BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Jul 11 - 04:33 PM

Saw an immaculate '58 Edsel sitting at a nearby service garage an hour or so ago. I wouldn't try to say that it's the greatest looking thing to come out of the '50s, but, looking at it after all the years, I personally can't see it as actually ugly. The '59 looked like a half-hearted attempt to apologize for the '58. The '60 would just have looked so desperately nondescript that it didn't look anything , except for the rear end, which I declare to be the ugliest, most inexplicable styling decision ever committed on an American car.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,Chip2447
Date: 08 Jul 11 - 04:01 PM

Who says this isn't cool...

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 11:16 PM

gnu - It wasn't nickel-plated, but it had real elephant ivory parts plus rhinoceros horn, and it was set up to blow the steam whistle loudly if and when the user attained orgasm! I suspect that Sherlock Holmes may have had one of these things tucked away in his "digs". It looked quite Victorian.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 07:02 PM

Yer half right, gn-ze... The Rover bites...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 05:00 PM

Was that dildo nickel plated?

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 04:58 PM

Oops... FIFTIES car thread... ignore my last post.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 04:57 PM

LH.... "English cars are certainly not what I would call "trouble free". ;-) You have to wonder how they ever managed to put together the British Empire with such bad engineering,..."

Yeah? Stack up a Rover against a Toyota, a Ford, a GM or a Jeep 4X4 and ya got a hands down blowout. The Rover will bite their ass worse than a junkyard dog. Stock, of course. Modified, the Yote wins on accounta they are so cheap that aftermarket makes them cheap to modify. Almost the same with a Jeep but the Jeep is shit compared to the Yote for comfort.

Unimog anyone?

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 04:52 PM

You're not kidding! Sudbury is very, very low on the list of places anyone would want to live in.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 04:49 PM

Geeziz.....If you had a girlfriend that lived in Sudbury, she probably NEEDED it!


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 03:05 PM

I didn't get a chance to find out, Bobert. One of my ex-girlfriends absconded with it on a trip to see her folks in Sudbury, and I haven't seen it since.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 03:03 PM

How'd that thang work, LH???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 02:50 PM

What I most deeply regret is my failure to hang onto an 1890's vintage steam-powered dildo machine that I found in an old steamer trunk among my Grandmother's things. Can you imagine what that would be worth in today's money? It's surprising what they were able to do back then using relatively primitive technology...

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 01:44 PM

You ***DIDN"T HAVE*** to tell me that, Richard!!!

B;~(

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 01:43 PM

No, I apologise, the recession has obviously halved values recently.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 01:41 PM

What planet are you on Bobert? At LEAST double that.

But I know someone who sold a C series Vincent 1000 for a thousand pounds back in the 50s. Boy is he kicking himself now.

Me? I passed up a J2 series Allard for £50. I was still at school but had a driving licence, and I could have afforded to put two gallons of petrol a week into it.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 12:27 PM

I'd like to mention one other aspects of French greatness..... and that is Serge Gainsbourg .... Hmmmm, in fact I think Citroen modeled the DS 19 after him. They look somewhat the same.

biLL ... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 11:49 AM

I did, however, own a '53 Jaguar 120S for a brief time... I was doing carpentry & maintenance work at a high rise apartment building in NoVa and spotted the very dusty car sitting in the parking deck and found out who owned it, knocked on his door and ended up buying it for $600 in 1972 money...

Had it roll-backed 5 miles to my house and spent the next two weeks cleaning it up, tuning it up and tinkering with SU side-draft carbs...

Man that car cleaned up like new and ran just about as well...

There used to be a dealer in Clarendon (Arlington, Va.) who specialized in foreign cars so I took it to him to see what he's pay for the car... He offered me $2700 which I took... Purdy big pay day for 1972...

Wish I had kept it 'cause that car is prolly worth $100,000 today...

Oh well...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 11:26 AM

I'd like to mention two other aspects of French greatness.

But both are somewhat unprintable.

And neither is cheese.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 10:12 AM

English cars are certainly not what I would call "trouble free". ;-) You have to wonder how they ever managed to put together the British Empire with such bad engineering, but I think they were more on top of their game in those days.

One thing you do have to give the English credit for, though. They have built some really cute looking small cars (like the Austin Mini) and some really snazzy looking sport and luxury cars such as the MG and the Jaguar. What they lack in reliability, they make up for in style.

*****

Now ze French, of course, ze 'ave utterly superceded anysing ze English or ze Americaine can do in achieving automotive elegance. After all, where do you sink ze expression "Grand Prix" came from? La Belle France, of course!

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 08:30 AM

And the converse is true... English cars aren't well suited to American roads and spend most of the time on the side of our roads waiting for yet another tow truck...lol...

B;~)

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 02:20 AM

The Chevvies and the Caddies are amazing to look at and still turn heads when they are driven on UK roads because they are so brash. I like them for that reason but not ideal for most of the British roads.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 12:00 AM

Funnee zat vous should mention ze mushrooms, mon ami frogprince. We call zem champignons. Ze French 'ave ze best champignons in ze world as well as ze most stylish autos and ze finest wines. I should remind you of zees sings so you realize 'ow much you are missing by not living in la belle France, to say nossing of not living in Paris. ;-)

Zis Bobert, 'ee is 'opeless. Some kind of 'illbilly. I shake my 'ead and wash my 'ands of 'im.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 10:37 PM

Spawzer got it right... French cars suck... Period... Sorry... Great wines, ya'll... Crappy cars...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: frogprince
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 10:25 PM

...I also sat down in a Citreon...

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: frogprince
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 10:22 PM

Once years ago when I went to the Chicago Auto show, the cars I sat down in included at least two French "classics" that have been mentioned in the latter part of this thread. I sent down in one of those Citrusion lumps, put my feet on the pedals, and went "wut the hell?" looked down and the gas pedal was a little dangling spoon, just like in my Dad's clapped out 1946 Ford truck. Then I tried a "LeCar"; the seat in the thing was such a structureless lump that it was like setting on a decomposing mushroom.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 10:09 PM

Ahhhh, LH... If you are going to take a a peaceful ride in the ugly Citroid then I'd suggest calling a tow truck to pull you down ze Weat Bank...

As fir yer neighbors??? Try a paper bag over yer head...

As fir all you buffalo??? Keep running...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 09:36 PM

Mon dieu! Ze tragic lack of sensitivity in ze Americaine soul! I would weep for zem if I sought eet would 'elp zem, but I don't sink it would. Truly, zey are lost. Eet is sad, verry sad... ;-)

Ah, well, what can one do for such neandert'als? I weel try to put it out of my mind, warm up ze beautiful Citroen, and go for a leetle drive on ze West Bank as I contemplate ze timeless beauty and ineffable grace of ze French culture and lifestyle.

(note: The above all works best if you read it with a pronounced French accent! If you're not sure how...watch some old Pink Panther films, and pay close attention to Inspector Clouseau!)

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 09:15 PM

Yo, Buffalo everwhere...

If you live anywhere near LH, run!!! I mean, run as fast as you can as far as you can away from this man... I mean, if he thinks that any Cit-ron is purdy then ya'll may be next...

Run!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 09:05 PM

Au contraire! Ze Citroen is a beautiful and charming automobile. It 'as that certain je ne sais quoi, zat cosmopolitan style and elan. When I am be'ind ze wheel of a Citroen I know zat I can do no wrong. Americaine cars, 'ow you say?....zey suck beegtime! Zey are tasteless, excessive, poorly engineered, and redolent weez pointless and crass extravagance. Zey are vulgarity encapsulated in chrome! Zey lack ze subtlety and fine balance of ze classic French automobile designs.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 08:57 PM

Which goes with being French.............


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 08:40 PM

Plus, its butt ugly...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 08:08 PM

But biLL.......It is just so damn FRENCH!!!


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 06:59 PM

I don't care what you guys say about French cars .....

the Citroen DS 19

One of the finest cars ... ever

biLL :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 06:54 PM

Not sure why you're down on the 203 or 403 Peugeots. Both had excellent reliability records in Europe - including the slightly odd worm drive back axles.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: bobad
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 05:43 PM

As the Car Talk boys say when it comes to French cars; "The French copy no one and no one copies the French."

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 05:37 PM

Gotta agree with Spawzer on them French Pig-rots... Butt ugly and useless...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 05:01 PM

Borgward Isabella, particularly the coupe, were rather tasty and did well on the track.

The rear engined Renaults and Simcas came in some very brisk versions - the R8 Gordini and Abarth, and the Simca 2000 Abarth (a 2 litre lump hanging off the back of a rear engined family car!!) but in a cross wind trying for the top speed was a bad case of "nearer my God to thee". Some had overheating problems to the extent of being "designed" to have the bonnet (at the back, being rear engined) to stay 4 inches open. The NSU TTS and TYP1200 also rear engined, produced over 100 bhp (naturally aspirated) out of 996 and 1200 cc respectively, but the TTS was a grandstanding road car as it would not come off the line without over 3000 rpm on the clock before you tried to engage the clutch. I'd have guessed them as 60s however.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 01:23 PM

For whatever the Brits sent over Bobertz, the French were the ones that presented the absolute epitome of CRAP to our shores. Peugeot was at least sometimes driveable but Citroens just blew whales across the board. Citroen screams, "I'm just SOOOOOOOO fuckin' FRENCH!!!" to which most of us replied, "Yes and you're a COMPLETE piece of fuckin' SHIT!!!" When they bought Maserati and shipped us the SM it was the greatest example of failure to polish a turd the world has ever known.

Renault? Please........While the original R5's gave us at least some soupcon of delight, the second version arrived being too damn French in many ways and that stupid name, LeCar, was better translated LePoop. Most Renault models were very predictable and reliable however..........at 50,000 miles they fell apart.

Then there's Simca. Imagine if you will, the most vile, stinking, corn infused, pile of turds you could ever be exposed to. Better to spend your life in a small box with 20 pounds of that shit than to own and drive a Simca.   Even Yugo is better!!!!!


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 12:54 PM

The Borgward was another fine piece of absolute revenge that ya'll put on us here in the US... Not only was it junk but it was so ugly that it'd make a freight train jump tracks and take a dirt road... That's ugly... Citroens??? No prettier...

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: bobad
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 12:21 PM

Volvo Amazon was known as a 122S in North America. I owned two of them, a 1964 and a 1965. They were my favorite car of all that I have owned.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 12:16 PM

Borgward Isabella, VW Beetle, Volvo Amazon (just gets in I think), Jowett Javelin, Citroen DS and 'Traction', Citroen 2CV, Daimler Dart, Daimler Majestic Major, Chevrolet BelAir, Hudson Hornet, Bristol 400, Mini (just), Alvis, Frazer-Nash TT Replica, Bentley Continental, Bugatti 101, Ferrari 250GT etc, etc,

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 11:16 AM

Geeziz, what a load of shit! Maybe y'all just sent the fucked up crap to us but we all damn well knew that Joe Lucas said not to go out after dark! Finding mysterious reasons why Joe put the shits to Brit car owners was a pretty good income for our shop but a real pain in the ass for the poor sap who had one.........including myself!



Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 10:05 AM

I don't know what you did to Morris Minors in the USA Bobert, but over here in the UK they were immensely reliable, once alternators had replaced dynamos and associated voltage control gubbins, and indeed once modern indicators had replaced trafficators (or semaphore indicators). I had several, most of which went a bit faster than Mr Issigonis intended, and some of which had commensurate brakes and/or supsension, and only ever had two intractable electrical problems. One turned out to be a high resistance in the distributor earth so the contact breaker spring got hot and melted the contact breaker heel so that contact breaker gap gradually vanished. Melted plastic was a sure-fire indicator that some thing was getting too hot, but it took me some time to figure out what and why! The other was when a slightly loose coil clamp allowed vibration, which wore through the aluminium casing of the coil, so the oil (which conducted heat away from the windings) leaked out, so the windings heated up in use until the internal resistance defeated the spark. Let it cool down and it would go again. I HATE intermittent faults, they always hide when you are looking for them.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 09:30 AM

Semiphores = manual indicators...

Morris Minors were cute but they also had the dreaded Lucas Electrics spaghetti (wiring) which meant nothing electrical ever worked correctly at any given time... lol...

BV~

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 06 Jul 11 - 09:07 AM

I liked the Morris Minor too, the one I had was a bit of an old banger and had Mickey Mouse on the side. It was a lovely car with manual indicators really cute, it was always hit and miss not knowing if it would last the whole journey so eventually it had to go. Fun though.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Jul 11 - 01:50 PM

The humble VW beetle is my favorite 50s car. I also remember the Morris Minor with fondness.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 05 Jul 11 - 11:57 AM

That last GUEST was me. My cookie is obviously as reliable as an Austin A35.

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Jul 11 - 09:58 AM

Come to think of it, I quite liked the 4 litre Humber Super Snipe

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: GUEST,OldNicKilby
Date: 05 Jul 11 - 09:32 AM

Hello No 6 It is a quite amazing bit of engineering. It is possible to leave the gearbox in 3 rd or Top and drive away from the kerb without any judder or Kangaroo juice whatsoever. This is what it is rumoured thst the 'Oldies did. In fact I met an Old Duck in Oxford who told me that "Yer never need ter change gear"
P S I have worked out what I am doing wrong to get the phantom posts

Subject: RE: BS: Favoite 50s Cars Thread....
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Jul 11 - 03:52 PM

Lincoln Continental Mark II- I think that was the one with vertical teeth on the front bumper. Went fishing with a friend who had one, and the bumper got stuck on a rock in the road (or path, he drove it into situations that the car was not built to handle). Still, it was a beautiful road car.

I had a Caddie I loved- an early 50s, forget the exact year. I was in a new city in my first job, and found a car lot not far from our rented house. I said I needed a car, and the owner said he had just got the Caddie, and it drove perfectly, but it hadn't been to a mechanic for the usual checkup. He offered it to me for $500, and I took it. I guess I was lucky- I drove it for about five years without any problems, until I could afford a new car. And then I bought a year-old Caddie that also was excellent.

The worst car I had was the Olds 442, which I got from a GM mechanic- OK on paved roads, and 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, but the suspension was deadly and it skated on dirt and gravel roads that were always corderoyed in Alberta. Very prone to rust as well. I was glad to get rid of it.