Old cars and pickups

Seems like when we get old one's passions are to recapture our younger days. Most of us had toys from our youth that we fell in love with. For many it's a special gun like the old pump shotgun with a hammer. For some it's baseball cards or comic magazines. A cousin of mine collects those peddle tractors. Not sure how many he has, but it's a bunch of them. Marge's dad collected ballpoint pens. Keith literally had thousands of them. I liked books, such as the Zane Grey books. But for some it's an old car. Jay Leno is said to have a whole stable of old restored cars and such. The way it sounds they are all in like-new condition. It would be fun to just walk through and check them out.

A friend of mine in Scott City has a restored Mustang, probably around a 1965 or so. I'm not sure exactly what year. He's done quite a bit of work and then gave it a new paint job. Pretty slick old car. Another friend has a souped-up Mustang with something like a 426 motor in it. Just the mere thought of it conjures up going fast and squealing tires and speeding tickets. It is a neat car. Another friend has a restored old pickup that has cost him an arm and a leg. He has so much money in it, it's probably not even fun to drive. I'd be afraid to drive it.

One show we like to watch on TV is Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." It is fun watching him go into some little hole-in-the-wall diner or drive-in or dive and sample some awesome food. We've watched it enough we can tell when the food is awesome or just ordinary. Guy pretty much always drives up in a red convertible Camaro I believe. I know it's not a Mustang. Camaro, I am pretty sure. You can tell he's proud of that old car.

Sylvester Stallone in "Cobra" drives an old 1950 Mercury which is an awesome car. It turns out that Stallone actually owns the car. They used some stunt double cars which they eventually wrecked. Stallone's car had a little more under the hood then the original. Neat car. One thing about those old cars like this one is they are heavy. They were made with real metal, and the metal was thick. No plastic or paper-thin metal in those old flivers.

Probably two iconic cars that stand out in my memory are the ones featured in the show about "The Dukes of Hazard" and "Smokey and the Bandit." Burt Reynolds drove a 1976 Pontiac Trans Am, and the Dukes drove a HEMI Orange 1969 Dodge Charger. My wife would love to have a Charger like that. A friend of mine owned a GTO, which I thought was pretty darn neat. I didn't want one, but I thought it was neat. Another was KITT in the series "Night Rider." KITT was a customized 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am sports model.

A friend of mine back in high school had probably a 1960-some-year Chevy Impala with a 327 motor. Bill's dad did some work on cars, so they probably souped it up. Man, it would run. I was riding with him way back when and glanced at the spedo, and it was hovering around 120. Way too fast for me. I was more used to an old '50ish model International four-wheel-drive that would climb a mountain if you had the time and patience.

There have been a few vehicles down through my life I have really enjoyed and would still like to own. One was a small Ford Bronco pickup. Neat outfit. It had a small pickup bed on it and was a two passenger rig. Another was an old Dodge or maybe a GMC pickup three-quarter ton that was probably around a 1950 model or so. I'm not even sure what year it was. Mick and I drove it for years as a work vehicle. It was never licensed after Dad bought it, because we just drove it on country roads in Nebraska.

I'd still like to have an old pickup, but then I'd also like an old M International. About the only thing I'd do with them would be to putt around and enjoy the drive. Kind of like I've always had a hankering to hunt off an old mule. I wouldn't want the pickup or the M all painted up pretty. I'd want it with 70 years of use showing in its paint job. I would like to have it running good though. I'm not a mechanic, and I sure wouldn't want to work on it every time I started it up.

Reenactors do this all the time. Some pick the time period when the mountain men were living in the mountains trapping beaver. Some pick the period around when Daniel Boone was walking this earth. It is enjoyable to wear the time period clothes, the old gun, the bedroll and even down to using an old corn boiler to make coffee in. There are times when I'm envious of those who live without the modern conveniences we have today.

One thing I really miss from those bygone days is the people. It seemed like back then men were men and women were women. Kids were made to mind, and they were taught the three Rs: reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. And those very kids grew up respecting their elders and their neighbors. A handshake sealed the deal, and it was better than a drawn-up piece of paper. Many of these old timers are gone, but if you look there are a few left. When you find one, they'll look you in the eye and even with the virus they'll shake your hand.