Sentimental durability, Is that a thing?

[0xDEADBEEF]

The idea sounds like some sort of cognitive bias.

 

[Tommy1234]

Perhaps.

 

[RedneckWithPaychecks]

I own a driveway of mostly all GM vehicles, all were mostly cheap but cheaper for sure than a new truck. As much as I want a new 2022 Chevy Tahoe Z71 edition (I have a thing for Z71 editions), I don’t have 70k lying around.

You also can’t buy a new SUV that’s got only 2 doors and a peppy V6 with a body kit. You can’t buy a new truck for less than $1000. You can’t buy the perfect truck brand new.

On the style question; HELL YEAH it can grow on you. My 2002 Tahoe for example, I never liked the style of it. But now that I own one, it’s like the perfect dog. It’s big and menacing but when it doesn’t need to be it’s comforting. The best thing about a GMT800 is how familiar it is, same goes for a 400. I never got into (both physically and mentally) a GMT800 before and yet it was super easy to get used to. Something my Blazer isn’t good at being.

 

[thinger2]

I mean like I'm just so curious curious. The idea of sentimental durability. Regular durability is engineered in a product. Steel of the chassie. Engine design ect...
But what makes a vehicle worth the blood sweat and tears of restoring or profitable for companies to stamp out patch panels.
Can a style or design grow on you?
For example why is there parts for road runners yet not for Belvidere.
Or how hard is it to find panels for a g20 vs c/k 2500.

Oh yes. There are cultural anthropology studies on this subject.
And it all ties in to war, adrenaline, babies, and car seats.
When my Grandfather enlisted in the Navy in 1941.
He had a 39 ford coupe.
When he came back in early 46.
That Ford had been in the backyard the whole time.
Because tires and oil and gas were rationed.
So, just like most of those guys, he comes back after not only fearing for his life on a daily basis but spending his off time wondering if his wife and kids are Okay.
So about 4 years of adrenilan spikes every day.
And then they are supposed to go home and pretend it never happened.
So they get home and they have to put the old Ford or Chevy back on the road.
Car production from 46 to 49 or so was pretty limited and they were all pre war designs.
Big ploddingly slow flathead 3 on the tree.
These guys had nothing to buy that would give them a rush.
So they made thier own.
This is the origin of Nascar and Drag racing and Bonneville and Hydroplanes and all of that.
A truly amazing part of history an every car person needs to dig into it.
It is awesome fun to look into
The first real post war design was the Ford .
The "Shoe box"
Some people are into them.
Blah.
And nothing happened untill 1953.
The 53 vette changed it all.
Hopelessly slow but it had style.
And then the Studabaker Hawk and the 55 T Bird etc.
And then the 55 Chevy.
The start of the tri five era.
I am skipping over a whole lot of history here just to keep it short.
Back in those days Pontiac was the performance brand but Oldsmobile was chasing that title pretty hard.
All was well. Untill 1958.
The origin year for massive butt ugly.
The Vette survived in a way
The T-Bird just mutated.
The 58 to 59 Impala is an aquired taste.
The 59 to 64 Chryslers are bizarre.
So wierd that I want one.
In 62 or 63 Ford introduced the ultra light galaxy
And in 1964. Pontiac introduced the GTO.
And that changed the world.
Yes, I will tie this all back to combat and baby seats and the used car market and the ratio between military bases, time away from your wife, interest rates and hot rodding.
And child seat laws as a proportion of second gen Camaros for sale.

With a layer of empty nest nostalgia and garage tool collecting.
I have an entire theory on the subject.

 

[Tommy1234]

Oh yes. There are cultural anthropology studies on this subject.
And it all ties in to war, adrenaline, babies, and car seats.
When my Grandfather enlisted in the Navy in 1941.
He had a 39 ford coupe.
When he came back in early 46.
That Ford had been in the backyard the whole time.
Because tires and oil and gas were rationed.
So, just like most of those guys, he comes back after not only fearing for his life on a daily basis but spending his off time wondering if his wife and kids are Okay.
So about 4 years of adrenilan spikes every day.
And then they are supposed to go home and pretend it never happened.
So they get home and they have to put the old Ford or Chevy back on the road.
Car production from 46 to 49 or so was pretty limited and they were all pre war designs.
Big ploddingly slow flathead 3 on the tree.
These guys had nothing to buy that would give them a rush.
So they made thier own.
This is the origin of Nascar and Drag racing and Bonneville and Hydroplanes and all of that.
A truly amazing part of history an every car person needs to dig into it.
It is awesome fun to look into
The first real post war design was the Ford .
The "Shoe box"
Some people are into them.
Blah.
And nothing happened untill 1953.
The 53 vette changed it all.
Hopelessly slow but it had style.
And then the Studabaker Hawk and the 55 T Bird etc.
And then the 55 Chevy.
The start of the tri five era.
I am skipping over a whole lot of history here just to keep it short.
Back in those days Pontiac was the performance brand but Oldsmobile was chasing that title pretty hard.
All was well. Untill 1958.
The origin year for massive butt ugly.
The Vette survived in a way
The T-Bird just mutated.
The 58 to 59 Impala is an aquired taste.
The 59 to 64 Chryslers are bizarre.
So wierd that I want one.
In 62 or 63 Ford introduced the ultra light galaxy
And in 1964. Pontiac introduced the GTO.
And that changed the world.
Yes, I will tie this all back to combat and baby seats and the used car market and the ratio between military bases, time away from your wife, interest rates and hot rodding.
And child seat laws as a proportion of second gen Camaros for sale.

With a layer of empty nest nostalgia and garage tool collecting.
I have an entire theory on the subject.

I kind of like that theory too

 

[thinger2]

More of the part of the sentimental durability or trying to think of the term here. Like why something of a similar platform or similar design we're similar design if it's a desirable one less longer than the undesirable 1.. Why why certain vehicles have a huge aftermarket support community that would include le let's say new body shells or aftermarket frames. Why are there reproductions of tri five Chevrolet's. But not other makes. Reproductions of 32 Fords but not other thirties are a vehicles. Or why is one style built in similar fashion to another last longer.

Nostalgia. Memories. Movies.
All of that.
In my case I grew up with some racing nuts.
People who were crazy about going fast.
They bought whatever had the best available engine in the lightest body with the best manufacturer/dealer support and parts availability.
And in 1955 that was Chevrolet.
A Pontiac or an Olds or Buick was a lot more money.
And they were heavier.
And they were an "upsell" brand.
They really didnt have a base model.
But you could buy a chevy in any flavor you wanted.
And you could get any engine you wanted in the cheapest car they had.
You could buy the most bone stock plain jane no trim radio delete with a V8 and pick the rearend gear too.
You couldnt do that at Pontiac or Buick
You had to buy a certain "Package" to get what you wanted.
That, coupled with the styling of the Tri-Five chevys.
Take a 55 Pontiac and set it next to a 55 Olds and a 55 Chevy.
Really no choice to be made.
And by 1957, really really no choice to be made.
This is pretty much the origin of the RPO code car.
And also why finding a factory 4 door with a v8 is pretty rare.
Back in the day they would buy those cars just to get the engine.
And a bunch of those cars and the wagons got cut in half and shortened with modified wheelbases into A or B Altered cars .
Some of them ended up as blown rear engined methanol wheel standers.
Them boys were crazy.
And they got a little bit older and banged up.
And some of those guys sent thier kids to Viet Nam.
And some of them went to Viet Nam.
Depends on the age, time in service all kinds of things.
The Muscle Car era comes from that.
We get all of these historic amazing cars from those people coming back from hell and wanting to not drive a friggen volkswagen.
Those guys came back and bought Chevelles and Roadrunners and Dart Gt convertables and Chargers and all of that.
And then they had kids.
A bunch of kids.
All while being told that it never happened.
So they go to work and the car rots in the backyard.
And then the gas shortages.
Everybody panic bought Pintos and Vegas and even Gremlins.
Garbage cars.
Some people bought Japanese cars.
We thought they were traitors.
The end of this long story is that by the time I turned 15 our world was full of dirt cheap really cool cars that our Fathers had parked in the back yard because they knocked up too many women.
My 1964 Mercury Maruader 428 factory bucket factory tach console detroit locker car was 125.00 dollars.
My 69 440 factory tach console bucket
Roadrunner was 250 bucks.
My 70 Z28 was 300 bucks.
Nobody wanted those cars.
And then, procreation happened.
And apperently the government doesnt like babies flying around in the back seat.
Loose kids in the ass end of the wagon never bothered dad and Im not real sure if they are related to me so **** em .

 

[RichLo]

thinger2, please never hold back from telling your stories or sharing your advice!

The last part of that reminded me of a local radio station asking people to call in and say things that were normal in the 70s but would get you in jail today... "Here honey, hold the baby for a sec so I can crack a beer and light a cig because the light just turned red."

 

[Erik the Awful]

When I was a cub scout we'd go camping a couple times a year. The scout master had a black K1500 squarebody with a camper shell that we'd ride in to the camp site. He and my dad would sit up front and us scouts would sit in the bed with the spare tire. I remember sliding painfully into the front of the bed when he had to make an emergency stop. Also, pounding on the window to ask for a pee break. I don't miss it.

 

[RedneckWithPaychecks]

When I was a cub scout we'd go camping a couple times a year. The scout master had a black K1500 squarebody with a camper shell that we'd ride in to the camp site. He and my dad would sit up front and us scouts would sit in the bed with the spare tire. I remember sliding painfully into the front of the bed when he had to make an emergency stop. Also, pounding on the window to ask for a pee break. I don't miss it.

When I was a scout, one of the dads had a 78 or 79 F150 and it was one of the extended cab ones. I remember it mostly because on the way to a camping site in the Ozarks, he had all of my gear and rolled the truck. My bag was the only one missing, and I really don't like 78-79 F150 extended cabs. Maybe I enherited the "Hated vehicle" gene and this one fell into place perfectly, my dad HATES Buicks. I hate 79-78 F150 extended cabs.

 

[Tommy1234]

Scouting perfect memories