How old is your airplane in car years?

Pilawt

Final Approach
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Pilawt
It's easy to forget how old our airplane fleet is, until you park one of them next to a car of similar age. My 1978 Skyhawk doesn't seem that old, relatively speaking, but these were in new car showrooms when it was built:

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Cessna ran this ad when the Cardinal was introduced in the fall of 1967:

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And from the sublime to the ridiculous ...

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The Waco at Hilton Head last fall.

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Cars 1966:
Alfa Romeo Spider
Ford Bronco
Ford F-100 Ranger
BMW 02 Series
...

:hairraise::yikes::hairraise:

All of a sudden our plane seems old! She still looks good for an ‘old’ lady though... and she likes taking us on (camping) trips... :biggrin:


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Cars 1966:
Alfa Romeo Spider
Ford Bronco
Ford F-100 Ranger
BMW 02 Series[/ATTACH]
My first car, a 1966 Beetle:

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For a while my bride and I had this 1966 Dodge Polara -- ex-California Highway Patrol cruiser, 440 cid, power brakes, no power steering. Passed anything but a filling station.

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Cars 1966:
Alfa Romeo Spider
Ford Bronco
Ford F-100 Ranger
BMW 02 Series
...

:hairraise::yikes::hairraise:

All of a sudden our plane seems old! She still looks good for an ‘old’ lady though... and she likes taking us on (camping) trips... :biggrin:


View attachment 65171
That new McCauley prop took atleast 20 years off! ;)
 
My Aztec would appear one of the better things that came out of 1979.

The worst Ford Mustang ever designed gets Indy Pace Car honors (not exactly a GT40, is it):
79 Ford Mustang.jpg


The Pontiac Firebird suffers the ignominy of a screaming chicken decal plastered on its hood:
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American Motors has yet to be put out of its misery, and is still producing cars for accountants & librarians:
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The French are being...the French:
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Chrysler was still producing padded landau and "Opera windows" (the better to see the Corinthian leather?):
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Jaguars were still being powered by the legendary, silky smooth inline six...assuming you could get them to start:
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EVERY Ferrari looks good, but this was one of nicest...The '79 308 GTB:
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My plane is a '95, and my vehicle at that time was Chevy S-10.
<--plane
truck.jpeg <-- truck
 
My 1968 Cardinal is newer than my 1962 Willys pickup. Funny, they both get about the same miles per gallon.
 


I had a '47 Chevy 5 window 3/4 ton. It didn't look as good as this one. Lots of people wanted to argue with me that Chevy never made a 3/4 ton pickup so it must not be original. I had the original title for it. In 1947 the optional corner windows were a 15 buck option.
 
They had to do something to sell them, and sell they did.

Got a buddy now restoring the black and gold '78 Trans-Am he bought right after he got out of engineering school. It's been sitting in storage in a barn on his family's farm for quite some time waiting for this.

Apparently the hood decal can still be acquired to make the job authentic. :eek:
 
You know, I hadn't thought about it until now, but I guess both my rides are the same age.
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They had to do something to sell them, and sell they did.

Wonder if this had something to do with it? :D

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"...A senior executive at Pontiac promised to get Burt a free Trans-Am if the movie was successful. Not only was the movie a hit, it also helped the T/A record major sales records that year. But his free T/A never showed up. After a few months, Mr. Reynolds decided to give Pontiac a call. He found out that the promising executive had retired and that the new senior executive was not willing to send Burt Reynolds a new free T/A.

How effective was this movie in generating sales of the second generation Trans-Am? In 1978 Pontiac sold 93,341 T/As which was an increase of around 25 thousand new buyers.
The numbers didn’t stop there. In 1979, Pontiac would sell over 117,000 new T/As..."
 
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The '69 advertised 435hp, but I think it was @Zeldman who said it had wayyyy more than that. I would've killed myself in that thing, being in my wild early 20s. Awesome machine though.

When the 396 debuted in the corvette in 1965 it was rated at 425 HP. In 1966 the displacement was increased to 427 and was initially rated at 450 HP. Shortly after introduction, the rating was reduced to 425 HP without changing the actual output (probably due to insurance concerns). In 1967 the tripower 427 was introduced and the top rating was 435 Hp, but yes the actual output was higher.

Even more interesting was the L88 that came out in 1967 and rated at 430 HP, but was actually the top dog and meant for racing. It was rated just below the 435 HP to keep all but race teams from being interested in it.
 
2007,airplane. Purchased in 2010 ,had a beater,2001 Honda Accord.
 
Well since its pretty difficult to tell the year of a Cherokee 140, I counter with a similar species of car. 1969

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Well since its pretty difficult to tell the year of a Cherokee 140, I counter with a similar species of car. 1969

1969_volkswagen_beetle-pic-48401-1600x1200.jpeg

This looks more like a 1973 Super Beetle. :)

In 1969 the windshield was almost flat, the turn signals on the front fenders had much less lens area, the tail light lenses were all red on the North American cars not orange on the top, and the front hood wasn't as wide where it comes down to the handle/latch. My first car was a '68 1500 the same color as the pics of the '69 below. The only significant change from '68 to '69 was a cable release for the fuel filler door (the door is flush on the '69), .

But I agree. All those Cherokees look the same. ;)
(No they don't...so when do we get to see a pic of yours?) :thumbsup:

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At least it had a fuel filler door. I remember young college freshman trying to become hippie type flower children and buying a VW to protest something, then not knowing they had to open the front hood to put gas in...:lol::lol:
 
Well since its pretty difficult to tell the year of a Cherokee 140, I counter with a similar species of car. 1969

1969_volkswagen_beetle-pic-48401-1600x1200.jpeg
This looks more like a 1973 Super Beetle. :)
The Super Beetle first appeared for the 1971 model year. But I think you're right -- the wider chrome strip on the cowl area indicates a 1973 or later.

In 1969 the windshield was almost flat, the turn signals on the front fenders had much less lens area, the tail light lenses were all red on the North American cars not orange on the top, and the front hood wasn't as wide where it comes down to the handle/latch. My first car was a '68 1500 the same color as the pics of the '69 below. The only significant change from '68 to '69 was a cable release for the fuel filler door (the door is flush on the '69)
All spot on. My second car was a new 1969 Beetle, white exterior with red leatherette interior, $1,961 off the showroom floor.

All those Cherokees look the same. ;)
(No they don't...so when do we get to see a pic of yours?) :thumbsup:
Tim's Cherokee is beautiful. I have a nice photo of it from our breakfast meetup last September. I'll post it if Tim says it's ok. :)

But the funny part of this is, the 1969 VW Beetle and the 1969 Cherokees had something in common: The inside door latches! When I was instructing in 1971-72, I'd drive my '69 Beetle to the airport and get into one of our '69 Cherokee 140 trainers, and the door latch hardware was identical.

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...All spot on. My second car was a new 1969 Beetle, white exterior with red leatherette interior, $1,961 off the showroom floor.


Tim's Cherokee is beautiful. I have a nice photo of it from our breakfast meetup last September. I'll post it if Tim says it's ok. :)

But the funny part of this is, the 1969 VW Beetle and the 1969 Cherokees had something in common: The inside door latches! When I was instructing in 1971-72, I'd drive my '69 Beetle to the airport and get into one of our '69 Cherokee 140 trainers, and the door latch hardware was identical.

In 1967 my best friend's father bought a new VW Squareback station wagon. I don't know what he paid, but I do remember him telling us the notchback and fastbacks were $50 more than a regular Beetle, and the squareback cost him $75 more. Today I can barely fill the gas tank of my pick-up for that.

The door latch pictures were entertaining. Reminds me of @denverpilot pointing out the dash vents in the Cirrus Jet are the same as those in a Ford F-150.
 
...Tim's Cherokee is beautiful. I have a nice photo of it from our breakfast meetup last September. I'll post it if Tim says it's ok. :)

But the funny part of this is, the 1969 VW Beetle and the 1969 Cherokees had something in common: The inside door latches! When I was instructing in 1971-72, I'd drive my '69 Beetle to the airport and get into one of our '69 Cherokee 140 trainers, and the door latch hardware was identical.

View attachment 65226

View attachment 65227

Of course its okay. In addition to the door latch, the trim handle is from a Studebaker. In my defense and realizing that there are people out there that can tell the difference in VW Beetles at a glance, I just googled 69 VW Beetle and that's the picture I got. Cherokees parked side by side can be easy to spot the differences but hard at least for me, to name the year model.
 
Different beacon on it now and new interior. We have to meet up again for updated photos. ;)

Pretty sure that is the only photo in existence of it underway with me in it.
 
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