If all goes well, you know what we’re all going to be? Old. Sure, it may take a while to get there, but I can pretty much guarantee that no matter who you are or what you’re doing or just how saturated with the bloom and musk of youth you are, one day you’ll be old. And that’s fine! Really, depending on when you start to define it and how long you live, you’ll spend more of your life considered “old” than any other age-related descriptor. Hell, I’m old myself! And you know what old people like? Cars.
I say this with confidence because my ass is old, and I like cars. So, from that sample size, I can comfortably extrapolate that 100% of old people like cars. Even if my study is questionable, I think it’s safe to say that if were to, hypothetically, hold a car show at a location specifically designed to serve senior citizens 55 years old and up, like the lovely Seymour Center here in Orange County, North Carolina, it would be a lot of fun. I’m actually sort of betting on this being the case, because the Autopian is sponsoring a Classic & Unique Car Show at the Seymour Center parking lot, in Chapel Hill, NC, on September 26, between noon and 2pm.
It’s really happening! The Seymour Center printed it in their monthly publication, so there’s no backing out now!
Autopian co-founder David and I have been talking about this idea for a long time: why aren’t there more car shows at retirement villages and old folks’ homes and senior centers and other Pine/Oak/Cedar-named places where older people gather? Everyone likes car shows, and as we all know, cars are unique among objects we own and interact with in our lives in the sense of the depth of connection we make with them. It stands to reason that the longer you’ve been alive, the more automotive connections and memories you’ve made, which means the more potential for joy and meaning when encountering cars of all kinds, vintage, custom, odd, exotic, hoopties, whatever.
Cars bring people together, spark conversation, and generally bring joy. That’s what we want to do! Get a bunch of cars in the parking lot of the center, then invite all the seniors within and around to come and look, talk, touch/sit in the cars (if the owner is willing, of course) and generally have a great automotive time. I’ll buy a bunch of pizzas! This is going to be great.
Personally, I plan to bring both my Citroën 2CV and my Nissan Pao, both classic and unique cars. I have a friend with a Nissan Figaro I’m pretty sure I can get to show up, and I have tentative buy-in from the TriangleRAD group, who always manages to field some fantastic machines. I have a friend who may be able to bring a really interesting hearse, though maybe the optics of a hearse at this show isn’t the best. He has other fantastic stuff, too.
But I need more cars! Lots more! I want these old folks to be automotively wowed like they haven’t been in decades! I want to hear gasps of delight, laughter, and shouted profanities of excitement (ideally, not rage). The carscape is far too full of grayscale SUVs that would require a defibrillator to get your heart beating for. We can do better; I’ve seen it happen at other Autopian Car Meetups in the area, and I want to do it again, only this time we’ll have an audience of not just fellow Autopians, but amazing people who just happen to have been on this Earth six or seven or eight or even more decades.
I should also note how great the Orange County Department on Aging is; our culture isn’t one that’s particularly good to older people, generally, so I especially appreciate organizations like this that provide so many varied resources and programs to older people, giving a vast array of ways for people to connect and learn and create and remain active, creative, and healthy for a long, long time. Life is for the living, and we’re living as much when we’re 70 as we were when we were 20, even if it’s harder to see things and it takes like three days longer to get over a hangover.
So, if you’re in the general area of Orange County, NC, and have an interesting car of pretty much any kind you’d like to take to our First Autopian Senior Center Car Show, here’s the info one more time:
Saturday, September 26
12-2pm
2551 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516
And, if you need any more specific information or are planning to come and bring a car, why not email me at jason@autopian.com with the subject line “Old Folks Car Show?”
This will be great. I just need some cars! We’ve got a month to make a fantastic lineup!
This is only about 6 hours away… I may be able to get the 53 Aero running by then, if not I always have the CJ-5
3hr trip. I’m not sure the 900 convertible can make it that far. Damn.
Great idea, there is a retirement/assisted living facility where they have a small show in the parking lot. It is a chance for the residents to get out and sometimes with their families. They also have free ice cream. I have gone for the past 3 years and plan to do it again this year.
I’ll be sure to totter my geezer ass on over with my Double Yellow Beetle
Oh yeah – it’s a Torchfest!
At first thought, as an “old” person, I was wondering why you only wanted cars driven by Old People.
What a great idea. Thanks for the recognition. I thought I was going to make my goal of riding motorcycles until I hit 80. I gave up at 67. Aches, pains, and feeling my skills slip did me in. Just gave up my Challenger for a four door sedan. No regrets. I actually got tired of people saying, “That’s YOU’RE car?” I still love to drive.
Reminds me of my favorite Leonard Cohn line in one of songs: I hurt in the places I used to play.
Arrgh! I can’t believe I said “you’re!” I know better, I swear. Shame on me.
Your right
But I thought you did it on purpose
I blame my proofreader.
“why aren’t there more car shows at retirement villages and old folks’ homes and senior centers and other Pine/Oak/Cedar-named places where older people gather?”
Ahem!
“Every August, the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links is graced with the planet’s most spectacular cars”
Pretty sure you’ll find plenty of old people gathered on a golf course.
Haven’t read any comments, but Jason no offense, you think YOU’RE old?! Give it ten, twenty years and you’ll begin to understand old. You’re right though, age doesn’t diminish your love of cars, it just expands the list of what you like as time passes.
I love this but I’m across the country, wish I could support this in person.
Hear hear!
Jason thinks he’s old. Little does he realize that he’s still in his salad days.
Just you wait…
Finally, a car show for me, an old person! Just checked Google Maps. Only 2877 miles (one way). Damn, I will have to check actuarial tables to see if I have a chance of being alive when I get there. 😉 Who am I kidding? I didn’t even go to LA and that was less than 400 miles.
My grandmother spent her last few years, first in memory care, then in hospice, at an Aegis Living facility. The founder of the company is (was? I don’t know) a classic car collector, and tries to place at least one classic car on each property, usually parked out in the garden areas where residents can walk out to it and around it and get a good nostalgia hit.
I don’t remember exactly what car was parked at the facility where my grandmother lived—I want to say it was maybe a ’51 Ford?—but she did seem to enjoy seeing it, and I think on some level it did register with her as something that had had meaning in her life, which included decades of marriage to my gearhead grandfather and being deeply involved in the classic car scene.
So, there’s definitely something in this, and I hope it’s a lovely source of joy for all who are able to participate.
Come on Z4, let’s get it together and knock some toupees off in the brisk late-September sunshine.
Both the 2CV and the Pao? Which one is going to tow the other?!
Jason will strap one to each foot and skate on over the community center
they’ll take turns.
Hm. An eleven-hour drive each way, a week before our big housewarming shindig. Probably not going to happen, sadly.
Who’s invited?
Calling us out by name, I see? We’ll play your game, you rogue.
oooh ha ha ha ha
Please allow me to double the size of the sample. 🙂
At 67 I am not a senior, I spend a lot of time trundrelling enormous steam engines around. They are liked, which is nice. The Bentley gets looked at (and touched, it is my normal car) the Citroen gets a passing nod and the AML just gets ignored. This year I have had a Defender and a Range Rover. Twice a very very fancy electric Rolls Royce. Young people seem to like the old stuff, seniors? well they have seen the old things, the Spectre is the draw for the over 70 crowd. That said there is always someone who hoicks themself into the big Fowler and says “I used to drive these back when I was a lad”. It was built in 1929 and retired in 1947, rebuilt in 1964 and again in 1980, recent boiler. No you did not drive this!
Nostalgia is mainly for the young.
If your AML mostly gets ignored, what kind of neighborhood do you live in anyway?
I figured you as an Alvis man, a Stalwart or a Saladin.
I’d go for a Stalwart myself, just tell folks it’s a hard core Rolls Royce. With the B80 engine.
Or perhaps that groovy AVLB. That would be fun at a cars and caffeine. “Want to see my car run over itself?”
I was thinking of the sort of local small shows I go to. the AML is on everyone’s tick list, Citroen SM? not so much. I did have a Stalwart, it was a pain. Designed as it was to cross Europe without roads it was clever. Tarmac (or concrete or anything other than bog really tended to defeat it. Six wheel drive with a pivot point around the central axle made driveshaft wind up inevitable. It was possible with a load of spanners to change it between two and four wheel steering, This did not help much.
It is (just) possible to fit a B80 in a MkII Shadow.
I’ve been following a couple of guys putting a B80 into a speedster type build. My unhealthy obsession with inline eight cylinder engines sent me down the B80 rabbit hole.
Oh, I was just reading about the valve train design of your 8 litre.
That triple throw connecting rod is fascinating. It must be WO’s locomotive experience.
It is remarkable, and, as you say, very steam engine sort of thought. through as only engineers think. It did bankrupt Bentley Motors.
Wot, no Talbot – Lago?
What? Do you think I am made of money!
“The carscape is far too full of grayscale SUVs that would require a defibrillator to get your heart beating for.” Reminded me of that one article you wrote back on Jalopnik that started with ‘All Ahmad Ali wanted was a Chevrolet Corvette souped up to have enough horsepower to defibrillate God.’ or something
I’ve never owned a car (i’m very young) but I just love them. I actually found this site from a Wikipedia source on the article for the 2CV, I’ve been in a G8, ’16 Escalade ESV (the current car I ride in; I can’t get a license yet), ’93 Surbuban, and a CT5, I’ve seen an AE86 and a XJ-S (R.I.P. Jag), my dad owns a ’99 Firebird T/A and a C3 Vette, and I know a unnecessary amount of information on cars most people don’t think twice (or even once) about (like the Chevy Equinox and Pontiac Torrent twins).
I’ll take this opportunity to ask that for my eventual first car, is a Pontiac Vibe a good idea? I’m not tryna get that 6 speed manual (if I can, then yes sir), just a normal one. Preferably green. It’s a while until I can get one, but when I do; is this smart?
The Pontiac Vibe is a great idea. Keep an eye out for a good deal online or maybe a broken one that can be repaired since you are not in a time crunch.
Ditto! Also, don’t forget the Toyota Matrix is the same car as the Vibe, but with a Toyota badge and perhaps a bit of “Toyota premium” added to the cost.
So if you see a Matrix that also ticks all the desired options, you may want to jump on it.
Admittedly, the Toyota will not have the vibes offered by the Pontiac Vibe, but it will be just as good.
Good luck!
The Toyota tax does get you access go Toyota dealerships as opposed to Pontiac dealerships.
What co owners of Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Oldsmobile, Hummer, and other dead GM brands do for parts and service?
They usually sell and then buy a Toyota…
(Sorry for the joke)
Seriously, though, Mom passed away 6 years ago, and left behind an Oldsmobile Intrigue. It is garaged at my dad’s house, but in need of a battery and new tires. I am not sure what I might do with it.
An intriguing question all right.
I always thought those were about as nice of a car GM was making at the time. Supposedly there is a head stud kit for the LX five and the Northstar engine that fixes the head gasket problem on the LX5.
My uncle liked his so much he bought an extra when Oldsmobile went out of business.
Probably a Cadillac specialist for Short Star engine stuff and any GM dealer for the rest.
Well, I think if I take it to a Chevy, they can handle basic stuff. Since it’s 90% Toyota, a Toyota dealer will probably work on it if I need to… probably.
I was replying to scam likely about his Oldsmobile Intrigue, which shares parts with Cadillac not Toyota.
oh
Yep, I know! But, the split grille…
I really can’t argue with that. 🙂
I am looking forward to seeing your future Vibe in pictures at some point in the future (or in person – even better!)
Good luck!
If the planets align, I might snag a green one
It will be in years though; trust me, I’m younger than you think I am.
Stick a bmw logo on top of the grille
ew no
This is the Autopian, no one here will talk you out of a Pontiac Vibe! There’s even more Vibe love on the Discord, if you haven’t joined us there already.
Anyway, the Vibe/Matrix really does rule. It’s the kind of wildly practical car that’s reliable enough to not be a financial liability, but interesting and fun enough that you won’t be tempted to purchase a spicier replacement that is a financial liability. So an ideal first (or final) car.
They’re good cars, but what’s parts availability like? Enough time has passed to make the rubber and plastic parts brittle.
Good point! Need to do research on that
Hope someone rembered to invite Jay Leno.
This… entire premise makes a ton of sense. Why isn’t every senior community center parking lot basically an auto museum?
Hell, I’m 38, but I can imagine showing up to the senior center to play some Goldeneye 64 (gonna be brutal on my arthritis) and seeing a weird Gen AB guy with a freaking 1990 Ford Taurus? The joy in my heart would be infinite.
Do we really want senior citizens driving somewhere? And do golf carts count?
Depends on what you call senior citizens. I’d be happy to demonstrate skills you might be surprised we’ve picked up over the years, and it ain’t in a golf cart.
Just joking, I’ll be 70 in a couple of months and have no problems with driving. But then, I would think that.
Well I think in my example (like this old folks show in NC) is that people (not necessarily seniors) bring cool old cars to the senior center, for them to be seen by seniors.
Our senior center is populated in thirds by people who walk (small city) people who drive, and people who take a old people shuttle.
A local nursing home does this. A few times each summer, they bring all the residents who want to participate outside to see, hear, and even touch a parade of classic cars as they slowly make their way around the home’s large horseshoe-shaped driveway. I’ve never seen any exotics or hotrods, mainly just cars from the teens to the 60’s. Many of the residents are actually wheeled outside so they can take part. The happiness is palpable!
The one I go to has a nice mix of classics, “newer” classics, and exotics. One guy brings his McLaren and let’s people sit in it. His attitude what is the point of the car if people can’t enjoy it.
Just before I got my mom to quit driving at 91, there was a minor traffic ticket to clear up that we had to go to court.
The judge asked how long she had been driving and she said 80 years, but she got her license in 1943 when she was 14 so she only had a license for 76 years.
The expression on the judge’s face was pretty funny.
Then there was something about riding her horse into town before that.
It does make a lot of sense. At one point, a friend of mine and I had the idea to build a retirement community around a race track, like the ones that are built around golf courses, with big garages behind every house facing the track. I still think it’s a great idea, even if we will never be in a position to make it happen.
401k be damned, that would be a pretty cool place to retire to.
Note that the Seymour Center is NOT an Old Folks Home – it is a community center that serves seniors and others in the community. For example, it’s a polling location at election time. It is not a residential community. Sadly while I live closer to that center than Jason does, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it that day with my 2CV.
What is the cut off age?
I think it’s a car show for the people at the old folks home. I’m sure car exhibitors can be any age. I would guess you’d be allowed to attend regardless of age.
Death
You know, that’s not funny. I generally like your posts, but why can’t we have an inclusive place? You will be there before you know it.
Oh lighten up, Francis.
Maybe it’s just me but I very much doubt the dead would be offended or interested in car shows anyway.
Even if they are offended, I tossed out my Ouija board years ago so I’ll never have to hear about it.
According to the movies I saw as a kid the dead don’t need a Ouija board to let you know how pissed off they are.
(In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have watched them just before bed.)
…dammit…
I’m not going and see my reply to your other comment.
So, if I left early next week from Sweet Home New England, me and the Land Rover would be able to arrive for the pizza.
I work with an assisted living facility and have considered something like this. There are a lot of facilities in the area. I may try to arrange a small tour (3-4 stops) with a local club for the spring.
Go for it, see what happens!
55 is not “Senior Citzen” I say from my comfy couch and warm slippers.
Exactly! I will not even open the AARP envelope until I’m 70 (which is closer than it should be).
I have been shredding those things unopened for a long time.
The lat time I opened one, it had a bunch of return address labels in it. Who the F needs a few hundred unrequested return address labels? How old do you think I am? I just learned the cost of a stamp this week because someone mailed me an invoice. It was WAY more than I expected or remembered.
Shove your labels, AARP. Don’t count me in your boomer voting block.
How much is a stamp now? I’m guessing 65 cents.
I don’t know. I’ll check after I finish my early bird special at Cracker Barrel.
A little late for the early bird special here. It’s 8 pm here in the east. My younger neighbors are probably having dinner by now.
Same here, but the joke needed to be released to the world.
It was a good one and I ate two hours ago.
Depends on who you want to stamp.
I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I already forgot.
I looked at the envelope and thought “Golly, that’s more than I expected.”
Then I threw it out and forgot the number entirely. I think it was less than $1 but more than $0.50.
Fair enough. I think the first price I can remember was 18 cents. It’s been 4ish decades since then, so under a dollar is probably reasonable.
$0.82!
Wow. They must have metered the postage because it was less than that.
But you can get lowrider stamps. I may buy some if I remember to send out cards this year.
I think I’m still using some “forever” stamps I bought 5 years ago. Not much call to mail letters these days. I did mail some stuff via priority or whatever not long ago, but those weren’t stamps and I was shocked by the price (around $18) but it was necessary because I needed the tracking.
78 cents
I thought that too. Then I realized that I’ve been eligible for 55 yo “Senior Housing” for a number of years now. WTF? When did that happen? And why do my kids still live in my house!?!?
Dammit, I just moved to Raleigh and would love to attend with one of my cars. But that’s the first weekend I’ll be gone since I’ve moved!
If only it wasn’t already on that calendar!
I write everything on my calendar in pencil just for this reason.
You should try these to give off an air of commitment without actually needing to, and they erase easier…
https://www.target.com/p/pilot-3ct-frixion-clicker-erasable-gel-pens-fine-point-0-7mm-black-ink/-/A-15025229?TCID=OGS
Is it an old man thing that I have a favorite pen, and won’t use anything but a Pilot G2 0.7mm?
More Analog, or non-digital, than old. It’s not the pen’s fault that kids don’t write anymore.
I use the replaceable 0.7mm pencil leads.
These write better than a G2, smear less, AND are erasable. There’s no way to lose.
Ooh. I noticed someone using one of those in a meeting the other day. I thought it was just a fancy Pilot.
Pilot with the broad tip in black, because Parker stopped importing them and I got tired of having them smuggled in.
It’s a philosophical choice.
Ten cent case, $5 ink cartridge.
Same one in the shiny engraved pens.
No.
I do a lot of wet signatures at work and I also have a favorite pen for that. No, it’s not a fountain nor a quill.
Welcome to town! We have a very active car community, hope to see you around sometime!
I’ll keep on the lookout for the next meetup! Looking at the guidelines, my ’77 K5 squarebody should fit right in!
This Saturday is Caffeine & Machines at Triangle Town Center, and next Saturday will be the BIG Cars & Coffee in Morrisville. I’m acquainted with the organizers of both, as well as those of Cars and Coffee Raleigh, Holly Springs, Fuquay and Garner.
We have no shortage of weekend car meets.
I’ll see if I can make it to one or the other! We walked the Morrisville one a month or two ago I think. I’ll aim to bring the Blazer if I can this time.
Cool. The next bit TriangleRAD ’80s/’90s show is tentatively scheduled for November 21, official announcement coming soon. There may also be an ’80s/’90s themed trunk or treat around Halloween if I can arrange it.