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The Codger Cabin

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):



He must have dropped off the brunette.



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From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):


As we enter 1950, the Naughty Nash makes another appearance. This time with two ladies in the back seat. Perhaps our driver is smoking PA.

It looks like they’re driving through freezing snow and slush. Let’s hope they don’t get stuck in it or run out of gas … even if he may be hoping otherwise.



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What kind of cap is that he's wearing? It looks as though he has a winter Alpenkorps jacket with the hood thrown back, and a winter military cap as well.

Cars in those days were wide enough that three slim people could sit abreast on a bench seat. The women could be sitting next to him in front. Though his right shoulder does appear to be quite a bit nearer the viewer than does the brunette's head, so maybe not.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
What kind of cap is that he's wearing? It looks as though he has a winter Alpenkorps jacket with the hood thrown back, and a winter military cap as well.

Cars in those days were wide enough that three slim people could sit abreast on a bench seat. The women could be sitting next to him in front. Though his right shoulder does appear to be quite a bit nearer the viewer than does the brunette's head, so maybe not.

Back at this time, the CEO of Chrysler still insisted that there remain sufficient headroom in their vehicles to wear a hat while driving.

That was not an easy task as the exterior rooflines of the cars began to drop as the 1950s wore on.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
My memory finally caught up to my mind on this one.

For anyone still interested, it's called a "summer-winter hookup" on the integrated heating/hot water models.

They were very popular in the older deep suburban and rural homes, many of which used oil (or even coal!) boilers, before the natural gas mains could be extended out to them, or before on-site propane tanks became popular.

And with many homes back in the day having only 50-60A service, a separate electric water heater would often be pushing the circuit limits, especially at night.

So one fuel, and one combined unit, did it all.

I much prefer separate hot water heaters over the summer-winter types. The latter need tempering valves to prevent serious scalding burns if too close on the line. I've seen a few of those happen. The hot water comes off the coil often exceeding third-degree burn temps.

Of course, many newer homes don't use 'hydronic' hot water or steam heating at all, and employ forced air furnaces, as part of HVAC-combined year-round climate systems. But not ours. We love those warm old baseboards and radiators, especially when it gets really cold outside at night.

Another happy little detour about trivial things! Happy puffs!

As much as I enjoy viewing the advertisements, one of my favorite things about this thread is when you gentleman talk about how things used to be. I enjoy learning about history, and find those trivial tidbits to be quite entertaining. I'm also quite nostalgic, and it's nice to experience those memories vicariously through you fine gentlemen.

Cars in those days were wide enough that three slim people could sit abreast on a bench seat. The women could be sitting next to him in front. Though his right shoulder does appear to be quite a bit nearer the viewer than does the brunette's head, so maybe not.

The 1969 Oldsmobile 442 I had in my late teens and twenties was longer and wider than my parents 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe. That always amused me.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
As much as I enjoy viewing the advertisements, one of my favorite things about this thread is when you gentleman talk about how things used to be. I enjoy learning about history, and find those trivial tidbits to be quite entertaining. I'm also quite nostalgic, and it's nice to experience those memories vicariously through you fine gentlemen.



The 1969 Oldsmobile 442 I had in my late teens and twenties was longer and wider than my parents 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe. That always amused me.

I miss the days when a full-sized station wagon could hold an entire sheet of plywood or drywall flat in the back, all doors closed tight. And the floors back there were all steel. Could stack a whole load in, until the springs bottomed, if you wanted.

No matter that I was only getting 13 mpg, that drywall was getting home safe and dry.

And then you flipped a couple things around, and could throw the rugrats back there in little seats, for a trip to the drive in that night.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):


Laughton and Tone star together again. But this time they trade Clark Gable for Burgess Meredith, in what appears to be a big step down from Mutiny on the Bounty …



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From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):


Laughton and Tone star together again. But this time they trade Clark Gable for Burgess Meredith, in what appears to be a big step down from Mutiny on the Bounty …



View attachment 1629346
I need to look for this film on YooToob. I recently tried the first of the Maigret novels by Simenon and couldn't get into it. A film adaptation may work better for me. (ETA: It's there, and in color.)

Strange, but the art makes Burgess Meredith look a lot like Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
I need to look for this film on YooToob. I recently tried the first of the Maigret novels by Simenon and couldn't get into it. A film adaptation may work better for me. (ETA: It's there, and in color.)

Strange, but the art makes Burgess Meredith look a lot like Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon.

Not just color, but Ansco Color!
 
I need to look for this film on YooToob. I recently tried the first of the Maigret novels by Simenon and couldn't get into it. A film adaptation may work better for me. (ETA: It's there, and in color.)

Strange, but the art makes Burgess Meredith look a lot like Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon.
That particular adaptation isn't very good. Look for the TV versions, the Michael Gambon series is very well done, as are the Rowan Atkinson tv movies - although Atkinson is physically wrong for the part.

I thoroughly enjoy Simenon's novels. The non-Maigret ones might be more to your liking - try The Iron Staircase or The Watchmaker.
 
From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):


Back when on a clear day, you could see General Motors …



View attachment 1629853
I've always thought that somewhere in their minds, the GM people thought it would go like this:

When you're in your 20s, you'd buy at least one Chevrolet
30s, a Pontiac
40s, an Oldsmobile
50s, a Buick
60s and onward, a Cadillac

Of course there were always upwardly-mobile people and couples who vaulted ahead of their cohort and bought a Buick, for instance, in their 30s; or those who, like my father, bought a used Cadillac well ahead of his "time." But it was almost as if GM had a marque for each stage of your life: young single man, young married man, father of first child, father of Nos. 2 and 3, and then, as the kids left home, on into retirement.

I'll admit that great toothy-grilled Buick looks odd to us now. (They only styled the Buick like that for one year, I think.) But all of the GMs were big solid cars.
 
That particular adaptation isn't very good. Look for the TV versions, the Michael Gambon series is very well done, as are the Rowan Atkinson tv movies - although Atkinson is physically wrong for the part.

I thoroughly enjoy Simenon's novels. The non-Maigret ones might be more to your liking - try The Iron Staircase or The Watchmaker.
Does Charles Laughton make a good Maigret?
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
I've always thought that somewhere in their minds, the GM people thought it would go like this:

When you're in your 20s, you'd buy at least one Chevrolet
30s, a Pontiac
40s, an Oldsmobile
50s, a Buick
60s and onward, a Cadillac

Of course there were always upwardly-mobile people and couples who vaulted ahead of their cohort and bought a Buick, for instance, in their 30s; or those who, like my father, bought a used Cadillac well ahead of his "time." But it was almost as if GM had a marque for each stage of your life: young single man, young married man, father of first child, father of Nos. 2 and 3, and then, as the kids left home, on into retirement.

I'll admit that great toothy-grilled Buick looks odd to us now. (They only styled the Buick like that for one year, I think.) But all of the GMs were big solid cars.

There were certainly demographics and social tags that developed for each line all though the second half of that Century.

Chevrolet was the family and working man's vehicle, to compete with Ford and Plymouth. High value and thrift. But it was a broad line card, and the Corvette was somewhat of an outlier. I still drive an old Chevy truck many mornings. The thing won't die.

The SS versions of some Chevy models caused some overlap with other divisions that also offered performance models. There were "Stage" Buicks, the Rockets and 442s out of Olds, and of course the Pontiac GTO, all at the same time.

Teaser: we may see a few interesting reminiscences about Chevrolet at some point.

Pontiac was all about style and some driving passion. Borderline garish at times by the 1980s (who can forget the "Screaming Chicken" hoods of the 1970s), and I noticed a lot of aggressive Pontiac drivers back in the day. It was the car for some '1980s era BMW drivers', well before BMW was popular here and then turned into Break My Wallet. And for others like James Garner, who probably sold as many as anyone stunt driving them himself on The Rockford Files.

Olds was the "experimental" division, and many innovations started in that line. The wonderful Rocket engines in the 50s, and so many others. Solid, clean styling. I still have a soft spot for the original Toronado, and its amazing chain-drive V-8 FWD platform. The Cutlass was at one time a perennial sales leader, with several on every street.

It was a huge mistake to destroy Oldsmobile for Saturn in the early 90s, and now they're both gone.

Buick was originally 'the doctor's' car. Upscale, but solid, stylish, sensible and highly functional (even if the 'portholes' were decorative). Underrated engines in the earlier years, and then came the Grand Nationals much later. My father was a devoted Buick man, even in his 20s. The original Riviera was a positively gorgeous car in person. Later, the joke became that the Buick demographic was "deceased".

These three divisions, Buick, Olds, and Pontiac, increasingly shared a lot of bits and resources, and eventually became known internally and in the industry as "BOP", with Chevrolet and Cadillac having greater autonomy. So some might argue that GM ultimately had the traditional low-medium-high product grades that we see everywhere today from gasoline to cell phones.

And Cadillac was for those who simply wanted the very best GM could make. The wealthy, the powerful, and the famous. It was the division that manufactured the limos and those over-the-top '59 Eldorados.
 
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The joke line about Buick in recent years is, "The last car you'll ever buy." (!)

I thought Olds (I had 2 Cutlass coupes, an '89 and a '94) were a great value buy in those days. Then I spent 10 years driving classic Benzes. When I came to Buick in '07, the Park Avenue made me realize that Buick offered 70% of the driving fun of Mercedes at 50% of the cost (purchase, fuel, and upkeep) of an MB. And the '16 LaCrosse I currently pilot and depend on is as solid in its way as the late '86 S-Class was.

Never had a Chevy, Pontiac, or Cadillac.
 
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