We often wax poetic about the look of a nicely patinaed hot rod or old custom, and plenty has been said about the sound of a finely-tuned jalopy. But what about the smell? I think it's worth noting what hits your nose when you crack the door open on ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
You're a huffer eh? haha... I know what you mean though. My wife said of my 40 Tudor after I drug it home.. "Smells old and crusty". I replied : "I know, isn't it awesome?"
I agree, there's nothing like the smell of an old interior. - Great. I also like the smell of gasoline (no I don't huff it for fun, just the wafting smell of it). Gear oil on the other hand - not a big fan of. And speaking of gear oil, since we now have synthetic gear oil- why couldn't they have gave it a nice smell?
There is NOTHING like the smell of aged grease, oil, and gas- that and the smell of ozone burning off (that's the toy tain lover in me )!!!
The smell of opening an old box and taking out a NOS part...right before you bolt it on for the first time. The smell of my garage when I first enter it after being away for the week. A mixture of smells brought together by old car parts.
Ahhh, the smell of old cars! Another smell that I can't get enough of is the smell of vintage hot rod magazines!
One of the reasons I always wanted to own a Shoebox was the smell; I remembered it from being a kid and smelling my uncle's '49. It's been warming up this week and I can't help but open the door on my '51 every time I walk by, just to get a whiff. Meanwhile, my first car (had it since '87) is a '67 Impala. The interior has been redone, some of it twice, the whole floor was sprayed a couple years ago with bedliner-but somehow, some way, it retains the same smell it had when I first drove it. Something else I've noticed more lately is the way different cars have different exhaust smells, and not just from how much oil they burn. I believe you could blindfold me, plug my ears, and I could tell by smell whether I was at the tailpipe of my 283, my flathead 226 or my AMC 258. All strange stuff, huh? I was reading somewhere last week that the strongest memories are invoked by smells.
Permatex, in Indian Head and Aviation flavors...Marvel Mystery Oil...old style brake fluid... and bad stuff too...scraping 70 year old 140 out of a transmission and so becoming a pariah for a week...
In 1986, I had a '36 Nash with only 16,800 miles. It had been stored/preserved in a garage most of its life. It had that very characteristic odor of oldness. Kinda like entering an attic in an old Victorian home full of unrestored vintage furniture and smelling the dust of ages.
I love the smell of old cars, and how it makes my garage smell like the car if I park it with the windows down. There is a thread on here somewhere about different brands of car smelling different too. To me, there is nothing quite like the smell and sound combined as you cruise down the road... Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I wouldn't recommend taking a big wiff inside my car. Might get a sinus infection.........or pass out, I dunno.
For me, it's old car interior without any hint of mildew or moth balls.....and of course, high octane fuel exhaust!
I love the smell when opening the main bearing caps on an engine. Every time it takes me back to my first time....... No not that, but close!
I can still remember the aroma of the exhaust creeping into the rumble seat of my Brothers 354 Hemi powered 1934 Plymouth about 44 years ago. You just cant get that smell with the gasoline we have now!
Years ago I drove my 50 Ford business coupe to the FD. My Lieutenant got in the car, grasped the wheel and took a big whiff. He said he had not smelled that smell in 40years. His dad had a shoebox when he was a kid. He said it smelled the same and brought back memories even more so than a picture can do.
My '37 Chevy is still all original.....it has "the smell" after 76 years. It still has it's original but ratty interior...I will never change it, it made it this long and runs like a swiss watch.....I love driving it just like it is!
when my uncle passed, i was handed down his tool box. the box was from the late 50's early 60's and i can remember as a kid my job was to clean and organize his tools. the garage it was in was a gas station [i think since they invented gas stations] and the place had a combined smell of gear oil, grease, fuel, carb cleaners, parts washing fluids and the smell of metal burning/heating/welding. everything in the place had a layer of oil that when dust and dirt hit it it gave it a nice "fuzzy" look [and smell]. there was a pile of starters/generators piled against one wall, an old soda machine that after you put your money in you had to open the door and pull the bottle of cream or grape soda out. the motors manuals had another musty oily smell that added to the ambiance some of which where on a shelf, some piled open on the work bench. i am sure the racks holding the belts and hoses, and the piles on the floor below them of the ones "to be put back" or the "it's still usable for one of our cars" added a smell. every now and then when i stand in front of my tool box, despite having cleaned it thoroughly, i smell that smell and remember....that shop,.... those parts...my uncle.
Gas smells different now than it did 30 years ago too. Maybe it's the sentimental in me but the old gas then smelled better. And I don't think it was leaded.
10 years ago I bought a 68 Benz from my grandfather, he has had it since new and I remember driving all Phoenix in it as a kid, well sitting on the parcel shelf in it! Ever since I have owned it, in the spring when I get into it for the first time the smell of it brings me back to those days and I just sit there for a few minutes remebering the time I spent in Phoenix and of my gransdmother, who passed away 20 years ago. The smell is something that gets me everytime.
Yes! I don't feel quite as weird now. Ground steel dust, gasoline,Lava brand hand soap and a butterscotch candy to hide the beer he just snuck behind the outhouse- my Grandpa's smell. That 60's Ford seat cloth w the metalic weave has a certain smell. My dad just sent me a Regal arch top guitar from the 30's...mmm, old guitar smell!
I love the smells in 2 of my cars. I could take a blind fold test and tell if it was the Model A or the 63 Fairlane. The smallest wiff off of my Fairlane takes me back to the smell of my fathers Starliner and his Falcon Sprint. One smell I do miss the most is the smell of "Mystic Metal Mover" cutting oil, I think it is off the market, it had some kind of acronym chemical in it and is not the same. Thanks for digging up some old memories.
When I brought my Chevy II home, it had a dead rat under the drivers seat, hows that? But yea, I know what you mean.
Ha ha. Funny to read your post, Jiveman. I had just now sat down at the computer after getting back home from having lunch with a friend. I drove the heap. My wife came up behind me, nuzzled my neck and hair and said, "You've been driving that old car, haven't you?" Yup, do I stink? "Well," she said, "if you're thinking about crawling in with me tonight, there's a shower in your future...." Guess I'll be shutting down the shop early and be washin' and scrubbin'.
I still catch a small whiff from my truck everyonce in a while. But when I walk past the cuda or the gto, I get a good whiff. And non car guys don't get it. If only we bottle it or make candles from it. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Best smell in the world? Standing downwind of a fuel car firing to warm on the long course at Bonneville. No real wind, it just sort of hangs there polluting all our minds.
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