What 50's era car would you want to have?

[JDgreen227]

I'm sure LB just linked it as a reminder of what some of us may have put in that old thread...
But your question (and topic) is different...is it not?

Am sure he meant well, but I am wondering if I incorrectly duplicated a thread. BTW, the latest issue of Hemmings Classic Cars (Feb. 2012) arrived today, the very first editorial comment is by the editor in chief, Richard Lentinello, and he bemoans the fact that most of todays new cars are silver, white, black, and grey. He went on to say such depressing shades of color make the highways look like a funeral procession because they are that somber. He then says the Fifties and early Sixties color palettes gave cars character, and more importantly they gave their owners a sense of individuality, because rarely were two cars exactly alike. Earlier on in this thread I noted that my wife's silver Saturn L-300 was pretty much like a hundred other cars you could see on the road in any given day....BLAND, BORING, MUNDANE.

How many interior colors can you get on a new car today? Black, tan, grey, beige....BORING.

In the Fifties you could get a hundred or more fabric and color choices...

Sorry for rambling, gonna go drool over HCC, this issue has a theme on 1958 models....drool, drool, drool.....:laughing:

 

[jonyyuma]

JD Green, But just Look, at how much better that they last now..Somehow that gets lost in the list price? No colors like in the 70's anymore?

 

[RoyJackson]

Am sure he meant well, but I am wondering if I incorrectly duplicated a thread.

Not really...that old thread was about cars we wish we still had....not the cars we wish we could have...

Similar, but different...

 

[JDgreen227]

Not really...that old thread was about cars we wish we still had....not the cars we wish we could have...

Similar, but different...

Don't confuse me, Roy....let me drool in peace for a while.

 

[JDgreen227]

JD Green, But just Look, at how much better that they last now..Somehow that gets lost in the list price? No colors like in the 70's anymore?

Wouldn't it be great if you could just drop one of those Fifties bodies and interiors on a modern chassis with EFI, radial tires, antilock brakes, modern suspension, etc? Yeah, I know a lot of hot rodders do that, but the work involved takes forever and costs way too much.

 

[RoyJackson]

Wouldn't it be great if you could just drop one of those Fifties bodies and interiors on a modern chassis with EFI, radial tires, antilock brakes, modern suspension, etc? Yeah, I know a lot of hot rodders do that, but the work involved takes forever and costs way too much.

Yeah, that's been tried with mixed success.
The BMW Mini is a successful example.
That little Chevy that looks like a 3/4 scale '53 or '54 Chevy pickup (also a panel truck version now)...not so successful.

You're right about the cost...and, very limited market, I'd say...

 

[LBrown59]

I'm sure LB just linked it as a reminder of what some of us may have put in that old thread...
But your question (and topic) is different...is it not?

Here is another link that I am sure would be of interest to new members who have not seen it.
* Nostalgia ~ Your first car ! * - TractorByNet.com
A post does not have to comply with any one certain members criteria .

 

[jonyyuma]

Wouldn't it be great if you could just drop one of those Fifties bodies and interiors on a modern chassis with EFI, radial tires, antilock brakes, modern suspension, etc? Yeah, I know a lot of hot rodders do that, but the work involved takes forever and costs way too much.

I had hoped to do that with the old S-10 I have in the yard, it fits some old bodys, but need more research on it. I just drool at the car shows and beg the guys to crank -em up. Lots of them will oblidge me and I get to hear the lopes? It take many thousand to make a show car now, i even considered a Rat rod?

 

[JDgreen227]

My wife's brother in law and his college aged son they want to bolt it to a newer chassis, they purchased a rolling chassis from a mid 70's Camaro, and the son worked on the cab of the pickup during his high school shop classes...I have no idea how far the process has gone in the last five or 6 years...I wonder if they will ever get it done but it's their project and not mine.

 

[JDgreen227]

Yeah, that's been tried with mixed success.
The BMW Mini is a successful example.
That little Chevy that looks like a 3/4 scale '53 or '54 Chevy pickup (also a panel truck version now)...not so successful.

You're right about the cost...and, very limited market, I'd say...

The pickup was the Chevy SSR, built 15 miles away from me in Lansing, Michigan...the panel truck version is the HHR, still built today. The SSR was a real effort at making a factory street rod, the HHR is just an econobox lump.