Mechanic's Special

Cars, Bikes, Airplanes, "bicycles" spelled correctly, Tools and Toys.
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BoSoxGal
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by BoSoxGal »

I saw one article which asserted that some critics at the time described the Edsel’s front end as akin to the view of the midwife at the big event.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by Bicycle Bill »

BoSoxGal wrote:
Mon Apr 11, 2022 7:40 pm
I saw one article which asserted that some critics at the time described the Edsel’s front end as akin to the view of the midwife at the big event.
From "The Rape of the A*P*E* – The Official History of the Sex Revolution 1945 – 1973" by Allan Sherman © 1973; published by Playboy Press
(nota bene: In the section of the book from which I've drawn this excerpt, the author is listing in chronological orders various attitudes, actions, and events that he perceived to be significant stepping stones or waypoints in the demise of the American Puritan Ethic – the A*P*E* of the title – over the twenty-eight year period from the end of WWII to the hedonistic society he was seeing and writing about in 1973.)
1958
     The Ford Motor Company brought forth the Edsel, a rolling anthology of mistakes.  Of all the mistakes, the greatest was right up front — where the Edsel presented to the American car buyer an enormous, yawning vagina, complete with chromium-plated labia majora.
     The Ford people had departed from their time-tested formula for success.  They, above all, well knew that the American automobile is a phallic symbol (the American male ego has always demanded a car that is longest and most powerful), not a symbol of femininity.
      The Edsel disappeared in two years, and Ford began building good old chrome-laden penises again.
The book itself is long out of print, and is a tough find even on Amazon or other used bookseller sites.  And if you do locate one, it's not going to be cheap.  But if you can find a copy in a library or borrow one from a friend who was fortunate enough to hold onto to it for this long, it's well worth the read.
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Burning Petard
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by Burning Petard »

I too am waiting to a GTO to come my way, but made in Italy, not Michigan. I saw my first one at the Eberbach Hill Climb in Germany. Normally Time trials practice, qualification was on Saturday and competition on Sunday. Just before things got underway Sunday, the announcer told us that because they had just arrived from Switzerland, one car would be permitted make one practice run before the competition began. It was the brand new GTO. That single practice run with no earlier practice was a new course record.

The car was that much better than anything else.

The early GTO Pontiacs were surprisingly nice handling and in all black with no side chrome they looked good too.

snailgate

Big RR
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by Big RR »

Not only that, but they were paired with pvowerful engines, from the 389 of musical fame (Little GTO) to the 455 (and a slightly smaller one paired with carburetors that boosted the HP). I had a high school friend who had one of the earlier ones (it was a few years old) and I recall the pickup was more that I ever felt (and he lost his license for speeding tickets within a few weeks of getting it). It burned it into my mind .

There have been sportier looking cars and more powerful cars with similar or greater torque, and clearly the more modern sports models handle much better, but there is something about the convertible that still calls to me. I'll likely not get one (as the well restored ones are quite expensive, and there are fewer mechanics who can work on them), but we all need out dreams.

It's kind of like my father in law with a Corvair he had; it was the first (nearly) new car he had (it was around two years old when he bought it in the mid 60s) and he kept it well into the 80s. He eventually couldn't find anyone to work on it (as I recall it had dual carbs and the adjustment was a bit of an art) and he wasn't much of a mechanic, but he kept it registered and in a garage for years, driving it only a few times a year because he couldn't bear to part with it. We sold it a little after his death.

MGMcAnick
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by MGMcAnick »

The line for the most sought after collector cars shifts with the age of for the seeker, and what they (we) coveted in high school. Many years ago it was Model A Fords. Then late '30s V-8 Fords. Then it was post war cars, either V-8 Fords or Chevys that had V-8s installed. Lately it has been muscle cars of the late '60s and early '70s. Prices rise and fall accordingly.

Me? I have three of the cars I coveted in high school, two of which I've owned for over 50 years. I wish I had been able to keep some of the rest of them.
A friend of Doc's, one of only two B-29 bombers still flying.

Big RR
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by Big RR »

I think it also depends on how good a mechanic one is; I know I would be pretty bad at taking care of one of those cars, but I envy those who can. those are usually the people who get their high school dream cars. The rest of us still have a lot of choices (I have a couple of things I'm considering for my next car), but for me it is one that I will still be able to find people to work on it.

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Econoline
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by Econoline »

This glossary might be helpful to anyone contemplating purchasing a "vintage" vehicle...

Antique car ads.jpg
People who are wrong are just as sure they're right as people who are right. The only difference is, they're wrong.
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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Mechanic's Special

Post by Bicycle Bill »

There's more truth than humor in that list, E''line.
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