old guys and old cars

 

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always had a fondness for cars. 

I got my license as soon as I could, and started saving my meager income for my first car, which I bought when I was a senior in high school. 

It was a 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air, and it came with a 348 V-8 and glass pack mufflers, and I paid cash for it. If you could find one like today, it would cost a lot more than the $500 I paid in 1965.

 

That big V-8 went through gas at an alarming rate, so I sold it three months later, and bought a more economical car to take me through my college years. 

Regardless of which cars I later owned, I always made a point of maintaining them properly, so they always ran well and were clean and shiny.

 The decade of the 1960's saw the release of numerous muscle cars. If you saw one on the streets today, it more than likely is owned by an old guy about my age.

 One day at the gas station, I parked close to a 1956 Chevrolet that was in beautiful shape. The man who owned it had spent 10 years restoring it, but had upgraded it with modern drivetrain and suspension. His grandfather had bought it brand new in 1956.

 

About a year later, I parked next to a 1948 Chevrolet that had been modified by the owner and his dad. It also has a modern drivetrain and suspension. Although they had also done the body work, they had had  it painted professionally. The paint job cost $5000.

 

A few months back, I stopped at the local Starbucks for my morning latte, and a 1966 Corvair pulled in. The driver was the second owner, and the car was not modified at all, but was in great condition.

 A lot of those old cars have gotten very expensive, and the prime example of that is the Hirohata Mercury, which is one of the original "lead sleds" that were popular in the 1950's. The last time it was sold, the selling price was over $1,000,000.

 

In the 1950's, the chief car customizers were the Barris brothers and Ed Roth.

 In the 1960's, the master customizer was Boyd Coddington, whose "rods by Boyd" won numerous prizes.

 After Coddington passed on, the management of his company was the responsibility of a young man named Chip Foose, whose designs have also won numerous awards.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Foose

You can watch his shows on YouTube, but the one that caught my attention today was about a 1932 Ford that he had recently purchased.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBBOJQi2SBc

Although many of the old 1932 Fords had been reconfigured as hot rods, this car was completely stock, and it was in excellent condition for a car that is more than 90 years old.

 The lesson that Chip passed on to us is that if you maintain a car properly, it can last a very long time.

 The best example of that is that 1966 Volvo that was owned by a young school teacher from New York. He passed away last year, but managed to put more than 3 million miles on the car over his lifetime.

 Irv Gordon, Guinness World Record Holder Who Put 3.2 Million Miles on His Volvo P1800, Has Died (roadandtrack.com)

I bought my first car when I was 17, and I bought my current car when I was 69 - and it will be the last car that I have ever owned.

 Due to the heat in Tucson, it gets washed frequently, and gets waxed 4 times a year (which helps to prevent that destruction of paint by the summer sun, so it is almost always "clean and shiny".

 At this point in my life, it would be fun to have one of those muscle cars, but I would never buy one.  However, they will always bring a smile to my face, and now you understand "old guys and old cars".