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Rodney · 04-01-2004, 11:31 AM

I live in a tourist town on the West Coast with good weather, so we have a lot of old or rare cars around here because 1) no snow or road salt, so they don't corrode, 2) we have a fair number of wealthy people and car customizers who like to have cool rides and show them off, and 3) people like to come here and show off.

Since this is a beach town and has a classic woody club, I've seen more old woody stations wagons than I can count. Some of them are pretty strange, too, not the "classic" woodies you see in pictures.

We have a guy with an old Checker in civilian colors who used to park next to me at the community college. A Checker is the classic old-time big taxicab that you see in old movies. They were made as cabs, though some were sold otherwise, and they have back seats big enough to play pingpong in. Cool, heavy old car. Stopped making them in '82.

There's a guy about two blocks from me who keeps two Rambler Metropolitans in his front yard. Those are those really tiny little cars from the '50s, really single-seaters.

There's a guy around town with a '58 or '59 Caddy who's lowered it, painted it black, and taken off almost all the chrome. It looks like the Evil Villain's car from an old superhero movie serial.

There's a guy with a '47 Chevy that he keeps parked at his business. Chevys from that era are nothing special, so nobody preserved them. This is like the only 46-50 Chevy I've ever seen on the road.

There's at least one Avanti on the road around here. Can't tell whether it's an actual Studebaker ('63, '64) or was made after the company went independent. It's the original design, though.

And I won't even mention the Stutz Bearcat, the '20s-era fire engine that somebody converted into a giant roadster, the Giant Purple Pimpmobile. It's a pretty cool town for car-watching. And about 40 miles from here, up in the hills, there's a very rich gentleman with a massive estate and his own private collection of tanks and armored vehicles, which he and his friends use for war games on the grand scale. Friends of mine have seen it, and I'd love to see it myself someday.

04-01-2004, 11:31 AM	#55 (permalink)
Rodney Observant Ruminant Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town	I live in a tourist town on the West Coast with good weather, so we have a lot of old or rare cars around here because 1) no snow or road salt, so they don't corrode, 2) we have a fair number of wealthy people and car customizers who like to have cool rides and show them off, and 3) people like to come here and show off. Since this is a beach town and has a classic woody club, I've seen more old woody stations wagons than I can count. Some of them are pretty strange, too, not the "classic" woodies you see in pictures. We have a guy with an old Checker in civilian colors who used to park next to me at the community college. A Checker is the classic old-time big taxicab that you see in old movies. They were made as cabs, though some were sold otherwise, and they have back seats big enough to play pingpong in. Cool, heavy old car. Stopped making them in '82. There's a guy about two blocks from me who keeps two Rambler Metropolitans in his front yard. Those are those really tiny little cars from the '50s, really single-seaters. There's a guy around town with a '58 or '59 Caddy who's lowered it, painted it black, and taken off almost all the chrome. It looks like the Evil Villain's car from an old superhero movie serial. There's a guy with a '47 Chevy that he keeps parked at his business. Chevys from that era are nothing special, so nobody preserved them. This is like the only 46-50 Chevy I've ever seen on the road. There's at least one Avanti on the road around here. Can't tell whether it's an actual Studebaker ('63, '64) or was made after the company went independent. It's the original design, though. And I won't even mention the Stutz Bearcat, the '20s-era fire engine that somebody converted into a giant roadster, the Giant Purple Pimpmobile. It's a pretty cool town for car-watching. And about 40 miles from here, up in the hills, there's a very rich gentleman with a massive estate and his own private collection of tanks and armored vehicles, which he and his friends use for war games on the grand scale. Friends of mine have seen it, and I'd love to see it myself someday.