How To Get A Modern Ride From A Classic

[special-K]

Spend a heap of money! Cool! Cool! Cool! Or in Jay's single word used on everything, "It's ridiculous"

I had just seen this video when I saw a member's post asking the question about 67-72s

Jay Leno's First Love | Behind the Scenes -...

[CG]

I wonder if Jay ever gets pulled over by the police? I bet they give him a pass when they see its Jay.

[special-K]

I bet you are right.

One comment Dennis made threw me off. Wasn't he a car guy in '72? Maybe he's older than I think. He said something to the effect of questioning what made Jay want to buy an old car like that in '72. That was very normal back then in my world. I started driving in '71. There was a tiny fraction of "old car guys" back then compared to these days. Mostly older guys and mostly antique, early-30s and back. Then there were the tri-five Chevy guys. Even that seemed more '55s and '57s. The fat fenders and shoe boxes were overlooked. Most interest in tri-fives was hot rodding. The rest of the '50s cars we teenagers thought were just funky cool looking and more than that, cheap! Many were survivors owned by grandpa and grandma. Big old boats built like a battleship you could haul a lot of friends, camp out in, tap things and barely hurt with those heavy bumpers (or fenders), lots of pep in the pedal, parts in junkyards, we liked their style, and great field and woods drivers for parties or camping. People would practically give them away. Among my better friends was a '55 Chrysler, '56 Olds, '55 Cadillac, '56 VW, '56 Chevy, and more. All either offered free for their removal, handed down, or no more than a couple hundred dollars. In my world it was typical for teens to run the '50s cars. Great memories! I can totally relate to Jay's love of that car due to the memories. And he described many same reasons I had for loving them

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by special-K

I bet you are right.

One comment Dennis made threw me off. Wasn't he a car guy in '72? Maybe he's older than I think. He said something to the effect of questioning what made Jay want to buy an old car like that in '72. That was very normal back then in my world. I started driving in '71. There was a tiny fraction of "old car guys" back then compared to these days. Mostly older guys and mostly antique, early-30s and back. Then there were the tri-five Chevy guys. Even that seemed more '55s and '57s. The fat fenders and shoe boxes were overlooked. Most interest in tri-fives was hot rodding. The rest of the '50s cars we teenagers thought were just funky cool looking and more than that, cheap! Many were survivors owned by grandpa and grandma. Big old boats built like a battleship you could haul a lot of friends, camp out in, tap things and barely hurt with those heavy bumpers (or fenders), lots of pep in the pedal, parts in junkyards, we liked their style, and great field and woods drivers for parties or camping. People would practically give them away. Among my better friends was a '55 Chrysler, '56 Olds, '55 Cadillac, '56 VW, '56 Chevy, and more. All either offered free for their removal, handed down, or no more than a couple hundred dollars. In my world it was typical for teens to run the '50s cars. Great memories! I can totally relate to Jay's love of that car due to the memories. And he described many same reasons I had for loving them

You forgot to mention how many people you could get in one of them "big old boats" for "Dollar a car load" night at the drive in theaters...... My '65 Catalina 4 door would hold a lot!

LockDoc

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by special-K

I bet you are right.

One comment Dennis made threw me off. Wasn't he a car guy in '72? Maybe he's older than I think. He said something to the effect of questioning what made Jay want to buy an old car like that in '72. That was very normal back then in my world.

its normal in this current world too, a 55 was only 17 years old in 72. my wife drives a 06 honda, thats 15 years old, and I drive an 02 caddy and a 97 M3, 19 and 24 years old.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

You forgot to mention how many people you could get in one of them "big old boats" for "Dollar a car load" night at the drive in theaters...... My '65 Catalina 4 door would hold a lot!

LockDoc

I did forget. Thanks! Jay pointed out the big trunk for a great drive-in seat. He also mentioned a special benefit to that big back seat when you wanted to 'get together" with that special someone. I never knew that

[LONGHAIR]

I started driving in '79. My first car was 10 years old, a '69 Camaro RS/SS.
Over the next 5 or 6 years, I had 3 of them.
The body was a little rough and I didn't have the skills do deal with that at the time. I sold it off to get one with a near perfect body and did the mechanical work on that one, but then realized that I couldn't drive it in the winter.
That's when I got the CJ-5 along with the 4x4 bug. Sold the Camaro to buy a house. The 3rd one was just a cheap driver for my daily, actually owned that one the longest

The 1st gen Camaros were hinting at becoming the classics that they achieved, but still affordable. Back then a 10yr old car with over 100k miles was used up and cheap enough for a kid to own, waaay different than it is today.
If I had only known what that car would be worth someday and been able to hold onto it.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

Back then a 10yr old car with over 100k miles was used up and cheap enough for a kid to own, waaay different than it is today.
If I had only known what that car would be worth someday and been able to hold onto it.

Tell me about it. I bought a new '68 Camaro RS (327, 4-speed), traded it 8 months later for a super clean '65 Corvette convertible (327/365hp, Muncie), got a new El Camino (396/375hp) in 1969, a new Camaro RS in 1971, found a clean '66 Corvette coupe (327/350hp) a few years later.... well, you get the picture. Wish I still had those and some others I have had over the years. All that stuff was so cheap back then and I probably figured it would always be like that. Not the first time I was mistaken. Oh well, I never had storage space anyway. At least I got to experience those cars.