Ahh, the Avatar. Those of us who comment frequently know our online friends’ avatars like we can pick out a well-known brand of peas or dish soap from the supermarket shelf. But the pictures are quite small, and do not always show their details well. This hit me recently when commenter DaveB made a reference to his avatar as being from a 1967 Chevy brochure. “Interesting”, I thought, mainly because I had never taken a good enough look at it to place it as a something from a brochure. And also because he shares with me an early car-owning life with a ’67 Ford, an experience that was evidently not powerful enough for either of us to choose as avatar material.
My avatar was the first one I ever chose for anything, which I did back when I used to get my Curbside Classic fix on TTAC. It is the cover page of the brochure for the 1959 Plymouth.
The JPC Fury after a wash and wax along side the maternal ’74 Luxury LeMans.
I might feel differently if I were to live with one for a year in 2016, but my memory from 1979-80 is that my ’59 Plymouth Fury was one of the most pleasant cars to drive I had ever spent time in and it remains one of my very favorites. The car just fit me, and I enjoyed almost every minute with it, right up until I jilted it for the Tawny Gold Metallic ’71 Scamp that I saw on the used car lot at Bill Gaddis Chry-Ply in Muncie, Indiana in the late spring of 1980. I was so fickle then.
I have owned lots of cars since and have loved lots more, but two things keep me from changing my avatar (OK, three things, if we include inertia): My ’59 Fury was delivered to its original owner on the very day I was born in 1959 and this model was the topic of the very first CC piece I wrote (if accidentally) here on this site.
So, what say you show off your avatar, and tell us the story behind it? And if you don’t have one, what a great day this is to go to your profile settings and upload a picture. Then you can tell us all about it.
My avatar used to be a photo of me from summer, 1970 standing in front of my 1964 Chevy Impala SS convertible I owned in the air force at Beale AFB.
Now? I felt that was no longer relevant, so it’s a photo of my wife and I in the Sightseer lounge car aboard the Coast Starlight one year ago on our way to San Luis Obispo from Burbank, Ca.
I love trains more than I love cars, though slightly. I love any big thing that moves.
Zackman, I lived near the train station in Van Nuys. I could hear the trains on clear cold nights from my house near Sepulveda.
Do you make many trips to MotorBooks/AeroBooks in Burbank ? I once met Michael Lamm [one of my automotive favorite writers ] there signing his 55 Chevy book and visited the place frequently.
I used to live in SLO (college) as well as in the San Fernando Valley and used to go to MotorBooks in Burbank! Great place…
My parents owned Green Ginger Books on Sherman Way near Canoga until about a decade ago.
Loved the Valley Jim, after spending the entire first part of my adult life in Hollywood.
@DweezilAZ:
I never heard of the place, as that was our first stay in Burbank. Where is it located?
We go to California often – it’s where we go to “play”; i.e. enjoy the media like attending “The Tonight Show” when it was there, most recently in 2011. “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, “Extra”, etc. Also, enjoy shows by our favorite jazz artists like Steve Tyrell, etc. that we listen to on “martini in the Morning .com”. Also, to ride trains and tour around.
Magnolia Blvd, Zackman. Between N Hollywood Way and N Buena Vista.
Visiting CA is the only way to go [and I was born there]. I finally got out in 2010 after 45 years. There’s a whole other world out here !
Such a wonderful question. As with others, there’s a story involved.
When I found CC in late 2011, I was preparing my house for sale. Realizing I had discovered a treasure trove of information, I was binge scouring it nightly while in a hotel room. When I decided to get a username, I looked around the room trying to figure something out.
I didn’t go with something creative like “Jelly & Ham Sandwich” or “Ivory Liquid”. No, I looked down to see Season 3 or 4 of my Hawaii Five-O DVD. This site, and H50, was my escape from the downsizing at work and the resultant unpleasantries.
Looking at my DVD, old Jack was peering off into the distance, deep in thought. Ta-Da! That’s what I used.
In turn, I started writing here using Jack’s name.
Jack Lord was the man. I loved Hawaii 5-0. For years I wished they’d bring it back. Then they did. Be careful what you wish for.
Mine’s a Stude logo strictly for practical reasons, it’s easy to pick out so when a scroll down quickly I can find my own comments easily.
Although I have been thinking I should change mine to me and the beetle.
My first car, 1960 Bel-Air. Bought in 1990 for $400 when I was 15 and spent months getting it ready for when I got my license at 16. Lots of learning experiences and memories involving that car, good and bad.
My avatar comes from the only decent picture I have left of it.
Phil L, our two cars would have made for a great comparison test had we not owned them 10 years apart. 🙂 283/Glide I presume?
Nope, it was a true CC: 235 straight 6, 3-in-the-tree with overdrive. No oil filter, but oil in the air filter. 🙂
Like your ’59, it was also pleasant…at least on road trips. Around town was a bit of a chore. In college I sold it for a more practical Mustang. Guy I sold it to wrecked it not long afterwards when he rear-ended somebody. Did I mention it had manual drum brakes?
There is a star in every picture.
I have four on different sites: the 03 ION used here, as a tribute to my own weird affection for a car I was ambivalent about when purchased.
A 63 Valiant Signet seen on GMI as a an homage to my own 63 Signet.
07 Chrysler Sebring used on Discus discussions. Everyone loathes them and I feel the opposite. Showin’ some respect for the unloved.
86 Olds Calais on Allpar, a car I have always liked as a mini Toronado/Eldorado and owned for 8 years. It passed to my parents, then back to my little brother who still drives it and is giving it the affection it deserves.
Should have a 60 Comet as a single avatar since it is my dream car, after all.
JP: Every avatar has a story. Just like CC.
Classic DAF truck logo. Nothing but fond youth memories, being in and around a 1967 Frog DAF 4×2 flatbed truck and later a 1974 DAF 2200 6×2 flatbed & bulk hauler truck. Below the real thing.
Ive had a couple of avatars but several accounts have crashed so none currently one of them was my old Hillman the other I see occasionally on old posts was of me when I had a play in a Holden V8 NZ supercar, I might sort out another one this email appears stable though the cohort has crashed for me again so maybe not.
I’m just a blank space…Think of me what you will. I suppose I should get around to changing that sooner or (probably) later.
If I ever pass this damn kidney stone that is laying me up this week maybe I’ll use a picture of that.
Something like this maybe? 🙂
Maybe a picture of Arnold Palmer as on Saturday night it felt the size of a golf ball…
If you name it, just don’t call it Louis.
I stumbled on this and it seemed sadly appropriate.
Maybe “Rocky” – it’s fighting to get out…
Or maybe this?
It IS crushing me but I am made of sterner stuff than what looks to be a Yaris! Maybe not a W124 but at least a C4 Audi.
Try a rollercoaster…http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Disney-World-s-Thunder-Mountain-Railroad-may-be-a-9301152.php
Yeah, we saw that last night and Howard Stern was talking about it this morning as well! I’m a bit of a barfer so… 🙂
@Jim Klein:
Use 10 drops of lemon oil in a glass of water and drink as many as you can. If it’s 5mm or smaller, you will pass it. If larger, then a trip to the OR, my friend.
I know from 44 years of experience, most recently two months ago.I suffered an attack in July, Wifey told our daughter (they are both into “essential oils”, and it works. I followed the regimen and passed a 3mm sucker in 48 hours!
I still carry a 9″ scar on my right side from having a 8.5 x 6.5 mm bullet of a stone removed in 1972 while in the USAF! Fortunately, they do things differently, now.
I wish you the best.
Thanks, I did go to the ER midday Sunday as I had NO idea what it was and eleven hours of complete agony and no sleep was my limit. Looking at Webmd.com overnight of course did me no favors either.
After pumping me full of sweet, sweet narcotics they did a CTscan and informed me it was a 3mm stone in a bad location just above my bladder causing blockage. Currently I’m on a multiple drug cocktail and instructions to drink as many fluids as possible and it “should” pass by itself.
This has to be as close to the pains of childbirth as any man will ever experience. In which case I understand the first (out of ignorance) but truly can’t fathom the desire for multiple kids…
Thanks though, I will ask my wife to get me some lemon oil. And a bullet would probably be worse, I imagine that situation could have ended much worse…
“Think of me what you will. I’ve got a little space to fill.”
Jim: use an old Austrian method to pass that rock. Get in a hot tub an drink copious amounts of beer. The hot water and the alcohol in the beer are vascular dilutants, the alcohol is a analgesic and the diuretic properties deliver the pressure to push that stone through.
Mine is of my 94 Cougar’s Hurst short shifter right right after I converted it from automatic to 5-speed manual. I’m sure some may see a knob as fitting given some of the discussions I’ve participated in lol
I could always see the white cueball shift knob, but never knew it was in a converted Cougar. 5.0 I assume? What fun!
Very fun! So fun I spun the rod bearings in the original motor haha!
It’s a 1994 with the 4.6, first year for it in these, with 1999+ PI head/cams/intake swapped on. Currently in the middle of a 04 DOHC swap to “fix” that booboo.
For a while, mine was a cool looking shot of the skull shifter from my ’03 GT Cruiser for a bit too. The light hit it perfectly…even though the skull was a matte bone white, it seems to glow in this pic:
Mine is a picture of the speedometer on my Ford Contour SVT, which I owned from 2000 to 2010. Looking at the full-size image, you can see why I took the picture – it was at exactly 100,000 miles.
After I sold the car, I realized that – despite owning it for 10 years, I’d hardly taken any pictures of it. Goodness, it was a member of the family, how could that have happened? So, I chose the avatar partly because it fit nicely into a square space, and partly to remember the Contour.
When I sold our Grand Caravan I realized the only pictures I had of it were the ones I took to sell it on Craigslist. 9 years and 3 kids right through the heart of the evolution of phone cameras.
Of course, it was a minivan…and I haven’t taken pictures of the van that replaced it either. I really should though, if there’s one thing this site should have taught me it’s that those pictures are fun to look back on regardless of the vehicle.
We replaced the Contour with a minivan… and guess how many pictures I’ve taken of it in the last 6 years? One. And that was on the day we bought it. I guess I never learn…
I, too, had an SVT Contour. I loved that car, and I should have never loaned it to the friend who totaled it.
Come to think of it, I don’t think I have any photos of mine, either.
My avatar is just me, but the pic has to be pre-July 2012 when I moved out of the rental that pic was taken in.
Perhaps I should update? I’ve certainly got a lot more salt and pepper coloring in my facial hair for a guy who hasn’t hit 40 yet.
Leslie Nielsen, again. The funniest avatar I have ever seen!
General Turgidson is cool, as George C. Scott was one of the best, but Leslie was best.
I used to have a Tatra 87 as my avatar, back at the other site. But when I started CC, I thought it might be more…um…welcoming to see just who is standing behind the curtain. I originally used a selfie of myself in my ’66 F100, then updated it to this shot with my niece and her cousin at tea time. Always ready to have my picture taken with young ladies.But that shot is now a couple of years old, and Isabella is now a beautiful young woman starting high school. And I undoubtedly look older too. Maybe it’s time to go back to a car for my avatar.
It’s nice to see that the young ladies appreciate tea in a bone china cup. It really is the best way to drink it.
We have a tea ceremony at home twice a day every day. And you wouldn’t believe Stephanie’s tea cup collection. 🙂
I still say Zappa.
I always thought you were wiping a tear away. A tear of laughter of course.
My avatar is usually a cropped photo of the current vehicle I’m driving, although usually taken from the sales brochure. Although it’s out of date now, having sold my 1996 Lumina van a few months ago.
My avatar is me, taken by my now-wife as we were out taking pictures together. Here’s a link to the whole photo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/16557985441
In my formative years, there were three brands or cars in the family: Studebaker, Rambler/AMC and Plymouth.
JP already has Plymouth covered, DougD has the Studebaker logo, which leaves AMC.
The AMC logo has the further advantage of being simple enough to recognize when reduced to the size of an avatar.
I learned to drive in my Aunt’s 70 AMC Ambassador wagon, rather than Mom’s 3 on the tree 64 Rambler Classic, which left learning to shift to a much later date. The first 40hr/wk job I ever had was as a summer intern in a foundry, which included being gopher through lower Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, 90% of the time in the foundry’s very well mannered and roadable 74 Ambassador wagon, which sealed my affection for senior platform AMCs, just as they were exiting the market.
So call my avatar a badge of unrequited love for a car line that died just as I came to appreciate it.
…and I am still not receiving notifications of follow up comments via e-mail. I receive the initial e-mail with the button to click to subscribe to the thread, and I see the page that adds the new thread to the list to which I have subscribed, but I never receive notifications of new follow up comments.
I’m having the same problem with follow-up comments — for a few weeks now.
Just today I’ve started not even getting the initial e-mail either. The follow-up comments option always worked fine for me in the past. I’ve tried different e-mails, different computers and lots of different posts, but nothing seems to work anymore. I wonder how widespread the problem is and if anyone knows what can be done about it?
I’m having the problem as well. The only communication I get from CC is the confirmation emails for subscribed posts. It’s rather frustrating!
Also, when I replied just now, the reply interface was different than it was even earlier today. Behind-the-scenes wordpress upgrades afoot?
It’s a known bug of a recent WP update, but it should have been fixed with the very latest update. I’ve found the issue and have sent the patch info to Ed Stembridge. Hopefully soon.
We did get the patch that supposedly fixes this issue with the recent WP 4.6.1 update, but if you’re still not getting notifications, it may be something else. I’ll keep poking around to see if I can find any info on a fix.
Also not getting notifications about new articles which are nice to see when I’m busy but not wanting to miss anything near and dear. Would’ve missed GN’s ’77 new car posts if I hadn’t logged in to see what was up. I updated my IOS recently could it be that?
Nope, nothing to do with the iOS update.
I don’t think it’s iOS either. I use Android and I haven’t got the replies to comments or the daily post for weeks. I gave up on it entirely. I just come here manually. This applies to all sites where WP is involved.
My avatar is a picture of my mother’s old Jeep; about 5 years ago, when my parents’ house was fumigated, we rolled the Jeep out of the garage — it was the first time it had seen daylight since 1998. It’s since been rolled back in and will continue to sit there for the near future, but I got this one picture of it during its brief moment of freedom.
That rig definitely needs to be refurbished and enjoyed!
My avatar: Nothing
Story behind it: I’m lazy
A bit over ten years ago, I was bicycling on the Williamsburg Bridge and noticed an electrical box that said HOPE on it. I had passed the box countless times and just noticed it that day. Sometimes you find hope where you least expect it.
I am an addicted long term model builder and use my “glam shots” as avatars. I change them when the mood strikes which isn’t often as I am lazy about such things. I don’t have the Belvedere on this computer but I have used this Super Bird in the past… I think.
Good idea – as another model builder, I could do that too.
Before I changed it….oh well…
Mine is a photo of a mural painted on the side of Ford’s Piquette Ave factory. I just like it, plus the model T was probably the first “cockroach” of the road.
I used to run this picture of a much younger, thinner, and full head of hair me sitting on the hood of my Pugeot 504 during college in Charleston, SC. I was also a fool in love about to get married. I don’t recall if my wife to be took the picture or her friend whose driveway I was parked in. The wife is a sensitive subject these days – like I said, a fool in love.
Great question James! My avatar for most of my nearly four years here at CC has been of my grandfather’s 1992 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, photographed in the driveway of my grandparents secondary house on the Cape (Falmouth, to be exact).
The car itself is special because it was the very first vehicle I ever rode in as a living being (on my way home from the hospital as a newborn), and for the fact that my grandparents took care of me during the day while my mom was at work, so I spent a lot of fond times with them in this car.
The house it’s pictured outside is also a very special place in my heart. My grandparents had the house built back in the 1970s, with my grandfather doing most of the interior construction himself, and intended it to be the house they permanently retired to. After grandkids started being born however, they chose to stay more central in their house in Milton, with the “Cape House” becoming primarily a summer home.
Anyway, I also had a lot of fond memories with my family in that house too. This pictures wasn’t chosen without considered thought 🙂
I love your avatar Brendan. It perfectly reflects your keen interest and knowledge of cars of this vintage. Even though it’s so small, I recognized it immediately as I have an infinity for Oldsmobiles.
What a great story! You make me realize that I do not have a single picture of any of my grandparents’ cars from my childhood. I wish I did.
Mine is a frontal pic of Kowalski’s famous white Challenger from Vanishing Point, trimmed down to one side since these avatars are kinda tiny.
I’ll say, I always thought it was a Torino
Haha no…you’re WAY off! Now, if you were thinking of Mad Max, that’s forgivable. I don’t think the Interceptor’s bodystyle was really that far off the contemporary Torino.
Maybe it’s because I’ve seen Vanishing Point at least 137 times, but Duh!
Yup, it’s obvious now but I’ve never seen Vanishing Point. Two Lane Blacktop was enough existential pointless car movie for me.
I find Vanishing Point vastly better and deeper, find the 106 minute version if you ever get the urge to watch it.
Mine is a detail shot of the driver’s side headlamp assembly of the ’03 Marauder I owned for 5 years. I’ve always liked that photo in a somewhat abstract sense, though it suffers a bit from being cropped down to a tiny square! Also that Marauder is one of my two favorite cars that I’ve owned and one I still miss from time to time.
I’d attach the non-downsized photo, but the commenting interface seems to have changed and I no longer see the option to attach a photo. It’s in my COAL on the car at any rate.
I was doing some digging around with the e-mail notification issue, and seem to have made an unintended change with the comments. Yet MoparRocker was able to upload an image. Hmm.
Testing to make sure the “old” comment system is working. Looks like it is!
Testing the comment notification again. Pay me no never-mind.
Testing again.
The old reply interface with the “choose file” option has come back. Comment notifications reappeared briefly on Tuesday morning (I received 2) and then went away again.
If other folks are getting them maybe gmail is doing something strange with them–I may have to try subscribing from a different account.
Ed, just wanted to let you know that the follow-up e-mails still don’t seem to be working for me. I do now get the initial e-mail (earlier today that wasn’t working either), but no follow-up e-mails. Thanks for your work on this — just figured I’d let you know that the bug is still out there for me,
-Eric
Seems to be working now. Thanks!
Paul, im on my iPhone…which I know has trouble with clocking images wrong sometimes. But when on the ‘desktop version’ no option for pics is given…i had to choose mobile site. Maybe that’ll help?
Should be back the way it was now – the mobile site view runs through a different plugin, which is probably why it worked there.
Still working on the email notification feature, though.
Another test. Begin ignoring immediately.
Testing again.
Testing the email comment notification again.
This is yet another test of the email comment notification system, specifically testing the beta version of Jetpack.
Okay, here’s another reply to my reply to see if I get notified of my reply.
For a while I had a flaming Mopar logo. That was a closeup of my inner right forearm:
Mine is Reddy Kilowatt, an especially likeable logo frequently used by electric power companies in the fifties and sixties (my childhood).
I like electricity a lot. I’m an electrical engineer, and a lifetime fan of electric power in cars. I had planned to convert my Miata to electric drive, but that’s shelved now that complete electric cars are available for less than the cost of conversion components. Currently (sorry) I’m in-between electrics after selling the Think City I had for awhile (too small, too buggy). I’ve been driving Prius hybrids daily for 16 years now. It’s part-electric, but not pure electric. I’ll be 100% electron-propelled again soon.
Any ideas yet on what that will be?
There have been some killer lease prices on “compliance” EVs lately, like $100 to $150 a month. And like I said before I’ve always loved Creamsicle cars.
Thing is, four cars for two people with a one-lane driveway in the city got pretty crazy, so I’d have to let go of the Miata… Who knows.
I had set up my gravatar a year or two before finding TTAC, then CC. It’s from a hat ad from the 1940s… I’m coming more and more to look like the wearer!
I wear a fedora every day, do you? I own 6 right now.
I can’t really wear one in the car, though – the head restraints crush the backs of them. I need dad’s 1950 Plymouth!
I used to have my Grandpa’s but my boys wore it out when they were young – been thinking it’s time to get another one!
Just be sure to buy a good one that says “you”. I see guys wear all sorts of hats that look terrible on them, and you have to find the right ones with the right brim width for you.
We have a real hat shop here in Cincinnati – they’ll even make a custom fedora – for a price!
Nice! Peoria has no millinery shops that I know of… 🙁
Mine is the greatest Avatar that ever lived!
Used to have it blank, but was inspired to change it with this post.
My new G37 shortly after purchase in 2010, currently doing fine six years and 33,000 miles later.
Mine is a negative of my ’53 Buick in front of an old shuttered factory near where I live.
I think it’s either Detroit or Flint.
My avatar is a picture of three-year-old me with my dad’s 1960 Dodge Seneca. It first appeared on Curbside Classic when I wrote a CC Kids piece on the events it captured: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-kids-matt-frederick-and-1960-dodge-dart-sorry-about-that-dad/
More recently, I’ve realized that this car may be the first designed object I ever recognized as such. I remember washing (or at three, pretending to wash) the overly fussy front bumpers and grille, and wondering why someone had made them so silly looking. And somehow, that may have been my first step toward eventually becoming an architect.
Debbie has two 2-year old min-dachshunds named Marcelo and Benny (plus a recent addition of a 4 month old havanese named Lucy).
We were sitting at her patio table and I was drinking coffee with Benny on my lap when Benny decided to get up on the table to see if there was any food left over from lunch.
There wasn’t.
But maybe there was something good in my coffee cup.
There wasn’t.
Debbie caught this moment with her iPad.
These are happy, peaceful times.
a second later…
The “8-stroke” Japanese Katakana Toyota logo used from 1963-1989. Yes, I love me some old school Toyotas. I also rather like how it looks like it’s rising from the east…
I should probably change mine. While I am mostly a classic Mopar fan and own, and have owned, quite a few, I do enjoy GMs and Fords from their glory years too
I remember being confused the first time I saw your avatar, LTDan. What caught my eye was the letters “LTD” (my first car) and a Chrysler product symbol. At first glance it didn’t make sense.
But hey, at least you have an avatar here. This is prompting me to want to pick one. Perhaps the faux gas cap off of my 2007 Mustang or something.
Up until now I didn’t have an avatar, so I’ve added my Disqus image, the old Jalopnik Skull & Driveshaft logo
A poor aviator lay dying
At the end of a bright summer’s day
His comrades had gathered about him
To carry his fragments away
The airplane was piled on his wishbone
His Hotchkiss was wrapped round his head
He wore a spark-plug on each elbow
‘Twas plain he would shortly be dead
He spit out a valve and a gasket
And stirred in the sump where he lay
And then to his wondering comrades
These brave parting words he did say
“Take the magneto out of my stomach,
And the butterfly valve off my neck,
Extract from my liver the crankshaft,
There are lots of good parts in this wreck”
“Take the manifold out of my larynx,
And the cylinders out of my brain,
Take the piston rods out of my kidneys,
And assemble the engine again.”
I like taking pictures (specifically of cars), so mine’s just a selfie with my camera in frame. It sometimes makes me chuckle that the way WordPress cropped it, it looks like I’m just giving the evil eye or something, like Charles Montgomery Burns. It works well enough for this site. 🙂
Hadn’t had one until now, so I used a picture of one of the models I scratchbuilt posed in front of a calendar shot.
It’s just a shot of the curvy “SuperCab” script I had fond memories of looking past out the window in our ’77 F-250. The picture isn’t actually the pickup we had–ours was dark blue with a blue interior and two jump seats in the back, not a bench.
Well I guess I’d better pick an avatar!
I guess I’d better get busy and add one, since I’ve been around since the site opened. Here’s my selection, any help on how to actually add it? Computers are not my thing!
Thanks.
Depends if you want the 3, the 4 or the 0.
Once you have logged in and get to the Dashboard page (there is a little icon of a gauge next to the words “Curbside Classic at the top of the page), there is a list of icons running down the left side of the page.
There is one (4th up from the bottom on my screen) that looks like a little person. Click that, which gets you to your profile page. There is a button to manage your icon on the right side of that page. Click it and it should allow you to upload a photo of your own and to crop it.
Hope this helps.
I’ve had my avatar for quite a few years now. I use it when I post on different sites. Back when I used to be on the H.A,M.B. (Hokey Ass Message Board) I was experimenting with making wide whitewalls from white spray primer. I got that tip from “Rolls and Pleats” a British custom car mag. I used a spare wheel and hupcap from my Riviera, stuck it in the overgrown ivy in my backyard and a legend was born! Just kidding! Actually the primer holds up quite well, with a more natural look than the white side wall paint that was available. We used to grind down the side walls to get the wider white side wall. A really nasty, smelly, and dirty method. I post on other sites as Rivguy.
I’ve actually tried changing my avatar, with only partial success. Sometimes, WordPress uses my old Avatar (Geo Badge, from my ’92 Prizm, Blue Betsy), sometimes I see the new avatar I uploaded last year (a lug nut stuck to a broken stud, a sort of “dubious mechanical achievement award”). This follows an apparently random pattern, though I usually see the Geo Badge. Software can be so capricious, and WordPress is no exception!
Self-portrait
Hee-hee!
bad hair day?
Mine is a photo of me and my grandson, with him reaching out to touch my beard. Looked vaguely reminiscent of something by one of the old masters, so it’ll do.
Though on other sites I have a photo of me wearing my optivisor with my daughter’s cockatiel sitting on my head.
Love it! Growing up I was lucky enough to have Cockateils. Super nice birds. You’ll hate me, but I named them Sidney and Abby (Sidney got quite bitey :-/ ).
I ♥ cockatiels. I have 2 of them. Amazing little birds. It’s like being a permanent babysitter — they get their beaks into ~everything~. SWEET PEA, the white-faced ‘tiel, is a little stinkweed. Beyond mischievous. He’s a couple of months past 15. I found him in a Publix parking lot on Sept. 14, 2001. He was less than 6 months old. CINNAMON STICK is 29 years old. 29 yrs. 9 mos. to be exact. He’s pretty fragile, but thinks he’s hot stuff. In his feathered mind he still believes he can fly, but the muscles in his wings are not strong enough to get him up. One day when he was 19 he could fly . . . and the next day he couldn’t.
I often say to friends if they had known me on Dec. 1, 1989 and come to my house they’d see the same 1964 Falcon in the driveway and the same cinnamon pearly-pied cockatiel in the house. Sweet Pea was a pleasant feathered addition. He’s quite the flyer and likes landing on people’s heads.
I use the SU carburetter logo (English spelling).
SU stands for “Skinner’s Union,” and while there’s no blood relation that I know of, I’m pleased my last name links me to such an iconic automotive business (albeit now out of business).
Some fascinating reading above – ’twas great to find out more about folks. My avatar is a photo off the intergooglewebnet of a C33 Nissan Laurel hood ornament. I chose it for two reasons:
1 – its red background makes it easy to spot when I’m scrolling comments sections (I often read older CC articles for fun, think it’s the first time I read them and then see that I commented when the article was posted!)
2 – I luuuurve Laurels – my favourite being my old 1992 C33. I sold it about 12 years ago, and sold my last Laurel (a C35 last year), but the avatar reminds me of good times past.
I did briefly try uploading a pic of my Magnificent Elderly Ford Sierra, but it wasn’t as easy to see as the Laurel avatar.
I’ve never seen the Laurel hood ornament. It almost looks like it’s from an alternate universe where Toyota founded Lexus in 1977.
My ’67 GMC stepside. When I was a kid someone in the neighborhood had a really nice lowered and customized show truck of a similar vintage that made me want one. First vehicle I bought on my own. 250 inline six with a TH350 (didn’t like the non-synchro 1st gear on the original 3 on the tree), lowered a little with a camper special sway bar. Handles great, fun to drive, the vehicle I love!
My avatar is the 1967 Chevrolet full-size owner’s manual. My grandfather owned a beautiful ’67 Caprice 396 Turbohydramatic coupe, Marina Blue with a black vinyl top, AC, tilt, 8 track stereo. I had mild hopes that it would become my first car, but it was traded off about 36 months too early. I did end up doing a lot of driving in his 1978 replacement Caprice, which became my mom’s car when he could no longer drive.
At the same time, my parents owned a 1968 327 Powerglide Impala sedan. The ’67-’68 Chevy being very similar, I spent a lot of time studying how those cars were related, but also quite different. The big Chevy was really my first dive into automotive minutiae, ages 3 to 13. My grandfather’s owners manual, and some associated ’67 Chevy marketing material, became among the first automotive memorabilia I collected. The brochure below the cover was better than reading the Sears Wish Book when I was around 10 years of age.
This may look a little more familiar to JPC……
Oh my, yes! Where I learned that putting a Cruise O Matic in “2” actually made it start in second gear.
I can’t find the original image. I work for the big bad mean power company.
My 89 Crown Vic wagon ….
Prototypical airport car, at that!
For J. P. Cavanaugh…a freshening up of the photo of the car that inspired his avatar..
From one of the avatarless…
Something easy to see and avoid.
Maybe a poison dart frog would have been better.
ribbit… ribbit …
Perhaps the avatar in your mind is not the whole but only a small unique detail.
Mine’s just the same one I use everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Just cooked it up from a sketch sheet I did.
A student from the Maryland Institute of Art was doing a photo project of people with interesting cars. Naturally my GT Hawk qualified. She took some shots in color but also took several in black and white. Being a 1963, I thought the B&W shots were very appropriate. And I also thought that the grille shots are most common—what is another distinctive feature of Studebakers in general? The shape of the front door vent windows, of course. And there it is….
My avatar appeared on an economic report I received during the Great Recession.
Even thought the U.S. dollar is stronger these days (at least from the perspective of the exchange rate), I’ve simply never gotten around to changing it, and have now grown rather fond of it.
Mine is blank because I don’t know how to create one, I imagine I would have to register first, which I have tried to do a number of times.
I put in my username, email address, click on register, then nothing happens,
any help appreciated.
Try to login, and pretend like you forgot your password, and ask it to send you a new one. That usually works.
I had a similar experience trying to register a few months ago Paul, and then gave up. Thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a try if it fails again.
Yep, that worked, thanks for that
I’d have used a picture of myself as an avatar if such a thing were possible; however, my image does not show up in photos or mirrors for some reason. I’ve also taken to sleeping during the day and avoiding garlic. Anyway, I settled on this stylized Imperial eagle set against a background of my favorite color.
Mine is from a cross country trip with a buddy in 2010. This beauty caught my eye outside of one of the old diners along Route 66 in New Mexico.
A 1996 print ad for the Lincoln Town Car. I came across it on bing one day, and I thought that it was dynamic and cool looking enough to use. Plus, considering my car is a Cadillac Eldorado, I’m always a sucker for irony.
Mmhm, Matchbox cars….
My avatar is the Heavy Chevy I got for joining the Hot Wheels Club about 1970. I had been fascinated by cars since I was 2 or 3, but the arrival of Hot Wheels totally sealed the deal. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/miniatures-toys/tcoal-from-tonka-to-hot-wheels-the-golden-age-of-toy-cars/
Mine is a picture of my 93 Mustang GT that I recently finished restoring. Only problem was the picture was way to big and so all you see is a bright red dot. I have thought about changing it but seeing as how I was forced to sell the Mustang just months after finishing the restoration, I just keep it for sentimental reasons.
Led Zeppelin tour poster cropped to omit a few details. Fantastic artwork from arguably the best band ever.
Well, no account yet, maybe later. I’m thinking of a “S80 2.5D” rear script…
Mine is a pineapple sketch from an old book on Queensland. No real reason, I just like pineapples.
My avatar is my 1975 16′ Cygnet Deluxe travel trailer. Of course, the WordPress site sees fit to not let me expand the image out to the full camper. It’s currently a small piece of the siding somewhere near the water inlet…
Mine is a license plate I used to have on my car, which also relates to my username, which relates to one of my hobbies (license plate collecting), which is also shared by a few fellow commenters.
My current avatar is a shot of a 1971-3 Plymouth Duster I saw in my church parking lot. I just thought it was a really neat shot. Of course, I am probably going to change to either my first car/current ride/personal CC of a 2001 Subaru Outback, or a “STOP” sigh with a “Hammer Time” sticker on the bottom that is at the end of my street sometime soon.
My avatar is, and has been, just me.
It’s a publicity shot taken eight years ago…wow how time flies.
If I change it, it’ll have to be something Chevy-related, ‘cuz that’s how I’ve rolled since before I was old enough to drive. A few MoPars, a couple of Subarus, one Ford…that turned out to be three Fords too many if ya know what I mean!
I must say, 35 years ago, a white ’59 Plymouth two-door wagon from California somehow turned up in the scrapyard a cousin once owned near Brattleboro, VT. Absolutely rust and dent-free as I recall. Maybe I’m just romanticizing the moment. But I thought about making a cool driver out of it, until I considered that I already owned and was caring for a ’57 Chevy daily driver…
But seeing that ’59 Plymouth mug one more time brought all those memories back for a moment…
Here’s a song I was playing on the radio at that time. (WCFR-FM/Springfield, VT) Seems to fit…
Mine is my 1961 IH Scout 80. It’s been a labor of love since I found it for sale 3 years ago, but she is rolling now. My Yorkie LOVES to ride in cars, but the scout is to tall for her to jump in so I always have to pick her up to put her in it. This particular day the dash was getting rewired and she was whining to get in, so I put her on the hood. She sat patiently like, OK, When are we leaving? Reminded me of the Nissan “Dogs Love Trucks” ad campaign. Not my first old car, but my favorite so far having owned a 66 Plymouth valiant (ROCK SOLID) and the 1964 Mercury Park Lane Breezeway (all original with 60,000 miles, wish I could have kept that one)
Sorry – forgot to post a blown up version so you can see it better.
My avatar shows the headlamps of a ’63 Skylark convertible that my sister and I chipped in and bought together in 1983 or so. The car had already lived a hard life and needed a lot of TLC to keep running (and passing state inspection), but, boy, was it ever fun to drive with the top down. But that’s true of any convertible, right?
I don’t remember if I used a photo of our car to make the avatar or if I just cheated and grabbed a photo from Google Image Search.
Mine is the one model made by the one car company I ever worked for, for a period that was all too short.
You guys managed to sell more vehicles than Preston Tucker did, which is something.
I still occasionally still see them on the road. Our local transit authority bought some for its paratransit service.
Saw one on the road in NJ about a month ago that appeared to be privately owned and driven. Only one I have ever seen.
I meant to ask, what the heck is that thing? Baltimore City’s MTA has a few of these, and the only identifying markers I see on the back are three letters, like APV or MPV or AVG or … I can’t remember, but nothing that says “Ford of Europe” or “GM of Zimbabwe” or whomever build this thing.
One would surmise that from your screen name that it is some sort of Volkswagen product, based on their catch phrase of the late 80’s or early 90’s.
We covered it here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/on-the-go-outtake-mv-1-lx-as-rare-and-exclusive-as-seeing-an-aventador-in-traffic/
Thanks Paul, and after reading your write-up, it all makes sense now. The Maryland MTA logos on the ones here in the Baltimore area also say “Mobility” on the side, which totally makes sense as this is our transit system’s handicap accessible division. I found this pic of one on the web.
Ah HAH! Grasshopper makes incorrect reference between personality and public face. Much like CB handles weren’t always accurate, or even related to reality. Maybe handles should get a QOTD of its’ (their?) own.
The too-long gestation period of the MV-1 made it uncompetitive in it’s initial Panther format of 4.6 and automatic. It was better reimagined with a V6 which was more efficient, and didn’t suffer from being underpowered.
Alas and alack. Best intentions etc.
Wouldn’t be the first time I made that incorrect association between avatar and screen name. See my reply to LTDan above. I had a similar incorrect association with him seeing the letters “LTD” and a Chrysler Penstar.
Your QOTD idea is a good one. Mine’s a little self explanatory. My name is Rick and I have a 2007 Mustang. Mustang Rick was already taken, so I had to think of something.
Thanks to you and Paul for the information on these vehicles. It was kinda driving me nuts. Now I am better informed, which segues nicely into the “Grasshoppa” reference. I come to this site to learn from the masters. I have learned much including today!
Last time I was in downtown Chicago I saw at least three of those, before that another while getting a uber ride home from O-hare my driver almost crashed right into one merging onto I90
They’re built on top a Crown Vic chassis I believe, maybe 4.6 engine too.
Mine is a picture of the decklid emblem on this.
My avatar is BMW Isetta that was let loose inside the BMW Welt. I liked how the photo came out and decided to use it as my automotive avatar. In addition, I was about four years old boy when I rode in one in 1970. The door that opened outward stuck to my mind to this day.
PS I am travelling in South America at the moment so I don’t have access to my computer for a bigger image to upload here.
Omega Man. I loved this movie as a kid. Charlton Heston firing an automatic weapon at mutants from an LTD convertible. I thought, only guy left on planet, take any car you want at any time, fire lots of rounds, what’s not to like?
Never thought of using my first car as an avatar. Even though “Cougar” is my given nickname on several other boards having to do with travel. The name was first used in my 1971 senior year high school book by classmates signing my book and referencing my car. In fact I can walk into a bar or nightclub in the Philippines and there will be at least one person in there that says Cougar, sort of like Norm.
The avatar in use is the plane I started to restore in 1999 for a museum. Consequently my online nic relates to that plane a 1945 General Motors TBM-3E Avenger. At this point in time the exterior of the plane has been done for 13 years now with only stencils needed on the exterior. The interior is on hold as there are more important issues dealing with the exterior of the ship. However, I have everything to go inside from original to actual NOS parts I acquired over five years. Once I get the time that will be done including a full rebuild of the hydraulics so the folding wings can be manually opened and closed from the cockpit.
I started my flight training at Stone Mountain Airport near Atlanta, Georgia , which was subsequently closed and sold for the ’96 Olympics (I had to finish my training at Gwinnett County Airport).
There was a rough-looking TBM on the ramp that disappeared a few weeks before the field had to be cleared of aircraft (I’m positive it went out on a trailer). Always wondered what happened to it…
Look something like this? Have the serial number and we could track it down. No doubt someone or some museum has it.
Don’t have a s/n, but if I dug through my old photos (in multiple boxes in the attic), I wouldn’t be surprised if I have a photo of it somewhere.
Cool, TBM is one of my favorites as Ol’ Great Uncle Arch had them flown off his aircraft carrier CVL-29.
We were on a family road trip out east, took a wrong turn and drove by Moncton airport. I saw a sign that said “Forest Protection Ltd” and I said to my family “Hey, that the company that uses Avengers to fight forest fires” and just like that there was a row of TBMs next to the hanger.
Now one of the FPL Avengers is here in Hamilton, I should go check out how the restoration is going 🙂
Okay, okay. Now I have an avatar. Self-explanatory.
Well played. 🙂
As always, late to the party…
My first avatar here was a South African market Chevrolet Firenza (UK Viva body) with the Can Am Spec (Z/28 to us North Amerikaners) 302 ci motor in it. It was obscure enough that no one ever recognized it.
But this post got me thinking, what should my online presence be? I have several Facebook friends who are also on here and they see my “real life” adventure and misadventures, at least the ones I’m willing to share.
So, in the interest of being open I decided to use one of the least flattering photos I have of myself. Which coincidentally is my FB photo. It’s a photo I took by accident trying to figure out how to use my forward facing camera on my phone. This was after a 5K run/walk (and I ran/walked it, too), but at least my mouth isn’t hanging open on this one. All of my other fotos have my mouth in some sort agape pose.
But, I am wearing my Joe Cool (TM) sunglasses…