Motion Pictures American Graffiti - A Different Perspective

I get sentimental sometimes also, but.....
When I think back to all the great times a had in my teens and 20’s (which was the 70’s and early 80’s), it’s easy to forget all the bad times. I was always broke, drank too much to often, passed up a lot of opportunities because I was afraid of failure.
Now in my 50’s I realize life is what you make it. I have a great wife and kids. I have 5 sons who all enjoy wrenching on cars, and my taste has definitely influenced them. I quit my “retirement” job a few years back and moved to a more laid back rural area that makes me feel like I’m on a vacation every day. I took a job that pays the bills, and quit worrying about money. I am involved in community volunteers work. I walk around with a smile on my face most of the time.
I agree in some ways, I don’t like a lot of the things going on around me in the world, but my parents and grandparents used to say the same exact thing! Nothing you can do about the past, and it wasn’t perfect either.
I get kind of annoyed that the cars at the local drag strip are more “tuners”, but that’s what they grew up with and can afford.

 

I can bound up out of the chair as Boogityshoe says but I might get light headed and tip over! LOL! The good old days are usually grander the second time around. Our memories and time do that, and its ok as we're not hurting anyone. For me my love of cars grew up back then but I am more happy with where I am in life now than where I was then. One of eight kids in a family that didn't have a pot to piss in you got creative automotively speaking. I'll be 66 next month and am planning the project after this one already and a trip to Bonneville with my 5th wheel RV. Couldn't do that back then!

 

Interesting thread. I’m 60, so somewhere in the middle of the folks posting here. I get what the thread is about. I say now and again we need to do something we think is epic. Visit Bonneville, go to the GNRS, the Indy 500, Daytona, pay to drive a NASCAR car at 150 mph, go to a drag strip, DRIVE a car at a race, build a car you like, buy a car you like, read some good car books, help other car folks, watch a cool movie, whatever it is. Don’t let things drag you down too far. Pull up, pull up, pull up!

 

I enjoy my old vehicle the same way I enjoy my pocket watch with its stemwinder and the various antique hand tools I have that can still do the job like anything from HF or HD. I may not be "putting time in a bottle", like the song says, but it's as darn close to it as I'm going to come. A little control against fast-changing times is not a bad thing.
I have to disagree with the thread title, that this thread is "different", because all the many other threads about the whys and wherefores of our attraction to these old vehicles also touch on this same "perspective" in no small degree. I believe that this perspective is at the core of why we do it and why we immerse ourselves in it.

 

Man, I read here, I shoulda, I'm gonna, my best day was......get off the godamned couch, and make today your best day. There are no more drive ins, but there are mom and pop coffee shops, I go every saturday morning at 8, sit with anywhere from 1 to 8 guys, sometimes one car in the parking lot, sometimes a half dozen. Then down to the post office to collect my mail, or maybe a garage tour, maybe get some over to my place to check out my new model a back panel, (like, who's never seen one?)
I don't wear bermuda shorts and flip flops, my legs have never seen the sun, I don't live in the past wishing it was and if there's no snow on the ground, I tool around in a hot rod. I can still identify with the tuner set, they're cars, I ask dumb questions about them, give them rides in a hot rod, let them drive it, probably the only time in their life they'll get the chance, I wear car shirts with holes in them, welding hats, cause I actually weld, I'm just older than I was, but still the same guy inside. Aches and pains? Yep, got them, but I ignore them, stiff? Yep, just not where I need it, but thats ok too, a young woman would kill me, old gals still love to flirt, makes them 18 again, some man thinks they're cool enough to wink at, life is grand. Sometimes my wife hates me wearing worn clothes, other times she sees old men hobbling around and her old man ain't one of them, she hates me laying around the house, so I don't, no matter what shapes up today, it'll be my best day yet. Make it yours. See you at bonneville, you'll recognise me, I'll be the ugly one, LeRoy.

 

Some very good points and opinions made here. Interesting reading. I think for the most part us hot rodders are a pretty up beat and of course crafty bunch. I get just as much or more enjoyment from this stuff as I did at 16 years old.

 

In 1962 I was riding my Allstate box scooter chasing girls and drinking beer! I wasn’t old enough for a car drivers license. I still have that scooter!









Bones

 

Ok, ok, wait a fuckin minute. Who says you can't? Can't street race, can't hang with the fellas, can't, can't, can't. I'm a 57 model myself. Was it better? Maybe in a way or 4, is it worse now? Worse than what? Ol DeSoto was wrong. He didn't find the "Fountain of Youth" way back then, WE DID. I have a guy with me nearly every day at the shop. He's 83. Of course he's no lighting bolt, forgets shit now and then, and I'm not sure how long he actually could stay up if we went late night hot rodding. But what I can say is that in the couple years or so he's been around the shop he's a lot "younger" than he used to be. At my vintage you won't find me jumping fences running from cops or armed to the teeth to race n'ere do wells on some deep dark industrial 'hood road since that's what it was morphing into when I was stepping off long ago. Doesn't stop me from hanging at the local track til 1 or 2 am, and if there was a late night event again I'm there. I do the bigger "cruise" events the night before and always connect with friends and rivals of the good ol days. I may not be shuckin and jivin a race together in a big crowd but if it happened you can find me deep within "observing" at the very least. Always loved that part of it. Why am I going on about this? Like I said above, WE found the real fountain of youth. I am sad over some that are now gone, it's easy to get a little melancholy once in a while as you crowd up on or cross 6 decades. Yet I feel like no matter what, that "thing" which seems to defy words will never go away. I don't believe in a lotta shit, pretty much an admitted heathen, but the concept of a "soul" is as real as we make it. That story you tell time and time again, the ones who pissed you off, the ones you always loved, that list of "best" cars that never leaves your memories.

"Remember the time when that fuckin idiot..." or "The paint on his car was..." and "...never saw him get beat." are a soul. It travels to and fro, person to person, spans generations sometimes. No folks, things are BETTER as we progress, because as we progr.., ah fuck it, GET OLD, we appreciate it more and respect it in ways we maybe didn't before. Or maybe we always did and were just having too much fun to see it that way. There is an answer. Don't stop. Thanks for playing...

 

I’m a child of the 70s I’m exactly 50 and I understand exactly the sentiments of this thread. To me everything has become way to safe - you have to be so careful what you say . I can’t even joke around or be sarcastic unless I’m around old friends I grew up with.

When I think about shops I worked at in the early 80s and the old guys ( in their 40s and 50s) and the way they talked and joked around I can’t help but laugh. But now that I’m the 50 year old - old guy I couldn’t even get away with 10% of the stuff they did.

I guess the sense of humour of someone born in the 30s or 40s is gonna be different than someone born in the 90s or around 2000.

 

I couldn't have said it any better; I've been feeling that way for a couple of months now. It's getting to the point that it bums me out when I take the old car out because all the folks that I used to know and hang with (car guys and gals) are either passed away or moved out of the area. I don't have anyone to drop in on or go to events with. That's the price of being a loner I guess.

 

built and had cars, trucks ,rods and muscle. It's been a long trip and yeah, a part of it was strange....we all at one time or another feel that nostalgia, that undefinable wish, if you will ,for the way it was, when it was good according to what we remember. It ain't just about roddin' or racing or any of the other stuff but mostly about the passage of time and some about the loss of that same time. There is however, a certain splendid facet to getting older and surviving in our game. You do reach a tipping point where all ya gotta do is shrug and move on ahead with yer passion and then at least in your head yer free. Take heart gents and boogie forward anyway you can or will. Last thought......There was a lyric in a Byrds tune that summed it up....".Catch me if you can i'm going back"

 

Good thread. This sort of thing started me thinking over the last decade when the show car season would start after a long winter and I would hear of another friend's passing. Some of them younger than I am now. I think we all tend to look at the past as better. It seemed more carefree. When I was fifteen I started working in a local grocery store and made life long friends there that I see little of now but when we do meet up the years seem to melt away and we seem to pick up just where we left off. I think we all miss those type of relationships. Almost all those guys refer to that time as the best time of their lives. For some of those guys life in later years wasn't that kind to them and I see them spending their lives longing for an earlier part of their lives that they feel they took for granted at the time. But I guess are all guilty of that from time to time.

 

I can sum this up with two words....WANNA RACE?

 

I`m a 1945 model.Growing up there were the fast and loud cars,planes,boats and women.As the old song says"Those were the days my friend".But maybe these too are the good old days.I just thank the good Lord for every day that I wake up in my own bed.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Smokin the tires and Power shifting makes me young again, but only for a short time

 

"I came here to do two things: drink some beer and kick some ass…looks like we’re all out of beer."
Posts like this are too melancholy for me, what we need here is more rage! Rage against the dying of the light! You're never too old to kick some ass!

 

The thing that gets me now is” wasted days” to quote Freddy! Never use to bother me as I always though I can make them up! But now with the finish line in sight, I realize there are not that many days left to waste! But I still do..... I just feel bad about it! Lol








Bones

 

"And the beat goes on..."

I knew the difference between a smirk and a smile. Dude in the 'stang took off on me. I chirped 2nd passing him. In a Vega.
Well, it was a Buick V6, but still...

 

I was more of the falfa type, and still am to a degree

 

Am I the only one that wishes I could put some of my past into my future...…

 

Dying hobby?
Changing , not dying.
A local impromptu charity cruise event had over 300 rides at it.
The local car event that features modern “hot rods” has lots of rides.
Guys doing burnouts, wheelies on motorcycles and the occasional street race.
It may look and sound different but its still the same. Loud, fast cars trying to avoid the cops and playing music that the old folks hate.
Unlike how most cruise ins are, these newer “punks” like my old ride when I bring it where as the same can not be said of the old “punks” when the newer rides show up at “their” shows.
Life has a lot to do with perspective. If you only look for the negative thats usually all you will find.

I vote you gas up the old beater and enjoy the crap out of it. Hang out with the younger guys that dig cars and both learn from each other.


I will say that cruising is not near as prevalent in the past, but I still see young guys in their new fangled “hot rods” acting as dumb as we did.

 

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't hang around here if I didn't like Fords.
But in the end, the movie was about Ford vs. Chevy.
Just keepin' the spirit alive.

 

I our town of about 45,000 back when I turned 16, (1967) you could find anywhere from fifty to a hundred hot rods on the street most any Summer night! Last night (Saturday),we were in town eating at the Sonic drive in, saw one hot rod go by! And it was OT!








Bones

 

On game nights our sonic is packed with kids. Lifted trucks, lowered tuners, the family 4 door, modern muscle car, 80s and 90s stuff
Loud exhaust and stereos.
There are a lot of street rods and muscle cars in the area but the owners are usually in bed by 9.
The biggest difference is these kids film their stupidity unlike us older folks that avoided any evidence.

 

There's a song out, I forget who sings it, but the video is clips from "Gran Torino" starring Clint Eastwood, and the title is "Don't Let The Old Man In". At 82 it fits me exactly, as I figger if I can just keep moving, that old man (Father Time) can't catch up with me.
Still have 2 hot rods and try my best to keep them both in good shape, and usually they are. Drag race the roadster once in awhile, the '40 coupe is a cruiser, different cars altogether, but both are fun cars.
As long as I can keep on keeping on, life is good.

 

I just started my 81st orbit. Don't let the old man in.

 

Dave and JWL, keep on doing what you do. My hat is off to both of you. YEA!

 

Turning 78 soon. Still have a couple of builds in the shop but way slower progress now days. Hot rod buddies thinning out and similar conversations to what's on this thread with those remaining, but we are still driving distances. Not the shows so much anymore as the chance to see guys who might not be here in the next go around.

 

When the movie came out I was also about 17 and it was a take on a earlier time - a good time....but we were in my hood - in the mist of the first gas crisis.....and had just - through most of my like age friends - been through the era of the muscle cars - as we had rode with their older brothers cars. Wasn't to much difference in the street machine world of builds - all were looking for a motor that everyone said - ahhh.....most street rods were getting blower motors and the show of chrome. Kinda a southwestern view of things...

 

@CAHotRodBoy

I'm no doctor but I prescribe you go out and raise a little hell with your hot rod... for your sake and your departed pal's sake.