I considered my license plate number as my FReeper handle.
Posted on 05/10/2006 4:48:01 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jabari Bryant didn't go to a car dealership to buy his new car last fall. The 28-year-old went to a retirement community in Tybee Island, Ga., where for $2,000 he bought a navy blue 1988 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham from a man who was "at least 83."
The seller said "his eyesight was going and he had no use for the car," recalls Mr. Bryant, an automobile glass installer from Savannah.
Young people today don't want their father's Oldsmobile -- they want their grandfather's. Some of the hippest wheels for under-30 drivers today are models commonly identified with seniors: Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Chevrolets and Cadillacs from the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
From Collins Ave. in Miami Beach's South Beach neighborhood to International Blvd. in Oakland, Calif., teens and young adults are cruising in "grandpa" and "grandma" cars that they have painted bright colors like lime green, outfitted with fancy sound systems and propped up on monster-truck-style wheels. They're sweet-talking their grandparents into giving up old cars and offering to buy them on the spot from strangers.
Television shows, such as MTV's "Pimp My Ride," and rappers, including Snoop Dogg, are helping to drive the craze. There's even a new magazine, Donk, Box & Bubble, dedicated to the tricked-out-oldie-car culture.
For U.S. car makers, struggling to lift sales, it's a painful irony that the models striking a chord with young buyers aren't those rolling off the assembly lines today but rather ones made decades ago. Detroit's marketers are trying to figure out how to ride the trend without ruining it.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Me, too!
my grandmothers car was just like that, but it was lime green, with a black vinyl roof, black interior. I loved that car. It was her last car she bought. I wish I had it.
My first drive was a 1964 Chrysler New Yorker. It was big and comfortable. I called it the Yacht because that's what it felt like trying to park it sometimes. But I felt safe driving it! (This was in 1980-1981, when there were a lot of little Hondas and Toyotas on the road).
My 68 Dodge Charger runs beautifully.
I considered my license plate number as my FReeper handle.
Excellent examples!
of course, I'd throw in the AC Cobra and the C6 Corvette as well :)
but the E-type remains as the most beautiful car ever made.
The "Shaggin' Wagon"?
My wife still has the first car she ever owned...a 1971 Volkswagon Superbeetle. She bought it in 1976 when she graduated from high school, from her sister who had purchased it new.
We would drive around the various hotels and pick up the dirty linen, take it to the laundry a few miles away then deliver fresh linen.
That old Corvair was tough as we gave it a hard time. It would hold quite a bit more than a regular pickup.
No one's mentioned my first car yet -
'66 Pontiac Le Mans convertible, midnight blue with a white top! It was a boat, and hard to keep under 50 mph. About 8 miles per gallon, and I remember the first time that it took more than $5.00 to fill the tank! What a shock!
Pretty good. See my post #57. Also the first and only car my wife has owned. Her parents helped her buy it after she graduated HS in 71.
As I recall the Super Beatle was a pretty good car.
Nice car. I've looked at the Superformance. That and a 32 Highboy knockoff and I'd be a happy camper.
Try the late 1960s when they had 396 ci V-8s. Usually blue with double-wide white stripes running down the center length of the car.
So did my Great Aunt! They had a "Square" reputation but they were underrated IMO.
Yes: they are big and comfortable. In the earlier years they didnt sculpt the seats, and they would seat 6 well. When they started sculpting the seats they made them great for 4 people but with 6 two people have to ride the hump.
Any of those cars would be hot today.
You said Valiant!
Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.
It would run tho.
Kind of fun, huh? Been 10-7 EOW since 1988 and still miss it!
the one she had did not quite look like that. it was more just square. and it was black.
That model car has been referred to as the 'roach'.
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