American Nostalgia

[wibblywobbly]

I was out RC rock crawling this morning, stood chatting in the pub car park when this rolls in. It was absolutely flawless!

Any US guys know what it is?, it looked a million bucks.

[jackalope]

1954 Chevy Bel Air convertible. 235 ci engine, 115hp.

[wibblywobbly]

Thank you kind sir, it is one of those American Classics that we rarely see over here except in old movies, and it was a truly exceptional restoration.

The place that I am moving to in a few weeks has a small industrial place at the rear, it seems that they specialise in US muscle car restorations, saw a few Camaro's and Mustangs parked in there while I was viewing the new place.

[c.rainford73]

You maybe coming down with the muscle car flu Mr Wibbly....

[jackalope]

Glad I could help. I'm a fan of muscle cars myself, owned quite a few of them. These days they're too expensive for me! My 1st car was a 1968 Dodge Dart GTS with a 340ci engine. Had MANY Pontiac Trans Ams! Now I have a Dodge Charger R/T.

Also had a BMW E46 M3 that couldn't seem to make it a month without breaking down.

[PainlessWolf]

Good morning,
That Chevy is a beauty indeed. Back in the day, it was on the high side of what was available from that particular 'Working Mans' marque. Myself, I grew up poor and always admired the bankers and businessmen driving their new Lincolns and Caddys through my small town. When I was of an age, I bought and restored several Lincolns including two of the suicide door 60's models, a 64' and 68'. The Ex drove the sporty 63' Ford Thunderbird at the time. Older and starting a new relationship years further on, I grew weary of being in the garage at 2AM doing odd things like rebuilding the rear door illuminated cigar lighters and ash receptacles. I sold the last one, the 68 four door ( Lincolns always had to be four door models, max length and weight. Boy, I was a silly man ;o) and bought a Jeep for me and a Mitsubishi Spyder, turbo convertible for the new Mate. I haven't looked back since. _Really_ older now, and seeing the end to my highway driving coming up one of these fine old years, I am thinking seriously about a restored Willys Jeep to putter around locally in. Had one in high school, a 48' and should have kept it. The Mate can have the 'new car every couple of years'...I want something I own and suits my slower pace of life. That 68' Continental?, I found it some time later on. A fellow owned it in Belgium. I saw it on some club pictures online. Our old cars sometimes see more of the world than we do. Sort of like the Chevrolet that W.W. found there. ;o)
regards,
Painless

[wibblywobbly]

Here's a little tale. My sister lives outside of Toronto, I visited back around the late 90's. Amongst all the tourist stuff, we stopped at a friends place, he owned a large plot that was a newly planted apple orchard, out in the sticks. He was East European, and he and a friend had set up this farm when the emigrated to Canada. Hard working old guys, but...one of them had a Ford Thunderbird.

One of them fell ill, and knew that his days were numbered, and they were discussing what to do with the farm etc, which was in joint names. The one who was likely to live longer asked his partner what he wanted to do with the car. He was told that he could buy it for $1. He paid the $1 and his friend died shortly afterwards.

I walked over to the barn where this car was, expecting to see some rusty old wreck.

I opened the door to see a Thunderbird convertible, hood down, and in the same condition as the Chevrolet above, just parked in the barn, very rarely driven, and a living memory of a guys best friend.