Husband and I wandered through an “Orphan” car show this weekend down in Ypsilanti Michigan. No, these aren’t cars that were abandoned on firehouse steps, these are cars that are no longer produced. The Edsel, the Hudson, the AMC Rambler, the Studebaker and so many more.
Old cars from before I was born, and cars I remember from my teenage years. I learned to drive a stick shift in one like this years ago.
There were so many beautiful cars. The lines and details were amazing.
And that’s mostly what I focused my camera on. If you want to see whole cars you should stop by my Facebook page where my husband posted loads of beautiful photos.
Here I’m going to show you details. There are so many it’s hard to know where to start. So I’ll just put together a slideshow of some of my favorite colors and shapes. And the chrome! Oh my the chrome!
I hope you enjoy:
We had such a good time!
And then we walked back through the historic district and found a Hudson museum! It was originally a dealership for Hudson automobiles and stayed open until after the car was no longer being built, selling used Hudsons for years.
There were more beautiful cars there! And featured was a 1955 Hudson Italia built in Milan Italy, #20 of only 26 ever built. It’s the color of rich butter pecan ice cream and simply beautiful. Look at the lines, the shapes, the details.
I wonder. In 100 years, which of our cars will be sitting in museums for people to enjoy? Which ones will look like art?
I didn’t grow up as a ‘car person’ but over the years I’ve learned to appreciate beautiful design combined with quality function. I hope you enjoyed the tour, and maybe it will inspire you to stop by a car show near you.
September 19, 2016 at 11:15 am
I’ve always LOVED cars, so this was a real treat for me, Dawn — thank you for letting me tag along on your adventure! The variety of hood ornaments, coupled with all that chrome, made these old cars just spectacular!!
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September 19, 2016 at 4:48 pm
They are simply beautiful. And the colors! Not like anything we see nowadays.
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September 19, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Very few of the cars made today are visually special in any way. Used to be you could drive down the road and identify almost every make at a glance. Now they all look so similar that only a few are that easily recognized.
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September 19, 2016 at 4:49 pm
Yes, that’s why I’m wondering what will be appreciated years from now. Maybe some of the real luxury cars. Which to be fair, many of those cars I admired so much this weekend were cars I never would have bought, they were too luxurious for my family!
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September 19, 2016 at 3:11 pm
I think the car with the center headlight (Hudson Hotrod) is a Tucker. I dated someone years ago who was an old car buff and he talked about the Tucker. He had an old Packard (he may still).
The Gilmore Car Museum has some beautiful old cars and they’ve had some on display at the Grand Rapids Auto Show. They probably do at other auto shows around the state. Worth checking out even if you’re not in the mark for a new vehicle.
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September 19, 2016 at 4:45 pm
You are right. I meant to say that…don’t know why my fingers were not paying attention. I’ll fix it.
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September 19, 2016 at 8:55 pm
everything old is new again – there is a lot of time and love gone into all of those
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September 20, 2016 at 8:26 am
The detail and thought and just beauty built into these cars is amazing.
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September 20, 2016 at 12:24 am
Nice cars!!!
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September 20, 2016 at 8:26 am
Sure are!
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September 20, 2016 at 2:30 pm
Such an amazing period in history; I love seeing those old autos, the photos are amazing.
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September 20, 2016 at 3:36 pm
Thank you Charlie!
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September 28, 2016 at 11:46 am
They could leave any one of those orphans on my doorstep. I’ll adopt them… except for the Pacer. Sorry.
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September 28, 2016 at 11:49 am
Yea…well I was embarrassed by the Pacer even back in the day.
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