centralsweeper63
Well-known member
You just don't get custom stuff really. I HATE MDF.
Some of the most beautiful cars ever built were the 50's models with plenty of chrome on them!My family has been running them since 1959 and I guess that is how I got sucked into the vacuum hobby. Love the functionality and all the chrome. My Kenworth dump truck at work has the full chrome package, a polished aluminum 18' bed, all aluminum wheels and my boss added some extra because he knows it makes me happy! All of the vehicles I own are chromed out also.
Absolutely! The 1950s Cadillacs were nothing shy of V8-powered sculptures!Some of the most beautiful cars ever built were the 50's models with plenty of chrome on them!
Jeff
Yes they were! And all of mine are practical because they were built for their uses intended.That were practical too.
Yeah, but I am old enough to have driven and maintained those old 1950s cars and I emphatically don't miss anything about them.Some of the most beautiful cars ever built were the 50's models with plenty of chrome on them!
Jeff
Not just less refined. You probably never drove cars with old fashioned non-self adjusting drum brakes. They were scary in the rain ( as in no brakes or the brakes on the right were soaked from puddles and doing nothing ) and pulled to one side or the other even when it was dry unless you were under the car all the time adjusting the brake shoes. This was before Bendix self adjusting drum brakes. The brake system was a single circuit ( if you had a leak the whole system could drain out and leave you with no brakes, modern system use dual circuits ) with the master cylinder bolted to the frame and filled through a round hatch in the floor behind the clutch pedal. That hatch eventually rusted out to the point you could watch the road passing beneath the car ! The leaky seal on the cowl vent aided the rust process as the floor was always soaked during the rain. On our old Plymouth the defroster was an old towel under the seat. No AC, crappy heater, the dimmer switch was a button on the floor. The windshield washers were operated by pumping a small round pedal on the floor between the clutch and brake pedals. It had this ratcheted umbrella handle hand brake. The transmission was a three speed manual with a column shifter. "Three on the tree" we called it. The engine was a flat head six that made 90 brake horse power, probably less than 70 horsepower measured by modern standards. No oil filter ( ! ), my dad had to add one. The air filter was by oil bath. A basin of gear oil surrounded the throat of the single barrel carb and a baffle that directed the inlet air straight down at the oil before routing it up again then into the carb. The idea was that inertia would force the dust into the oil where it would stick. Kind of like a Rainbow but with oil. Skinny bias ply tires that protested loudly with even mild cornering and enough body roll that the curb feelers scraped the pavement noisily in a brisk left hander, such as when you are trying to beat the yellow arrow in a left turn notch. Push the car further and one of the big heavy stainless steel hubcaps would pop off and brother those can do some real damage! I had to pick one out of a neighbors front yard once after it departed the right front wheel in a brisk residential corner O_O . The flat slippery bench seat offered no support but it was fun to see your passenger sliding across the seat going around a corner. And who can forget the all steel dash, no seat belts, no collapsable steering column so frontal collisions sent the steering column right through your face and your passengers right through the windshield. And last there was the tube AM radio that had to warm up before it would broadcast anything through the single center mounted speaker in the dash board. And the cloth insulated ( or not ) wiring that caused funny things to happen in the rain. But people love those old cars. Just not me.Beutiful, but less refined.
Huh? I didn't think the Facon came out until 1960? Sure it wasn't a Fairlane? I just saw a perfect one in our town yesterday. Turquoise and white.I have only very briefly driven one, but I have been in a 56' Ford falcon from America for hundreds of kilometers.
The Parklane. Kind of a sport wagon version of the Fairlane. You had one of those? Boy those are super rare now.It was a station wagon. It belonged to my friends father. It was a black body with a white roof. Full original chrome trim too!
When I was a kid the California Highway Patrol was not allowed to patrol inside the city limits of Los Angeles. LAPD had sole jurisdiction. Even LA County Sheriffs had to stay out of LA proper. LAPD had these hot rodded Delta 88 "Freeway Flyer" patrol cars for patrolling the freeways. Didn't see them on surface streets, freeways only. They had a roll cage ( ! ), no back seat, straight pipes that exited at an angle under the rocker panels just in front of the rear tires, the tires were Goodyear Blue Streak racing tires, big block V-8s of course and the officer wore a helmet and gloves. Manual steering. I remember watching them as a kid flooring it down an on ramp to nab a speeder leaving a big smokey burn out as they accelerated. And the sound! I want to say it was right around 1971 or 72 the State Legislature passed a law granting CHP jurisdiction everywhere in the state including ( and especially ) inside LA. After that LAPD never patrols the freeways. In fact you can speed right past an LAPD car on an LA freeway and they won't pull you over. I've done it. There is huge bad blood between CHP and LAPD and LAPD has washed their hands of the freeways. It's the CHP's problem. But oh man those big Oldmobiles were something !I am a Cadillac fanatic and always have been. I wanted a Fleetwood Brougham in high school, had a '66 Olds Delta 88 and sold it to fix up my truck at the time. Grew up and bought a 2011 Escalade Platinum
The biggest of them all were, during the mid 1970s:"-I am a wagon person." --I have had and liked a Roadmaster wagon. For vintage are you familiar with the 2 door Volvo of late 60s or American Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, Chrysler Town & Country or Mercury Colony Park. Just a few of many pre minivan wagons.
Who could forget the Volvo P1800ES sport wagon. Gawd those were exotic for their time. Make mine copper with a black interior ( desert heat be damned )"-I am a wagon person." --I have had and liked a Roadmaster wagon. For vintage are you familiar with the 2 door Volvo of late 60s or American Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, Chrysler Town & Country or Mercury Colony Park. Just a few of many pre minivan wagons.

I wish ! They are exceptionally rare and very expensive if you can even find one for sale. I have the more pedestrian Audi 90S sedan version, but front drive with a naturally aspirated V-6. I also have a slightly earlier Audi 90 Sedan that has been subject to a comprehensive resto-mod by 2Bennett Audimotive. Naturally aspirated in line 5, front drive, five speed. Moderate power but very light and agile.Nice car! Is that yours?
As were so many other cars from the 50's, including the 53 Ford Customline that brought me home from the hospital when I was born, the 52 Buick Roadmaster my parents bought when I was about 6 months old, my great-uncle's 53 Oldsmobile Super 88, Grandpa's 58 Plymouth Belvedere, our neighbor's 56 Ford Fairlane, one uncle's 53 Chevy Bel Air, another uncle's 57 or 58 Chrysler, and the 59 olds my parents bought when I was about 7 or 8 years old. Some beautiful cars back then, and you knew what it was a mile down the road, instead of them looking mostly the same as they do today!Absolutely! The 1950s Cadillacs were nothing shy of V8-powered sculptures!
Some of them were actually made into the 80's. Lena and I had an 84 Ford LTD Crown Victoria 10 passenger wagon for several years.The biggest of them all were, during the mid 1970s:
* Chrysler Town & Country / Dodge (Royal) Monaco / Plymouth (Gran) Fury (1974-1977)
* Buick Estate Wagon / Chevrolet Impala/Caprice/Kingswood Estate / Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser / Pontiac Grand Safari (1971-1976)
* Ford LTD Country Squire / Mercury Marquis Colony Park (1969-1978)
~Ben