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I was just packing up at control central here at Peets in Half Moon Bay, when I see this old Dodge drive by the window and park in front of the super market next door. It’s driver is elderly, but very much not the “granny” mold. And it has a bike rack on the back of it! This is a regular driver, from all the evidence.
This is only a few parking spaces away from where the other elderly female driver parked her 1971 Opel Manta. Maybe I should stay here longer! Or was it the same driver?
26 Comments on “Curbside Classic CA Vacation Outtake Look What Just Pulled Into The Parking Lot Edition: 1948 Dodge...”
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I have to say, I am sooo loving this Paul! Thank you for for this series!!!
I second that! I love CC, and old still-useful cars in general.
Love the bike rack! I wouldn’t mind having one of the post ward Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, or Desoto models with the “Fluid Drive” transmission. I still think that was a great innovation that deserved further development.
Oh yeah, Dan, that was a great transmission. It had the disadvantage of a stick (the clutch pedal) and the disadvantage of an automatic (slow shifts, slow off the line). It’s no wonder they started putting Powerflite trannies in Chrysler products before the ’54 model year was over, and that only was for a couple of years until the 3-speed Torqueflite came along.
Could you stall it out? NO. Did you have to hold down the clutch and the brake at the same time on a hill and then try to figure out how to move forward without rolling into the a$$h@l* behind you? NO. I think it could have been improved, I hate manual tranmissions in hilly terrain in the city. Love them otherwise.
Wonderful! Wish I could have been there. And I love that it has a bike rack on it.
I notice the two vehicles parked to the right of the Dodge also have bike racks, on the roof. Makes me wonder if some cycling tour used this parking lot as an assembly point. It would be cool if the Dodge owner is riding a vintage three-speed while all the others are pedaling the latest mountain bikes.
Wonderful post as always Paul, always fascinating to see the range of cars still being driven on US roads, here in England I probably haven’t seen a car more than 20 years old for weeks, if not longer.
Not to rain on any parades, but “granny” drives a car that pollutes as much as 20 new cars – she should ride the bike more often.
Yeah, that’s what I always say whenever I see anyone preserving the past. I don’t admire them for not going into debt, for maximizing an item’s usability, for not succumbing to crass consumerism. Nope. I start waving the eco-Nazi brownshirt and attempt to humiliate them, accusing them of poisoning the planet and endangering my precious life.
Hopefully its running a fuel injected HEMI, but if not, how do you know, Shaker, that it is not electric conversion? There is a old lesson about assumptions.
The classic liberal attitude, so worried that someone somewhere is having too much fun and not paying enough taxes. Pay attention to your own decisions in life that you should not be a burden on the earth.
Careful with the stereotyping Fincar. I’m pretty liberal and so are a lot of friends of mine.
We all “pollute” on weekends driving our old cars.
I know there are a lot of folks on here who are liberals, but I don’t think that most of them would express sentiments such as shaker did, and I’m not really trying to irritate them, or you either. Stereotypes exist because there is some truth in them.
Well – just stirring the pot a little bit – I like old cars as well, but if you look though different lenses, you see different things. I stand by my statement that using this as a daily driver could demonstrate a lack of concern for resources and environment. That said, if she only drives it 1/20 as much as a person driving a new car (of course, we don’t know this), then it’s a wash, and I’m wrong in any sense that matters. Ahh well, just watch the South Park episode called “Pee”, and you’ll get where this ‘liberal’ is coming from.
The counter-argument would go something like this: 60 years for a single automobile’s lifespan negates any ills when one factors in just how many replacement cars could have been built and thrown-away in those 6 decades. Automobiles take a lot of resources to build. Pollution occurs in this phase as well.
Shaker, you’re probably not going to like my ’71 Alfa Spider with the dual webers very much then. I was going to say that I don’t care much for your bicycle blocking traffic either, but then I thought – hey – if you ride it every day for the 100 years you’re going to live, then it’ll probably just about offset the weekend drives I do with the top down.
Oh, and remember – no sugar in that multi-grain cereal you’re having for dinner. That stuff is bad for you.
Seriously, you need to get a life and stop worrying so much. Otherwise, when you get to the nursing home, all you’re going to have for memories is recollections of how virtuous you were.
I notice that any article, no matter how charming, will bring out a wet blanket or two. The scolds lie in wait for virtually anything. Anyway, here’s a thought, for what it’s worth. Might you be able to find a driver or two of these wonderful oldies to interview for a profile? I’d love to meet granny, for instance. (She’s probably just about my age, I’m guessing.)
I second that … what a good idea , find out why they are driving the car
I was just thinking the same when reading an earlier Curbside Classic. If the owner is available and approachable, a quick little blurb about them would be nice.
Good idea, when feasible. I approached her as she was getting out, and said “mind if I take a few shots” and she gave me a very dismissive look. Another driver, another time, perhaps; but not this one.
Were you holding the camera in plain sight when you asked the question?
I had a set of 1960 Buick wheel covers like that; ran them on half a dozen different cars. I wonder what color the ol’ Dodge was originally; I doubt that reefer white was one of the original choices. In the 70’s someone abandoned one of these on my father’s property; a two-door sedan with original black paint, lovely woodgrain dash and window moldings, and no rust. I hot-wired it and drove it home, discovering that it was about ready to throw a rod. Tracked down the title and sold it for 50 bucks. It was nice enough that it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s still around.
These were $100 specials when I was in high school. Some guys made them look pretty good.
Pretty bulletproof low powered drive train.
An original owner serviced one at the gas station I worked at.
They must have had 50 zerk fittings.
CC is the best.
The local service station next to my folks house used a pair of the old Fluid drive 48 Dodges as push cars to retrieve dead cars without the hassle of a wrecker. The front bumpers were wrapped in 2″ hawser rope as a cushion. Or if need be a tow rope. Try doing that with a Charger. The sedan wasnt much, but the business coupe was bee-yoot- tee-full.
It is definitely a daily driver. I see the car on the road periodically as I head to work from Pacifica. With the bike usually attached.