Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Pontiac

 This week's contest on BAT is for subscriber's choice of hood ornament

Chief Pontiac on the 1950 model has to be one of the better looking ones out there .

 Likely considered un-PC by the woke lib-tards today .

Took the photo at a car show about twenty years ago .


9 comments:

  1. Sure don't make cars like that today... imagine if you will, the styling of those years, the technology of today without the safety nazis, the emissions nazis and the let's change it up every year nazis and you would have large cars that would get 45 mpg, have fewer emissions then they have today and you could recognize a Pontiac Chief from a Chrysler Le Baron and be safer in it because market forces would determine what was available and what people wanted, not the damn government.

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    1. I look at modern cars today and there is simply nothing that calls my attention . Don't care for the styling nor the complexity that comes with all the gadgetry they come with . Mother has a 2013 VW Golf , and its a nice enough driving car , but I can't replace the brake pads on it myself because you need the VW proprietary computer to be able to command the calipers to retract . We used to have a 94 Mazda 626 that would get 38 to 40 mpg on the highway out west . As soon as they foisted ethanol on us it dropped to no more than 25 mpg .

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  2. I'll have to disagree with Cederq, unfortunately. Five years ago I was in a highway accident with my parents. If it would have been a car from the 70's or 80's we all probably would be dead.

    However you slice it, cars today are much better than they were back then, safer and a lot more reliable too. Maybe not as cool, but I remember the days that it was a big deal to get 100K miles on a car, and you usually didn't get a lot more than that before it rusted out on you or just plain wore out. Every fall you did a tune up, every couple of years a new battery, and radiators and thermostats were a constant hassle.

    I also appreciate the engineered crumple zones, air bags, seat belts, collapsible steering columns and head restraints. People routinely walk away from accidents that would have killed them in the old days.

    I don't believe that market forces alone would have driven all of the advancements. Car manufacturers focus on the bottom line, customer be damned, and had to be forced to make some of these improvements. I'm not saying that the government is an all-wise and beneficial force (witness the ethanol farce) but that much of what has been mandated is actually good. The styling is boring, but I'll take any one of the ones I am driving now over anything on the road when I was a younger man.

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    1. I suppose that all depends on what kind of end user you are . Do you buy used cars and hold on to them for twenty years plus and run them 250K miles , or do you buy new , make payments for six years and replace them every five years ? Do you take your car to the dealer and pay two grand every time the idiot light comes on in the dash ? Or do you replace your own exhaust , shocks and springs , radiator, alternator , rebuild your steering , brakes with your own hands ?
      As for rust , modern cars do not last near as long as the older ones. The metal is simply not as thick . In the sun in Komiefornia they last forever , here in Maine with six months of salt you are lucky to get ten years .
      Modern safety innovations you say ? safety glass , three point seat belts , crumple zones , Volvo implemented those before WW2 . To it my own 1962 PV544 .
      Modern styling? uff !!! all the appeal of a suppository .
      Longevity of modern engines is due entirely to improvements in modern metallurgy , nothing to do with government mandates . The government has no business mandating anything at all .

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  3. I am between the two worlds. I melt at the sight of fins, Chrome, and analog dashboards. But…NM has a point. Today’s cars handle better, they offer vastly improved survivability in accidents, and the power to eight ratios have gone straight up since the bad old days.

    I believe they are built better too. For the last 12 years I put gas in my Tacoma, changed the tires and oil… and that’s it. My wife’s Rav is the same. They are just great for us, I am not a gear head.

    Having said that… the problem now is that cars are getting too smart. They can almost park and drive themselves and I hear they will soon be spying on you too. And no way in hell am I driving an electric vehicle.

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    1. Knocking on the door of 60 here and I have yet to buy a new car . I also have no debt . Given present circumstances and choices we face that is huge . Always drove junkers cause I never knew where my next paycheck was coming from and that's all I could ever afford . Never could justify paying anyone to work on them either . For me it has always been a choice between fixing them myself or walking . I derive no pleasure from the work other than when the burden is off my shoulders . As such I need my vehicles to be something I can work on myself . Simplicity is the name of the game when you live and die by dirty fingernails . Modern vehicles achieve all they do only though increased complexity . Some of them today have over 1500 smart chips in them . Yes modern vehicles are way more driveable . Newest vehicle I have is a 2005 BMW 325XI that I never sought to buy and came to me four years ago when a friend was letting it go for a reasonable price given condition . Annie's Jetta was starting to give me fits and I had a moment of weakness . The BMW is a true delight to drive but way nicer than I ever would seek out . My one hesitation when considering buying it was my ability to repair it . Being a 15 yr old OBD2 system it was still relatively simple and within my means to manage . But I challenge anyone here to sort out the secondary air system on it themselves as I did a couple years ago , without paying a couple grand to the dealer .
      https://isserfiq.blogspot.com/2019/08/05-bmw-325-failure-code-p0491-and-p0492.html
      Yes , there is a vast difference between the BMW and my 62 Volvo . A couple hundred miles in the Volvo and you are beat to shit . Given what we are facing today I still opt for the simpler machine that I am able to work on .

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    2. I would be interested in a study. I am the polar opposite of you: I buy my vehicles new, I take very good care of them, and drive them until the doors fall off. My family buys used, and they are always buying and selling their second-hands and it works for them. Are they saving any money? I’m not so sure. I am closing on 60 too… and I have bought 4 new vehicles. The wrenchers in my family are easily double that.

      We paid them off fast … and just drove them. I think people get into trouble when they start getting mixed up in leases and breaking them… but whadda I know?

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  4. My Uncle had an old Pontiac with the similar hood ornament. We use to pretend to pick the Chief's nose.

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    1. Today they'd probably prosecute you for racism if you did such a thing.

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