This BRAND is just waiting to be reborn, just as the AIRSTREAM Class A design is on the books hidding in the back office cabinet.
Who will be the famous man to give the go ahead to rejuvinate these legends?
I can't wait for the new advertising blitz to someday brighten an otherwise boring day.
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
1955 Pontiac American, was one of my favourite autos. I had a few Pontiacs over the years. 1954, 62, 67FB, 70, 81TA and a 86. I would like to see the Pontiac line brought out of retirement.
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
A simple, medium duty, transport, for everyday use, on and off road.
Where is it?
We have the Jeep's today, that has been compromised by corporate profit taking, and designed for show, not reality.
It would be nice to go back to the days of simplicity, and being able to work, with simple tools, on your own vehicle in the backyard, or the bush, with some hope of success.
Bring back the 70 and 80's JEEP, and the SIDEKICK, maybe even the IH SCOUT. Basic engineering. Simple mechanics.
Pontiac did brand and sell the Sidekick for a while in the early 90's under the Sunrunner name. It had an upscale interior, but was similar to the basic Sidekick.
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
I really love classic cars, and have owned several over time. I'm one of those obnoxious car nerds who'll talk back to the TV when some announcer calls a car the wrong make or model. I agree that modern cars have become way too similar from one to the next (mostly because they're iterating toward the practical engineering limitation of the platform, optimizing aero and weight factors etc.)
I have to admit, though, that I also enjoy modern cars. (Modern-ish, anyway, my car's 10 years old now.) I have a bone-stock Subaru station wagon that will walk off and leave that late-70s Trans Am (or the Ferrari 308 that Magnum drove in the '80s, for that matter!) I'd be much more likely to survive a serious wreck in the Legacy than in a car from the '70s or '80s, too. Garden-variety midsize sedans (like a V6 Camry) will clear 60 mph in under 6 seconds right off the showroom floor. Compare that to the 7 seconds you needed for a '76 T/A with a 455.
As a thing of beauty to appreciate, there's nothing on the market today I'd choose over a '56 Continental or a '66 Thunderbird, but to use regularly for transportation I'll take the practical modern route even if the classic were truly as good as when it rolled off the line.
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— David
Zero Gravitas — 2017 Flying Cloud 26U | WBCCI# 15566
He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. — Sir Winston Churchill
FORD enthusiasts will want to review this. Many great ideas, (Ford had many) that have been forgotten over the years. https://youtu.be/6Ege2_iCNpg
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
To resurrect a good idea lost in more recent history, back in the days of DOS, you pretty much had control over what was going on inside your computer. Nowadays, there are hundreds of programs operating inside my computer. If I try to find out what they are, I get a long list of gibberish names that mean nothing to me. They turn themselves on and off whenever my computer wants, and most of them have no bearing on what I'm actually trying to get the computer to do. I'm sure my computer thinks that having these programs going in the background is far more important than anything I might want it to do. You can hire people to clean them up, but they quickly reappear, like the undead. The result is that the computer slows to a crawl. At times, I can be typing several words in front of what is showing up on the computer screen; if I stop typing, I can watch as the letters I have just finished typing laboriously appear at about one second intervals. Heck, the old manual Royal typewriter was about a thousand times faster than that! What we need is a button we can push that will turn off all computer programs not actually needed to get the job done that we are trying to do. Since as mere humans, once we push the button, we will probably forget to unpush it when we're done, I wouldn't object if the button would automatically unpush itself after an hour or so. Otherwise, our computers would probably rise up in revolt and kill us all in the middle of the night.
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
I often think back to my father's '54 (I think it was '54) Pontiac Chieftain hard top convertible (maybe it was a Star Chief, not sure). I think it was cream and tan colored. I thought it was beautiful and when I see photos of that model, I still like it. But a real one, not a photo, would look small because I'm bigger than I was in 1954. And driving it would mean poor braking, suspension and performance. Better to dream about it than to actually have one.
I think my father was having a midlife crisis (he was 41 that year) because he bought that flashy car in '54, sold it in '55 for a red Buick hard top convertible, then sold the Buick and bought a Lincoln Premier in '56; another hard top conv. He really wanted the Continental, but at $10,000 that was a bundle of money. The Premier cost $5,000, still a lot. It was an enormous car, charcoal and pink. When I drove it I thought I was driving a tank and it could go 80 mph and feel like 40. My parents were not too happy with my 80 mph habit out west when we toured, but I figured it I went 80, they would complain and when I slowed down to 70, it felt slow. Worked every time. He kept that about 3 years and moved on to Thunderbirds for a while, then by the time he was in his early 50's, he started to go more conservative. I remember a black Buick in the late '60's that almost made me want to throw up with its squirrelly suspension on country roads.
His 2nd Thunderbird was a girl magnet. I borrowed it for a while when my car was getting fixed and my father was recovering from surgery. Girls kept staring at it, but I was married and didn't take advantage of the opportunity
Some were pretty and some were garish, but all needed frequent maintenance and didn't last very long. I buy dull trucks now and they keep on going and going. I have no need to magnetize girls as I have my best wife yet now.
The '50's had some cool looking cars, but I think it only seems that way because I was a teenager and fascinated by cars. My favorite designs come from the '30's and French cars were especially beautiful. As for American ones, I like mid-'30's Auburns. Everyone was guaranteed to go 100 mph. They were reasonably priced, cool looking and the Depression killed the company. The company also made Cords, quite advanced styling, but it doesn't do anything for me. And Deusenbergs, more a statement of being rich than anything else.
Gene
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Gene
The Airstream is sold; a 2016 Nash 24M replaced it.
"His 2nd Thunderbird was a girl magnet. I borrowed it for a while when my car was getting fixed and my father was recovering from surgery. Girls kept staring at it, but I was married and didn't take advantage of the opportunity
Some were pretty and some were garish, but all needed frequent maintenance and didn't last very long."
That is the trouble with most girls Gene, frequent maintenance!!!!!!!!
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
That is the trouble with most girls Gene, frequent maintenance!!!!!!!!
Dave
I guess I should have been more exact in my writing, though perhaps my subconscious was writing that. I do recall some girls didn't last very long until I found Barb 29 years ago.
Gene
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Gene
The Airstream is sold; a 2016 Nash 24M replaced it.
71 years OLD, Martin Mars working at Lake Cowichan earlier this week.
This is for those of you who think newer is better!
Most everything that was designed and built in the 20th Century was made to be durable and last as long as you wanted to maintain it.
This is an historic demonstration of true dedication from the drawing board to the assigned task.
I will post another short one from this week also.
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
Took the CLIPPER for one last test run yesterday, (Aug 2) before heading to the east.
Bev and I visited the MARTIN MARS base camp at Sprout Lake, on Vancouver Island, and we just missed the takeoff of the active Mars, leaving for the Harrison Lake alarm.
The MARS dropped 17 loads yesterday at Harrison Lake, a new record for a single dispatch. Closing in on 1/2 million liters of water on that shift. Harrison is approximately 200 miles east of the Sprout Lake base, so this once again proved the value of these old birds, to work and produce better than anything built today.
As we were given the tour of the base, we were told the MARS was in the air within 15 minutes of the emergency callout, just before we arrived.
The Harrison Lake fire is still out of control today, but blowing away from the community.
We got to see the Philippine Mars, which is being prepared for a move to Pensacola Florida, to the naval museum there. She is a beauty in the original navy blue.
Dave
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
Bev was my girlfriend back in 1962 when I left to join the RCAF. She was just 16 at the time, and letters continued for a year or so, but being apart did nothing for that relationship.
Bev and I reconnected earlier this summer and this just proves once again:-------------- THE PAST HAD SOME GREAT IDEAS!!!!!!!!!!!
If you are going to Tofino on your visit to the Island Gene, the Sprout Lake base camp for the Mars, is just a couple hundred yards off the road. Lots of room to pull and turn a trailer down there.
Make that stop at Cathedral Grove, (McMillan Park) also. If there is parking, it is a nice cooler place to stretch your legs on a hot day. Very busy with small parking area in midday.
We are heading to the east on the weekend.
Dave
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gene
Who's Bev? Glad to see you are recovering and have found a new friend.
Gene
__________________
"LOVE and LOSS, are two of the greatest emotions one can experience. -- I went to school to learn about "WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN" but I had to live my life to learn the lesson of: 'WITH LOVE THERE WILL BE SORROW'."
David Stewart. (after loosing my NAVIGATOR)
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