Understanding Context

[sanfordsotherson]

Fantastic post, Ryan! I've read it including the links, and it's great! The facts about the '47 dash knobs are fasinating. I'll never look at them the same again, and will stop to ponder the numerous old items I see at swap meets now, both automotive and not, in a little bit different light.
As I sit here reading all the replies, I went into the next room, unwapped the Loretta Lynn CD I bought the night before and inserted it into my state of the art high power digital 7.1 surround-sound stereo system, and turned it up. It took me back. With the shared insights and feelings I was reading, and the same old music my mom played around the house when my brother and I were just little boys in the late 60's, I was taken straight back there. It's wonderful how sights, sounds and smells can transport a person back, to hopefully a time of good memories, sometimes long forgotten. I'm reliving a cold afternoon, probably Thanksgiving or Christmas break. I'm in our small living room, taking a break from fiddling around with one of my model cars, listening to the scratchy LP records my mom's playing today, while sewing or something; Loretta Lynn, Lefty Frizell, Johnny Cash. I lift the lid on the old console Hi-Fi we inherited from my aunt. It was old to her, so she bought a new one (we considered her 'rich') but it was new and fancy for us. I'm watching as the old vinyl goes around, and can actually smell it. I get down on my knees and stick my head around the open back of the console to look at, and feel the heat coming off all the tubes back there. I can smell that too....
It's so true how we (the priveleged ones) can be in an old place, or pick up and hold in our hands an old object, or admire an old car, and have the experience conjure up such feelings described by everyone contributing to this thread. It reminds me of another time when my brother and I were little. We would sneak over to a neighbor's house a couple doors down. Actually he lived with his dog 'Skippy' in a back room of a large garage he rented. He collected old Cadillacs, most of them limousines, and parked most of them lined up, on the side of the long garage. There were other cars inside too. A couple of times we got inside when he wasn't home, through an unlocked door or a window, I don't remember. I do know it was here, that we encountered the first ever 'girly magazines' we'd ever seen. Imagine 60's Playboy mags for a moment. That's something as a little boy, you never forget! But, what I also remember, is climbing into the back seats of those old Cadillac limousines, closing the door, and imagining all the rich and important people who must have riden right were I sat. I'm sitting there, my imagination running wild, and taking in all the details of the interior; the decorative dome and interior compartment lights, the leather handle straps above the door, the fold-out foot rests, and the smell, that SMELL! The old velour upholstery and wool carpet, cotton seat padding, and that wonderful stuffy and musty aroma, that back then was like some kind of elixir, exciting and soothing at the same time. Then we climb over the large front seats into the front, probably fighting over the big beautiful steering wheel, and almost mesmerized my the wood grain, chrome, colored knobs, and various gadgetry of the immense dash board....
Our two younger brothers couldn't possibly even relate to this, and my sister calls me a 'pack-rat'. That's O.K., 'cause I know that I, like most everyone else here on the HAMB, are priveledged to be able to experience such feelings and sense of nostalgia, by the inherent history and soul, of the 'old things' around us.