I posted this on the Classic Cars board, but figured it would be equally relevant here.
Given the opportunity to spend an afternoon at one of these two venues, which one would you pic?
I posted this on the Classic Cars board, but figured it would be equally relevant here.
Given the opportunity to spend an afternoon at one of these two venues, which one would you pic?
Top one. By far.
Definitely the top one.
Top one for sure.
Top, you can only look at so many restored tri 5 chevies and 68 Camaros before you've seen every possible combination of parts.
Top one, definitely.
top provided i could take at least 10 of them home. the two 53's and 65/66 impala up front and 7 others.
Top one, but I haven't gotten a tetanus shot in 20 years, so maybe I should avoid it. 
Too easy, what else ya got?
914Driver wrote: Too easy, what else ya got?
I have an admission to make that I set you all up.
I hear it mentioned often on the car boards I visit that the most despised guy in the hobby is the person who lets a car sit and slowly rot into the ground. And yet, I just had nine people unanimously agree that the non-restored cars are more interesting. And I agree...they have potential, while the finished cars are just done.
I have learned that people who won't sell the cars often have a huge emotional investment in them. Good enough for me as long as they let me poke around and imagine what could be.
Bottom. I have no projects or money to spend on a project, it would just be too depressing for me to handle.
Top FTW.
Top, i guess. Completely uninterested in the kind of cars in both pics, though.
Swank Force One wrote: Top, i guess. Completely uninterested in the kind of cars in both pics, though.
Top would learn you to weld though!
As I said on the Classics board, I'd choose those from the bottom. I'm told old to get tetanus while playing with well rusted steel.
The late fifties/early sixties were the cars of my youth. Especially those with big back seats. But even having said that, they all look like way too much work to me today. So I'd probably truly say neither.
Also I hope and believe I've evolved over time. I haven't even considered spending much effort on a cast-iron push-rod V-8 of any brand for forty years. And I have also learned the value of good brakes and handling. (Two traits that none of the rides I see pictured here ever had.)
Why revert now?
NOHOME wrote: I hear it mentioned often on the car boards I visit that the most despised guy in the hobby is the person who lets a car sit and slowly rot into the ground. And yet, I just had nine people unanimously agree that the non-restored cars are more interesting.
In my opinion, you're talking about two different (but related) things...Seeing an unrestored car makes me feel the hope of all the things that could be. But as it becomes rotted to a point beyond saving, it just leaves me feeling the melancholy of all the things that could have been.
For example, the old Diamond T truck on my grandfathers farm. When I saw it for the first time, tucked away in a wooded patch with a seedling starting to sprout up between the front bumper and grill, I had dreams of restoring it one day. In hind sight, even then it might have been too late. By the time they cut it from the tree that ate the front bumper, so that it could be hauled away, it was little more than a fused mass of iron oxide that resembled a truck.
Between the two, I also pick the former. Although they are sitting there slowly rotting away, it appears to be more than just a graveyard of severely rusted out hulks. Presumably they are also not just being hoarded out of blind sentimentality, to ensure completion of the process. Even if none are technically "worth" saving, I can still see the potential in at least some (many) of them to be 'saved' in one way or another...And THAT is what would make it more interesting to me.
Bottom because from the looks of the top there won't be any rx-anythings there.
fidelity101 wrote: Bottom because from the looks of the top there won't be any rx-anythings there.
Pretend one picture is dead rotary cars heaven and the other is restored rotary cars heaven.
Where do you spend the afternoon?
1
I pick #1, but I'm a sucker for a good project, especially one with lots of rust and shot original paint.
I also despise the billet resto crowd. There's always that toolbag wearing every piece of corvette apparel ever made; I really, really hate that guy.
The top.... my reasoning has to do with acquisition... Lets assume for my purposes... its Japanese cars in both shots.... I still NEED parts... I'm sure as berkeley not going to get any @ the 2nd.... where as the first I can likely find what I need.
edit - I'm also less likely to find some berkelying berkley who dropped coin to buy his classic, or modded car.... @ the boneyard I'm more likely to find people I respect
Top one, you'll see more rare Stuff
oldeskewltoy wrote: The top.... my reasoning has to do with acquisition... Lets assume for my purposes... its Japanese cars in both shots.... I still NEED parts... I'm sure as berkeley not going to get any @ the 2nd.... where as the first I can likely find what I need.
Yeah....but recall for purposes of this exercise, the guy is hoarding the cars, not a recycle yard.
NOHOME wrote: Yeah....but recall for purposes of this exercise, the guy is hoarding the cars, not a recycle yard.
You didn't specify that here. That makes it more of a toss up for me, as there are no dreams in that field anymore. Knowing that the owner will ultimately do nothing with any of those cars, and would rather let them return to the earth than let somebody else that would do something meaningful with it have the opportunity to do so, makes for a very bittersweet experience. Unable to be saved, nor even helping to save others. With every step I would praise him for gathering them...And in the same breath curse him for ensuring their doom.
Meanwhile I would find nothing particularly un-enjoyable about #2 and do get a kick out of spotting some the unique engineering and craftsmanship that goes into a handful of the better executed finished products. I don't even mind 'checkbook' cars, and to a lesser degress 'catalog' cars, as somebody still had to engineer it and make it happen...And I have an inherent appreciation for that.
I'd probably still pick #1 though, if for no other reason than I will always be able to see the cars in #2 again...The same does not hold true for #1. 
If we're just talking about a field full of unobtainable cars - either junk or over-restored, then neither - I'd rather be wandering around a paddock. If we're talking which group I'd rather own or pick from - first pic for the possibilities instead of pre-defined end result.
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