Category: default || By jt3y

Letters! We get letters! We get ... well, actually not that many. But a few. Regarding my two-day answer to a question that no one asked --- namely, what cars would be on my wish list --- Alert Reader Officer Jim wrote in to say he has a thing (naturally) for vintage squad cars:

I'd have to say that number one on my list would be a 1969 Dodge Polara Pursuit with the 4-bbl 440, which would have to look something like this although picture it black and white with massive pushbars).

I can't image what a vehicle of that size would be like to drive at 150 mph, but I can image it would be similar to piloting a B-17 (and probably handle about as well). Equally as fun to drive might be a '67 or '68 Dodge Dart GT, but that would absolutely have to be a convertible. And since my tastes inexplicably veer towards mid to late '70s sedans, I'd have to put a 1977 or '78 Monaco/Fury on the list, which would definitely look like this.

I might even make an overture towards a similar model year Gran Fury, which I think is a sharp looking car (yeah, I'm weird).

No, but I am wondering what's in those jelly doughnuts you guys at the station are eating. Kidding! I kid, because I love. He continues:

Speaking of Dodge, it looks like the nameplate "Powerwagon" is back to being attached to a Dodge truck. I'm not sure when they stopped using "Powerwagon" (late 1970's?) or if this is the first model year of it's return, but it's good to see the name back. After all, it can be traced directly back to the light duty 4x4's that Dodge built for WWII so there's a solid heritage there. I've liked the current style of Dodge trucks (about the only Mopar I've liked in the past few years) and I think that it's notable that Ford and Chevy trucks have echoed the high nose/low fender style. Hopefully the "Ram Van" will come back too ("Sprinter?" Seriously now, what would Red Green say?) I guess a Powerwagon would be on my list too, about a mid-'70s model with the railroad tie front bumper so that whenever some moron dared to pull out in front of me or swing open his door just as I drive past, I could take out my road-rage without undue damage (to my vehicle, at least).

Now, now, now, let's stay on the right side of the law here, now. Besides, that's why you have the red 'n blue lights, right? Although I've always thought a car made of Nerf might be fun --- you can just bounce into someone and "nudge" them off the road. Either that, or a giant cowcatcher on the front. That would be awfully useful when driving in Oakland --- where undergrads tend to bolt into traffic without looking.

While it seems most of my picks would be Chrysler products, I am smitten with the new Mustangs and about a 1966 Galaxie 500 ragtop would suit me nicely.

Of course, for luxury I would have to jump back to the late 40's/early 50's Packards which hands down looked better than anything Cadillac or Lincoln was putting out.

Man, you're so right there! People tend to forget that Caddies were once thought of as sort of a fancy Buick, and didn't have nearly the prestige of the Packard. It wasn't until Packard bought Studebaker, and the whole works started to go down the drain, that Cadillac finally eclipsed Packard as the Number 1 luxury car. Then, too, Packard started making smaller, cheaper cars in the late 1940s, which really hurt their image. Lincoln was never taken seriously as a luxury car until the mid-1950s, although the early '50s "road race" Lincolns were mighty good cars for the day.

Anyway, yes, a nice '49 Packard Clipper convertible --- like the one Doc Brown drove in Back to the Future, now that I think of it --- would be sweet.

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Meanwhile, here's a column in Tech Central Station from 2004 in which Ralph Kinney Bennett waxes nostalgic about Packards, and about going to the Pittsburgh Auto Show when it was still being held at the Hunt Armory.

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Alert Reader Arden sends this link to a public service announcement from Mr. T: Treat Your Mother Right. I pity the fool that don't have Quicktime, because that clip is '80s-riffic.

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Finally, before I forget: Duquesne police Sgt. Dan Burns has compiled a paperback book of historic photos of that fair city. It's from Arcadia Publishing. I haven't seen it yet, but if it's anything like the book they did on Wilmerding a few years ago, it's sure to be entertaining and interesting.

You can read Margie Smykla's story in the Post-Gazette, or go buy the book here. (Remember, books purchased from Amazon.com via Tube City Online benefit you-know-what, hint, hint.)