JACK'S BLOG
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2/21/2012 6 Comments What is an antique?Oh Dark ThirtyI AM NOT an antique! Seriously, today is my 69th birthday and I may feel a little worn around the edges and in need of a valve job, but that doesn't mean I'm an antique. Oh, and don't give me any of that “Well, 69 is the new 59,” or whatever. I'm 69 and proud of it. So, you may ask what's my problem? Here's my problem: Everything I grew up with is now classified as an antique. This point was brought how to me when I went looking for a photo of a 24' Chris Craft Express Cruiser to accompany my blog posting “Rescuing the Buttercup,” and found that it was classified as an antique boat. Really? The Buttercup was a new boat when my Sea Scout Ship rescued it from the teeth of a hurricane. I looked high and low for a definition of what constitutes “an antique boat.” There doesn't appear to be one however, it appears that any wooden hulled boat is considered an antique. But, I grew up with wooden hulled boats. I spent many hours scraping barnacles, cleaning and re-caulking seams, and painting them. How about this? It's a photo of my first new car: A 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente. Oh, it was hot! Black exterior and a solid red leather interior. Both the Antique Automobile Club and the Classic Car Association categorize it as an antique. Seriously? Of course, older cars – the ones I remember seeing at the Auto Show before I was able to buy one – are all antiques. Okay, the Antique Automobile Club (shouldn't they be an “Association” instead of a “Club”) and the Classic Car Association (shouldn't they be a “Club” instead of an “Association) – think about it – can't be the official arbiters of what is an antique. With this hopeful thought, I checked my state Department of Motor vehicles for an official ruling. California says it's anything built at least 39 years ago. Hell, that's worse. In desperation, I began looking at other states (What does California know – they can't get anything right):
Come on everybody, these are antiques. Just look at them. The cars below can't be antiques. They're all the ones I owned that would qualify as antiques today in California. If this isn't depressing enough, I began to look at antique furniture and recognized many of the things I grew up with. Of course, I grew up in Baltimore where the lamp lighter still came around each evening and lit the gas street lights. He returned each morning with a ladder over his shoulder so he could clean the globes and replace the mantles that needed it. I also remember the iceman coming three times a week with block ice until my parents bought their first electric refrigerator. And there were cobble stone streets, cars with running boards... oh Lord, I am an antique.
6 Comments
2/22/2012 02:38:17 am
Happy Birthday either a day late or a year early for your 70th. Think about that - and know that I know what you're thinking since I turned 69 last September. I can do a lot of things today as well or better than I ever did them and the things I can't do I no longer want to do. That's not a bad deal.
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2/22/2012 05:06:23 am
Happy Birthday, Jack! Hope you had a blast! My sons tell me I'm almost an antique, and I'll be 50 next year! I have lived every year, and intend to continue doing so.
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2/22/2012 08:14:44 am
I did have to giggle one day when I heard someone name something from my earlier life as an antique. "Well, its come to this has it?," I replied and laughed again. Besides, note how classy those antique cars look! Happy Birthday!
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2/22/2012 01:44:36 pm
Happy birthday Jack I am a mere 61 years old but as an ex teacher realising that the children in school are studying the earlier part of my years in History lessons!
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2/23/2012 07:59:22 am
Heck, I've got socks older than you, Jack! You've owned some pretty cool cars, though, I must say. Happy (teensy bit belated) birthday!
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2/24/2012 06:02:52 am
Happy Birthday, Jack!! My grandson, Trey, once asked me, "Grammy Jo, did they have cars when you were a girl?" Pffft. Little twit!!
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