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Hail to "vintage" evrything!

hayseed said:
I think we are all sitting around the same fire. I agree that there are some very fine things made today, for me the problem is my only choices are the four hundred dollar blender that can turn golf balls into space dust, or the forty dollar blender that will cough up its guts chopping ice. I would love to have a vita-mix, I would love to have a Dyson, I would love to have a Fein, I would love to have a Vincent, but it's only going to happen if I find one at Good Will, it's really the only way I can afford top of the line stuff.
I'm not bitter about it, I have an excellent baler and a brand spankin' new blue tractor, wine in the cellar and a freezer full of lamb, life really is pretty good.
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+1 for sure. I've gotten spoiled finding treasures at the GW or other thrifts. Life is pretty good but I'll still gripe :D.

BTW on RFDTV there are a couple shows you might like. Classic Tractors and Vintage Country ways to name a few. Classic tractors shows feature folks who restore and maintain tractors and farm equipment. I was going to say 'old guys' but they did a segment on a young woman (well young for me ;) ) who restored tractors.
 
toxcrusadr said:
You know, there were probably crappy products back then too, but they didn't survive. The ones we appreciate now were the expensive ones when they were new, because they were built well enough to last until 2010. :scratch2:
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This could be a very very good point. For every 40yr. old freezer still working in the basement, how many don't work anymore. Point is , how many were made and how many still work?

The Japanese are the ones who taught us to make reliable automobiles.

But I still stand by my main point. Too many things are low quality today and are throw away items.
 
Yes, while todays automobiles have more computing than the orignal Opollo and most of us don't like it, I would take it anyday over 50's-60's autos because of the structure of the unibody asorbing an impact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoz6BSKs-xY

Plus I would rather swap a LS7(or any LS series) into something than any old school SBC.
 
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Arkay- do you really own the Vita-Mix blender and the Dualit toaster? Those appear to be 2 seriously nice appliances- if you get what you pay for you must be getting a lot!

I'll keep those in mind.
 
rollei35guy said:
I have Aladdin lamps too. Bought my first when I worked in a hardware store in the '70s. I also found a NOS Aladdin Blue Flame heater last year.

Our place is all electric and the heaters may come in handy should the power go out.
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I will say that the lamps may be all ya need. A few years ago the power went out. I lit the two Aladdin's.

When the power went out it was 68 upstairs and 20 outside. 4-5 hours later it was 72 inside and 15 outside. I had a few neighbors ask the next day if I had a generator because my place was so lit up. :)
 
Well true to form, just bought vintage again. I've been looking for a new BBQ grill for almost a year and without spending a minimum of $1000 I couldn't find one that I would be happy with. I did discover that over the past 4-5 yrs or so that the grill manf's all went away from using 304 stainless in favor of the lower cost and lower quality 400 series stainless. That is of course unless you pay $2000+. And I get that, I just bought 304 stainless today- $200 for a 48"x96" 16ga. sheet. So....I digress, I finally found a vintage grill 20+ years old grill in great condition. It's a Broilmaster G3 single burner, but it grills fantastic with even heat across the heaviest cast iron grates I've ever had. The first night was burgers, the second night were porterhouse, and the 3rd night was chicken, which is the hardest to do without burning. It passed all the tests. Tonight is brat night-

So if you want a grill and don't have the thick wallet, my advice is to look for a quality vintage grill. The cast aluminum body I think is your best bet.
 
huh.. .40 year old fridge huh>

My beer fridge in the basement is older than both of the OP's fridges combined.. more like 80 years old, and gives me the coldest beer in town..

Just bought a great band saw over the weekend... A Delta from 1931... and still runs and works like new..
 
Hail to my 1965 electric "Wolf Kabelfix" lawn-mower which is on duty some 20 times every summer.

It's simply astounding!
 
Lux Man said:
Well true to form, just bought vintage again. I've been looking for a new BBQ grill for almost a year and without spending a minimum of $1000 I couldn't find one that I would be happy with. I did discover that over the past 4-5 yrs or so that the grill manf's all went away from using 304 stainless in favor of the lower cost and lower quality 400 series stainless. That is of course unless you pay $2000+. And I get that, I just bought 304 stainless today- $200 for a 48"x96" 16ga. sheet. So....I digress, I finally found a vintage grill 20+ years old grill in great condition. It's a Broilmaster G3 single burner, but it grills fantastic with even heat across the heaviest cast iron grates I've ever had. The first night was burgers, the second night were porterhouse, and the 3rd night was chicken, which is the hardest to do without burning. It passed all the tests. Tonight is brat night-

So if you want a grill and don't have the thick wallet, my advice is to look for a quality vintage grill. The cast aluminum body I think is your best bet.
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Vintage brats are the best. The new ones just won't do.
 
I started this thread 12/17/2010 because my 5 yr. old frig died. I then replaced it with a new $1000 frig, well yesterday that frig died. Again I say hail to my now 25 yr. old frig because I still have it in the basement so at least I had somewhere to put my food yesterday.
 
My dad uses an old Gardner-Denver air compressor from 1953 (the year he was born). That thing is built like a tank and has been all over the southwestern USA. He also has what I believe is an early 60's Case bulldozer that he treats like his baby. Whenever something goes out he has two options- pay through the nose for a new part from the manufacturer, or send the old one to my uncle in Oregon. He is a machinist who can almost always make parts that are twice the quality of the new parts from Case, will last way longer and costs about a tenth of what a new one does.

If my dad wanted similar quality equipment today he'd be broke. Actually, he couldn't afford it, so he would do everything by hand.
 
Manufacturing now bases its future on "planned obsolescence," meaning that it will either wear out or be replaced by the newest spiffy spangly model just as you've figured out the current one. Computers and cell phones are the finest example.
A while back I heard a report on this topic, and there is actually DISPOSABLE CLOTHING which is meant to be worn once and thrown away- it won't hold up to washing. Call it The Economy of Waste.
 
Farmhand said:
Manufacturing now bases its future on "planned obsolescence," meaning that it will either wear out or be replaced by the newest spiffy spangly model just as you've figured out the current one.
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There's nothing new about that, Hell, I learned about as a child in the 1950s from reading my Dad's Vance Packard books.
 
Lux Man said:
I started this thread 12/17/2010 because my 5 yr. old frig died. I then replaced it with a new $1000 frig, well yesterday that frig died. Again I say hail to my now 25 yr. old frig because I still have it in the basement so at least I had somewhere to put my food yesterday.
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Reading this makes me very glad that I repaired my GE refrigerator rather than replacing it several years ago. The repair was cheap and easy -- a $50 condenser fan motor that took about 45 minutes to install -- and the refrigerator, now 30 years old, still runs like a champion. I hope you have better luck with your next new fridge than you did with the previous two.
 
I have a freezer made by International Harvester that is 65 yrs old and running strong. It's not super large but it takes 4 people to carry it. On the toaster subject I got tired of new toasters that work poorly or fail early and got an ancient toastmaster, with cloth cord, prolly from late 40's or early 50's. Works great and I don't think it will ever stop working. I like new stuff too but marvel at the construction and looks of some of the old stuff.
 
I agree with everyone that remarked on the new toasters being cheaply made.

I bought a pretty expensive new 4 slice toaster on Amazon and one side of all the slots would not heat up. You could see that the sides would not get "red hot" coils. Amazon refunded me and I kept my old one that I need to replace, but it works better than the defective one. No, I did not have it on the bagel setting.

Can anyone recommend a good new 4 slice toaster that will not cost me a new mortgage?

BTW -Generally speaking cars are made much better today with the exception of the VW debacle.
 
My chinese made HP spectre notebook is becoming to deteriorate/rust around it's metal cabinet... typical chinese junk!
It was a TOTL model a few years back and cost me £1,200.00.
Even on metal housing/finishings the chinese can't get it right. The Japanese gear from the 70's still holds strong to this very day!
 
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