Well, I don't ever remember ever naming my cars. What name would you give a Buick? But, I have named my trombones. My bass with the big yellow brass bell and the double triggers is called, The General. And when I play a low trigger C or B below the staff it sounds like chocolate pudding. Mellow and sweet.
I recall my great-grand-father's 40 something model Ford pickup was Nellie-Belle. And yes, Grandma did make some great choclolat pudding, long before the instant stuff......
My mom still makes a heck of a good homemade chocolate pudding...it's hard to wait for it to cool down enough (but it's good warm) so you can eat it. I have her recipe but somehow, I can't get mine the same.
Was it on "Mad About You" that the wife just could never make a pumpkin pie as good as her husband's mother? She tried every recipe she could find for serveral years and it was never as good as "Mom makes." And then one year she finally just gives up and opens a can of pumpkin and pours it in a store bought pie crust and throws it in the oven. When the husband eats this pie he exclaims, "You fianlly did it! This is the same great pumpkin pie that Mom makes..."
Wasn't there an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" where the mother-in-law gave the wife the recipe and all of the ingredients but she still could not get it right. Then the wife finds one of the bottles of spice had a cover-up label on it...dearest mom-in-law had sabotaged the whole thing with a switch-a-roni! Gotta love the security of those secret recipes!
I drove a 66 red Volkswagen Beetle for several years in the early 80's. I called it Sally-Anna. I loved that little car. I commuted to downtown LA in her every day (62 miles one way). I could zip in and out of traffic like you wouldn't believe!
I too had a little red VW bug. I think a 67 or 68. I commuted to college one year, about 50 miles each way and this was an attempt to save on gas. It was a great little car with white and yellow custom pin strips and chrome reverse mag wheels. I actually floated in it, for a very sort distance one day. During a very heavy rain on a four lane in a town with high curbs, I was going around a semi and met another at the same time. It was weird to actaully feel your car lift up off the road and bob around for a little bit unitl the waves created by the big trucks faded away. That little car would go just about anywhere..just roll down the windows and turn up the eight track.
Actually, I remembered to push the clutch in immediately. I popped the clutch, spun it around and took off before traffic got close. Best part about the old VW's is you could drag race people from stop lights and they never knew you were racing them.
Are they still producing the original VW Bug down in Mexico or has this stopped since the new and improved Bug (with the water cooled motor up front) went into production?
I thought I read that production stopped this past summer. May be wrong though. The original bug has remained a big seller in third world countries and has even been popular in CA, after being federalized. My dad bought a new VW in 1955 in England, drove it there for 2 years, then had it shipped here when we returned to the states. He sold it for $200 more than he paid for it. I wish I had that bug.
Nope, it's the new bug now. When we were down in central Mexico last month, you should have seen all the old style bugs driving around. Seems everybody made an "investment" of the old ones since they weren't going to be producing them anymore. I'm sure they will be a hot commodity north of the border in a year or two when collectors here are looking for them. At that time gas was equal to $5US per gallon so it was rare to see a van, suv or large vehicle of any kind. Made the trip from the airport with luggage interesting!
Speaking of old cars being investments... did anyone watch any of the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction over the weekend. Mostly old muscle cars but I don't recall many that sold for less than $100,000. There was one plain jane hemi 'cuda that sold for $500,000. They were going to have Carole Shelby's personal Cobra (800 hp) later in the day, but I just couldn't stay with the program that long.
I heard Shelby's Cobra went for 5 mil. Just a little beyond my 401k.
The older hemi's are so popular anything that has one, even if not original to the car, is going for big bucks. A well restored clone will go for $100k easily. If it's numbers matching, $300k and up. I loved the Road Runners when I was in HS, but my favorite muscle car was the GTO. Some day.......
Wow... $5 million for a car. Guess these vehicles are replacing art for the old hippy generation to invest in. I was fortunate enough to have 440 Magnum Dodge Charger (not a hemi) and a GTO. The Goat had a higher top end but I believe the Charger would get to its top speed quicker. I must admint that I got a kick out of a big portion of this program being sponsored by Ford and even while they were interviewing Mr. Ford it was the hemi's and corvetts that were on stage bringing in the big bucks. Looks like they would have timed his interview to be when the Shelby Mustangs were going through.
Yep... it would have been fun. The town were I grew up had an abandoned WWII Army Air Corps training base just out of the city limits. There were long runways all over the place. The local Sheriff Dept. knew us kids were dragging on them but as long as were safe and no one was injured they left us alone. There were serious drag races on the weekends with trophies and everything, but the local kids came out at night during the week. You never knew who would be there or how hot the cars would be. I learned early on if the car next to you sounded like it would struggle to make it through the quarter mile, this was either factual or it would blow your doors off. Alot of Mom and Pop cars "got the soot blown out of them" once a week or so. Sometimes we would gather at the local drive-in/burger joint and someone would drive by or pull up next to you and challenge you in the quarter mile. Guess we were really lucky in that no one was ever hurt and no one blew up their parents motor, as least that I am aware of. Speaking of Malibu's... we have my young brides 71 Chevelle Malibu setting in our driveway at home. This was her college vehicle It has a relatively new 350 (less than 10K miles) in it and a new paint job. My youngest son has laid claim to this car.
I had my Malibu for 6 years and would still have it, but I needed a larger vehicle in the early 90s for my growing family and the wife told me i order to get a minivan, I had to trade my car for it. I did so reluctantly. Those Malibu's were light and it had about 325 horse - the engine builder was a local guy who was big on the NHRA scene in the 60s and knew his stuff. It was bored out .030, had a Perfomer aluminum intake, Holley 650, hot cam, and modified tranny. Even with the stock 229 rear end I could chirp the tires in 2nd gear. I bet it had a high top speed with those gears. Oh, and polution control? What polution control. My brother worked for a local township, and reported to the police department. One day he had my car behind the police station doing smoky burnouts for the cops. I drove carefully through that town after that. Good times.
No sir... not me... someone that is nearly as big around as he is tall would never do such a thing.... However, you know the ole saying: "If the shoe fits... you didn't buy it at Wal-Mart"
Comments
They had a '57 Ford named Betsy who gathered dust in the garage for about 20 years. My oldest brother now owns it and puts it in car shows.
My brother in law drove a 2003 Camaro named Rosie because she was a whole lotta woman. (meaning fast, I suppose?)
About 10 years ago I drove a '76 Thunderbird we named Shaft. He was a bad mutha'. That was my favorite car name.
Oh...if only I had remembered to put oil in her.
Nae
The older hemi's are so popular anything that has one, even if not original to the car, is going for big bucks. A well restored clone will go for $100k easily. If it's numbers matching, $300k and up. I loved the Road Runners when I was in HS, but my favorite muscle car was the GTO. Some day.......
I was fortunate enough to have 440 Magnum Dodge Charger (not a hemi) and a GTO. The Goat had a higher top end but I believe the Charger would get to its top speed quicker. I must admint that I got a kick out of a big portion of this program being sponsored by Ford and even while they were interviewing Mr. Ford it was the hemi's and corvetts that were on stage bringing in the big bucks. Looks like they would have timed his interview to be when the Shelby Mustangs were going through.
Speaking of Malibu's... we have my young brides 71 Chevelle Malibu setting in our driveway at home. This was her college vehicle It has a relatively new 350 (less than 10K miles) in it and a new paint job. My youngest son has laid claim to this car.
Second car was a '63 Falcon convertible, white on white with red interior.
Neither were very reliable, (both 20+ years old when I had them) let alone win any races, but they were darn cute...
I heard she was gonna try out for the Forum Band...
However, you know the ole saying: "If the shoe fits... you didn't buy it at Wal-Mart"
Oh, wait a minute...
Man, somebody revived it just now.
We already formed a band. How about creating the lyrics for our first song? Not my strong point, but here goes;
Ooooh ooooh, yeah yeah yeah, wooooaaaaahhhhhhh.
I said, ooooh, yeeeaaahhh, wooaaahhhhh.
Ray a?