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Mar 27, 2007 15:25:22 GMT
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I do sometimes wonder.
I know we had a thing about retro fashions a while ago but I think maybe theres a deeper thing going on here.
A few comments I have heard recently, here and elsewhere... "You have to be pretty hardcore to drive a retro car everyday". (with a couple of exceptions retros is all I've ever daily driven, and while I may moan like a £1000 Chelsea whore when they bob me about I have to say by and large this has been productive use of my life)
I also heard some guy comment "Oh, I don't like old stuff. I like retro style but it has to be new - unless its a retro car I'm not buying anything second had!"
"I want to buy a reto car but I want to know its going to be something cool, not just some old banger".
"which end of the spanner is which?"
OK, the last one I made up...
See, the thing is I have spent my life rummaging through other people's rubbish. My catchphrase is "You're not throwing that away are you?"
I don;t like to see old buildings demolished, I don't like to see working (or repairable) stuff thrown away, I don't like to see cheap plastic tat which can't be repaired filling the shelves of white goods sales places...
I buy cheap cars. I hate when prices go up, even if its for the stuff I own and I just got "richer" because of a scene tax. People should buy what they like, nto whats "Reassuringly Expensive" - or we'd all be in MGB roadsters, Mk1 Escorts and split window busses...
A mate of mine got banned from the local tip for bartering stuff out of the back of other people's cars.
I might sound like a "traveller" but I work in an office in a suit and tie... Not that that means anything I guess, but I am privately educated and boringly middle class....
I kinda guess I've always respected the history of stuff, and the herritage we have in our manufacturing industries (RIP) and the people who made this country great with their blood and their sweat.
And I see a bunch of people who are just in it for the cool wow factor, who bought the right toys and talk the right talk but just don't seem to get it when you take it to anything other than a superficial level as to whether donk is the new rat or whatever...
So can you be "retro" without being a hoarder/recycler/conservationist/historian/tip traveller/tightarse/commie?
Or is it just me?
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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hobby, fashion, lifestyle?Robinxr4i
@robinxr4i
Club Retro Rides Member 143
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Mar 27, 2007 15:30:02 GMT
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So can you be "retro" without being a hoarder/recycler/conservationist/historian/tip traveller/tightarse/commie? Oh sh1t I am all of those things does that make me a Commie traveller?
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Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
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Mar 27, 2007 15:31:21 GMT
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Yeah, you can be just retro, i don't even think i am retro, i just like 'stuff'! old stuff comes easier (unless taxed of course - which is a turn off), money comes into some decisions i make and yeah i hate waste, and don't like piles of unfixable tat, and throw away society, and have too much junk. but i'm just doing my thing like i expect you are.
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it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts
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Odin
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,406
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Mar 27, 2007 15:46:27 GMT
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I can't stand the whole 'throwaway culture' thing. I was brought up skip raiding and cruising liquidation auctions - and I'm certainly not a traveller! ;D
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Mar 27, 2007 15:51:49 GMT
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I guess we are all similar. The thought of not being able to fix something that breaks is one of horror. At the very least, I'll dissmantle something that I can't fix and recycle the pieces. Keeping an old car running is a good thing, why throw something perfectly servicable away when a bit of tinkering can keep it going. Heck, I even keep any odd metal thingy just in case and probably have enough wood kicking around to build a house!
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Peugeot 307sw - Suzuki SV650S - MX5.
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Mar 27, 2007 15:54:36 GMT
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i always pull stuff apart to see if i can use any of it for anything
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SPLIT RIMS ARE FOR WINNERS
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impmann
Posted a lot
Overcoming stupidity is the greatest challenge left to mankind
Posts: 1,089
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Mar 27, 2007 16:02:54 GMT
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I hate to see terms like 'lifestyle' banded about when it comes to old cars and hobbies. It seems to conjure up some very unpleasant images frankly - and 'lifestyles' always cost too much money. I like owning an old car to be a hobby. And in that way you don't have to be logical about it - a hobby really shouldn't be justifiable it should just 'be'. I'm sick of justifying why I drive old cars - I just do cos I like them, they look better, they were better built and I don't look like a drone driving them. I'm into primary level recycling - ie taking stuff that other folks would chuck out and make it work again for me. For example I hate buying wood when you can go to the council tip and find stacks of the stuff that folks are just only too happy to chuck into a skip. I'm involved in the 'freecycle' movement (check it out on the web if you haven't already) - yes there are some lame-asses who are out to get something for nothing ("Wanted top of the range DVD Recorder - must work - free. Can you deliver?") Years ago we all 'made do and mend' and bought things that were built to last so that they wouldn't need replacing for a long time and you repaired them when they failed. When was the last time you had your TV repaired for example - I bet you just bought another. This is because the prices have been driven down to get us to keep consuming more and more. And that also comes into our car ownership too... Y'see both our Imps were given to us - yes, GIVEN to us - as they were seen as rubbish by their previous owners and had it not been for our taking them on they would no doubt have been crushed by now. One of those cars took us to Budapest and back three years ago, plus has been used by both my wife and I (at different times) as everyday transport taking us all over the country. The other has been to pretty much all four corners of this country now, has won prizes for best of breed and is a much loved member of the family. How different things would have been if we hadn't taken them on. Both have required varying degrees of work to get them back on the road and reliable (Pele, our 76 Imp cost just £300 to renew all the braking and cooling systems, a new set of tyres and an MOT), and when they go wrong they get repaired not replaced. When magazines (and it usually is magazines) talk about 'lifestyle' they want to instill a feeling of belonging - mainly to keep readers on their side. These days I find I have less and less in common with the people in these magazines, and those that write them. There seems to be more focus on paying folks to repair stuff than having a go yourself - for example in one of the Q&A Clinic type collums recently the journo replied to a letter describing an alternator fault by saying to go to Halfords and buy a recon unit... years ago they would have said to try repairing it yourself (its still cheaper to do this - and IMHO more satisfying). As for fashion - blow that for a game of soldiers. I've been deeply unfashionable since birth and proud of it. Can you actually be a "Commie traveller" - I would that thought that being a traveller is diametrically opposed philosphically from the rigid dogma of communism, but maybe its just redistribution of wealth in a capitalist world. Or maybe I'm thinking about it too much!
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1964 Hillman Imp 1976 Hillman Imp 1967 Hillman Imp (And a few projects dotted around the country)
Just cos something is good for you doesn't mean its good for everyone - for example Marmite does not make good Dog Food.
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JC
Part of things
Posts: 815
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Mar 27, 2007 16:04:04 GMT
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I'll dissmantle something that I can't fix and recycle the pieces. Kinda the same with me. I used to love taking things to bits, usually just threw them away after cos i couldn't get them back together again though
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Mar 27, 2007 17:02:44 GMT
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I hate to see terms like 'lifestyle' banded about when it comes to old cars and hobbies. Indeed. Will we all need the right tee-shirt soon? Etc....
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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paulw
Part of things
Posts: 217
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Mar 27, 2007 17:45:37 GMT
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I don;t like to see old buildings demolished, I don't like to see working (or repairable) stuff thrown away, I don't like to see cheap plastic tat which can't be repaired filling the shelves of white goods sales places... I buy cheap cars. I hate when prices go up, even if its for the stuff I own and I just got "richer" because of a scene tax. People should buy what they like, nto whats "Reassuringly Expensive" - or we'd all be in MGB roadsters, Mk1 Escorts and split window busses... A mate of mine got banned from the local tip for bartering stuff out of the back of other people's cars. I might sound like a "traveller" but I work in an office in a suit and tie... Not that that means anything I guess, but I am privately educated and boringly middle class.... I kinda guess I've always respected the history of stuff, and the herritage we have in our manufacturing industries (RIP) and the people who made this country great with their blood and their sweat. And I see a bunch of people who are just in it for the cool wow factor, who bought the right toys and talk the right talk but just don't seem to get it when you take it to anything other than a superficial level as to whether donk is the new rat or whatever... So can you be "retro" without being a hoarder/recycler/conservationist/historian/tip traveller/tightarse/commie? Or is it just me? I instinctively have that thing about the preservation of stuff, and respecting that if something has survived this long then it's somehow wrong to be the one to throw it away. (can of worms warning: I also don't like to see really original cars radically modified for this reason as well). This can just be a dangerous hoarding problem though, which is how you end up with a lock-up like mine so full of rubbish that you can't fix your car. But the fashion thing kind of relies on having this outlook and awareness of/respect for the past. There is always an aspect of fashion or cultural significance (or something like that ) in driving an old car. Being the first one to build a Metro or a Fiat Panda or something in a new way is cool, same as the people who start wearing, say, 80s sunglasses that they've bought from charity shops are cooler than the people who buy the Topshop lookalikes the following summer. So I think you can be one without the other, but it's unlikely you'd know enough to really get respect - the sort of people who say: 'I want a retro car, but it must be cool' are basically saying 'I can't work out for myself what old car might be cool' and so will therefore never ever really be cool
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Lotus Seven '58 Ford Special 64 Barracuda
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Mar 27, 2007 20:21:41 GMT
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'cool' people have always been and always will be rebels who live just slightly outside 'normal' peoples realms. too far out (man) and you are a weirdo.
is it a lifestyle? i enjoy some new things, like mp3 players, digicams, mobiles. but i always buy for myself secondhand. i hate waste. i hoard stuff to a small extent. new throwaway cars that you cant fix scare me. my stereo has stopped playing cds and cassettes but i still have it, because its perfectly good at retaining its radio presets. honestly, I'm happier this way than throwing around money i don't have on stuff i wont like.
i think its psychological. my parents have always been skint and therefore so have i. writing off my mums car and some other tools van after getting my own job didnt help much either. so we always have lived on hand-me-downs, reduced food and clearance lines. we had a sharp 14" tv for years until my mum got her own business. we didnt have a DVD player till my brother bought one after getting a job. the point is, if i was brought up like most of my friends just buying new curse word whenever, id be like them, in debt to my eyes on a corsa/civic and trying to scrape a living to pay for curse word. instead I'm up to my eyes in debt on a felicia/escort and trying to scrape a living to pay for curse word. totally different lifestyle as you can see. they're probably happier too. lol.
i am TEH WORSZT debater EVAR
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Ether
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,450
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Mar 27, 2007 21:00:00 GMT
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I enjoy driving/fiddling about with/fixing/looking at old stuff.
I love any form of restoration, be it rebuilding a ruin, car or Tomy robot.
Skip traveller for sure - I make the Wombles look wasteful.
I guess sharing those traits is no coincidence when it comes to having a love for old cars, you need to be able to look for potential in everything.
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filmidget
East Midlands
Mostly Lurking
Posts: 1,652
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Mar 27, 2007 21:03:53 GMT
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I think some of you guys think too much
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'79 MG Midget 1500 - Still patiently awaiting attention '02 Vauxhall Astra 1.8 Elegance(!) - Better than you might think '03 Mazda MX5 - All new and shiny looking (thanks to Antony at Rust Republic) '09 Renault Clio - Needs to go.
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MaxN
Part of things
Posts: 482
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Mar 27, 2007 21:38:48 GMT
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I consider myself retro.
I wear mechanical watches over their Quartz cousins. I prefer the elegance of a decent jeweled movement over the soul-less accuracy of a $5 Japanese movement. I prefer old mechanical watches too, todays watch is a 1970's Seiko Chrono.
My daily driver is a Bini - OK so it is not old, but it is retro styled and I love the slightly oldschool charm it has combined with the BMW parts bin.
I drove an '87 325iS for six years (1999 to 2005) as a daily driver, putting something like 100K miles on the clock, sadly I backed it into the scenery the day after I had spent three weeks replacing the clutch.
I am a gadget whore and own an iPod, but I prefer my music to be played on an LP12 through a QED amp and out through a pair of (1984) Infinity RS1000's rather than a Bose music system.
I prefer movies to either have no CGI, or to be completely CGI (eg Cars).
I tend to buy things that will last......
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Mar 27, 2007 22:28:18 GMT
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I think some of you guys think too much ;D Yep!!!
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it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts
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I got like 14 old cars, you do the math
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Tarka
Part of things
Posts: 905
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Retro is definately in fashion at the moment - its everywhere you look - but hasn't it always been?? Times just move on. Nobody has 60's or 70's discos anymore - everyone is having 80s discos. The 70s are so 90s!! I heard some rse talking about old school rave the other day - mid 90s happy hardcore stuff - come on, thats always going to be cack (IMO) but because its "old" its suddenly cool to like it again because its "cool" to be different! I am the son of a traveller hoarder engineer so as a complete contrast I like buying new stuff, don't cry when I throw things away and can't weld, chop wood, spray paint etc! Its not through choice, its just who I grew up to be. I've always been into the 70s though, long before it was cool to be into the 70s. Its the era of my favourite cars, favourite music and favourite fashions. Don't hate me just because there are more people like me now. I don't always listen to Bowie, I don't always wear flares and I don't always drive my old car.
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Sharks in the garage.🐬🇩🇪 I'll finish my projects when you've finished your's!😎😜
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I am the son of a traveller hoarder engineer so as a complete contrast I like buying new stuff, don't cry when I throw things away and can't weld, chop wood, spray paint etc! Its not through choice, its just who I grew up to be. This is what I started out doing, somehow ended up like my dad. hmm ;D - The 80's is everywhere now yeah, I guess its cos they think people like me have all the money to spend so novely club nights and radios are all playing it. it will move on to 90's stuff, then i'll feel old!!! all The university students and old skool young dudes will be digging teh 80's, they like it for novelty but don't remember much/all of it like i did with the 70's - General retro though, IMO its cos noone really wants to look towards the future, us included I think, whats tehre for us, none of the hopes and dreams I grew up with thats for sure. seems like a load of soul crushing rules, wars, and boringness, if thse 3 words can go together
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it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts
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Nick
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,483
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Mar 28, 2007 12:35:56 GMT
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dunno just do my thing buy what i buy when i can etc,
enjoy buying some things new, and then i also fixing/hoarding things.
modern traveller with morals;)
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idea stolen from rattely eddie.
this weeks car count "5"
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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hobby, fashion, lifestyle?tigran
@tigran
Club Retro Rides Member 142
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Mar 28, 2007 13:18:27 GMT
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I don't like to see working (or repairable) stuff thrown away, I don't like to see cheap plastic tat which can't be repaired filling the shelves of white goods sales places... This is the main thing for me, to try and keep a couple of bits of british history going when someone else thinks it's scrappable. Tis the only reason I got my capri - because it was walking it's green mile, and i didn't want to see it scrapped. I didn't even like mkIII capri's at the time. But to answer your original point what you're talking about is being a petrol/scrapheap head - tis different to being retro IMO. I see loads of retro people (man i feel stupid saying that) walking around london/bournemouth who wouldn't know the difference between a space hopper/atari or cortina.
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1964 Rover P5 i6 1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak 1992 Micra K10 2001 BMW E46 316i 2002 BMW E46 330Ci 2013 BMW F31 320d 2018 BMW G31 530d
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