Mustang or Corvette.

    • If I were going for a ‘pure fun’ car these days, I’d consider the Can Am Spider – light, maneuverable, powerful, lots of options available, and starting about $20k.
      But my dirt road would NOT like it and I don’t feel a need to scratch that itch right now; hopefully I never will.

  3. I LOVE old cars and hot rods. How about some more pix? Especially of the Rolls, and the hot rods, and whatever else is there.

  4. My brother had an old rumble seat Ford (I think it was). He would take me and my younger brother for rides in the rumble seat, and would drive on sidewalks and across fields just to hear us laugh and scream.

    • Back in the early 60s an aunt of mine bought a 1930 Model A for the princely sum of $100. We kids loved riding in it because not only was this like the cars Robert Stack rode around in on The Untouchables, but when you hit the horn it went “OOGAH!”

  5. All- Thanks for the comments! Pat- Mazda Miata…

    Posted from my iPhone, waiting on a flight at DFW.

  6. When that “dual-gate Hurst” auto shifter first came out in the late 60’s, their alternate name was “his-n-hers” shifters. Normal shifting for the ladies, and the manual control for street racing. IIRC, the manual side had a reverse pattern, with 1st gear at the front. Move it sideways and yank it back to get the next gear. What the racers encountered with the normal pattern was that the jolt when it shifted tended to bounce it back out of that gear when your arm moved. Hence the backwards orientation.

    I think it first came on the Pontiac GTO?

  7. Jim, your not too far (relatively) from the Cussler Car Museum in Arvada, CO. Other MUST VISIT auto museums are:
    Cars of the Stars in Nashville.
    The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, ID.
    The National Auto & Truck Museum, behind the A-C-D Museum.
    The Kruse Museums (one side the largest private collection of military vehicles, other side a gearhead’s dream) on outskirts of Auburn near the I-69 and 11A interchange.
    The Cole Land Transportation Museum, Bangor, ME.
    Don’t even get me started on train and aircraft museums.