XP715

Virtually nothing; my father's family is about as unsentimental as they come. Everybody was always trading up for bigger and better and newer, and what was left that was old was thrown in closets and basements and attics until it was either sold, given away to strangers, or very unceremoniously thrown out. I plucked a family Bible from 1882 from the trash at my grandmother's house that held literally centuries of family history in the section where people write in the dates of births, deaths, marriages, etc. She thought nobody wanted it. Now it sits safely on a shelf at my parents house. What little else was saved was done so by my father (an old Governor Winthrop desk which he still uses daily to do his bills and such, my grandfather's dog tags and pins from the Korean War, a few boxes of old photographs, etc.) My mother's family, while not terribly sentimental, did save a few pieces from past generations. I'm lucky enough to have an old milk pitcher that my great grandmother brought with her when she came over from Ireland in the early 1920's (was an antique then) that I proudly display in my kitchen. My mother also has a few of her tea sets, real 100+ year-old English bone china that came from my great grandfather's family (he came from England around the same time she came from Ireland and gave them to her). She also has two one hundred year-old dressers that used to belong to them as well that just sit in the attic and collect dust. Also, she has my great grandmother's picture ID badge from the armory in Watertown, MA where she made bullets during WWII. You guys that have rooms full of stuff that belonged to your ancestors are lucky; what I will end up with from both sides of the family, excluding what will come from my own parents who actually care about preserving things, would barely fill one shelf.

Time for craigslist!

I collect old metal (enameled, painted, porcelain) signs and other similar pieces of advertising if that counts. If anybody has something of that nature taking up space, I may buy it if it's interesting and the price is right. Let me know!

+1

Maybe she's related to these fine folks:

I hope this story ends the way the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape does, except I want the house to burn down with her inside it BEFORE she dies.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy-Nomad-2-Door-Wagon_W0QQitemZ120537525623QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item1c1098ad77 Overpriced, but looks pretty cool, I think. Wonder how much of a Bondo bucket it is (the cracking in the sail panel makes me think the transition from coupe to wagon may be a little scary underneath)?

I've never liked or agreed with PETA for any single thing they've ever done or tried to do until now. Hope this one goes up all over America!

Great video. Some retarded hoodrat started $h!, and the old man finished it for him!

Really? I'd love to meet them, because every kid around here spends all his Burger King paychecks on a yo yo word up homie G body kit for his '89 Integra with mismatched rims that's in four shades of primer.

Would there still be any interest in certain circles of enthusiasts for original parts catalogs on microfiche, or has the internet's easy access of information pretty much killed said interest? I remember a time not so long ago when people would search high and low for the little envelopes full of slides, but is that still true today? The reason I ask is I have some that I'm looking to get rid of, but am wondering what would be a reasonable price to ask for it all.

I'm with Dodgefan: Love the look, hate the reliability issues. A local Subaru dealership down the street from me just took in a sharp red '89 with saddle interior, lace wheels, 87,000 miles and change. A perfect candidate for a Chevrolet 350 swap if you ask me.

*bump*

Okay, so here's the deal. My father and I have been watching NHRA drag racing on television for about as long as I can remember. I was over his house tonight and we were watching a short half-hour show that featured a few old races from a national event in the early 80's. After the show was over, my father started saying how cool it would be if he were able to buy old races on DVD. So when I got home, I searched for such DVDs online and, just as I suspected, there was virtually nothing to be found. So now it's up to me to find them in whatever format they may be in and put them on DVD. So for any of you fans out there that remember the days of TNN, American Sports Cavalcade, Diamond-P Sports, Steve Evans, and Dave McClelland, please dig through your closets and basements and attics for any old 70's and 80's and early 90's NHRA drag racing tapes, be it official or just something you taped off the television yourself. I'll pay whatever you might want for these if it means being able to put them all together in a big set for my father. In particular, anything broadcast by Diamond-P Sports is especially valuable to me as they always put out the best professional drag racing programs. Thanks in advance for looking!

Isn't it just a civil union if you do it in a state that doesn't have marriage yet? I thought you wanted to marry and then when PA decides to recognize it, it would then be official in their eyes. Also, if it IS a civil union and then PA decides to recognize marriage, would you two be considered married or would you have to then go through a marriage ceremony in order for that to be true? (What I know about civil unions and gay marriage I could write on a matchbook, in case you couldn't already tell!)

Congrats to the both of you. Which one of the five states that currently perform the ceremony are you doing it in? I'd be able to make it to every one but Iowa with some notice if you decide to extend the invitation to us C&Gers.

Well, here's to hoping you're wrong. However, it definitely does not appear as though we are out of the woods yet. As long as I have an emergency fund in the bank and am able to keep my toy collection, I'll be fine; everything else can pretty much go. Kinda sucks though, having the money to do some of the things you want to do but you still can't do them because everything's on such thin ice right now. Found a dirt cheap house the other day that, if it were any other economy, I'd be signing the paperwork on right now and pouring my heart and soul and dollars into. But a dilapidated five bedroom Victorian with a seriously leaky roof and a complete lack of a heating system (I counted five small radiators in the 3000 square foot monster), among other problems, is far too much of an undertaking in all this craziness. But I still daydream about it from time to time..... Guess all we can do is put our helmets on and brace for impact.

I'm like that too; can't stand to throw out or give away anything of value. And I hear you about tightening the reins on your finances; I've been doing the same. I want to have a good chunk of cash on hand in case $h! really hits the fan.

You thinking about moving or something?

Haven't owned a 50's car yet, however I look forward to owning many over the course of my life. 1967 is the oldest I've been thusfar. My father, who was the driving force behind all of my early automotive influences, despises 99% of 50's cars and instead gravitates towards vehicles built before the second World War. As a result, all but one antique vehicle he's owned have been pre-war (a 1935 Ford 1-1/2 ton dump truck and three Packards that he still owns). So my love of 50's cars has definitely been self-developed. But, the one postwar antique he did own was a 1952 Chevrolet half-ton pickup he bought when he was 15, sold it 20 years later after it being his daily driver and later a toy, going through various color changes and major mechanical modifications. I guess when you're growing up and most 50's cars were just cheap used cars at the time, they're not special to you like they would be to others that never grew up with them. Nobody liked pre-war cars in the 50's, but now some of them are sold for millions of dollars. This is how I feel about 80's and 90's cars, wouldn't give you a nickel for the majority of them, but I'm sure future generations will love them.

Umm.... I found a nickel on the floor at work yesterday! Not too much going on right now for me that's notably good OR bad, which is fine with me. Normal and comfortable is good. Just moving along, doing my thing, trying to maintain speed and course. Got a couple things potentially in the works, but don't want to say anything unless I know it's a sure thing. Cletus: congrats on the house. The pitch of the roof is super steep; expecting some snow?

I f@#king KNEW it! It's all a part of the gay conspiracy to destroy this country! Also: when two dudes are making out, they're not really making out but rather pounding out Morse code on each other's tongues about how they're planning to kill all of us straight folk. Think about it. So a bunch of people who believe that there's a magical old man that lives in the sky with all of their dead relatives believe that Teletubbies makes kids gay, Will & Grace makes middle-aged people gay, and now the Golden Girls have made all of our grandparents gay. The television is in fact just a homosexual mind control device and nobody's safe. How can these retards even pretend to think that someone will even consider taking them seriously?

To call that first turdwagon a Packard is blasphemy; I'd love to borrow it for the day and drive it to my parents house to see my father's reaction (he owns three REAL Packards). Should be good for a laugh. As for the second one, is anybody really surprised given the source? Looks like a classy neighborhood. The rims are worth more than the $h!ty rowhouses it's parked in front of. Guess business has been good lately. Some things never change......

You and me both. That or a nice old Spartan (Royal Manor, Royal Mansion, Royal Spartanette, etc). Or, If I won the lottery, a Pierce-Arrow Travelodge and a 12-cylinder Pierce-Arrow to pull it: A fine-looking setup If I've ever seen one!

Wish my current space situation allowed for one more vehicle; I'd buy it in a second. My girl wants a 4WD something, wants to learn to drive stick, and loves the two-door Blazers/Tahoes of this era. I'd even offer you a couple extra bucks for gas if you'd drive it up to NH for me; that way you'd have a reason to come up and check it out. If for some strange reason you still have this thing in two or three months and my living situation has changed (which it very well may), I would definitely take you up on this.