Another Sunday with Cars in Seattle

[tiggymalvern]

We were back at Madrona Park yesterday morning, and a real rarity showed up - a 1954 Kaiser Darrin, of which less than 500 were made.



Yes, the doors do open by sliding forwards into the front wing.


It was parked next to our Caterham 7, and looks almost as small!


And then a Lotus Elan parked on the other side. These cars just disappear inside parking spots that have to be sized to fit Ford Explorers and F-150s...


A Ford Galaxie in a statement shade of purple.


And a Nissan 280Z which has been in the same family since new.


You can always ignore the ranks of far too many modern Porsches and find the interesting stuff :-)

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

That first car really looks very cool! I am not a car person so most of these names don't mean much to me, but that looks very classy indeed.

[tiggymalvern]

The Kaiser Darrin was stunning (the owner told us the company went bankrupt the same year this car was made, so it was one of the last of its kind). A beautiful car, maintained to perfaction, with any number of stylish touches.

[silverusagi]

Those sliding doors are so cool!

[tiggymalvern]

They really are. A feature which has lately resurfaced only in minivans, where they don't have quite the same stylish effect XD

[tameiki]

Your Seven still looks brand new! And the Ford Galaxie reminded me of my first car, it was a '65, though, with the fins on the back :)

[tiggymalvern]

The light is flattering to the Seven in that photo - it looks considerably cleaner than it was!

[weconqueratdawn]

I know NOTHING about cars (never even owned one) but good lord are these beautiful??

(Also I'm picturing hard Quicksilver Will in the first one so... thanks for that :D)

[tiggymalvern]

Most cars are built purely to be practical and designed around efficiency, especially modern cars. Some cars are built as works of art, and that applied to more mundane older cars too, before anyone thought of a wind tunnel. They just made them a shape they thought was cool and different.

[weconqueratdawn]

"They just made them a shape they thought was cool and different."

That is definitely the level of car understanding/appreciation I'm at :D

But thanks, I never really thought about it like that.

[bymyverytoes]

pretty looking death traps :)

Though that Ford has no redeeming features. People drive old crap around here all polished up and pretending they're classic cars. They're not. They're badly designed, ugly, dangerous cars with very low fuel efficiency.

I, uh, might have opinions about this subject :)

[tiggymalvern]

Some old cars are badly designed, some still stand up pretty well. The fuel efficiency thing is definitely true - OTOH, they're not full of rare earth minerals for all the electronics the way modern cars are and they contain a lot less plastic. You get to choose your poison.

[bymyverytoes]

"they contain a lot less plastic"

Yes, which is why they were a lot less safe. All those shiny metal surfaces and hard edges in old cars killed people, same as rigid bumper bars and lack of crumple zones to absorb impacts.

Cars were and are an environmental disaster, but they don't have to be death traps (or spew pollution). The more modern a car, the happier I am. I don't care about the looks so much. Although some of the ones you've photographed are gorgeous looking. The Ford? Not so much. I see no value in preserving perfectly ordinary, outdated passenger cars which pollute and endanger.

We have people who collect 'classic' Holdens over here, and a bigger collection of ugly, clunky and downright forgettable vehicles you will never see. I put it down to nostalgia for beach holidays and drive in movies :)

[tiggymalvern]

We have people who collect 'classic' Holdens over here, and a bigger collection of ugly, clunky and downright forgettable vehicles you will never see.

Unless you get into the relics of indigenous cultures, Australia doesn't have much history, so I guess people take it where they can find it!