Sarah and I went to a car show this past weekend called Artomobilia. The show had over 200 cars and had a great mix of older and newer cars. I'm a big fan of racing and cars so I thought it was pretty cool to see all of the unique cars, many of which you don't see that often (or ever) in day to day life. Of most interest to me was there were a number of supercars present.
With few exceptions, I don't know much about the history of most older cars. However I still enjoy seeing them if for no other reason than to look at how they are designed compared to newer cars. Most designs of older cars seem quite goofy to me and don't make a lot of sense. It's amazing how far the automobile industry has come in design, comfort, and safety.
This 1929 Packard is a great example of what I'm talking about. A beautiful car for sure, but as Sarah appropriately asked, "Why are the headlights so big? Were they trying to light a football field?" Check out the vents for cooling the engine and the mirrors attached to the spare tire. Also one of my favorite features of older cars are the hood ornaments, some of which are quite fancy.
These Lotus Elise cars are cool for sure, but with no amenities and pricing around $50k, why would you buy this car when a similar priced Corvette (a bit more expensive) would eat one alive on the track?
"Marty! I've made a time machine out of a DeLorean!" They had six DeLoreans there. Amusing if nothing else.
The Ferrari 599, one of the most stunning cars I've ever seen.
These two Lamborghini's are just obnoxious.
Corvette row.
Ford GT. The license plate read "207 mph". I thought that was appropriate.
The front and rear of the absurd Ferrari 458, which is one of my favorite cars for sure. Easily one of Maranello's finest.
This is a picture of me in a Ferrari. I could barely get in and out, and as I was sitting in the driver spot my knees were almost higher than the steering wheel and were hitting all of the knobs coming out of the steering column. I could drive this thing for about a block before I'd have to get out and stretch.
Sarah's dream car, the Aston Martin DBs.
There were other cool cars and I've got tons of more pictures, but I can only post a limited number here. I've posted my favorite cars from the event. Being around all of these cool cars made me want to take them all for a test drive! Obviously that couldn't happen so I did the next best thing: Go home and play Gran Turismo 5!
The '29 Packard had such big headlights because the lightbulbs gave off very little light. The rest of the headlight acted as a reflector to throw more light forward of the car. We have flashlights now that are brighter than those lights were! auntie 502
ReplyDeleteYeah I figured the reason why they were so big was because they weren't very bright. I told Sarah the headlights on my car are significantly smaller and probably 100s of times brighter.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure cars of that era were not safe at all. Of course I don't know how fast they could go. It was pretty interesting to see how many of the older cars didn't have any seat belts.
That era? Seatbelts weren't common in cars until the late 60's or early 70's. Our brand new 1978 Ford Fairmont didn't have shoulder belts yet!
ReplyDeleteI'd still put all of the heavy metal in those cars of the 30's or 40's against anything new on the roads now in a head on crash. They would send today's flimsy cars flying. Of course, I wouldn't want to be in the old car to see if I could "survive" one of those crashes! I love having all of the airbags that surround me in my truck.
Yeah they had a fair number of cars there with lap belts only.
ReplyDeleteThey had an old Cadillac there that was 19 feet long and weighed 5,000 pounds!
5,000 lbs! Do you remember what year(s)that was? (or were?) I'm guessing that their mpg weren't anything to brag about! :)
ReplyDeleteLap belts weren't required until mid - late 60s. Earliest car I remember them in was a 1960 car and I would bet it was optional. Around that time the average car weighed about 3000 lbs and any thing over 10 mpg was considered good. We had a car with a bad gas gauge and we just assumed 10 mpg. Never ran out of gas but had to put quite a bit of fuel at fill ups.
ReplyDelete@Auntie: I think the Cadillac was from the early 1950s.
ReplyDelete@Joe: Earliest I can remember is when you didn't have to wear a seat belt if you were in a truck. Cars today probably weigh around 3,000 pounds don't they? Ten mpg is terrible by the way.
Don't remember the exact years, but putting seat belts in cars was required mid-60s. Requirement to wear them didn't come until the 90s and then it wasn't required for trucks, don't think that happened until mid 00s. I'm not sure but I think most cars now are in the 2000-2500 lb range. The 24 gal tank of the 60s cost less than $8 to fill up.
ReplyDelete$8 for 24 gallons! That would get about two gallons today. Seems like when I started driving 12 years ago gas was about $1/gallon, maybe 10-20 cents more. A lot has changed in the past decade.
ReplyDelete@Joe: According to a Honda press release, the curb weight on my car is 3,400 pounds, and my car is small.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised about the weight. The main way fuel mileage is improved is by taking weight out.
ReplyDelete@Joe: Weight and more efficient engines. After driving my Cavalier I said that I would never have a 4 cylinder car again, but the 4 cylinder engines in today's car are much better than they used to be. My car's 4 cylinder engine puts out 201 horsepower, which is 60 more bhp than the 6 cylinder engine that was in my Pontiac. My car gets mid-30s mpg on highway. The model I own comes in a 6 cylinder but I have no idea why you would get it. It has higher up-front costs and is more expensive to drive and maintain. And I get wheel spin as it is with my 4 cylinder and it's front wheel drive so it isn't like power is a problem.
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