Gezz, just when I thought you are a rational person with your last post and now you want us to GO FOR IT! with uncomfortable, under powered Easter Eggs??????
LAUGH
They actually look like it would be worth it, just to say I DID IT!
Interestingly, production for the car moved to Portugal because the French factory was outdated and in poor condition. Kind of symptomatic of what is wrong with France.
I drove around in Europe in one in 1971. It was a tin can but I couldn't believe even back then it got 50 miles a gallon. I always wondered why the US couldn't do that. Even today.
Fun article, Calla! My old workmate friend named Bob drove his VW Beetle daily to work for years from Downey to the San Fernando Valley (Van Nuys, CA) ... back in the 1960's. Bob overhauled the engine himself, periodically. It was last week when I asked Bob, now 90 years old, what happened to his VW? Bob said he gave it to his son which in turn supercharged the engine. Supercharging made it wear out the engine more often, requiring more engine rebuilds. I remember the VWs back in the 1950's, an inexpensive means of travel. The VWs were cool, but I liked my oldest sister's boyfriend's blue1955 Ford Thunderbird with the porthole windows.
Merci Bill! I learned to drive in my father's Sift-top Model A in Weston, Ct, where he and fellow artists and old car buffs had a club that fixed up these little gems. Ironically, when the couldn't fix something, they had to consult with Jim Howe, also of Weston, and was known to be "the only" mechanic in the world who could fix Dusenbergs---I 🐮 think 💭 pgoingremember The Majharaja's of Jaipur, sleek, long and blank with it goldtested doior sli
I remember a short story in Readers Digest about a Rolls Royce that broke down on a country road. A Rolls Royce repairman arrived to get the Rolls Royce rolling again. Later the owner of the Rolls Royce called the dealer and mentioned he never received a bill for the repair of his vehicle. Rolls Royce said they didn't have any record of a repair. Of course, a Rolls Royce never needs repair <g>. I'd imagine with a Duesenberg the same thing ... never needs repairing <g>.
Sorry about typos---wrote at midnight!! Should be about remembering the elegant, sleek, long, black Dusengerg of The Majharaja of Jaipur's, with golden seal on driver's door, next to my father's little buggy named Henry. CJC
My father commuted in one of the early VW bugs, that had the split rear window, a wheel for the accelerator and no gas gauge, just the switch lever to the extra tank that let you know it was time to fill up again - 1950'.
Thinking back, engineers went for inexpensive transportation ... especially the high-milage types. And they liked repairing their own vehicles. The first brand new car I purchased was a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon.
The first time I drove a stick-shift car was with a VW and it was during the evening at the Monterey Airport. A fellow engineer, Rod Rowe, owned a Mooney Ranger aircraft, and he wanted me to obtain a tool using his VW Beetle. I had never drove a stick-shift car before in my life, and so this experience was a first! I think the VW jumped in the air about ten feet when I revved the engine and released the clutch <g>. It was not fun at all! Rod said it would be easy to drive the VW and not to make a big deal of it. We worked at Fort Ord and made trips to the Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation in his plane ... working as civilians dressed up looking like military guys. Rod was instrument rated and the scariest thing was landing in the Monterey fog at night with zero visibility. Talk about holding onto your seat!
Love this story, Calla. Thank you. What is old is new again. Your eye for these small details is extraordinary.
I also joined the nostalgia for that same era's small, efficient European cars, except mine was for the little Fiat Cinque Cento (Fiat 500 -also with movies in its honor).
That was because I was living in Italy at that same time and we were surrounded by what we called the "Dance of the Cinques" every Sunday. Entire Italian families would stuff themselves into this shoe-box car and take a drive around Lake Garda to pick up garlands of oranges and lemons, proudly displayed in the back windows.
Fiat brought back this small wonder a few years ago, a more updated and US safety-tested version, with only a hint of its original cuddly charm. But I was first in line to buy one, along with a few other lone souls in town who feel an immediate kinship when we pass. Yes, it is a rag top too. So far the old joke FIAT means Fix It Again, Tony has not proven true. It has been a great little town car, and not bad on the open roads either.
However, I can now make parking spaces out of nothing. And muse often what traffic would really be like if we were all was driving these little tin can cars, instead of the monster behemoths most now prefer.
Merci Elce! Yes, I remember a friend telling me about living in Rome with her Cinque Cento and four children loving to be stuffed into the little Fiat. I now drive a Mini Cooper and can always find a parking place! Her name is Puddle, because she can go anywhere. She's my best friend‼️Calla
GO FOR IT???!!!!!!!
Gezz, just when I thought you are a rational person with your last post and now you want us to GO FOR IT! with uncomfortable, under powered Easter Eggs??????
LAUGH
They actually look like it would be worth it, just to say I DID IT!
Again, Calla, a fun, refreshing read to start the day!
Merci Monica! Calla
Vive Le Car!!!!
Interestingly, production for the car moved to Portugal because the French factory was outdated and in poor condition. Kind of symptomatic of what is wrong with France.
Lou, Agree! But just one of the things wrong with France---price of gas is at top of list! Calla
I drove around in Europe in one in 1971. It was a tin can but I couldn't believe even back then it got 50 miles a gallon. I always wondered why the US couldn't do that. Even today.
Fun article, Calla! My old workmate friend named Bob drove his VW Beetle daily to work for years from Downey to the San Fernando Valley (Van Nuys, CA) ... back in the 1960's. Bob overhauled the engine himself, periodically. It was last week when I asked Bob, now 90 years old, what happened to his VW? Bob said he gave it to his son which in turn supercharged the engine. Supercharging made it wear out the engine more often, requiring more engine rebuilds. I remember the VWs back in the 1950's, an inexpensive means of travel. The VWs were cool, but I liked my oldest sister's boyfriend's blue1955 Ford Thunderbird with the porthole windows.
Merci Bill! I learned to drive in my father's Sift-top Model A in Weston, Ct, where he and fellow artists and old car buffs had a club that fixed up these little gems. Ironically, when the couldn't fix something, they had to consult with Jim Howe, also of Weston, and was known to be "the only" mechanic in the world who could fix Dusenbergs---I 🐮 think 💭 pgoingremember The Majharaja's of Jaipur, sleek, long and blank with it goldtested doior sli
I remember a short story in Readers Digest about a Rolls Royce that broke down on a country road. A Rolls Royce repairman arrived to get the Rolls Royce rolling again. Later the owner of the Rolls Royce called the dealer and mentioned he never received a bill for the repair of his vehicle. Rolls Royce said they didn't have any record of a repair. Of course, a Rolls Royce never needs repair <g>. I'd imagine with a Duesenberg the same thing ... never needs repairing <g>.
Sorry about typos---wrote at midnight!! Should be about remembering the elegant, sleek, long, black Dusengerg of The Majharaja of Jaipur's, with golden seal on driver's door, next to my father's little buggy named Henry. CJC
My father commuted in one of the early VW bugs, that had the split rear window, a wheel for the accelerator and no gas gauge, just the switch lever to the extra tank that let you know it was time to fill up again - 1950'.
Thinking back, engineers went for inexpensive transportation ... especially the high-milage types. And they liked repairing their own vehicles. The first brand new car I purchased was a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon.
The first time I drove a stick-shift car was with a VW and it was during the evening at the Monterey Airport. A fellow engineer, Rod Rowe, owned a Mooney Ranger aircraft, and he wanted me to obtain a tool using his VW Beetle. I had never drove a stick-shift car before in my life, and so this experience was a first! I think the VW jumped in the air about ten feet when I revved the engine and released the clutch <g>. It was not fun at all! Rod said it would be easy to drive the VW and not to make a big deal of it. We worked at Fort Ord and made trips to the Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation in his plane ... working as civilians dressed up looking like military guys. Rod was instrument rated and the scariest thing was landing in the Monterey fog at night with zero visibility. Talk about holding onto your seat!
Love this story, Calla. Thank you. What is old is new again. Your eye for these small details is extraordinary.
I also joined the nostalgia for that same era's small, efficient European cars, except mine was for the little Fiat Cinque Cento (Fiat 500 -also with movies in its honor).
That was because I was living in Italy at that same time and we were surrounded by what we called the "Dance of the Cinques" every Sunday. Entire Italian families would stuff themselves into this shoe-box car and take a drive around Lake Garda to pick up garlands of oranges and lemons, proudly displayed in the back windows.
Fiat brought back this small wonder a few years ago, a more updated and US safety-tested version, with only a hint of its original cuddly charm. But I was first in line to buy one, along with a few other lone souls in town who feel an immediate kinship when we pass. Yes, it is a rag top too. So far the old joke FIAT means Fix It Again, Tony has not proven true. It has been a great little town car, and not bad on the open roads either.
However, I can now make parking spaces out of nothing. And muse often what traffic would really be like if we were all was driving these little tin can cars, instead of the monster behemoths most now prefer.
Merci Elce! Yes, I remember a friend telling me about living in Rome with her Cinque Cento and four children loving to be stuffed into the little Fiat. I now drive a Mini Cooper and can always find a parking place! Her name is Puddle, because she can go anywhere. She's my best friend‼️Calla
One of the first translations of Santa Barbara Street names I learned, as a newcomer 50 years ago, was for Las Positas. The local translation was allegedly Little Puddles. https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/other/320037-positas.html