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The Official Eleanor Roosevelt (And Anything Else Non-Topical) Thread

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 6, 2012 6:46 PM
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 6, 2012 6:48 PM

A personal favorite of mine:  A 1960 Ford Sunliner:

http://collectiblecars.nytimes.com/View_Listing.asp?ListingID=COL711031&From=F

 

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Posted by Modelcar on Friday, January 6, 2012 7:56 PM

.....In my opinion, the '57 Bird was the nicest Thunderbird.

Trivia:  I come from a home town {In Pa.}, of aboutr 450 pop.  I had a friend who had one of them with the 300hp blower on it....{Stock}

They were rare, and like I said...in such a small place to have one....

Quentin

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 6, 2012 8:47 PM

Modelcar

.....In my opinion, the '57 Bird was the nicest Thunderbird.

Trivia:  I come from a home town {In Pa.}, of aboutr 450 pop.  I had a friend who had one of them with the 300hp blower on it....{Stock}

They were rare, and like I said...in such a small place to have one....

Wow...that must have screamed up and down US 30...  Cool

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Posted by Modelcar on Friday, January 6, 2012 10:00 PM

Murray....Coincidence you mention up and down rt. 30...

My family had an Esso Station on 3o {bypass}, which was just on the outside of town....{since 1938}, as before that it was our main st....{see another thread on here of small towns, etc..}

And........the highway passed our station at a 9% grade.  It was about a mile long.  We used to start at the bottom of the grade {from a stopped position}, with our cars and see how fast we could pass our station....{There it leveled off to 6%, to the top of the hill about a 1000' beyond.

I never did meet with {Findley}, with the Paxton blower on that run, and perhaps he could have topped me.  My Corvette was with the standard engine...{Pictured @ Avatar}.

He did seem to have trouble at times with the supercharger, and one day he looked at my Corvette, under the hood, and said "one 4-bbl", here's one I can beat.  I agreed he could with the blower, but don't let me catch you sometime when you don't have it on...

Other Thunderbirds, I could take up that hill by quite a distance...In general we would pass the station about 110 mph....{up the 9%}..!

That was when we were young....I know better now......don't we all.

Quentin

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, January 7, 2012 4:35 PM

Murray

I've got to tell you I've got strong opinions on the styling of the 1957-60 Lincolns. The exterior designer of those cars should have been imprisoned for Criminal Insanity. And when the first 1959 model passed through the exit door of the assembly building someone should have been shot!SoapBox

However, and I am too young to remember this, my Dad used to say that when driving down the highway at 60-65 mph, he never minded being passed by a Lincoln. In the fifties, and early sixties, he said they had the nicest sounding engines of any car on the road.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, January 7, 2012 4:55 PM

Murray

Now this car brings back fond memories. One of the two principal cruising cars for our group in high school was a 1955 Buick Special. A 1957 Chev is a beautiful car, but the difference in the caliber of car between the Chev/Pontiac and the Olds/Buick in those days was significant.

Check out that option list on his Olds. That was one of the earliest years for many of the options we take for granted on cars today. That Buick had a full gauge cluster instead of idiot lights for engine monitoring. And it was the oldest car I ever saw two other small features on. A red indicator light came on if you left the emergency brake on, and it had a map light under the top lip of the then standard steel dash. The forerunner of those little lights on either side of the dome light on cars today.

Now that is a car I would like to ride in again.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 7, 2012 7:46 PM

Bruce, my neighbor in New Jersey had a '55 Old 88, with the 327 cubic inch V8 and Hydramatic. 

That was one fine car, with its 2-tone blue and white!

Regarding Ford's, I would like to get my hands on a 1960 or 1961 Galaxie.  I really like body style of both years.

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, January 7, 2012 10:46 PM

Interesting tidbit about those 1960 Fords. The company was in the worst financial shape of any of the Detroit Three in relative terms, until the recent financial meltdown. There was no govt money then, and if they had gone down they would have stayed down. It was down to a day to day struggle to make both wages and supplier invoices. The company was badly wounded until the 1965 model, with it's claims that it was quieter than a Rolls Royce. Remember the first Mustangs(1964½) and Econolines(1961)(a cab over Falcon, they had learned the lesson of the VW Microbus, a cab over Beetle) were built with parts from the Falcon parts bins.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 8, 2012 11:48 AM

AgentKid

Interesting tidbit about those 1960 Fords. The company was in the worst financial shape of any of the Detroit Three in relative terms, until the recent financial meltdown. There was no govt money then, and if they had gone down they would have stayed down. It was down to a day to day struggle to make both wages and supplier invoices. The company was badly wounded until the 1965 model, with it's claims that it was quieter than a Rolls Royce. Remember the first Mustangs(1964½) and Econolines(1961)(a cab over Falcon, they had learned the lesson of the VW Microbus, a cab over Beetle) were built with parts from the Falcon parts bins.

Bruce

 

I had a '64 Galaxie 500 with a 390 cu in V8.  Talk about a quiet car!  You never really heard her unless you really punched her...and even then is was solidly quiet.

At idle you'd think you had stalled.  But she was still going.

I miss that car!

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 8, 2012 11:49 AM

Bruce, I also read on the CBC site that Ford is now the #1 car brand sold in Canada.

 

 

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Posted by AgentKid on Sunday, January 8, 2012 12:23 PM

Murray, my sister just added the third Ford to their collection about two months ago. A 2011 Fusion AWD. Based on their experience so far it seems to be a great car. Based on only two round trips to her place it seems like a good vehicle to me. They also have an Explorer, and a Ranger for his work.

Ford may have some work to do in their sales area though. One fellow they dealt with at one dealership seemed remarkably incompetent. That won't help any company in this economy.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 8, 2012 2:25 PM

AgentKid
Ford may have some work to do in their sales area though. One fellow they dealt with at one dealership seemed remarkably incompetent. That won't help any company in this economy.

I know what  you mean Bruce.  We have seven (or so) Jeep dealers here in the San Antonio area, and I wouldn't give a nickel for any of them.

Now the dealer that I bought my '09 Kia from was very good,  I'd certanly buy from them again.

 

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Posted by Victrola1 on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 9:42 AM

Mid to late 60's Fords marketed their "smooth quiet ride." That they had until a couple score thousand miles loosened things up. The front end was pure mush. You never really felt the road. You aimed with the steering wheel.

How that era's Fords ride compared with the Packards Eleanor Roosevelt rode in I can not say.

Has any locomotive manufacturer marketed their product for its smooth quiet ride?

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 2:46 PM

Victrola1
Has any locomotive manufacturer marketed their product for its smooth quiet ride?

Can't speak for a locomotive manufacturer, but New York Central had its standard slogan for many years:  "The Water Level Route...You Can Sleep"

And C&O had "Chessie" the sleeping kitty.

Anybody have any others?

 

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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, January 12, 2012 6:17 AM

Murray

 

 Victrola1:
Has any locomotive manufacturer marketed their product for its smooth quiet ride?

 

Can't speak for a locomotive manufacturer, but New York Central had its standard slogan for many years:  "The Water Level Route...You Can Sleep"

And C&O had "Chessie" the sleeping kitty.

Anybody have any others?

 

 

Didn't EMD market a Whisper cab, or something?

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 12, 2012 11:52 AM

zugmann
Didn't EMD market a Whisper cab, or something?

Come to think of it I do remember reading something about the Whisper Cab....

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 12, 2012 12:01 PM

Here's something on the Canadian "Comfort Cab":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_comfort_cab

 

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 12, 2012 12:03 PM

From the SD70 Series:

http://www.american-rails.com/sd70.html

 

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Posted by Victrola1 on Thursday, January 12, 2012 2:38 PM

Ford ran a television ad in the 1970's touting the smoothness of a Lincoln's ride. A master diamond cutter in the back seat proceeded to cleave a large stone while traveling over a rough stretch of road.

Is there a locomotive's cab that could provide the same stability at speed over a rough stretch of track?

 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, January 12, 2012 8:59 PM

Anyone remember the "Saturday Night Live" spoof of that Lincoln diamond cutter ad?  If you do you're probably laughing as I am with the remembering.  If you don't, well, I won't go into the ugly details.  This is a family-oriented site after all!

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Posted by Victrola1 on Friday, January 13, 2012 7:35 AM

Firelock76

Anyone remember the "Saturday Night Live" spoof of that Lincoln diamond cutter ad?  If you do you're probably laughing as I am with the remembering.  If you don't, well, I won't go into the ugly details.  This is a family-oriented site after all!

A surgical procedure one would not wish to undergo in a locomotive at speed on rough track as I recall.

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Posted by oltmannd on Friday, January 13, 2012 11:41 AM

Murray

 

 zugmann:
Didn't EMD market a Whisper cab, or something?

 

Come to think of it I do remember reading something about the Whisper Cab....

 

Yup.  The isolated cabs which first made an appearance on Conrail's SD60M 5044 were branded "Whisper cabs".  The were designed to keep the cab noise below 80dB.  85dB was the FRA limit for cab noise, but the OSHA std was 80dB, which is also the level below which prolonged exposure to noise won't cause permanent hearing loss.  

 They really were quiet.  The crews complained they could hardly hear the horn.

Conrail got them on the balance of their SD60Ms (calling them SD60Is, the "I" for "isolated") and on the subsequent SD80MACs.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by oltmannd on Friday, January 13, 2012 11:46 AM

Victrola1

Mid to late 60's Fords marketed their "smooth quiet ride." That they had until a couple score thousand miles loosened things up. The front end was pure mush. You never really felt the road. You aimed with the steering wheel.

How that era's Fords ride compared with the Packards Eleanor Roosevelt rode in I can not say.

Has any locomotive manufacturer marketed their product for its smooth quiet ride?

 

Old Ford Commercial.  1965 is when they started pushing "quiet"

 http://youtu.be/r18YRP-jWAY

 

 

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, January 13, 2012 9:58 PM

oltmannd

 

 

Yup.  The isolated cabs which first made an appearance on Conrail's SD60M 5044 were branded "Whisper cabs".  The were designed to keep the cab noise below 80dB.  85dB was the FRA limit for cab noise, but the OSHA std was 80dB, which is also the level below which prolonged exposure to noise won't cause permanent hearing loss.  

 

 They really were quiet.  The crews complained they could hardly hear the horn.

Conrail got them on the balance of their SD60Ms (calling them SD60Is, the "I" for "isolated") and on the subsequent SD80MACs.

 

I like those engines.  They are quiet.. and fun to go through a 40mph crossover in.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 20, 2012 2:09 PM

Goodyear snow tire commercial circa 1963:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2krB1RyLFU

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 20, 2012 2:10 PM
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 20, 2012 5:22 PM

I found a Firestone snow tire commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPPG3USPny0

 

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 20, 2012 5:26 PM

And of course...who can't remember when studded tires were first introduced:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=zD_wVF1sato

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 20, 2012 6:03 PM

Here's a Goodyear tire test for you Quentin....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=vwKMBzJTpmM

 

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