Postwar Studebakers

jljac

I like the movie Christine a lot and have a lot of sympathy for the guy who bought that car. Christine was the inspiration for the slide show I made about my Commander. Go to the bottom of this page and click on James Dean Road To Cholame Slide Show - http://stude.net/commander.html

berri

...except shouldn't that be Kristine or Kristina over there?

uplanderguy

I've seen that '63 photo of the dealership before...thinking it's in S.C. I could enjoy owning every car that's visible in that pic! Particularly, I'd love that black Gran Turismo Hawk. That badge at the bottom of the fender indicates Avanti power, either R1 or supercharged R2, very rare even then and desirable today.

fintail

I think that movie got to a lot of us.

I will never look under the front of a car with its hood up, and brace my hand on the overlap area where the hood closes :shades:

fintail

Does it only get oldies stations? I only listen to oldies in my car :shades:

fintail

That works. Thinking of that, I don't really have a name for my car, I just call it "fintail".

berri

I only listen to oldies in my car

Probably because so much of today's rock is either discordant rap or depressing new wave sorrow. Current rock 'n roll gave away the dominant market share to Nashville and Austin because of that.

fintail

I like 80s new wave, but it goes best in a period car. 80s MB SEC, yes.

In the modern car I will listen to music up into the 90s, but I am already an old fuddy duddy, and not much newer popular music gets me going. I do listen to some modern electronic music. Old car doesn't usually get out of the 70s, and works best with 60s of course - music from 1960-66 or works well in my car.

berri

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't really categorize today's rock as New Wave. It was more of an 80's/90's thing (although in the 80's I preferred the power rockers). Today's rock is just too whiny and everything seems to often just be down on something. Country rock meanwhile has moved over to more upbeat and easy themes like rock in the 60's. The 60's was an interesting era musically. Doo-Wop and Rockabilly then Surfer then Motown and British Invasion and finally underground and psychedelic came onto the scene. A lot of changes in a relatively short period of time

jljac

The 60's was an interesting era musically

I will never forget seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964. I was in sixth grade thinking about holding a girl's hand and they were singing about it. WOW, the look, the hair, the suits, the sound and the great music all in one package. It was not just one guy singing a song somebody else wrote supported by a back-up band. There were so many things to see when they performed. My sister switched the choice of her favorite Beatle on a regular basis and had a great collection of Beatle cards that were sold like baseball cards.

Because we have so many TV and radio stations today, we will probably not have a nation-wide shared experience like that again for any one musical group or person. They broke up during my final year of high school, so they were my sound track for my teen age years.

Returning to cars, the radio in my Studebaker Commander still works and it has never been repaired . . .or if it was repaired, that happened before 1979 when I got it. I also have an old refrigerator that was made during the Beatles era. I only keep it as a back-up to see how long it lasts and because it keeps ice cream at exactly the right temperature. Not too hard, not too soft. The old ones are so much more durable than the new ones.

My family had a natural gas powered refrigerator that we got from my grandmother and it was still working when we got rid of it about 15 years later. We never had to worry about the electric power going out with that baby!

fintail

Luckily, with satellite radio and digital music players, I can just kind of avoid most of the whiny modern stuff. I don't feel like I am missing much. Pop music might have kind of peaked in the 60s, maybe similar to cars.

My first car, a 66 Galaxie, went well with Motown. The fintail works with stuff up until the early British Invasion, IMO.

fintail

My grandparents bought the house where my grandmother still lives, new, ~50 years ago. At that time, they bought a fridge for use in the garage, which is still there and works fine. The house has several original appliances too, but the wall oven and fridge finally started going out a few years ago,and were replaced. I bet we won't see that service life out of new stuff.

My fintail has a Becker Europa made in 1964 (at the time, MBs didn't have factory installed radios, they were usually a dealer installed option), I had it refurbished a few years ago, it works fantastic.

berri

You certainly won't get that kind of life out of today's appliances with their Chinese crap parts. That's the fallacy to the government inflation CPI statistics. The price may not be rising a lot, but if it lasts half as long - that's unrecognized inflation. At least today's cars are much better built and longer lasting.

berri

I always liked those fintail coupes; very distinctive looking - but I'm thinking Dion and the Four Seasons might play better in something slathered in chrome - just kidding!

fintail

I associate some cars and music - for me, Four Seasons are definitely a 62-64 Impala.

For a MB, a W111 fintail sedan or coupe is slathered with chrome. The most flamboyant postwar design the company has had. The coupe is a 1961 car and sedans were new in 59, so they are of the period.

I like the song "Telstar" to go with the fintail, a very modern and high tech piece, just like the fintail was.

jljac

I associate some cars and music - for me, Four Seasons are definitely a 62-64 Impala.

For the Chevy Impala think of, She's Real Fine My 409.

When Paul McCartney released Helen Wheels around 1973, I thought he was singing, "Yellow Wheels" which I associated with my yellow 1960 Lark which in turn led to me painting the 1955 Messerschmitt yellow when I was in the Army in Germany.

I had a portable 8 track player in the Messerschmitt and used to play that song loud and often during trips. As good traveling songs, I also liked Born to Be Wild, Baby Driver and, (after a few beers), that Creedence Clearwater Revival song that goes, “There’s the Bathroom on the Right.”

fintail

409 makes me think of a bubbletop for some reason. I don't know what would fit in a Messerschmitt - maybe WW2 German music :shades:

Most 1960-early 70s popular music is good for driving in a vintage car. Although I imagine the fintail's original owner listening to Perry Como or similar.

berri

Funny, I always thought of the Four Seasons as a GM band too, although a bit more upscale say Pontiac or Olds. Since they're from NJ I wonder if in real life they were Lincoln people though? Now Dion - that's gotta be a big finned Caddy!

Telstar is a neat instrumental from that time era - maybe 1962 (although I believe the band was actually UK).

jljac

Sorry, but I don't a connection between the 409 song and any type of foreign car. My Schmitt motor only has 198 cc's. I wish it had 409 cc's.

The 409 song a drag racing song from Little Deuce Coupe, one of the great car albums of all time Listen here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI_w0XPPBRw

fintail

Yes, I know what a 409 is :P - I meant a "bubbletop" like a 61 Impala, not a microcar.

fintail

For some reason I see the fullsize GM hardtops big in the NY/NJ area in the mid 60s, and I imagine the Four Seasons were huge then and there, so it fits for me. Dion makes me think of Christine, as I think one of his songs was used then.

Telstar was maybe the first successful electronic/synthesized piece, ahead of its time.

bhill2

I don't know what would fit in a Messerschmitt - maybe WW2 German music

Well, the Beatles performed in Germany quite a bit during their early years. Some of the performances were in German. That might work. Probably depends on the age of the Messerschmitt.

fintail

Oh yeah, I've heard the German Beatles songs. Those would work for the fintail, too. I've also heard German Supremes songs.

jljac

Sorry, I never heard of a Chevy being called a "bubble top." Schmitts are often called "bubble tops" or "bubble cars. "

If an American car had that title, it should be the 1955 or 56 Ford Crown Victoria, but only half the roof was a bubble, not the whole thing.

fintail

These, due to their curved roofline, curved and thin pillars with huge glass area, are nicknamed "bubbletops" (62 Bel Air sport coupe, too)



The Fords are "glasstops", IIRC.

jljac

I like most Beatles songs, but the German versions are pretty bad, especially Sie Lieb Dich, Ja, Ja, Ja." (Note: Dich is pronounced "dick'")

In the the defense of the Beatles, some German songs were even worse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_suche_Dich. No way I did I drive around around paying that one when I was in Germany. :lemon:

jljac

Somehow, that red 1961 Chevy with the big back window looks similar to something I have seen before.

Oh year, I remember now.

texases

Also "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"...

fintail

The C-pillar/rear window/rear windshield relationship on those reminds me of these:

fintail

Haha yeah I can hear that, the songs are on youtube too. The Supremes in German is also kind of brutal, it's as bad as my spoken German :shades: