"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

All this car talk made me mull over vintage airliners as well! This despite being a virulent aviophobe (I have not flown this century and will not either...) but aeroplane design and models interest me.

Came across very interesting videos of vintage airliners on You tube: Comet, Lockheed's Super Constellation (both beautiful planes) Tupolev TU 104 but what really amazed me was Boeing's Stratocruiser double deck plane. What room and luxury, some passengers even had bunk beds like on a sleeping train, cocktail bar, huge seats, gourmet food and everybody dressed up properly:thumbsup: Odd bloated looking plane though, but a marvel of comfort and style. Of course planes of today are cheaper, really crowded, probably rudimentary service, full of scruffy looking people but, it has to be said, far safer than the airliners of the old days. But that Super Constellation, how beautiful!:cool:
 
Last edited:
Will Power said:
Great to see a pic of a 'real' 4CV JP, the original with the rear engine mind, not the R4 which tried to be a modern sexy 2CV. Man round the corner from me had a Dauphine Gordini in scarlet, he told me it was really easy to overturn a Dauphine especially in the wet! Pretty cars though. I borrowed an R16 from a mate when I was a student, felt like luxury, even liked the column gear change:cool:

My dream cars: Bentley Continental 1958, Citroen DS 19/21, Citroen 2CV,Citroen Ami (YES!!) Jaguar Mark IX, Volga 1965, Stingray (divided rear window only!) Buick Roadmaster 1948, Packard Clipper 1950. Assorted eh? England, France, USSR, USA. (might fancy a Lancia from Italy in there too) All cool mind and I could use any one of them to carry my knife collection around in style:D:cool:
Click to expand...
Sorry I did not have a pre-crash picture (but the car was still "ok" after- cops liked her a lot!),now, I'd just remove the Volga from your list, or give her a chance only if fitted with an agricultural Perkins engine as they did in the plant in Belgium. OK, OK, it's not a Zaporozhets... :) and it was built like a T34 tank:thumbsup:! I imagine they send a few in "export" in Finland (against strong "valuta" - currency), but in Hungary, boy, worse was named Warsawa or Syrena...o_O
There was a Mark IX were I lived in Paris then, everyday I saw her rolling in deep silence while waiting the bus... this kinda bus (line 95 for me) :
9beede3_21318-1x0hmze.jpg


I used to work with a chief cameraman who had a Lancia Flaminia coupé (Lancia flat engine, not Fiat)... what a treat to go and work in that car!
 
Last edited:
Will Power Will Power when I first started flying in the 60's everyone dressed in attire appropriate for business.

Train travel was much the same until the late fifties, dining car food was excellent as was the service in general. My favorite was the Seaboard Air Line. My grandfather was an engineer for a local short line, I spent many an hour "riding the rails".
 
Last edited:
My ex brother-in-law's father was a WW2 Spitfire pilot. He talked like someone out of a Monty Python sketch! :D One of his favourite expressions was "The things you see when you haven't got your gun with you!" He carried the S&W he was issued in the US while training on the 'Spits' until he was in his seventies too! Folk only found out about it when he eventually handed it into the police during a firearms amnesty! :eek: :D
 
I awoke at 6 am this morning and the power was off and just came back on. I guess it was off from all the rain but no flooding and no damage. It made me both thankful for being safe here on the side of this mountain but really sorry for all those folks in Texas. I can't imagine being displaced from flooding at my age it must truly be a horrific
experience for those folks. It made me come to the realization that I need to help in someway. I can't do much but I can donate and I would encourage all of you that can please do. If a million people would donate just $10 all of a sudden cumulatively there's $10,000,000 to help so yes our donations can help.
 
Last edited:
knarfeng said:
r8shell r8shell
http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/lets-talk-gec.1081593/page-493#post-17420002
r8shell posted today, so she must be doing OK. Flooding or no. So that's good.
Click to expand...

Jack Black said:
Yes indeed, we've exchanged a few PMs. I don't think she saw the worst of it thankfully. Hope all our other members are OK :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thank you for your concern. We had heavy rain in Austin from the outer bands of the storm last weekend, (aside from the low-water-crossing roads that close practically every rain storm) we had no serious flooding. Nothing like the devastating floods to the southeast.
 
r8shell said:
Thank you for your concern. We had heavy rain in Austin from the outer bands of the storm last weekend, (aside from the low-water-crossing roads that close practically every rain storm) we had no serious flooding. Nothing like the devastating floods to the southeast.
Click to expand...

Glad everything is okay.

I traveled Texas for business, some parts of the state are flatter than the proverbial pancake.
 
Last edited:
Well, I was without cable Internet/TV for about 16 hours, and we have some small tree branch debris down in the yard, but nothing bad. I can't imagine what it must be like for those folks down in Texas. We had a much worse run of it from a wind storm that came through a couple of months ago that knocked out our power for over a week, phone and cable/Internet for a bit longer.

We do now seem to have a leaking roof, though, so that's not good. Maybe some wind damage to some shingles. I'll have to get up there this weekend and check.
 
Jack Black said:
Sorry Jerry! :D :thumbsup: My grandfather was a linesman for the last 20 years of his working life :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Sorry, I just realised this didn't translate very well! My grandfather was a maintenance worker on the railway tracks (called 'lines' here)! :D :thumbsup:
 
Jack Black said:
Sorry, I just realised this didn't translate very well! My grandfather was a maintenance worker on the railway tracks (called 'lines' here)! :D :thumbsup:
Click to expand...


Yeah Jack I spent my working years as what we call a linesman and that involved climbing utility poles everyday. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top