Antiques and How to Tell

Covered wagons at the Oregon Trail Museum in Baker City, Oregon

Americans live in an old country. It’s true! How many governments do you know of that are older than ours? If you guessed England you got it.

Drive down any country road in America and sooner or later you’ll pass an antique store. Or if my sister’s in the car you’ll stop.

1938 Packard Club Sedan, Sixteen Series, Maine Coast RR Museum

That’s because we like old stuff. It reminds us of simpler times, like that time the cocktail waitress … No, no, no wait! OTHER simpler times. Like this:

When many of us were younger a car would stop along the road and the driver would get out and open the hood. The proper posture was to scratch ones head while staring at the engine. Somebody would stop and after a little discussion and “that looks loose” type comments they’d get it running again. Today if there’s a car stopped along the road it’s because the driver has a phone call. Nobody stops anyway because most of us have no clue how cars work since about 1980.

That’s not the point. The point is old mechanical stuff is interesting to millions of us. Because of this interest there are thousands of organizations dedicated to “historical” preservation and restoration.

There are clubs dedicated to most makes of cars and some even specialize in certain decades. For example there’s probably a club for 1950’s Nash Rambler. There are also clubs that focus on tractors, trucks, motorcycles, streetcars, and riding lawnmowers.

1907 Stanley Steamer in Wells Auto Museum, Maine

Look in your AAA guidebooks. Most states have railroad museums. Shore line states have boat museums. Tractor museums are scattered all over. In Auburn Indiana there’s the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum. (Highly recommended, by the way)

Most of the museums have a membership arrangement. You send some money every year and they send you a card for your wallet. In many cases you get a magazine or newsletter. If you like the museum enough to send money then you’ll like the magazine because it includes pictures.

Third Avenue Railway B in Seaside Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine

Maine, another place where “Portland” is a city, has a Seashore Trolley Museum. It’s near Kennebunkport. Coastal people like to include “port” in the names of their towns. You won’t see “Mystic Seaport, Montana.”

The Seaside Trolley Museum has a collection of public transit vehicles from the last millennium. There are busses and streetcars from many cities across America and some international locales. It’s very interesting. You can ride an old trolley with lots of clatter and rattle just like back when people rode to work on those things.

Your assignment is to find a museum or society that preserves your favorite old mechanical vehicles and join up. That’s all there is to it.

Conductor on Trolley Ride, Seaside Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine

How do you tell if it’s a true antique? One way is how long ago the last time you saw one of those was. When you are in an antique store and they have an exhibit of the appliances in your kitchen it’s time to re-think. Either you need new appliances or you’re not in a real antique store.

Worse yet is remembering much of the contents of a museum as stuff that was in your parents home when you were growing up. And how odd it looks. Ever see an old radio that you recognize as one you wanted but couldn’t afford? It’s in the museum because nobody could afford it back then and it was still in unused condition when it was found in a warehouse.

Try your antique 3D movie glasses on these photos.

Al