Friday, February 28, 2025

Detroit Iron On Its Way To Middle America

 


17 comments:

  1. Back in the day before vandalism/tagging/theft was commonplace. Although apparently hubcaps thievery may have been a concern.

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  2. Those were the days my friends, we thought they'd never end....

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  3. Putting the hub caps on justifies the "Dealer Prep" fees.

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  4. 1969 I think, my first car was a 68 Olds 98, same color as the 7th car up the row and with the black vinyl top

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  5. Replies
    1. Yes, the last wagon. I'd guess MSRP was around $5K.

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  6. We had a Vista Cruiser just like those, in dark blue. It was a terrific family ride.

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  7. My childhood home had the railroad tracks just across the alley like in the photo. Played there unsupervised all of the time.

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  8. How many miles did we littles travel looking backwards from whence we came in the rear-facing seat of one of these beasts?

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  9. I don't see any tie downs on the wheels, were they secured some other way or just parked?

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    1. Chained down by the frame rails.

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  10. Seen those trains as a kid. There was a Pontiac factory nearby, lot of iron went by over the years, lot came in too.

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  11. I was a Teamster car hauler working out of a railyard. One of the last time they used an open rail car like that I delivered a Jeep Cherokee that had 22 bullet holes in it. All 4 tires where shot out and all the glass was gone. Now they get shipped in closed cars. Some how hobos still get inside of them and take a shit in the cars. I've seen guys walking outside of the railcars and they would ask what part of the country they were in.

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  12. Most of those would be lucky to make 100,000 miles and some would go 200,000

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  13. I'd heard that after delivery, part of dealer prep was to replace all the wheel bearings. Depending on the rail car's suspension, there could be a lot of shock and vibration during the trip, and all the hammering on the bearing balls was repeated in just the bottom areas of the inner and outer bearing races. I suppose eventually they built better rail cars.

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