Stylin'

Nice pictures, Mitch.  Yeah, the prewar cars were elegant, while the postwar ones were   influenced by the a bit of postwar giddiness/ebullience/whatever.  Ya gotta applaud the optimism, though.

Nice photos of some early iron, Mitch!

 

Cars from the '30's to the mid/late '60's all had some 'class' to them. Each new model year from the manufacturers presented a 'new' car for that year...that is why it is so easy to determine say a '57 Chevy, Ford, Buick, Olds, or whatever, from an earlier model year...and be able to tell the difference between one make and another make. Some of us older guys grew up with these cars and can easily identify the make, the year, the model still to this day.

 

With today's cars, with few exceptions, every make looks at a glance just like any other...it is often hard to determine an '05 model year from a '14 model year or a Kia from a Lexus...they all look the same to some extent.

 

Several years ago I read an article in one of the car rags bemoaning the lack of design and character among auto companies today. They had color pictures of the sides of the cars lined up nose to tail and in a a semi-circle taken from a distance. All the cars had their badges blacked out. There were 7-8, new at the time, best selling mid-size sedans, all in silver, ranging from MB and BMW to Kia...other than the distinct BMW and MB grills it was hard to distinguish the makes from one another. 'Cookie cutter' designs.

 

It is easy to distinguish a Model T from a Model A, a Model B('32) from a '36 Ford, or a '56 Roadmaster from a '56 Ford. Sure technology and ergonomics in today's cars is great and getting greater, the cheapest of the new breed of car handles and rides 100 times better than any stock or near stock vintage car...but they just do not have that 'something' that makes them special.

 

I'd rather be 'stylin' ' in my '56 F-100 than a '15 'King Ranch' Ford pick-up...LOL

 

Nice photos, Mitch.

It's the season.  I saw these and a lot more.  You think a Speedster is small?

That looks like a really nice Metropolitan convert!. Owned a Nova coupe same year as the ragtop in the photo, built it into a primer grayed 396BB w/ 4-spd 'gasser' w/ a straight front axle. That was about 20 yrs ago...fast in a straight line, cornered like crap...LOL...nasty lil' car off the line though, sounded mean at idle.

 

As it turns out, Mr. Frazoo and G.R., there was one of your dream cars there yesterday, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent a while talking to the owner and it seems that Nash folks have a few things in common with us.

 

Their cars are also about 1800 pounds - about one-tenth the weight of a late fifties Buick. The Nash engine is a small four from the MGA and water-cooled - or as water-cooled as any MGA engine ever was. He gave up on the original carb and installed a Weber and I noticed a fuel-pressure meter under the hood. "These things are real fussy about fuel pressure," he said.

 

Do tell.

 

 

 

 

He said his 1620cc engine (bored out from 1500) still made only about 70 hp and that motoring on in hilly country took some planning and crafty use of the gearbox. Apparently, Nash thought we Yanks would like a column shift better than one of those pesky floor shifters and in the process of converting, eliminated one of the four speeds to make a three-on-the-tree. They did manage to retain the non-synchro first, though. I love the British sense of humour.

 

This guy must have spent years working on his pride and joy. It was originally a coupe and he converted it to, well, a convertible. Nice job, I thought.

 

He also said these early examples had no opening lid on the trunk, uh, I mean boot. There was just a pass-through from the cabin. So, he welded in the back deck from a later model. I guess this must have increased the car's value by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

At any rate, this is another one of those cars that somehow makes anyone who sees it smile. 

 

If you're old enough, you may recall this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enqNl7tdLR4

 

And it's also nice to recall times when a car maker could offer - with a straight face - a turquoise and white two-tone paint job. Try ordering up one of those at your Toyota dealer.

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic! Love that MGA pictured a few posts above too. That is styling. And as all of you know, since the MGA came out in 1956, all of us with MGT series cars have what are known as "Pre-As." It's a FACT!

Never saw a Nash Metro with wire wheels - definitely a madness there.  To think that was styling queue for later AMC Ramblers which they seemed to stick with to the bitter end.  Remember the 390 ci AMX "Corvette/Cobra" killer?

My first car was a Nash Metropolitan, back in high school.  Had a lot of fun in it.  A nice coral with a white top.  I think it even had a radio.

 

 

This little metro would cruise in to the local Cars & Coffee every so often. You could hear it coming a mile away. 

 

 

Don't think that intake was a factory option, Jim.

 

Although the paint job may have been.

 

 

Outrageous.  Is all I can say. Maddness, unquestionably.

Then there was the Gremlin and the Pacer.

AMXs were badass. Closest I got was a Matchbox version. In fact, it is still in my desk drawer. But someone chewed a wheel off it at some point.

Had to kill my first post. seems AllPar doesn't like anyone linking to their pictures.

 

But like I said the first time, if you build it, someone will race it.

 

http://www.draglist.com/artman2/uploads/1/amc_8.jpg

 

Mitch, Wolfgang and GR.

Here is a combo picture of one of my two MGAs and my 1970 AMX.  The MGA had a roll bar and I had the wheels split and widened so I could run really wide tires.  It was all looks and no go, still had the stock 1600 motor, but it was super cool looking and always drew a crowd where ever I went.

The AMX, on the other hand, had the looks and the go with that 390. It was fast and could eat up lots of Mustangs and Chevys, but it never got any respect and I always felt like I was driving the "red haired step child" of cars.

The Triumph Bonneville was also one of two that I owned.

 

 

Troy was your MGA a sort of maroon color? Reason I ask is that I owned a '59 MGA in stock maroon color when I was a h.s. senior. Bought it with a blown engine for a couple hundred dollars from a kid up at the college. Eventually, me and a couple of my friends dropped a 265 Chevy in it and installed Chevy drums so I could run 14'' chrome rims and bigger tires. That car was the nitemare from H..., as many problems I had with it it was still a kick to get out on the road. Ran the snot off it all that summer, then gave it to my best friend who really gave me a hand when building it when I left for college...do not know whatever happened to it after my friend passed away...he died in a training accident in the late fall of '65 at Ft Bliss.

Yes, it was a maroon color with steel wheels, not wire wheels.

Some time in the late 60's my Grandfather bought a Rambler Ambassador 990 with a 390 and a big honkin' 4 barrel Holley carb. Bench seat and vinyl top, a real Grampy car. My brother and I used to take it out to surprise Roadrunners and Mustangs.....they never saw it coming.