Different strokes for different folks. The idiom certainly applies to almost everything ventured by humanity, but I’ve never understood how someone could own a beautiful (or ugly) antique car and leave it hanging out in the garage. The itch to drive would be unbearable. My days of using my ’65 Mustang as a warm weather daily driver are certainly over, but there’s still very little in our imperfect world that’s better than the view over an old car’s hood.
Living in the winter wasteland that is Michigan is a blessing and a curse. Although I get to enjoy my old cars only about seven months a year, this absence almost certainly makes the heart grown fonder. This picture of my Mustang’s long hood is from 2006, just a month before I tore it down to a bare shell and spent four years doing metalwork, interior, and paint. This is on I-75 South, and it reminds me of how great a freeway car the Mustang is.
Here we are again, post-overhaul, on M-115 in Northern Michigan, near Cadillac. It still loves the open road, but I might have gotten a little greedy last year. The original 289 just got too tired, so I added a little juice when I rebuilt the engine. Unfortunately, the current combination of headers and mufflers creates a hellacious exhaust drone at 60. Ouch!
My Corvair is also a decent highway car. I generally hate driving in the rain in an old car (visions of rust are always dancing in my head); but last year, my dad and I got caught in a downpour of epic proportions. This old convertible definitely leaks, so I’ll take the conditions shown in the lead photo–a nice sunset and a dry road.
The Corvair gets the best mileage of my fleet, but driving for more than an hour or so is torture; I’m recovering the seats this summer and adding seat extenders. I don’t believe late Corvairs were made for six-footers.
On the other hand, my ’53 Buick is plenty nice to drive, but can also be tiring on longer trips. First, it has bias-ply tires, so it follows the grooves in the road. Second, it doesn’t feel very comfortable cruising at more than 60, so I’m always mirror driving. Finally, it gets no more than 15 MPG, and that’s a miracle if it happens. I reserve this beautiful anachronism for shorter trips.
It’s also fun to take it to cruise nights, where it’s like a flying saucer amidst a sea of Chevelles, Mustangs, Camaros, and Novas.
I’ve saved my best highway car for last. My ’65 Skylark has a 300-cubic-inch V8 with a Carter AFB and 2.78 gears in the back. It can cruise all day at any speed traffic demands. It has a couch for a front seat, and is simply the best investment I have ever made. More than once this winter, I’ve literally dreamed I was packing the Skylark’s trunk to embark for parts unknown.
Of course, my dream road trip would involve being surrounded by the cars of America’s past, but those days are mostly gone.
However, I’ll keep driving my old junk for as long as I can. I haven’t taken any road trips in the Dirty Dart yet, but I can’t wait to stare down its hood, doing one of the most satisfying things a person can do.
You offer a frequently overlooked perspective of an element of what can make a car great – that view of the hood. That view can offer up a helping of power, prestige, hum-drum, and ambition. It is completely lacking in so many newer cars as about all you can see of your car is the wiper blades. How inspiring.
Thanks, Aaron. Now you have me daydreaming of a road trip in the old Galaxie.
Aaron ;
This.
I left the rust belt decades ago and I still love driving my oldies every where , daily .
I too am 6′ tall and crippled to boot so I usually rebuild the seats using black foam (the hard stuff) from a Furniture Upholstery Supply Store as Auto Trimmers cannot get the really good hard foam .
The Summer awaits ! do a hot oil & filter change , grease the entire front end and hit the road =8-) .
I’m about to take a two day road trip in my metropolitan Nash FHC .
-Nate
I echo Jason in praising your perspective on the view over the hood — the part of the car that we really see as drivers, not the roofline, taillights or tailfins. The sight of the big headlight pods of my 911 was one of the aspects of Porsche ownership that I enjoyed; it was a reminder of the car’s unique style. Even in a boxy 1980s B-Body or Panther, the hood ornament and slight hood dome are a welcome change from the flat aerodynamic hoods of almost all modern cars.
O yes!
The view over a perfectly polished hood is chicken soup to my car enthusiast soul.
The reflections floating at you over the hood pamper your retinas. There is no whipping it around corners. You take ownership of the real estate inch by inch while the panorama rolls across the mirror in front of you. It is like slowly scraping a tall spoon along the side of a Strawberry Sundae top to bottom.
I drove my Grandmother’s 1950 Buick Special to high school and then my first couple of years at college. It’s straight 8 with dynaflow did not get more than 15 MPG either. As I recall the hood ornament stood up more on her car. See here:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=1950%20Buick%20special
Yeah, the hood ornament on the ’53 is recessed into a hole in the hood; ’53 was also the first year for the alligator style hood on Buicks, since they introduced the V8 that year in Supers and Roadmasters. Mine’s a Special, so it’s still a straight-8 with a 6-volt electrical system.
Starting the engine with six volts when its below zero is hard. Either it starts right off or the battery is drained.
It’s even harder when you have the initial advance a few degrees over factory specs. I’ve never really looked, but a 0 gauge positive battery cable’s supposed to help. I rarely start mine below 30 degrees anyway.
Hmmm… with my 2012 Impala, if I look a bit to the right of just straight ahead, I get a great view of the little light sensor thingy in the middle of the dash just behind where the windshield meets the cowl!
It’s nice never having to turn my lights on, so that’s a nod to modernity.
Oh, for the days when I owned my avatar – that hood was so flat that on occasion I could drive by the mirror reflection of the road and sky in the shiny finish and not glance at the road. That was fun. The ONLY car I would like to have back.
I remember the view over the hood of my ’70 Cougar. Overall, I think no one did this better than American cars.
Amen Aaron, will be joining you out on those open roads hopefully in a few days’ time.
Good lord, that’s beautiful.
If there were nothing else redeeming about the big RWD American land yachts I have driven since age 16, the view over the hood–especially that peaked one on the 70s and 80s Cadillacs–would probably be enough for me. Whether looking out over that wide swath of sheetmetal on a bright summer’s day, or cruising at night, the silhouette of the hood ornament and the Vigi-Lite lamp monitors aglow, nothing made today can duplicate that experience. In a world of impermanence it always makes me feel safe and secure.
Another great ‘hood-view’ memory from the 70s was riding in my Grandfather’s Imperial and Cadillac with the hood-mounted turn signals. My Grandmother’s ’74 Dodge Charger had ’em too.
Does anyone know the last car to have that feature?
1993-96 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was the last, I believe, if you mean the monitors.
I used to love the view over the hood of my ’72 Delta 88 ragtop. Once I replace the broken timing chain I will again 🙂 .
I have that same view in my ’66 Mustang only in red. It sure beats the view out of my ’09 Mustang and my wife’s Toyota. I also like the view out of the side windows. The first time I took one of my son-in-laws in it he said ” You can really see out of this thing”. I told him that I hadn’t really thought of that, but all cars used to be like that.
I don’t travel near like I used to, but I do have some fond memories of the view over an old hood. My first was in 1975 in a ’65 Dart similar to yours. It was my grandparents, a white 170 sedan with a red interior. I drove it from Boise, Idaho to Anchorage, Alaska. They were giving up driving and gave their car to my sister. I got to be the delivery boy. It did very well, averaging 24 -25 mpg for the trip. Then in 1977 I drove my ’54 Chevy 3600 series pickup from the Seattle area to Anchorage. It really wasn’t a good highway cruiser, as it was geared low. Top speed was 60 if you really pushed it. But it would cruise all day long at 50, and wouldn’t complain. Of course, the speed limit was 55 at that time. I wouldn’t want to try that in today’s traffic. And, 10 mpg would also be hard to handle today.
My oldest ride today is a ’70 Chevy C10 pickup. It’s overall condition is not that good, so I don’t go very far in it. Plus it is another one of those 10 mpg vehicles. But I still enjoy the drive and the view, although my hood is not as shiny, and my windshield is not as clear as any of yours. There is something reassuring about being able to see all four corners of your vehicle as you drive it.
Thanks for voicing your perspective. Cars are made to be driven. If there is any reason a car cannot be driven at least occasionally, other than down time for repairs or restoration, then I don’t want it.
I have many fond memories of looking out over the long , narrow hoods of my four various ‘A’ Model Fords on long tours , they were mesmerizing to drive .
-Nate
I really enjoy driving my old cars. Here my 1965 Wildcat.
Even in bad weather…
Here driving my 1975 Electra
Beautiful. We always see shots of the exteriors, but not over the hood, or of the wonderful old instrument panels. There are any number of cars I would love to be looking out of again — My ’54 Hornet, the ’68 Chrysler, ’72 Polara Custom wagon… well, so many, so many.
I also like driving my not-so-old but still 21 years old and high-mileage 1993 Toyota SR5 pickup (I’m currently having fun replacing the head gaskets and a few other things with the help of a few good friends but I hope it will be back on the road very soon!).
Stopping on the side of the road, to look at a car for sale, same year, same model but a bit rough…
Oooooooh! I LOVE Rivs.
Any pics of the outside of yours?
I love the Dart wagon,how’s it doing I’ve not seen anything for a while(unless I missed a piece)
Hopefully I’ll be able to update the wagon soon…it’s torn apart in my garage. It has a new/used engine, transmission seals, new radiator, and a laundry list of stuff I’ve had to attend to because, well, I bought it from a junkyard. 🙂
Been enjoying the look out the hood of my ’63 Imperial. I don’t have photos. I need to snap a few. Been very nice here in Austin and took the car out at least 4 times last week. The ’62/’63 models have a distinctive Eagle hood ornament that is used as a “pointer” heading down the road.
Now, I wish I would have drove it to work today!
Here’s the view from from your review view mirror:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48154193@N00/8234619767/in/photostream/