Several times a year, a well-known automobile auction house conducts a televised auction of some of the most wonderful cars, trucks, and airplanes in the world. Several times a year, I get snookered in to watching this display of expressiveness, and do so with great awe.
A parade of beautiful examples of ways to use the internal combustion engine enthralls me for days upon days with each day bringing increasingly more expensive vehicles to the block.
For me, this spectacle is akin to me climbing inside a time machine, all the while wearing rose-colored glasses. Many of these vehicles were regular sights on America’s roads so, I remember seeing them cruising about and dreaming of them before I was actually old enough to drive.
Studebakers, Ramblers, WWII Jeeps, and DeSotos were a mere sampling of cars that eventually gave-way to Fords, Chevys, and Chryslers. This mean example of attrition spawned an unexpected birth of ways to make the “standards” better, and the “odd-balls” totally desirable. Some of the spirited, gifted neighborhood backyard mechanics and their offspring would build some of these more custom vehicles which I admired on my trek to and from school.
It must be borne in mind that I was in first grade before America had fifty states. Seeing a bullet-nosed Studebaker was not really rare back then, but today, seeing one on the byways is both quite amazing and smile-evoking.
Muscle cars came into being during the mid-1960’s and disappeared in the early 1970’s. They were small cars with big engines that went fast. They were fun to drive and easy to repair. Gas was 30-cents per gallon. Mustangs, GTOs, Camaros, Chevelles, and Road Runners were some of the top muscle cars of yore.
Those cars are now very sought after by collectors and mechanics are willing to pay top dollar to relive their childhoods with vehicles they likely couldn't afford at that time. A 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck that originally sold for about $3,000 will now set you back between $60,000 and $110,000, depending on the options and details. I sold mine for $500, and was glad to get that for it, back when.
Prices like that still keep me at bay because my checkbook is a bit thin but, countless others don’t have that problem and enjoy fulfilling their dreams. Bravo to them!
Today’s vehicles don’t evoke the same emotions from me, though. For some reason, I fail to foresee a truly future collectible market for the likes of a Prius – a car that shuts off when stopped - that I see for a Plymouth Prowler. Maybe I’m wrong; I’ve been wrong before. Besides, the Prius shuts itself off when stopped.
In any case, a car that quits running at a stop light has usually spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e for me. And, most my cars would pass anything on the road - except a gas station.
Those were the days.
