Folks Of Interest It's more than just a car

The new wheels look great. She must be the coolest girl on the block.

 

The 'it's more than just a car to me' syndrome ONLY happens while I'm building it. After the 100 mile, hopefully successful, test drive it gets shoved off into a corner where it waits patiently to be cut up and used as the parts donor for my next 'it's more than just a car to me' build. My daily driver means nothing more to me than something that gets me to my build, and helps in chasing/hauling parts for my build.

 

That car's great. A lot of people give me a hard time for driving classic cars in winter but I don't let it bother me. Drive the hell out of that.

 

Hello,

Owning and driving our cars as teenagers, this “IT'S MORE THAN JUST A CAR” statement rings true. To us, it was a lifestyle, a means of expression, and something to call our own to help us get along in life. The life of a teenager was just starting and freedom to express oneself was very important. The car, hot rod, truck, sedan, sedan delivery, station wagons, and even dad’s 4 door sedan was “more than just a car.”

If we remember what everyone’s hot rods and cool cruising sedans looked like, we all had individual style and pocketbooks. But, they were different as accessories and other custom stuff got added on to each teenager’s dream.
1962 High School Newspaper weekly feature

Of course, no one wanted to have the same car as the next teenager parked in the back row of a drive-in restaurant parking lot. It did not matter if that one car was the fastest or the coolest looking one, duplicates just did not happen. It was a matter of individual style and ownership. There were some teenagers that did not have this feeling and their slogan would have said… “it is just a car.” Those teens usually did not hang out or participate in the local show and tell, as well as the local drag races on Friday and Saturday nights. So, we all had our own versions of what a car was to us.

If we all had the same pocketbooks, we would have all driven high performance Corvettes, When the big 409’s/4 speeds came out, there would have been a row of them looking like a Chevy Car Dealership in that drive in restaurant back row. But, as things work out in our society, we are all different and come from different backgrounds. That in itself, give us the impetus to be different, while not all looking and acting the same. Hot rods and all sorts of cars over the years made us different than most, but individuality made us who we are.

Jnaki

We all like to think we have a different style of car, but when in a busy parking lot, a pearlescent white painted station wagon might look the same as a different manufacturer’s copy of said vehicle. The recent trend of making small station wagons is crazy. All manufacturers have come up with their own style in design. But, they do all look the same. We like to think ours stands out more than others. One day, we were walking back to our parked car and my wife keeps going on to the next row to get into an odd shaped station wagon from one of those (all from the same basket) models.

All of a sudden, she turns to me and says… "Where are you going and what are you doing?” I was opening our car door and she was standing several cars away, looking at me like I was crazy. Mistakes do happen, but to me, it is more than just a car. In our old age, sometimes, it does get confusing with all of the white station wagons in any parking lot. Ha …NOT!

 

We, all get it.
It's the non-car people who don't understand and likely never will, and that's okay.
This hobby of ours is not for everyone..which in itself is one of its attractions.
"Car people" come from all walks of life, which in some cases the only commonality are our cars.
A hobby where from the tightest budget builder to the mega high dollar collector can co-mingle without the social cliques that would normally separate the groups.
Be true to your "style" of build regardless of what may be todays popular route.
Individuality, creativity, fulfilling a dream, is what it's about.

 

Amen^^^^

I totally agree!

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Some timers I wish I did not have such a passion for old cars and dirt track cars. They keep me broke!!!!

 

Wow, I'm the complete opposite. While I enjoy building the car, to me it is a means to and end. I'm building it to drive it. You'll never see me with a bigger grin on my face than when I'm behind the wheel of a hot rod. Whether it is a local drive around town, going to a car show with a group of buddies, or going on a long road trip solo hitting up the back roads and small towns.
I don't know where I got the car bung from as my dad liked cars but wasn't a car guy. Even as a litel kid I remember my mom saying to me, "How come you can identify every car on the road but you can't remember your history lessons?".
My first car a was an '65 GTO that I rebuilt. I had a childhood friend that also loved hot rods but kind of lost interest as he got older. When I was about 20 I saw him hitch hiking and picked him up in my GTO. He said to me, "I always knew you'd end up with some hot car".
My dad once said to me about my hot rods, "Why do you have to have an old car? Can't you just go to cars shows and look at them?". Because my parents were art fans and my mom is a painter, I told him it's like the difference between being an artist and going to a museum.
I can't leave any car alone. Every one including my dailys are modified. I need to make them like I want them.
The '34 I'm working on now will be what I want it to be. Once the transformation is done I'll be driving the wheels off it. This fall I plan to go up to the PNW then cut across the country to New England, down the eastern Seaboard to Key West, then back home. The goal is to avoid interstates as much as possible hitting small towns along the way. One cool thing about driving old cars is that most people will smile and want to talk to you. A lot of times they will introduce you to other local car guys and you'll get to see things people driving regular cars will never experience. (Watch Hagerty's barn Find Hunter series).
Without getting political, I think the reason young people aren't into cars so much is the indoctrination that schools are doing to them. They are taught that cars are evil polluters destroying the environment. Cars are the ultimate expression of freedom and independence so academics hate them.

 

I've built quite a few from the ground up. If each one is a part of me, I have been parted out!
The way I feel these days, I think it is a correct statement.

 

I get out of my work truck after a tough day, in a bad mood and look at my car through the windows in the garage door and suddenly the worlds a beautiful place and my beautiful wife is waiting for me.. Its like that song by the Vogues, "Five o'clock world"..

 

Yup, more than just a car.......it was dads

 

Whatever makes you happy is the name of the game. Creating makes me happy, maintaining doesn't. Answering questions from people who don't have a clue, or worse yet, those who 'think' they do, really annoys me. Good luck with the road trip, and Happy Motoring.

 

My response may be viewed as weird. That’s ok.
Up to around age 45 I followed the natural path of building and driving old cars. Lots of them. Mostly ‘55 chevies. Built a show 55 once and hated it. Had a Ford Model A roadster and plenty of Forward Look Mopar’s and Studebakers.
Around age 45 I found I was spending more time in junkyards looking for parts for others.
I could and do spend most of my time in junkyards. They are my happy place.
I have not had a running driving old car in 15-18 years and could not care if I have another one. It’s all about parts and tracking down stashes, hoards or junkyards with pre-60s stuff.
I love looking at done cars but I love the junkers more. Helping others get their vehicles finished is more fun than spinning wrenches or driving my own.
My friends have given up trying to get me to build one again and have accepted the fact that I’m a ‘car guy’ who doesn’t own one.

 

My wagon is a big part of my life, my Mama Jessie bought the wagon in 1954 from the local Ford dealer and she used it as a everyday car and to do delivery's for her flower shop.

I rode in the passenger seat since I was very small,I learned to drive in the wagon and when I was older made delivery's in the wagon, the car is just a year younger than me.

 

I love building old cars, but I think the more work I put in to them the more I like them. Years ago I restored a 15 year old gmc truck ( frame off) and loved that truck Drove it for ten years as a d/d. Next I moved up to a real nice 5 year old truck ( store bought) could never warm up to it.

 

The car is what brings us all together...
It's the people that we meet along the way that is important to me...
A car is nothing more than metal, rubber, fabric, fluids...