Not a 'hot rod' (although they were at least powered by a flathead Ford V8!) - when I was a very little kid - circa mid and-late-1950's - my Dad had a WWII Canadian army surplus 'Universal Carrier' (aka a "Bren Gun Carrier") Ours was actually the later war-production MKII version, that used a 95 hp Mercury flathead, as opposed to the earlier, 85 hp. Ford-powered MKI version) The U.C was a fully tracked, open vehicle, sort of like a half-scale, miniaturized tank, minus the turret and powered by a mid-mounted flathead Ford, or later Mercury V8. The Canadian and Brit military used them in WWII for virtually everything - as light 'armoured personnel carriers, light artillery tractors, battlefield reconnaissance and communications vehicles and commonly, as a mount and a carrier for mortars, anti-tank guns and Bren machine guns. Until it broke a track and got permanently and irretrievably lost - first stuck and then sunk completely out of sight in a swamp and peat bog, miles from home. my Dad used it as a combination dune and swamp buggy. for tearing around on the rented semi-wilderness farm property we lived on back then. I was probably only 4-years old the last time I saw and rode in it and never thought too much about it again for years - until some time in the 1990's - some 40-odd years later, when I saw a restored Universal Carrier on display in a The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. As soon as I walked into the room where it was displayed - before I saw it or even knew that it was there, I instantly recognized the unique and quite pungent semi-sweet, semi-sour 'combination "gasoline-oil-canvas -dust-and-sweat" fragrance emanating from the machine as being that of U. C, and the memories of my Dad's U.C. instantly came flooding and filled my head. Strange how that works and how powerful the sense of smell is for triggering old memories.
I'd be out there with a shovel, Marty^^ Funnily enough, 3 days ago I was riding my bike and a rough old van passed me - the smell of unburnt petrol cast me straight back to being 17 years old and messing about with an old flattie.
oh that smell,cant you smell that smell, now i gotta go find my lynard tape.!! lol anyway i love the smell of gas ,oil, old cars , and burnt tires...and the shop after its been closed up a couple of days.i feel like im 17 again when the smells wake up my memory.then the smell of a certain plant wakes up a longing for certain songs...lol
Back in the '70s I used to ride MX dirtbikes and some guys pre-mixed Castrol R30 (Castor oil), some used Klotz, and various other oils whose names that I can't remember. One thing for sure, I remember the smells. To this day I buy Klotz Racing oil for my snowmobiles and 2 stroke yard machines. Every smell takes me back to my youth.
I have owned 4 shoebox Fords and they do have a great old car smell. I also had a '50 Plymouth and it did have a nice old smell, but it was different than the Fords. I also have to agree about the mouse turds and God help you if one of those little bastards dies inside your car, how in hell can one small dried up dead mouse smell so bad
Mundster...right on. One time at a car show I stuck my head in an old 50`s Ford truck to breathe in the old smell. The guy who owned it comes up to me and says " What the hell are you doing?" I told him I was going back in time. <script type="text/html" id="overlay_tmpl"> </script><script type="text/html" id="overlay_tmpl"> </script><script type="text/html" id="overlay_tmpl"> </script>
I gave a female colleague a ride in my F-1. The first thing she said was this smells just like my Dad's old truck.
i miss the smell of leaded gas and the old man's cigars. mom wouldn't let him smoke in the house, so we'd go for a ride.
Last summer I bumped into my old man's former '55 Chevy by chance, stuck my head in from the open window and was immediately transported back to the early 90's. I almost couldn't stop breathing deep in as precious memories aroused me. The interior was mostly original, I suppose it was the main source preserving my memories.
When I was a kid, we'd go for Sunday drives and picnics often with my Grandparents. They had an old metal water cooler with ice water in it. We'd use the plastic coffee thermos cups for water cups. I'd forgotten all about that until a couple of years ago when for some reason I used a coffee cup to get some water. The taste of ice water with the smell of coffee took me back. Instantly!
It all went back to the day when I ran away from home at 4 yrs old (1959) and hid in a 40 coupe a block away. I sat in the drivers seat behind that big old wheel, Untouched and in disrepair. In my mind, that day, I drove that car to California and back. the smell of the mohair will never ever leave my memorybank. Yes that car had soul. And it permeated my being. It kills me to see old cars changed to a point where this old state is new. It will take many decades for these cars to achieve that status.
I have seen studies that basically say that the sense of smell can evoke more memories that any of the other senses. I know that each of my old cars had it's own scent and like a mother dog knows the scent of her puppy, I would recognize those smells anywhere, even decades later. Time travel leaves me feeling nostalgic, but I love it anyway.
Unfortunatly my sense of smell is almost gone,same with taste.I know they are related.Sometimes I feel that I couldn`t smell crap if it was on my upper lip. I`m disappointed in the golden years.
The golden years should be changed to the rusty years. But a whiff of burnt Castrol R as a Manx Norton or race car tears by will transport me back every time.
Aside from the obvious smell of a musty old interior or dirt and grease... the smell of race fuel and Meguiar's plastic polish for lexan windows drives me nuts! Sam
Oh yea! thats a childhood trigger for me, paging through my dads old Car Lifes and Cycle Worlds in the sixties. Still love it.
My first car - number one of 152 in the ensuing 48 years - was a then 4-year old '61 Austin Mini that sometime in its life had a quart of castor oil spilled in the trunk. It permeated the car to the point that it smelled like a cross between a two stroke motorcycle race and my grandmother's medicine cabinet. Fast forward to 1990, I pulled a 1958 MG Magnette Saloon out of a 20 year storage and the mahogany dash and connoly leather had dried out leaving all their smells to permeate the headliner and the wool carpets. After a few minutes of a weird deja vu, I realized that it smelled almost exactly like the Mini.
I had this neighbor that i really didn't know all that well stop by and ask if he could borrow a oil filter wrench, as I opened the garage I noticed he closed his eyes and took a long slow breath thru his nose then exhaled and said "Man that smell is just like the smell of my Dads garage when i was a kid,oil and gasoline!". Made me smile.
i used my 45 gmc for awhile when i was selling wrought iron work at local farm markets, one day after eating a big batch of pizza i let a terrable fart go just as i was backing into my stall, made my eyes water, so i roll both windows down and jump out, just as i'm walking around the back to unload my tent and start setting up i hear this guys voice saying, WOW, what a great old truck and it smells just like my grand dads, i lean over and see this guy with his head in the drivers side window, my mind went blank and couldn't think of anything to say, just kept unloading.
Cant beat the smell of an old car 20s - 60s seem to all smell different. I had a WWII ship welder, oil filled and never forget the smell when i opened it up, REAL BAD!!! Lol
The smell of my 80 plus year old uncles garage.The wood inside was never painted or stained but almost black from years of being used as a working garage.
Ahhhhh, the smell of horsehair in old VWs. Actually I believe I read somewhere it's really chopped coconut fiber. Still brings me back to my diaper-painting days. I remember about 15 years ago pulling up in a pack and parking in front of a bar on my old Knuckle. I was running DuraLube in the oil and right after I shut it down an old graybeard came SPRINTING out wanting to know who was running the avgas.
Whenever we start the sprint car, after checking for leaks I always go back to the end of the headers and get a few lungfulls of methanol.... there's nothing like it!! I'd like my 47 to smell like the old tractors we drove every summer mowing....
The Jalopy Journal
