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The Vintage Motor Thread

150K views 2K replies 40 participants last post by  Oldsarge 
#1 ·
Would you believe this car was designed in 1970? A Lancia HF Zero one-of-a-kind concept car currently in the Peterson Museum in L.A.
Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive parking light Building
 
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#7 ·
When I was in college, I drove an Austin Healey 2+2 (a '62, I think?), which I'd bought cheap (as one could back in the 80s); it existed in a state of perpetual restoration.

If you walked towards it, you started smelling it (a mixed aroma of gasoline, oil, and Old British Engine) from about fifteen feet away, and it was as noise as a motorcycle. I don't recall ever having the top up, though I must have driven it in the rain at some point (though I had current model 5-series BMW which was the reliable-ish daily driver/rain/snow car, so maybe not.)

It was two-toned, something like the attached pic, only much less pristine.

Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Motor vehicle


After retiring it, I looked at a Volvo P1800, which appealed to me because that's what The Saint drove, but never pulled the trigger on it; I bought a BMW 2002 instead. You used to be able to get really interesting, affordable classics "pre-Internet" (when you were only really competing with local buyers), and they were perfect if you knew your way around a ratchet & socket set.

(The above-depicted Austin-Healey sold for $69,000! I think I bought mine for $500...)

DH
 
#8 ·
When I was in college, I drove an Austin Healey 2+2 (a '62, I think?), which I'd bought cheap (as one could back in the 80s); it existed in a state of perpetual restoration.

If you walked towards it, you started smelling it (a mixed aroma of gasoline, oil, and Old British Engine) from about fifteen feet away, and it was as noise as a motorcycle. I don't recall ever having the top up, though I must have driven it in the rain at some point (though I had current model 5-series BMW which was the reliable-ish daily driver/rain/snow car, so maybe not.)

It was two-toned, something like the attached pic, only much less pristine.

View attachment 40200

After retiring it, I looked at a Volvo P1800, which appealed to me because that's what The Saint drove, but never pulled the trigger on it; I bought a BMW 2002 instead. You used to be able to get really interesting, affordable classics "pre-Internet" (when you were only really competing with local buyers), and they were perfect if you knew your way around a ratchet & socket set.

(The above-depicted Austin-Healey sold for $69,000! I think I bought mine for $500...)

DH
I know. I once had the chance to buy a MB 220 coupe for $1500 in about 1967. Then it disappeared from the lot and came back at $3900! And it had a better color scheme than this one.
Tire Wheel Vehicle Car Motor vehicle
 
#31 ·
TR3, I think?

My mother drove a red Triumph TR4, which by then had lost the "wasp body" of the TR3. Previously she drove a Ford Falcon, but when she married my father she adopted his Anglophilic ways, and "upgraded" to the Triumph.

When I was little, I used to wear a pith helmet around (obviously destined to be an AAAC forum poster), and I also used to stand on the front seat of the Triumph *as my mother was driving it*, my hands on the top rim of the windshield, so my head was in the wind stream. This was "pre safety" of course. Car seats? seat belts? what are those?

Anyway, once we were zipping along, me in my pith helmet enjoying the breeze, and *whoosh!* a quick gust blew the pith helmet from my head. It was never seen again.

One of my early memories!

DH
 
#28 · (Edited)
Arnolt-Bristol Bolide, 1954

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What's he doing on the left side of the road in a right hand drive car? And what the heck is an Arnolt-Bristol Bolide, anyway?

n.b. The story is actually rather fascinating.
 
#2,458 ·
I did 3/4's of a frame off restoration on a 3 1/2ltr straight 6 1948 Jag. Had all custom wiring looms made to exact specs in canvas insulation. Body lead filled. Mechanicals were all in good shape so all original. Refined brakes and drilled and bushes rod brakes. Made a new wood floor from marine ply. Every piece of chrome re-chromed. Moving from UK to US prevented me from finishing it.
 
#34 ·
Oh, yes, the 1962 Corvette. That one might have a lowered suspension? (probably a street race enthusiast.)

My uncle drove one (can you tell we're a Car Family?) until he got into muscle cars (for years after he drove - if you can use such a timid word - a heavily souped '74 Plymouth Barracuda he called "The Beast", which we actually recently found again, beautifully restored, in the hands of a collector (my uncle died about 10 years ago). The car pictured is the actual car now (it was gunmetal grey when he drove it), restored, with some folks standing nearby (I guess the new owners). I had a lot of fun memories in that car, but as a purist, he didn't have air conditioning in it, so summer drives into the Ozarks could be... challenging.

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I ran into a guy at my bank a few years ago who was restoring a '62 'vette. One of my bucket list items.

DH
 
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