Art & Inspiration The Real Value of Working on Old Cars

Spent a wonderful afternoon working on the old girls (64 and 56 Mopars). As I was finishing up tired, dirty, bleeding, but weirdly satisfied and calm I was reminded of a recent conversation with a friend. He was soap boxing about his views on materialism. How people are owned by their things and couldn't understand me buying and restoring old cars. He and many like him miss the point...it's not about owning...

My favourite quote is by an old time mechanic who said this about fixing old cars......

".... it is by our care for a thing, rather than our need or desire for it, that we realize its intrinsic worth."

I tend to agree.

Pics of a great afternoon...









Playing around with some filters trying to make it look like these were from mid 60's instead of this afternoon.

 

I agree with everything you said @kmrumedy . I would add that it is also a great way to teach automotive design and history to the next generation of hot rodders.


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Personally, I like running into people who, "don't get it". It means that an old car some where won't get butchered. I like the herd thin.

 

Is that Plymouth side trim on the 56 Dodge?

 

That's a really nice Valiant I'm ready to finish putting mine back together

 

You are correct. It is a 1956 Canadian Dodge Regent 2 door Hardtop. I think the americans affectionally call them Plodges. Backend is Plymouth with Dodge front clip and Belvedere trim. Dodge Canada was a little strange back then....

 

Thank you. They are really fun little cars. Nice and light too.

Do you have build thread for your Valiant?

 

Well said, by the way, great pictures!!

 

I have seen pics of 1961 Plodges. they are Dodge in the back with a Plymouth front end

 

Tfeverfred- Who's the blonde pictured in your avatar ?

 

if you have to explain to the uneducated....why bother....luv your cars

 

No, it was my dad's I want to say he bought it in about 1991 I just now was emotionally where I could work on it. He did a full restoration on it Soon after he bought it. he was rebuilding the carbs when he passed. I lack a couple of tiny cotter keys that go on the linkage of having it all back together.
I never valued it much growing up i just thought it was some odd thing Plymouth threw out that was cheap and economical, I could not understood why all the "Mopar guys" that it came in contact with it thought it was so great.
I was always in to C-10's, F-100's and a few 50's GM cars.

I have found a new respect for the little Valiant now that dad has passed away.

 

People collect things old and things of beauty, interesting things that may have value or maybe not so much value. But old cars have additional dimensions that take you back to past good times and give you a grip against being dragged too quickly into an ever changing landscape. Old cars appeal to all of our senses. Senses of sight, touch, hearing the classic sounds of the engine and exhaust, feeling the mechanical bits through the seat of our pants and Newton's laws of motion, etc. I think we benefit from both the frustration and the satisfaction of working on something designed by people instead of by computer programs, as long as we get a good balance to keep us moving in a positive direction.

Collecting stamps or coins are okay pass times. But they don't hold a candle to the "Car Hobby" and being a curator/historian/resurrection artist and about a dozen other titles.

 

Nice neighbourhood. Not watching F1?

 

I spent the past two weeks resurrecting a Corvair...and the past two days getting my Chevy II to run like it's supposed to.

It's all good.

And yeah, these are cars that a lot of folks don't "get". Even car guys.

 

For me it's an escape, in two ways really. One, when I'm working on my car I get to live in 1950. A much healthier time in America than what we have put up with for the last 30 years or so.

Two, and most important, is that while I'm into this little project there is always a solution, no matter how vexing or frustrating (or expensive). In regular life there is not always a solution or a fix. I like to get away from that sometimes.

 

Obviously the Ozzie designers got together with the Canadians when they designed our MOPAR products along similar lines.

 

The Canadian & Oz designers had been comparing notes since the late 30's, especially since 1940 when my Oz Dodge was built with Dodge grille, badges & dash bolted onto Plymouth body shell, fenders,hood, head & tail lights & bumpers.......the Canadians also had the D15 version which mine is too........and it carried thru to the mid 60's in both countries............andyd.

 

Nice Rides ! IMO Everyone needs to have passion for something, in our case it's cars, some men it's fishing/hunting/sports. There appears to be 2 types of people, the participants and the watchers, either one, if passion is involved does the job for the feelings required for happiness, satisfaction IMO. We are the Lucky ones finding our passion and following through, most of us life long car crazy's, it's a Good thing !

 

Good point. Love working with my hands regardless of the project. It's the build that's really the therapy that heals. Nice old cars.

 

Worked on old cars when they weren't old. Worked on cars for almost 50 years. Now I don't let anything newer than 74 in my shop. I have a choice and that is mine.
I even send my truck out have the oil changed.

 

I wonder how much time the "people that don't get it" spend watching tv. My Dad called it the idiot box when I was young.

 

Keep in mind the folks who "don't understand" aren't usually too far away ideologically from the folks who think old cars should be totally banned from the road or illegal. Old cars being maybe 10 or 15 years.

 

Nice cars and I agree totally; I also love the tooling that goes with old cars also. I like caring for both, makes me feel like a good steward.

 

Some people "get it" (us), most don't, but then they are the people who call 'The Man" when something has to be done physically. I kinda like it that way. To us getting your hands dirty and figuring out a mechanical problem is like therapy. Looks like you had a good afternoon working on some neat rides! Here in Australia we had some weird mixes of Mopar bits and pieces in the late 50's-early 60's. Google "1957-1960 Chrysler Royal" and you will see what I mean.

 

I was started driving in 2003, my sophomore year at high school. My car was a 1978 caprice, and to most students it was ancient, it was the only carb'd car on the lot. Everytime something minor broke people would ask me if I was getting a new car. One time it didn't start, had a bad starter. It was raining so I left the car and bummed a ride home. Next day everyone said time for a new car, i saw it didn't start, it must be done. I was mind blown that people think this way

 

It is a certain mindset. A component that fails is simply proof that the whole car should be replaced? Then inevitably there is usually some vague talk and hand waving about reliability and cost. Never mind a new car note and insurance, plus interest payments on borrowing will approach a mortgage payment on a small house.

 

Thanks for posting I enjoyed it.

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Those are two awesome Chryslers. And I love that quote.

(IMHO) People aren't all that different from each other, it's just the details that are different. The modus operandi.

I know a guy who is a lawyer and does strongman decathlons. He works long hours then works out 4 hours a day in the gym, hardly sees his kids.

I would never do this. I have "0" interest.

I know a guy who has to watch every Hockey and baseball game on TV. He also plays in men's leagues. All he thinks about is sports.

I would never do this. I have "0" interest.

I know a guys who works as a programmer, then spends every minute of his free time gaming online. Shooting pretend aliens.

I would never do this. I have "0" interest.

I met a wealthy guy who owns a whole lot of high dollar restored classic cars that he's paid people to work on. He enters shows and win's trophies. He loves to win.

I would never do this. I have "0" interest.

I know a retired guy who spends as much time as he can walking around on golf courses hitting a little white ball. Then he reads magazines about it, and watches it on tv.

I would never do this. I have "0" interest.

I work the equivalent of two jobs, on my feet all day long building things, lifting heavy things. I spend as much time with my wife and kids as I can, participate in everything I can. With every hour left over, I haul myself down to my garage and rebuild the same transmission over and over (because I can't seem to get it right), I rebuild engines, even though I have no real idea what I'm doing. Brakes. Fuel systems. Front ends. Welding. Upholstery. Painting. I promised myself I would never take my stuff to a mechanic, that no matter what went wrong, no matter what needed to be rebuilt I would figure it out and do it myself. I find it way more fulfilling to fix something up even, than to drive it. So when I'm bringing my daughter to her little league game on our sidecar rig, or my son to cub scouts in an old Caddy, I feel really happy and like I accomplished something, and I'm spending every minute of my time the way I want to.

Probably, everyone of those people in my "I would never do this. I have "0" interest" list, feels the same way about sports or gaming, so we are all more really alike than different, boils down to the details.

Whatever your friend (who thinks you are wasting your time) is into, they're just not able to draw the comparison and see the similarities.




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my old mechanic buddy use say:
"When in Rome,you have to grab the hand of a badger's dad"