Last year, I posted the first of this series, in which I lamented the disappearance of beautiful cars and lovely women from teenage boys’ bedroom walls. That post featured a couple Ferraris and Lucy Pinder.
Here’s another such coupling [sic]. First, two cars of the Corvette persuasion:
…and second, one of the pinups who might have appeared on the opposite wall:
As the old saying went: “Farrah Fawcett: creating pup-tents in teenage boys’ beds since the 1970s.”
And as an older woman:
Via email, Reader Jim L. took issue with me on this post (Tinkering With A Dream), saying, “That’s an easy way out. Almost ALL old cars would be great with modern technology. Which old car would you choose if you COULDN’T put in modern tech?”
Okay, challenge accepted. Just to make things more difficult for myself, I’ve excluded the original E-type, Dino and Merc 300 from the choices because even in their original offerings, they would occupy the top three slots anyway. Also, I’ve included reliability and (reasonably-) low maintenance in the criteria (so bye-bye to Alfa, Fiat, Lancia etc.). But above all, the cars have to have charm, beauty and charisma.
Assuming then that the car was in its contemporaneous showroom condition, here are my Top 6 Old Dream Cars:
1958 BMW 507
No need to add or subtract anything. The only reason that BMW didn’t flood the market with these exquisite cars is because of its exorbitant price ($98k in 2020 dollars); but by modern standards, it would be a bargain. Today, even a clapped-out old 507 will fetch well over a million spondulicks (which says it all, really). It was, and is, one of the most beautiful sports cars ever made, and it’s noteworthy that the few secondhand models still around have very high mileage on the tach.
1956 Citroën Traction Avant 15/H
The pre-war models were admittedly underpowered (not for the time, though), but by the late 1950s its 2.9-liter six-cylinder engine was tops. (The “H” in the description denotes that the car was fitted with Citroën’s hydro-pneumatic suspension, which made it the most comfortable ride back then, and maybe still even by today’s standards.) The TA was and still is wonderfully reliable, and in this old Frog limo I’d tour the country — any country — without a qualm.
1967 Monteverdi High Speed 375
Let’s see: Swiss steel and manufacturing, Italian styling and an American engine (to be specific, Chrysler’s honking big-block 7.2-liter V8 putting out 375hp). Find fault with any of those, I dare ya — and the combination was (and is) irresistible. The only thing I don’t like about the Monteverdi is that it came only with automatic transmission — but in a tourer, that’s not too much of a compromise, really.
1969 Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3
More power than anyone would ever need off a racetrack (yes, a 6.3-liter engine with serious grunt), matchless reliability (built back in the day when engineering was Job #1 at Mercedes), and classic good looks. The 6.3 actually created the “high performance” category of large luxury cars, and it took most other manufacturers nearly a decade to catch up properly.
1965 Mercedes 230 SL
Okay, this one’s as much for New Wife as for me, but I’d still take one for myself in a heartbeat. It’s not a performance car by any definition, but it’s quick enough, and comfortable enough, and reliable in spades. And lest we forget, it looks classy and elegant.
1963 Porsche 356 C Carrera 2
The last of the 356 line before being replaced by the 911, this one had Porsche’s 2-liter flat-four engine. What it also had (and has) is wonderful reliability and driving pleasure. What it doesn’t have (or need) is power anything, electronics and all the modern and mostly unnecessary crap that makes my nose twitch.
So there you have it: six old cars, unaltered, out of the box, no changes necessary. I would take all of them, in a heartbeat, and if forced to take only one, I’d roll the die and be perfectly satisfied with whichever number came up.
As many people know, Chile is one of my favorite countries on Earth; so when I saw that the Commies had been routed in the last elections there, I did a little Happy Dance:
Chile’s most prominent right-wing party has romped an election on Sunday night aimed at selecting members for the constitutional assembly responsible for drafting the country’s new constitution.
The assembly was tasked with creating a new constitution to replace the one that was implemented during the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet which many credited for making Chile the most prosperous country in the region.
Needless to say, the Commies wanted to get rid of this horrible thing because Commies:
A draft by a predominantly left-wing assembly was overwhelmingly rejected in a national referendum. The draft had proposed numerous changes, including replacing the Senate with a Chamber of Regions and recognizing Chile as a “plurinational state,” granting indigenous groups additional rights and guarantees.
It also guaranteed several social benefits and environmental standards, making it one of the most progressive constitutions worldwide.
But unfortunately for them:
The proposal was turned down by 62 percent of voters in September 2022, prompting the latest election.
The Republican Party, led by conservative firebrand José Antonio Kast, emerged victorious with 22 seats after winning over 35 percent of the votes.
Here’s what happens next:
The assembly will now face the challenging task of reconciling the conservative majority’s ideas with the demand for change that sparked the process. Starting from June, the newly appointed constitutional councilors will have a four-month window to deliberate, converse, and implement alterations to a new constitution.
A final decision from the voters on the redraft will be made via another vote in December. If Chileans reject the updated constitution, the country will retain its previous Pinochet-era constitution.
Looks good for our side, huh? A decisive (conservative) majority is about to set about making changes to the national constitution, if needed.
Well, the Left aren’t going to let a little thing like a popular majority interfere with their plans, of course. So in typical fashion, they’ve responded the way they always do in such situations:
Unidentified hooded men attacked the home of conservative Republican Party lawmaker Héctor Urban on Tuesday evening. Urban was recently elected to help draft a new constitution for Chile.
The attack at Urban’s residence took place hours after a group of unidentified men set a vehicle on fire that belonged to the local Victoria Municipality and opened fire on the government official that drove the vehicle, seriously injuring one of his legs. Urban’s father, René Urban, a farmer who was presently working at the scene of the fire, also had his truck shot at but suffered no injuries.
Unknown assailants also attacked a police station in the town after the attack on Urban’s residence on Tuesday evening. Two members of Chile’s Carabineros law enforcement gendarmerie were reportedly injured with pellets.
Yeah, “unidentified gunmen” — probably some of those White Christian supremacist groups that we’re always hearing about.
These scumbags are the brothers-in-arms of those Leftist bastards who violently demonstrated outside the homes of our conservative Supreme Court justices and made death threats against them around the time of the Dobbs (anti-Roe v. Wade) decision.
And while we’re there:
...of course, she’s not really that ignorant — she’s just pushing the Party line. However:
...if A.I. is really that bad, we are truly fucked.
...I guess that “learn to code” advice wasn’t that good after all.
...errrr a little late for that now, innit?
...illustrated with a pic of a WHITE nurse? LOL
...doesn’t matter. Even if you’re caught driving without one, nothing happens to you. Sorta like shoplifting in San Francisco. [/Third World]
...sheesh, when you’ve lost even the gayboys, can ruin be far behind? Oh wait:
...how do you boycott something that’s already being boycotted? Is it a double-plus boycott?
Another report from Queer Wars:
...when asked to comment, Chuck Norris and Clint Eastwood both said: “Huh.”
...even without walking backwards, I should have the best memory in the Western world, if that’s what it takes.
...yup, always protect the identity of the rape victim.
And now is MOAR INSIGNIFICA:
...wait: women have orgasms? They’ll be wanting the vote, next.
And finally, in Sporting News:
…which will please Napoli’s number one fan, sportscaster Floriana Messina. Who she?
No wonder they won.
And that’s it for the news.
I may be stirring up a hornet’s nest here, but I assure you that this is not my intention. Over on YooChoob, some guy named Bear Independent has a go at the gun industry, claiming that they are “lying” to us gunnies. (It’s nearly half an hour long, so get some coffee and settle in.)
Basically, the executive summary is that he has come to realize that his gun hobby has cost him a lot of money, and he’s spent WAY more than he should have on all the different kinds of guns available. I know nothing about the man, but from what he says on the video I gather that he’s a prepper extraordinaire, and he has an awful lot of guns: guns of different types, of different calibers, and of different utility. (You can see them carefully racked on the wall behind him in the video.)
All those guns have essentially sprung from his need to be self-sufficient, in gun terms. Need to take a 1,000-yard shot? Got a gun for that. Clear a house of bad guys? Got one of those too. Close-range work? Check. Trench warfare? Yup… and so on and so on.
All his guns are meticulously camo’d up and worn in all the right places, denoting hours and hours and thousands of rounds of usage.
And after all that he’s come to realize that when the S finally does Hit The F, he really only needs one rifle — what he calls a “GPR” (general-purpose rifle) — which is essentially an AR-15 with a scope and night light. It’s very much “operatized”, to be sure, but it’s no different from any black rifle of that genus. Here’s what I’m talking about, more or less:
(One thing Bear says that I agree with is the need to own two identical guns — as he puts it, the best source of spares is a gun like the first.)
Now I had to laugh when he talks about how the gun industry “lies” to gun owners about all the guns it has to offer — basically, of course, it’s really catering to gun owners, or rather to their tastes and perceived needs. And the best way to do all this, from the manufacturers’ perspective, is by marketing the product(s), which means both primary advertising (in magazines etc.) and through third parties: originally, with gun writers like Petzal and Seyfried in Guns & Ammo, and now by YouTubers like GarandThumb and their ilk. There’s nothing new about this, it’s been going on ever since the gun industry started and there’s nothing wrong with it. (He himself sells Bear merchandise through his website, publicized, of course, through his channel, and there’s nothing wrong with any of that.)
Here’s the point. Nobody forces you to go down the rabbit-hole of your hobby — any hobby — your own fascination does. Are you a long-distance shooter? We have just the gun(s) and assorted gear for you. Are you a varminter? Say hello to Cooper Arms. Are you a hunter? Ho, do we have the right gun for you, says Winchester, Browning, Remington and the rest. Need a carry piece? Say hello to S&W, Ruger, Springfield Armory, SIG, and the rest of the alphabet soup.
Are you a… wannabe operator? Oh boy, say all the AR-15 makers and purveyors of allied products like slings (2-point or you’re nobody), scoped sights (red-dot? IR? we got you covered), telescoping stocks and on and on and on.
So on and on (and on) you go until one day you suddenly realize that you’ve just spent thousands and thousands of dollars on gun stuff, when all you need to combat the Zombie Apocalypse is a single rifle that you’re very familiar with — and just like that, you become a one-gun man, philosophically at least. You’re no different from the old Fudd living in the Pennsylvania hills who owns but one Marlin .30-30 lever gun because that’s all he needs to fill his annual deer tag.
(Look on the bright side: instead of being a chastened wannabe-operator who has twenty guns he doesn’t really need, at least he didn’t decide to be a dedicated bird shooter — because in that world you could drop well over a quarter-million bucks on just five guns, none of which can take a 30-round magazine or a red-dot scope. By design.)
The same, of course, is true of hunting: plains rifles, deep-woods rifles, bighorn sheep rifles, African dangerous game rifles… you get my drift. Unless you’re like Mr. Free Market, who has done (and plans to do still more of) all those kinds of hunting — and has the necessary wallet to do so — you’re not going to get one of each kind, UNLESS: there’s a faint chance that one day someone will invite you to go hunting with them, and you don’t have the proper equipment to do so. (Don’t even get me started on the different calibers…)
Which is precisely the situation our self-sufficient prepper finds himself in.
Me? I’m not an operator, never been one except when I had to be, and now I’m at the age when all that is behind me. I carry one handgun, a 1911 (okay, and occasionally a .38 S&W snubbie as backup); for “social work” I have one very reliable semi-auto rifle of Communist origin, and if I feel like plinking there’s a sufficient number of rifles and handguns in Ye Old Musket Sayfe. I’m unlikely ever to go hunting again — I’m too old for the exertion and frankly, I’ve killed enough animals to satisfy me — so other than the odd .30-30 Winchester lever gun and single-shot .45-70 Browning 1885, I don’t have a “proper” hunting rifle anymore. (When my lovely scoped CZ 550 6.5x55mm disappeared in the Great Gun Theft Of 2021, I never replaced it.)
My gun hobby is, as any Loyal Reader knows well, a weakness for old military bolt-action rifles, which take up the rest of the safe — but I’m unlikely ever to add to them because, well, over the years I’ve owned enough and fired them all — and moreover, my old eyes are too crap to use their iron sights anymore. One day I’ll just go to the local pawn shop and offload them all, the ones that the Son&Heir doesn’t want, anyway.
But after all that swimming in the pool of gunny goodness, none of it is the fault of the gun industry. I did it all by myself.
And oh yeah, I still get the urge to buy a new gun, even after all that. It may be a good thing I can’t afford to satisfy that urge, or else… there’s this one.
After sixty-odd years, they still call to me. [sigh]
But it’s not Mauser’s fault. Damn them.
Your suggestions in Comments.