Wednesday, May 25, 2022

The Way We Were Wednesday - Rather Long and Narrow



 We ran across this 1964 Comet convertible on King Street a few weeks ago on a wonderful sunny Sunday afternoon.  I was shocked by how long and narrow it is.  The hood the the trunk are five feet long, almost as long as the car is wide.  It is in amazing condition, cars of that era were not built to last.  The underside of the metal panels were not painted or treated to stop rust and corrosion, the cars often rotted from the inside out.  This one has either been carefully stored, or she has had work done.  Maybe a lot of both.  It is easy to pour far more money into a car like this, than it will ever be worth.  But how fun.  Most likely it someone's grandmother's only driven for a few weeks each summer and carefully garaged the rest of the year.  My grandmother's never owned anything like this.  My mother's parents retired early and lived with very little money.  My father's parents bought a new car every 2 or 3 years from the end of World War II until they stopped driving.  But the cars were always as simple of a full size Ford or Mercury as they could buy.  After my grandfather died, my grandmother splurged on a couple of flashy cars. The first one was some special edition Mercury that she only kept a couple of years. It was a two door and the big long doors become difficult.  It was traded for a huge Buick 4 door that she kept until she stopped driving, about 10 years and only about 40,000 miles.  It was long and wide (and great fun to drive.) 

11 comments:

  1. I haven’t seen a Comet in ages. I forgot how long those old car door, like on the Mercury, could be.

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    1. Even my litle VW, the long doors make parking a challenge

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  2. Anonymous5/25/2022

    I love these old cars. I believe they don't handle well but who cares when they are so smooth, quiet and comfortable. It was very disappointing to see cars like we drive here in NYC and not the monsters floating around the streets.

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    1. In the middle of the market, cars have become very world products. Tiny cars are not as popular here, and we have the largest of the large trucks and SUVs

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  3. Oh man, she's a beauty!

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  4. I love a good land yacht that I can break out the head scarf for.

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    1. Looks like fun, I can see you doing that

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  5. Seeing cars like this always bring back memories.

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    Replies
    1. You had a convertible of about that era

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  6. Car love is lost on me. Unless it's a green car. Green cars rock!

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