Creative Uses for Old Cars

I knew I saw those wheels somewhere. My brother owned one of those little cars way back when. At least I remember that. Kudos to @jtsanders and @steve63 because that was a tough one.

Bus transportation in the country school I attended was provided by owner-operators. These men were farmers, owned the bus, and bid on the routes. When the school buses were taken out of service due to age, the body was removed and a cab fitted to the chassis. A grain bed was then built behind the cab and the farmer had a grain truck. The bus body was stripped of the seats and became a chicken coop or a tool shed.

Aw, gee, someone(s) identified the Ascona while my battery was dead. The wheels are unusual for a car of that era. Very modern looking. Not that the car looks modern. The wheel arches, thin roof pillars, and the black vent/whatever are all so typical of the seventies. Especially common on European cars.

That’s a very practical use for an old school bus. My uncle drove one as well as being the fleet mechanic (school owned them, not the farmer/drivers.) It was a great winter job for a farmer. He took care of all the routine maintenance tasks and repairs during mid-winter. Summers he didn’t even have to drive. Envy of all his neighbors. Even 40 years ago many farmers had some part-time work. Now almost all my farming relatives have full-time jobs. Driving chicken trucks, welding, teaching, whatever. There is a lot of money being made in agriculture, but it ends up in the pockets of the already wealthy who own thousands of acres, not to mention Monsanto, A&M, etc.

@Mark, the PT stands for Plymouth Truck, a lot of Mennonites around here repurpose old trucks and whatever with hitches to pull behind their tractors and they have those tractors souped up too,to get down the road-Kevin

Plymouth Truck! That’s interesting, not that the EPA cared. Still, it was a Plymouth Plymouth Truck. Kind of weird. The EPA had some rule that if the rear seat could be easily removed and there was a flattish floor once you had it out, the vehicle was a van.

@MarkM Automotive branding takes on weird forms sometimes. In Canada for many years there were both Dodge trucks and Fargo trucks (rebadged Dodge) sold by Plymouth dealers. Canadian Mecury dealers also sold Mercury trucks.

In Europe in 1960 I saw De Soto trucks! Also Dodges with De Soto grills sold as De Sotos.

I remember when Nissan was phasing out of using the Datsun brand and some vehicles had both Nissan and Datsun on the trunks.

Well I think Chysler about to run retro into the ground,some of that old stuff is kinda cute,but chances are the new form is better for different resons-Kevin

The new European pedestrian crash standards are going to make retro styling difficult. They specify new requirements for bumper designs, crush spacing between the front bumper and the functional hardware, crushable hoods (which will have to be reconciled with U.S. standards that have used extra strength hoods to transfer impact loads), and a number of other changes that will impact car designs. The Europeans want to minimize damage to pedestrians hot by cars.

Maybe the cow catcher will come back in style over there. Remember? On trains they would scoop the cow off to the side of the tracks with only their pride hurt.

Actually I think the “Cow catchers” just made it so the dying carcass wouldn’t get under the wheels.

Perhaps long front ends will come back in style.

Yes, ‘cow catchers’ were there to keep anything on the tracks from causing a derailment. Wandering wildlife an unfenced livestock were the biggest problems. Now it’s vehicles on the tracks.