Car Thread

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Being's as your not talking about cars yesterday I thought I had been banned. I got a notice "your account has been suspended with a exclamation point" I was trying to thin back of a acoustic post I might have made and couldn't think of any. I'm glad to see it's going now.
Now I notice there are no Saturday posts.

Thanks, for mentioning this. I got the same message, beginning late Friday, and continuing until early this morning (Sunday).

Hmmmm.........I was able to post something around 6:30 pm on Sat.

[chuck]

That was a system admin message, not a user message. I went to one of my devices that does not auto-login and got the same message. The board has a public mode with read only access and that posted the same error (aka no login required).

I am guessing they were doing maintenance or something went wrong. It winked out late Friday and came back Saturday afternoon around 5:30PM?

[healey36]

An old friend of my father's finally parted with his 1940 Lincoln Zephyr (he just turned 95). It's a survivor, with little done to it over its 78 years other than routine maintenance, new seat covers and some minor front-end work. His father, a doctor, bought it new from a dealer in Rye, New York. Here's a pic of one nearly identical to his:



Other than his wife, the car was the love of his life (in which order is unknown). He always maintained that the Zephyr was a Loewy design, but as best I can tell, that's not the case. The design was actually spawned by John Tjaarda, a former engineer for Anthony Fokker's aircraft company that was working for the Briggs Manufacturing Company in Detroit. Briggs was a car body manufacturer, the same company that produced the Airflow body for Chrysler. Regardless of who penned it, it is a magnificent automobile.

While he was able to do it on his own terms, I'm hopeful he survives letting it go. He has been a life-long putterer, and the car received his frequent attention. Not sure what will now fill the void.

Healey

[Roy]

I've been noticing more model cars at Walmart recently. And, not just 1/64 models, but larger cars, too. The larger cars are around 1/43 scale, but the packages don't say. Still, they should look good on our O scale layouts.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I've been noticing more model cars at Walmart recently. And, not just 1/64 models, but larger cars, too. The larger cars are around 1/43 scale, but the packages don't say. Still, they should look good on our O scale layouts.

Take an Arttista figure with you and use it to compare on scale.

[rogruth]

I've been noticing more model cars at Walmart recently. And, not just 1/64 models, but larger cars, too. The larger cars are around 1/43 scale, but the packages don't say. Still, they should look good on our O scale layouts.

Take an Arttista figure with you and use it to compare on scale.

That works.

[healey36]

Abingdon at Christmas, late 1970s:



Festive.

Healey

[HONDO74]

Lincoln bringing back 'suicide doors' on 2019 Continental
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/lincoln-br ... ontinental

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I always wondered why that term was given to such doors. Doors opening that way on the Continentals during the 60's seemed especially unique and elegant, to me.

[Roy]

I always wondered why that term was given to such doors. Doors opening that way on the Continentals during the 60's seemed especially unique and elegant, to me.

Open one of those doors, while the car is travelling at speed. Just be sure to LET GO, as soon as it unlatches!

[Mitch]

The government wasn't forcin' seatbelts installed in every vehicle back in the early '60s either, Murph. Think about a frontal impact with passengers in the back seat without buckling up, and the "suicide" door pops open, launching the passenger out the door and to who knows where. I'd go for a sedan, or even a four door hardtop. At least the rear doors are anchored on the B-pillar.

[rogruth]

Yeah, they look nice, BUT---
My uncle had a late 1930s 2 door vehicle that had doors hinged at the rear.
It was parked on an incline with the front facing downhill. Somehow it started to roll downhill.
He got to it and got the door open but couldn't get in because the door hit him.
It stopped when it hit a tree. I did NOT see this. It is his story.

[Roy]

The government wasn't forcin' seatbelts installed in every vehicle back in the early '60s either, Murph. Think about a frontal impact with passengers in the back seat without buckling up, and the "suicide" door pops open, launching the passenger out the door and to who knows where. I'd go for a sedan, or even a four door hardtop. At least the rear doors are anchored on the B-pillar.

I had a '66 Continental. It had factory seatbelts for both the front and rear seats. Every now and then, you realize while you're driving that the door isn't fully shut. No biggee - you just quickly open and shut the door. You don't dare do that with the suicide doors, because the air will catch them. If you're going at freeway speeds, they're likely to blow right past their stops, and slam into your rear fender. If someone has their hand on the door latch, and isn't wearing seat belts, bye bye.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[healey36]

Thumbing through a pile of ephemera at a local indoor flea market, came across this Rover sales brochure from the 1956-1958 era. The dealership is long gone (as is the Rover Company), but the building survives, now in a section of Baltimore one would be ill-advised to visit.





From a Google Maps screenshot.

A family friend had a Rover P4, one in a long series of dignified sedans offered by the company. When he got to a point where he no longer felt competent to drive, he offered the car to me. At the time I was hard-pressed for garage space, so I declined the offer. It was a great mistake, one that I've regretted for years. Hopefully it went to someone who appreciated it, and not the crusher.

Healey