As a VW guy myself, I struggle with this. My '59 Cabriolet is a joy to drive, work on, and look at. I'm uncomfortable about all the Nazi-looking cars at the VW meets. I don't want to disown history, but I think too many are revelling in this ugly part of the VW history.
Boomer here. Yeah, I was born while this car was in the showroom. My dad had the two-door fastback version. Same color. But he didn't have a Magnetic Mary on the metal speaker grill. He kept it for over ten years, and logged over 100,000 miles. And yeah, it would do 70 with the 3-speed auto. Every day. It'll do 90 with 93 octane, a wide open road, and nerves of steel. Slap the snow tires on in about a month from now and turn off the radio because you won't be able to hear it over the tire sing until next April. And speaking of the radio... find one with the original radio. Maybe you have one from the Falcon. See those little triangles in a circle on the radio dial? There's two of them. Those are for a long forgotten emergency broadcasting system called CONELRAD. The symbols told you where to tune your radio in the event of a nuclear attack by the Soviets. Now imagine you're about 3 years-old riding in Dad's Galaxie 500, and you see these symbols on the radio dial, and you ask him what they're for. And he tells you. That's my historical context. But I also remember Mom's car, a Cadillac Coup d' Ville. And I remember the friction between my mom and Dad's mom because Granma didn't like the Cadillac because "only mobsters drive a Cadillac." That was Granma's historical context. You're driving history. And that's a good thing. But dude, get the power steering.
"only mobsters drive a Cadillac" - because of the always generously-sized trunk, right? For keeping... stuff... in, the sort of stuff you might not want witnesses to see.
Same here, I was born when this car was in the showroom. We never had one, dad had a 1960 Olds 88. But in 1999 I bought a 63-1/2 Ford Galaxie 500XL made the same month when I was born. It was a fun car, had it a couple of years till I ran into someone wanting to restore it.
I came here just to check out this winga dinga car and came out more learned in the concept of Transcendentalism and what the social media’s cancel culture has shaped itself to be.
@@danielseelye6005 the perfect mix of cars, fart noises and social, economic, cultural, and/or philosophical rhetoric... I live for this kind of weird content.
Here's my hot take: If the past doesn't exist for us to take the good things about it and learn from the bad, what is the point of history? We can have malt shops AND civil rights, we can have corsets (which if you actually wear them as intended are totally rad and way better bust support than bras) AND workers rights, we can have beautiful baroque palaces AND democracy
That's the thing, people were warned about democracy long ago. "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.'" ― Alexis de Tocqueville "Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny. " ― Aristotle
@@kristoffersparegodt420 Oh well then as long as the standard of living is better, we should pay 100% in taxes because the government knows best what to do with our money.
Good comment ,You will probably find that lots of trades people are philosophes on an amateur level or better, A quick review of all the comments is good proof of that .
I remember a Cash4Clunkers dealer getting some news after he told a little old lady her late husband's rare ass muscle car for a Prius. He told her to keep it or he would buy it at fair market. He also bashed Cash4Clunkers by keeping said "clunkers" as long as they were actually valuable, low mileage, fictional. He had a few 70s muscle cars, sports cars, special edition and collectors. He was staunchly anti-cash4clunkers.
I remember trading in my 1980 buick lesabre to the local chevrolet dealer, salesman got naked coved himself in oil and then started humping my leg before he punched me in the stomach took the keys and drove off, I was 8 years old.
Same for those Turn in your guns for money at the police station. Some old lady brings in her deceased husband's ww2 take home trophy gun he took from a captured nazi officer. The police knows very well what the gun is valued at around $2000. They offer her a piddling $100 gift card for the gun.
I drove a '47 Willys CJ2A in high school. This girl in my grade drove a '67 or so Galaxie 4 door, the one with the headlights stacked one on top of the other, instead of side-by-side. It was an absolutely beautiful car. This girl had a friend that I thought was cute. Well, one day, I ended up in my jeep with some friends right behind the Galaxie, the friend inside it, on main street in our little town during the high school lunch rush. My 16 year old brain thought that the most surefire way to impress this girl was to tailgate as close as I could. Well, 4 wheel manual drum brakes don't stop too well, even compared to a Galaxie, and its (the Galaxie's) rear bumper ended up stuck on top of my jeep's front bumper. This happened on main street, right in front of a shop, and with the help of a handyman jack, we were unhooked. Neither girl was impressed, but fortunately neither car was damaged. I got a $60 ticket for following too close. The Galaxie owner's mom worked at city hall, and a few weeks later, I got to pay my ticket to her. (edit) This happened in the late 90s.
Damn, I wish my Mom had let me drive a 50 year old car to school and back when I was in high school. I would have killed to be able to say I drove something that old.
Separating the art from the artist makes every bit of sense. The car is not a self-portrait of the company or the people who designed it. Just as the Original VW Beetle is not evil, was produced for decades and is enjoyed, so can the Galaxy.
People can criticize anything. If you want to take a critics statement into account, it would be best to know the critic, know the body of work, and, know their biases. At the end it's up to you to represent yourself and the car in your own light. The art will speak for itself with out needing the artist signing the canvas and will be appreciated even if they didn't know who made it. It ultimately comes down to 2 things, enjoy it and don't be a douchebag.
@@rfmerrill It can potentially be more complicated but it really does depend on the intent behind the art and what is actually, factually present in the work. For example. Orson Scott Card can pretty easily be called a "problematic" or "gross" person in modern parlance. He has a lot of really awful ideas and more importantly. He tend to not be shy about those ideas in public. I don't really like the man and have no real respect for him as a person. With that in mind, is Ender's Game a problem as a individual work? Does his personality, socio-political opinion, and general religious outlook come through in the pages of that book without a fairly absurd amount of mental gymnastics? Orson Scott Card is still alive and still makes money from Ender's Game but you would be hard pressed to demonstrate that the book itself is a reflection of his beliefs or is trying to spread or further his beliefs. Someone who has no idea about the man can read the book and never get a hint of his personal view. If the work doesn't spread the problematic or "gross" elements of his personality at all, is it really a problem? Is it something that should get taken out of libraries or even "cancelled"?
"Cancel culture is mostly an excuse for people to avoid having to engage with context in a way that makes them uncomfortable." Beautifully worded statement right there.
Sprinkle in a bit of tripping on one's sense of power to make amoral corporations, universities, and sports teams bend to your whim by projecting that you're a majority and not just a handful of professional busybodies on a site that normal people don't even use. We want more representation for minorities, but also remove all minorities from food packaging. It's about how high you can make someone jump.
And not-so-surprisingly enough, much of the usage of "cancel culture" as a term ALSO has become to remove underlying contexts that could give a justification for consequence. The RNC screams "cancel culture" at things as to abstract the situation from any other environments that it existed in. A near perfect encapsulation of the theory of Transcendentalism. "It isn't racist, because I feel like it, and I said so."
Yeshwant Dasari if you’re lucky enough you can go to the right places and see it now! An event in the uk called the good wood revival hosts classic racing once every year, they have classic touring car races over the weekend it’s brilliant Hopefully going in person after this COVID stuff is finished
Side note: Henry Ford had been dead and buried for 16 years when this car was produced... Henry Ford II was no saint but he was definitely not his grandfather.
On the transcendentalism bit, you can enjoy the car despite its era. The Galaxie, and by extension, any car from any era while a byproduct of the trends and values of the decades they came from, are devoid of opinions of the ideas that brought them to life because they're inanimate and unable to make statements on the matter. It's like the VW Beetle and Bus during the counterculture. We all know the Beetle started as Hitler's idea for a People's Car, yet it was able to transcend from its Nazi roots and become a symbol of hippie culture as much as peace signs and tie dye clothes were.
I'd go a step further and say that daring to enjoy an old car made by people who held ideas we no longer agree with is a means of redeeming the past. To accept that while it was not perfect, there were and are still things worth saving and preserving and cherishing from that time, regardless of their potential context. Rejecting everything from 'the before' because you disagree with the morality of then removes context from 'the now' and 'the to-be'. It erases the notion of the past wholesale. Something that was, but no longer is. That alone has value, because it creates a difference between 'the before' and 'the now'. 'the now' would not be a time of progress without something to progress from.
I think this might be the most accurate way to describe most objects from the past. The car wasn't created soley to further an idea, even the VW Beetle wasn't designed to further the nazi cause directly. It was just supposed to be a good car for the people. The Galaxie 500 was created to be something beautiful. Even if the ideas of the time dictated somehow that beauty.
It's mostly the labeling that's become so commonplace nowadays. that makes people even question stuff like this. A car was a car, whether to its owner it became mere transportation or if was attributed deeper meaning was entirely up to them. It did not mean that the object itself referred those values. You can value intrinsic properties of it, such as its reliability or the fact that it's endured decades of weather and usage to make it here. With each owner, it becomes something else and gains a new story (I sometimes wish cars COULD tell stories of the places they've been to or seen...). You can enjoy it for what it granted you (freedom of movement inside, great visibility) in exchange for assuming you'd be responsible enough to not get into an accident. Too many cars nowadays grant a license of recklessness and idiocy by virtue of presenting drivers with the automotive equivalent of Get Out of Death Free cards, removing the accountability one must normally be aware of when operating any vehicle capable of over 35 MPH. It's like Japanese imports being either chopped up to bits to become drift machines or ending up with an owner that just wants to preserve them for daily use. Or even the Galaxie itself, which was drag raced and oval raced, while also being many families' primary transport.
@@Mikeyridesit The Galaxie 500 was an offshoot of the then full-size Fairlane 500, and seemed to be a reflection of America's desire to go into space. Sure, Henry Ford was an anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer, but let's not forget that Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner also drove a Ford station wagon.
A 4-door version of this was my first car. Almost got a girl pregnant in it. No one told me about the need for oil changes. I just kept dumping more oil in, and it needed lots of oil, until the oil pump suffered a coronary one fine 1973 morning. It went under the hammer of the local auto auction, lifters ticking their desperate Morse code of "Please don't turn me into washing machines". I miss that car but it would have eventually killed me as I had all the common sense of a chihuhua back then.
You pulled a Neon Genesis Evangelion on us. Started off as a fun entertaining video to watch but takes a dark turn midway and leaves the audience second guessing their own mindsets and mentalities. Well played as always, Mr. Regular. Well played
We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. When we see our predecessors and say “we’re better than them,” it should not be to assert moral superiority. We should think of our moral progress like technical progress. Does technical progress mean that we get rid of all prior technology? No! You keep the good that already exists and move forward. Only idiots throw out the baby with the bath water. We can appreciate the beautiful parts of the 1960’s without making light of the troubles. We can appreciate the beauty of southern architecture without downplaying slavery. We can appreciate royal stuff without worrying too much about the many atrocities of kings and queens. Heck, we can appreciate the autobahn and still say Hitler was an evil person overall. In every generation, there will be a mixture of good and bad, ugly and beautiful. To say that an entire segment of history must be thrown away is the height of arrogance. Do not be ashamed of our past. We are as we are today because of that past. Instead, learn from the past failures and successes so we don’t repeat the bad and we get more of the good.
If by “southern architecture” you mean statues of confederates... note most of those were put up during the civil rights era as a threat to blacks to stop fighting for freedom. They are only in existence to continue oppressive thought. Alot of them were generally cheaply made too, so its not like we are really holding up this magnificent artwork either.
@@_heartunderblade2451 I believe they're referring to Southern antebellum architecture. It's an absolutely beautiful design movement from the early and mid 19th century, but it was very much associated with wealthier slave owners in the south as they were usually the only people who could afford to have such a lavish estate built.
Retired History/Literature teacher. One of the most enjoyable units I taught to HS honors classes was Transcendentalism (in the mid 1980's); Thoreau, some short stories/articles from the '60's and some very substantial discussions based on Historical characters who thrived in "the wild" and drew their philosophies from the natural world around them/the natural friction between the draw of the natural world and the seductions of civilized society.....a car site and genuine sustenance from it, thanks....
The era when this car was manufactured is just a single moment in time. The real story here is the journey it’s gone through to make it to the present. That’s what should be appreciated and celebrated. Think of this car in context of 1978, 1987, 1999, and every other era that seems so different from now. It’s seen them all and thrived (or at least survived) when many of its peers did not.
This is it. I have a 1976 Datsun and I can't say I've ever _really_ thought about the era it came from but I've thought a million times about the stories it must have to tell
I own a few classic cars and I'm no older than 25. The best way to view cars of this age are as outliers of TODAY's society; a beautiful exception to the modern CUV rule. While everyone else is holed up in their angry, modern transportation devices, the car and by extension you are the reminder that life can be made fun if a person aims to integrate beauty and quirkiness into their lives rather than settle for the modern norm, a beauty that can be unpretentiously captured by a classic car. Onlookers will only be happy to see such an aesthetic vehicle in public rather than connect it to a time that was less than wholesome.
Yes yes yes, more literary theory and history with RCR. I may not 100% "get" everything that you serve to us but I love hearing your passion for your art.
Great video and speaking of driving a car during a time of history. My wife and I bought our 2001 Mustang GT convertible in October 2001 a month after 9/11. We bought it because life isn't guaranteed and wanted to have a fun car. Still have that car and still think of why we bought it every time we drive it.
Having been in conflict with culture as of late. This is the most intelligent and articulate breakdown that I have listened to. Who knew an automobile could be that kind of catalyst?
Automobiles, especially of that era, are as much art as any painting or piece of music, and like any other art, are products of, and commentary on, the culture of their time.
I kinda love how the person who owned this car essentially segue'd you into your own point by putting a Barry Goldwater bumper sticker on the back of it. If you want a tl;dr version of your entire video I think, to those that know who Goldwater is at least, you could just take a picture of the Galaxie 500 peeling away with THAT sticker on the back.
The Galaxie dad also helped their neighbors build a fence, repair the plumbing and so on. didn't matter if they were better or worse than him. He accepted you as you were and everyone loved thar about him. Modern suburbia needs a new Galaxie dad
It's easier to get rid of the context when you think about it this way - buying a Galaxie doesn't earn the old ford any money, it's not like buying nestles water where you can't disconnect their policies from the product. They don't make the galaxies anymore.
And there wasn't anything that terrible about Ford by the 1960s. They were just a big corporation like any other. Henry Ford and his repellent beliefs had been buried years earlier.
Chose a Mr. Regular character voice to read this. "I want the convertable, and I want soft seats, and I want enough room for the twins and I don't want the "little lady" to ask to borrow it. We have the Fairlane and it has the power steering."
I think as generations of people continue they are less likely to connect an old car with negative connotations of the past. Cars like the galaxy are so wonderful because they can foster a great time with a group of people, best to focus on the fun. Great Video 👌
RCR Pioneering the car video essay. Regular is such a misnomer is almost every way and that’s what makes these guys so special. I enjoy watching almost every video but this one spoke to me on a whole new level. Keep it up RCR much love from Jersey!
This is more old-school RCR. Much like TopGear is not really about cars, just blokes having fun; RCR is not about cars but philosophy and history and a touch of nostaliga for times we have never seen and like the rosy-glasses version of the '60s, probably never existed. Just like the Westfalia review, this is RCR at its best.
I am the proud owner for 33 years of a 63-1/2 Galaxie 500 HT. 390 4BBL Automatic, PW and PB. It is an absolute beautiful cruiser. Drives and rides just as nice as todays cars and also as reliable. I've put about 45,000 miles on it and mostly trouble free. Yes a couple of minor glitches, but was able to keep going until I got home. Also had one brand new in 1963, 352 2bbl, 3 on the tree, no ps or pb, Yet for a heavy car I could parallel park with one finger on the wheel. Great cars if you look after them as with any car, they all need care.
It can transcend being a Nazi product all it wants, no amount of masters-level English philosophy editorializing will ever help it transcend being a shitty car.
I never understand why it is hard for some to be able to separate the artists from the art. For example, I've seen some of Hitler's art work online; it is not bad, has a charm to it. I know who painted it, I know what he did, but I can still appreciate the artwork itself for what it is: art. Context as you said is always important, and we must always keep that in mind. As times change, it is appropriate for us to reexamine what we value and celebrate within our modern context and how their old views line up with ours. However, throwing out everything from the past because it does not live up to our ideals is asinine, because the logical end conclusion of that train of thought is that we should stop creating anything. Nothing will ever live up to the more "enlightened" ideals of future generations, ergo we should stop creating and cancel our whole culture because of that realization.
I have no issue with Jeffrey Tambor, Kevin Spacey, or Roseanne Barr never working in Hollywood again. That's fine. Far less talented people get away with far less. This doesn't mean I'm going to burn DVD copies of American Beauty, Arrested Development, or the first 7 seasons of Roseanne in effigy. I might join in a burning of Pay It Forward, The Ropers, and the 9th season of Roseanne...but I felt that way before cancel culture existed.
86twin it’s kind of like how colt has the 1911 in a trillion different configurations and they more or less forget about every other iconic gun they have made until recently. However any re issues cost four times what a used original is worth. I know cars and guns are different markets but the same kind of philosophy seems to inhabit both companies.
My families summer cruiser is a red 64’ Galaxie XL with a drop top and a 390 paired to a C4 console shift. I can’t help but smile like an 8 year old whenever I drive it, and everyone smiles and waves at you when they see it. It’s not fast, it doesn’t handle (no power steering), but man does this car eat up the pavement like John Pinette at a Chinese buffet. Like Mr. Regular once said, this is a car that doesn’t accelerate, it advances. It’s in no hurry to go anywhere. It is excess to the max for 1960’s Ford and I love every single inch of it despite its many shortcomings. The whole car is designed to 100% bring attention to the driver. This is a car that changes the image of any person that drives it, it’s a persona on wheels. It’s for driving on a warm summer night with a pocketful of money for gas (10mpg w/premium is a small price to pay). It’s a car for purely living in the moment, in your own world, where nothing else exists but you, that car, and however much road lay ahead of you.
I think you should start a spin-off channel, where you cover various literature topics as Mr. Regular, called "Regular English Lessons". Watching this makes me want to take one of your classes.
That's kinda how I feel about Disney right now, with their "Forced Diversity" when a movie is sold in America then all that diversity is edited out when they sell it in China and when they support the Chinese government literally burning their people, or the old times of constant racism and Disney's "Dislike" of the jews... Can I still enjoy a well animated story involving talking animals and silly songs? Being a cartoonist If I boycotted the company I would literally have to give up half of what makes my identity, but.... Maybe I just pop on The Aristocats and allow myself to be happy for a brief period of time.... Who knows, but this silly review of a classic car kinda caught my feelings pretty well.
@@nitehawk86 it’s the rust belt, I’m all too aware. If it’s any consolation, I prefer Pittsburgh to Cleveland big time and I feel a lot of nostalgia for the city. If I wasn’t settled down in a good school district for my daughter, I’d happily come back.
Thank you for the video. Thank you even more for educating me. Since the Neon SRT video you’ve been my light house in car culture... always showing me the way.
Wow. Best RCR writing in some time, and that's saying something. The way you two bring context to the moments that produced these cars is incredible. Great job!
The reviews that turn into literary musings about college-level philosophical concepts should be immortalized in lucite-protected optical media so that long after society collapses, some distant, future society of bipedal, lemur-descendant hominids can dust off our forgotten archives and agree with unanimous melancholy that at least some of us tried.
These things used to race Mini Coopers here in the UK back in the ‘60s. They still do in some historic competitions. It is an incredible sight to behold.
Joel Harris Conversation piece? For example i have stickers in the door frames of my car where you can’t see them, because the car wash i go to they dry the door jambs afterwards and they ALWAYS mention the stickers. It’s a pattern interrupt for a boring job, and every time, the person smiles. Maybe he enjoys people asking about the wrist bandana. Maybe that hand is cold.
My parents had a Falcon station wagon and blue Galaxy 500. My sister smashed up the back one day. My dad smashed up the front not long afterward. He still drove it for a while all smashed up until he got a Buick Special.
Honestly this is one of the top three videos youve made. Well done friend. Best lines were "I think Cancel Culture is mostly an excuse for people to avoid having to engage with context" and "Bad actions committed in bad taste don't automatically equate with actions committed in bad faith."
My dad had a 63 Galaxie as a high school car in the 70s. Then when I was growing up, a 73 pickup with the 390 engine. His FE started life as a 360 truck engine, but crank swapped to make it a 390. With a Holley 4 barrel, I can attest, it truly was "diesel levels of torque". A marvelous vehicle to learn to drive stick, just put it in gear, let out the clutch and it would just lug you out of whatever hole you had found yourself in. God I miss that truck.
This episode is beautiful. Well played, gentlemen. I absolutely love your brains. I am not a car fanatic but your slick way with words and humor keep me and many other non-car people coming back. Keep up the excellent work. - jrdn in pdx
Hi Mr. Regular! This video is fantastic, and I always love coming to a car review and leaving with a lesson in transcendentalism! I just acquired my own 1969 Galaxie 500 convertible with a 390/ auto combo. It's a car I have been lusting after for the last 8 years, when I first met it, and it has been as though fate demanded that I own this particular car. I hope someday you will have the chance to review it, so I can tell you the rest of the story. Maybe once I get it a bit more done. Have a great day!
My old pops races at our local track, Wanneroo. I've always heard about how big american cars can be, but minus a few imported utes, really had no idea until I saw this thing irl. My god just the sound of a big 427 v8, the size of the rear tyres on this thing, the supreme SIZE of it compared to the little cortinas and escorts around it. King of the road on the street and on the racetrack. Amazing to watch.
As always, mr regular, just a beautifully worded exploration into the context of the car. I once thought I was the only one who felt uneasy at vintage car meets, given each car's provenance. Please teach us more.
[Paraphrase]: "Cancel culture is the result of people not wanting to deal with context." [Paraphrase]: "Selection for Societal Sanity. [...] Our job is not to create content, but to create context." This is what the some game from 19 PISSING YEARS AGO warned us about, and some random car review basically brought up, much to my anxiety! Oh, yeah. Rad car, bro.
Have you read Orwell's 1984? You should if you haven't already. It will shock you how so much of American politics of the last decade or so mirrors the content of that book.
@@shred1894 I know a fair bit of it, but I've never read it. I think I've actually got it, somewhere. Thing is, I've heard it said that Orwell got it wrong in one regard: It's not governments that took us over the edge.
Feh. Artsy people. "I drive this because its mettle and its history, and all the character flaws of the person who designed it are mine, as well, so it represents ME." Is not something the average person is thinking. With anything. Most of the time, it's just "This car looks cool, so I'ma grab it up, maybe work on it a bit, and drive it." I bought a 1975 El Camino Classic because I fell in love with the pale banana-yellow and dull chocolate two-tone coloring, goofy headlights, and sheer size of the truck in order to haul stuff around. Any history of the creator and faults found within are faults of their own personalities and of their own time. It doesn't represent me. I do. Just like every Ford Focus owner is a kid wearing a snapback cap and smoking a vape, a college woman driving a cheaper car to upgrade later, an old man driving his dog around on a Sunday, a family member coming from a few states away to celebrate Thanksgiving, or a businessman whose main business is conducted over a Facetime app, everyone who owns a car represents themselves. I had thought this was common understanding, but it seems increasingly rare nowadays. Judging people by what they own, what they wear, or what you hear about them is small-brain. Judging them instead by the experience you have with them is big-brain. So don't let those things worry you so much. They're not important. Do what you enjoy, and live a happier, simpler life. Or don't. Honestly, whatever makes you happiest. This is just what I've found.
How many times have I questioned my own existence while sipping bourbon while I watch a car review? at least once because of this video. Thank you Mr. Regular, you’re a true inspiration.
LOVE the bumper sticker. Glad to see I am not the only political dork old car lover who does this. I have a Bush/Quayle '92 sticker on the back of my '92 Explorer, and had a Reagan/Bush '80 sticker on my '78 F150.
The phenomenology of objects as opposed to the ideology of objects is something I often also get hung up on. I don't think I could ever own something made in a context where I would be tortured or killed for being myself and living my best in public, because even as I write a revision on the phenomena of the object through experience there is an underlying current of ideology that tells me I do not belong here, it's a communication through the textual object rather than the experiencial object And yet, I daily a ford, my weekend car is a VW and my partner drives a BMW, all groups that have problematic histories, and while we could say the divorce of these objects from their sublime historical ideology stems from the time in which they were created it still really only skirts the question. While these are objects and machines are fun and significant we need to make sure to not fall into the revisions of this period without recognising the systems these objects supported. Once again another great review RCR P.S. Sorry if this is confusing/unclear English isn't my strongest language and it's late where I live.
I had the same idea. Objects are enjoyable in their own right, but don't fall in the trap of thinking that makes their era okay. As far as problematic groups go, basically all institutions and civilizations have a violent past. That's humans for you.
All parts of history have good and bad. If you say “things were so much worse bad then,” be happy! That means we have improved. Would you rather say “things were better then and terrible now”? I hope not. Think about scientific improvement. We may feel pity for those without our modern conveniences, but anyone who would morally judge the past for lack of knowledge would be called arrogant. Why is moral progress any different? Moral progress is just as much an accumulation of trial and error as technical progress. Hold onto the good things that we have from every generation without shame. Learn from the failures. We are not gifted with perfect knowledge. Humanity has slowly pulled itself up out of technical and more poverty. Sometimes stumbling back, but still moving forward through the long view of history. Be grateful to those that suffered and survived so that you might have a chance to exist in a better world.
Dodge Swinger 1973, Galaxy 5-0-0, All the way stars' green, gotta go. Dodge Swinger 1973, top down, chassis low, Panel dim, light drive, Jesus on the dashboard. T-minus whenever it feels right, Galaxy 5-0-0. Planets align, a king is born. Whenever it feels right Whenever it feels right Whenever it feels right Whenever it feels right
In the context of watching Lizzo play the Crystal Flute and the backlash that the performance caused (and I don't give two shits about personality or the twerking), an individual of an oppressed era is able to take back their dignity and start to rewrite the narrative of the objects/art only with the consumption of the iconography of their oppression. Lizzo playing the crystal Flute was more about an individual who was highly talented being able to play a beautiful piece of art. To the same extent someone who is part of the LGBT community can buy a Galaxy and let that come to define them as an expression of success and style. To a level it can be argued (correctly) that the only way to right the past is to enable the objective to be separated from the context. We can respect the history of James Madison as a founder, criticize his role as a revolutionary who was not willing to go the next step, and allow the objects of history to establish new meaning.
Ah, we’re on philosophy time this episode! (Saturn never stood a chance). On your essay on context and transindentilaism (or however the hell you spell it) I can see the difficulty on enjoying a product on its merits away from its real world connections and maybe even effects. Like take for instance Axis vintage World War 2 aircraft. Those are some of the most coveted creations on the planet to historians and many aviation fans fawn over the engineering of the machines, but there’s still the real world connection of those tools being used as weapons by vile nations who have murdered the innocent and waged a war to destroy and conquer all. Can one appreciate the intrigue of an old axis warplane without condemning in time everything that tool was used for and crafted for? Anywho its intriguing what kind of cars get you to go teacher for the episodes Mr. Regular and crew. Those are honestly the episodes I enjoy the most, not just the discussion of the vehicle as a product but its public perception and effect, or what it can represent
Indeed, I feel the same way about gun nerdery. Self defence or wartime, it's built to efficiently kill, or at least maim. (Not to mention just shooting someone in the leg can still kill them from the shock to their system.) And yet the engineering is mesmerising, the bullets themselves are like tiny solid-fuel rockets, and so on. Sometimes I can lose myself in the engineering, but often I'll snap back to thinking about how they were actually used.
I’ve always found it absurd how people (especially people from the anglosphere) have these weird political hang-ups about classic cars/military vehicles from certain cultures. They’re very… selective about it in terms of what’s okay and what’s not. Like, if I were to refuse to eat middle eastern food/enjoy Arabic music because of systemic homophobia/Antisemitism/anti-atheist sentiment in middle eastern societies, then, I would rightfully be considered absurd. Yet we expect people who build scale models of Fw. 190’s or take interest in Brass-Era American/British vehicles to prove their innocence of toxic masculinity/whiteness/anti-semitism, et cetera.
When I was in college I had a geography professor who was from Kenya. When we got around to talking about colonialism, his perspective was pretty shocking to me, and it's one I had never considered: he said that although there were atrocities committed by the British, and although colonialism obviously wasn't a good thing overall, there were some good things that came from it for his people (e.g. modern sanitation, roads, schools, etc.). I think we should have a similar mentality when it comes to considering the relative value of things that were products of terrible people and/or terrible times, because at the end of the day, what does it profit society to deprive itself of a car, or a song, or a film, or whatever it may be because of the sins of their creators? The messy, inglorious truth of living in this world is that beautiful things don't always come from beautiful places, and if we go down the road of banning anything made by someone who at one point did or said something we find objectionable; if we are truly honest in this line of reasoning and don't just go after the pantomime villains but instead nit pick every little thing every artist ever said or did, eventually there will be no art left worth enjoying.
I love how this channel is about cars while being about more than just the cars. It's damn near a perfect balance. Bravo, and I say (type) that sincerely!
The owner was pure class in the real sense of the word. Notice how he ashed in the tray, not flicking out the side like a douche. Plus he looked cool in his Galaxy.
I think we should look companies like Twitter straight in the eye and say, "You know what? No. We're not going to listen to you. You weren't created to be the central moral authority. We will decide for ourselves what's right and wrong. Get out of here."
The Galaxie wasn't even that much of an aspirational object, just a nicely trimmed mainstream convertible. Poor folks aspired to own this. The middle class dreamed of Lincolns and Cadillacs (and Imperials if they were so inclined).
@@SYH653 Reminds me of the movie Mississippi Burning - where the Klan leader had the Series 62 Cadillac Sedan Deville with the "DON'T MIX" sticker right on the front bumper and confederate flag flying proud on the radio antenna. If there was ever an example of a car's historical context, it would be that car in that movie.
I'm sitting here in my 1963 ranch, drinking coffee, I realize that I'll be thinking about this video all day. I bought the place because it's completely untouched since new. I'm the second owner. Its up to me to push this brick block of nostalgia towards a better future. We joke about the doors that block off the kitchen but it's obvious that the original home owner didn't want to acknowledge the helps existence. I am enjoying the fruits of the previous generations but I should not look at the past with rose tinted glasses or ignore the not so great side of the past. This was a damn good watch. Thank you RCR.
RCR: _Talking about contextual guilt on a Ford Galaxy_
VW beetle owners: Oh boy...
VW Thing owners: [shuffles away]
@@evan12697 VHAT? WE HAVE PRIDE IN ZE CARS! *cough cough* I mean... Is that capt America over there? *Runs away*
Hatsune Miku created Volkswagen.
As a VW guy myself, I struggle with this. My '59 Cabriolet is a joy to drive, work on, and look at. I'm uncomfortable about all the Nazi-looking cars at the VW meets. I don't want to disown history, but I think too many are revelling in this ugly part of the VW history.
My dream car is a 1949 bug. About as close the the Nazi beetle you can get without buying a war era beetle
Boomer here. Yeah, I was born while this car was in the showroom. My dad had the two-door fastback version. Same color. But he didn't have a Magnetic Mary on the metal speaker grill. He kept it for over ten years, and logged over 100,000 miles. And yeah, it would do 70 with the 3-speed auto. Every day. It'll do 90 with 93 octane, a wide open road, and nerves of steel. Slap the snow tires on in about a month from now and turn off the radio because you won't be able to hear it over the tire sing until next April. And speaking of the radio... find one with the original radio. Maybe you have one from the Falcon. See those little triangles in a circle on the radio dial? There's two of them. Those are for a long forgotten emergency broadcasting system called CONELRAD. The symbols told you where to tune your radio in the event of a nuclear attack by the Soviets. Now imagine you're about 3 years-old riding in Dad's Galaxie 500, and you see these symbols on the radio dial, and you ask him what they're for. And he tells you. That's my historical context.
But I also remember Mom's car, a Cadillac Coup d' Ville. And I remember the friction between my mom and Dad's mom because Granma didn't like the Cadillac because "only mobsters drive a Cadillac." That was Granma's historical context.
You're driving history. And that's a good thing. But dude, get the power steering.
Manual steering keeps Boomer's upper bodies strong.
I hope he finds a Coup DeVille to review. Oh baby!
"only mobsters drive a Cadillac" - because of the always generously-sized trunk, right? For keeping... stuff... in, the sort of stuff you might not want witnesses to see.
Same here, I was born when this car was in the showroom. We never had one, dad had a 1960 Olds 88. But in 1999 I bought a 63-1/2 Ford Galaxie 500XL made the same month when I was born. It was a fun car, had it a couple of years till I ran into someone wanting to restore it.
You grew up with some pretty nice cars. thanks for the info, the CONELRAD thing is probably something I never would have known about.
I came here just to check out this winga dinga car and came out more learned in the concept of Transcendentalism and what the social media’s cancel culture has shaped itself to be.
That's RCR for ya.
@@danielseelye6005 the perfect mix of cars, fart noises and social, economic, cultural, and/or philosophical rhetoric... I live for this kind of weird content.
@@karu6111 *mY gAlAxIe Is BeSt GaLaXiE bEcAuSe GoLd EnGiNe Is BeSt EnGiNe!*
This sentence is one giant RCR pun, description, and tribute all in one.
Ugh, The Goldwater sticker is terrible
Here's my hot take: If the past doesn't exist for us to take the good things about it and learn from the bad, what is the point of history? We can have malt shops AND civil rights, we can have corsets (which if you actually wear them as intended are totally rad and way better bust support than bras) AND workers rights, we can have beautiful baroque palaces AND democracy
That's the thing, people were warned about democracy long ago.
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.'"
― Alexis de Tocqueville
"Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny.
"
― Aristotle
@@republicoftexas5992. I'm convinced he liked his own comment
@@woooweee. LoL who cares what Aristotle thought. The countries with the highest standards of living are all full democracies
@@kristoffersparegodt420 Oh well then as long as the standard of living is better, we should pay 100% in taxes because the government knows best what to do with our money.
@@VexChoccyMilk. I disagree with your assessment
As a European, THIS is the coolest car the US made. I really want one.
+1
Later 60's Galaxies had even nicer lines in my humble opinion.
My dad’s first car was a 2 door 64 galaxie
You think that's cool look up the 73 cougar xr7. It was the pinnacle of american excess
1961 Lincoln Continental for me
"RCR inspired me to pursue a new career."
-"Cool, are you going to go into auto engineering?"
"No, philosophy."
Good comment ,You will probably find that lots of trades people are philosophes on an amateur level or better, A quick review of all the comments is good proof of that .
@@radioguy1620 Makes sense, considering the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
@Mx. TV-8-301
*A lot less math to learn.*
Literally the amount of points he has brought up from my psych and sociology course is ridiculous
@@TV-8-301 I've got a bicycle manual by a similar name. Great and handy book
The official car of the owner of KUNKELMAN CHEVROLET telling the old lady it's worth $1000 trade in value in 2020 when it's worth $20000.
"That beast is 50 years old, wouldn't you rather have a nice Cascada?"
I remember a Cash4Clunkers dealer getting some news after he told a little old lady her late husband's rare ass muscle car for a Prius. He told her to keep it or he would buy it at fair market.
He also bashed Cash4Clunkers by keeping said "clunkers" as long as they were actually valuable, low mileage, fictional.
He had a few 70s muscle cars, sports cars, special edition and collectors. He was staunchly anti-cash4clunkers.
I remember trading in my 1980 buick lesabre to the local chevrolet dealer, salesman got naked coved himself in oil and then started humping my leg before he punched me in the stomach took the keys and drove off, I was 8 years old.
Same for those Turn in your guns for money at the police station. Some old lady brings in her deceased husband's ww2 take home trophy gun he took from a captured nazi officer. The police knows very well what the gun is valued at around $2000. They offer her a piddling $100 gift card for the gun.
@@nathanlewis5682 guns that are turned in at the police in my country just get destroyed
I drove a '47 Willys CJ2A in high school. This girl in my grade drove a '67 or so Galaxie 4 door, the one with the headlights stacked one on top of the other, instead of side-by-side. It was an absolutely beautiful car. This girl had a friend that I thought was cute. Well, one day, I ended up in my jeep with some friends right behind the Galaxie, the friend inside it, on main street in our little town during the high school lunch rush. My 16 year old brain thought that the most surefire way to impress this girl was to tailgate as close as I could. Well, 4 wheel manual drum brakes don't stop too well, even compared to a Galaxie, and its (the Galaxie's) rear bumper ended up stuck on top of my jeep's front bumper. This happened on main street, right in front of a shop, and with the help of a handyman jack, we were unhooked. Neither girl was impressed, but fortunately neither car was damaged. I got a $60 ticket for following too close. The Galaxie owner's mom worked at city hall, and a few weeks later, I got to pay my ticket to her.
(edit) This happened in the late 90s.
But did you end up married happily ever after
@@daftnord4957 We sure didn't
Damn, I wish my Mom had let me drive a 50 year old car to school and back when I was in high school. I would have killed to be able to say I drove something that old.
Separating the art from the artist makes every bit of sense.
The car is not a self-portrait of the company or the people who designed it. Just as the Original VW Beetle is not evil, was produced for decades and is enjoyed, so can the Galaxy.
People can criticize anything. If you want to take a critics statement into account, it would be best to know the critic, know the body of work, and, know their biases. At the end it's up to you to represent yourself and the car in your own light. The art will speak for itself with out needing the artist signing the canvas and will be appreciated even if they didn't know who made it.
It ultimately comes down to 2 things, enjoy it and don't be a douchebag.
'enjoyed'
Well, when the artist is still alive and financially benefiting from their art, it's a bit more complicated.
@@rfmerrill if you buy from the artist directly then yes. If bought second hand then no.
@@rfmerrill It can potentially be more complicated but it really does depend on the intent behind the art and what is actually, factually present in the work. For example. Orson Scott Card can pretty easily be called a "problematic" or "gross" person in modern parlance. He has a lot of really awful ideas and more importantly. He tend to not be shy about those ideas in public. I don't really like the man and have no real respect for him as a person. With that in mind, is Ender's Game a problem as a individual work? Does his personality, socio-political opinion, and general religious outlook come through in the pages of that book without a fairly absurd amount of mental gymnastics?
Orson Scott Card is still alive and still makes money from Ender's Game but you would be hard pressed to demonstrate that the book itself is a reflection of his beliefs or is trying to spread or further his beliefs. Someone who has no idea about the man can read the book and never get a hint of his personal view. If the work doesn't spread the problematic or "gross" elements of his personality at all, is it really a problem? Is it something that should get taken out of libraries or even "cancelled"?
"It's all CGI on De Niro and Pesci" You, sir, are a master of words
"Cancel culture is mostly an excuse for people to avoid having to engage with context in a way that makes them uncomfortable."
Beautifully worded statement right there.
It's really liberating to hear a critique of it that isn't just "CANCEL CULTURE BAD FROZEN PEACHES"
Sprinkle in a bit of tripping on one's sense of power to make amoral corporations, universities, and sports teams bend to your whim by projecting that you're a majority and not just a handful of professional busybodies on a site that normal people don't even use.
We want more representation for minorities, but also remove all minorities from food packaging. It's about how high you can make someone jump.
@@JS-hw8ve It is completely wrong, cancel culture is just a way for people to be like "oh everything needs to go my way and my way only"
And not-so-surprisingly enough, much of the usage of "cancel culture" as a term ALSO has become to remove underlying contexts that could give a justification for consequence. The RNC screams "cancel culture" at things as to abstract the situation from any other environments that it existed in. A near perfect encapsulation of the theory of Transcendentalism. "It isn't racist, because I feel like it, and I said so."
Cancle culture is about power and control. It's about dealing out punishment for manufactured outrage. It's a cancer.
I gotta say that Goldwater bumper sticker just chilling there is just the perfect visual representation of Mr. R’s internal debate.
And people raced hard top versions of these in British touring car racing during the 60’s
I WAUNT IT
seeing pictures of Galaxies tilting more than the Titanic through corners with tiny Mini Coopers hot on their tails was a truly site to behold
Yeshwant Dasari if you’re lucky enough you can go to the right places and see it now! An event in the uk called the good wood revival hosts classic racing once every year, they have classic touring car races over the weekend it’s brilliant
Hopefully going in person after this COVID stuff is finished
@@yeshwantdasari2075 lmao i just found the image
Dan Gurney bitch slapped the entire NASCAR Grand National series 5 times in the 1960s at Riverside while driving one of these
@@RFagricontracting was planning on going this year but hey COVID.
might go next year however
When I hop into my Japanese car, I don’t think about Pearl Harbour or Japanese prison camps.
Or unit 731, or the fact the person who ran camp 731 after the war become highly decorated in Japanese medicine
REMBER PERL HORBER
GOBBLESS
when i hop in my big stinky fat car i dont think of ur mom
@@opticalecho119GOOD TO FINS ANURHER HOSS OUT THER, GOBLESS
sent from my Samsung Galaxy S1
Bamboo
The engine is painted GOLD because it’s 1963 and we’re still on the gold standard because Metal=Money
I can't fight the urge to be a killjoy and day 1933. My apologies
The abolishment of the gold standard was the beginning of the end for the USA
Nice. 1964 quarters turned into nickel rather than mostly silver
FUCK PRESIDENT NIXON
@@thronritter6295 You’re just plain stupid.
Side note: Henry Ford had been dead and buried for 16 years when this car was produced... Henry Ford II was no saint but he was definitely not his grandfather.
I think he was just mentioning examples related to the car industry instead of ones directly related to this car
On the transcendentalism bit, you can enjoy the car despite its era. The Galaxie, and by extension, any car from any era while a byproduct of the trends and values of the decades they came from, are devoid of opinions of the ideas that brought them to life because they're inanimate and unable to make statements on the matter. It's like the VW Beetle and Bus during the counterculture. We all know the Beetle started as Hitler's idea for a People's Car, yet it was able to transcend from its Nazi roots and become a symbol of hippie culture as much as peace signs and tie dye clothes were.
I'd go a step further and say that daring to enjoy an old car made by people who held ideas we no longer agree with is a means of redeeming the past. To accept that while it was not perfect, there were and are still things worth saving and preserving and cherishing from that time, regardless of their potential context. Rejecting everything from 'the before' because you disagree with the morality of then removes context from 'the now' and 'the to-be'. It erases the notion of the past wholesale. Something that was, but no longer is. That alone has value, because it creates a difference between 'the before' and 'the now'. 'the now' would not be a time of progress without something to progress from.
I think this might be the most accurate way to describe most objects from the past. The car wasn't created soley to further an idea, even the VW Beetle wasn't designed to further the nazi cause directly. It was just supposed to be a good car for the people. The Galaxie 500 was created to be something beautiful. Even if the ideas of the time dictated somehow that beauty.
The Auto Union Type C and Streamliner were also built in 1930's Germany and are regarded as masterpieces
It's mostly the labeling that's become so commonplace nowadays. that makes people even question stuff like this. A car was a car, whether to its owner it became mere transportation or if was attributed deeper meaning was entirely up to them.
It did not mean that the object itself referred those values.
You can value intrinsic properties of it, such as its reliability or the fact that it's endured decades of weather and usage to make it here. With each owner, it becomes something else and gains a new story (I sometimes wish cars COULD tell stories of the places they've been to or seen...).
You can enjoy it for what it granted you (freedom of movement inside, great visibility) in exchange for assuming you'd be responsible enough to not get into an accident. Too many cars nowadays grant a license of recklessness and idiocy by virtue of presenting drivers with the automotive equivalent of Get Out of Death Free cards, removing the accountability one must normally be aware of when operating any vehicle capable of over 35 MPH.
It's like Japanese imports being either chopped up to bits to become drift machines or ending up with an owner that just wants to preserve them for daily use. Or even the Galaxie itself, which was drag raced and oval raced, while also being many families' primary transport.
@@Mikeyridesit The Galaxie 500 was an offshoot of the then full-size Fairlane 500, and seemed to be a reflection of America's desire to go into space. Sure, Henry Ford was an anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer, but let's not forget that Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner also drove a Ford station wagon.
A 4-door version of this was my first car. Almost got a girl pregnant in it. No one told me about the need for oil changes. I just kept dumping more oil in, and it needed lots of oil, until the oil pump suffered a coronary one fine 1973 morning. It went under the hammer of the local auto auction, lifters ticking their desperate Morse code of "Please don't turn me into washing machines". I miss that car but it would have eventually killed me as I had all the common sense of a chihuhua back then.
1973... The year my Galaxie was made. My engine blew the freeze plugs, so I dropped in a 300 6. It's a beautiful, comfy car.
My day be so fine
Then BOOM... Death of Pontiac.
Too soon
Rest In Peace. Every GTO, WS6, GXP, GTP, GT, SSEI, and Superduty.
twitter
Almost been a decade
...
Some of my favorite GM products were Pontiacs. I can understand letting Saturn and Oldsmobile go, but killing Pontiac was a travesty.
You pulled a Neon Genesis Evangelion on us. Started off as a fun entertaining video to watch but takes a dark turn midway and leaves the audience second guessing their own mindsets and mentalities. Well played as always, Mr. Regular. Well played
My god that episode was a total mind frell.
The PT cruiser episode does that pretty good as well. Start simple and light, then pull back to the darker big picture.
By about 2/3 of the way through I was like holy shit we're doin this!
@Jan Brady Ah, shut the fuck up Jan.
@Jan Brady just stop the video at 8:11 or so and you’re fine.
We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. When we see our predecessors and say “we’re better than them,” it should not be to assert moral superiority. We should think of our moral progress like technical progress. Does technical progress mean that we get rid of all prior technology? No! You keep the good that already exists and move forward. Only idiots throw out the baby with the bath water. We can appreciate the beautiful parts of the 1960’s without making light of the troubles. We can appreciate the beauty of southern architecture without downplaying slavery. We can appreciate royal stuff without worrying too much about the many atrocities of kings and queens. Heck, we can appreciate the autobahn and still say Hitler was an evil person overall. In every generation, there will be a mixture of good and bad, ugly and beautiful. To say that an entire segment of history must be thrown away is the height of arrogance. Do not be ashamed of our past. We are as we are today because of that past. Instead, learn from the past failures and successes so we don’t repeat the bad and we get more of the good.
👏👏👏
This is perhaps the best comment I’ve ever seen on internet. Kudos, sir.
If by “southern architecture” you mean statues of confederates... note most of those were put up during the civil rights era as a threat to blacks to stop fighting for freedom. They are only in existence to continue oppressive thought. Alot of them were generally cheaply made too, so its not like we are really holding up this magnificent artwork either.
@@_heartunderblade2451 I believe they're referring to Southern antebellum architecture. It's an absolutely beautiful design movement from the early and mid 19th century, but it was very much associated with wealthier slave owners in the south as they were usually the only people who could afford to have such a lavish estate built.
Wow, that was an amazing read, thank you so much!
Retired History/Literature teacher. One of the most enjoyable units I taught to HS honors classes was Transcendentalism (in the mid 1980's); Thoreau, some short stories/articles from the '60's and some very substantial discussions based on Historical characters who thrived in "the wild" and drew their philosophies from the natural world around them/the natural friction between the draw of the natural world and the seductions of civilized society.....a car site and genuine sustenance from it, thanks....
The era when this car was manufactured is just a single moment in time. The real story here is the journey it’s gone through to make it to the present. That’s what should be appreciated and celebrated. Think of this car in context of 1978, 1987, 1999, and every other era that seems so different from now. It’s seen them all and thrived (or at least survived) when many of its peers did not.
This is it. I have a 1976 Datsun and I can't say I've ever _really_ thought about the era it came from but I've thought a million times about the stories it must have to tell
I think the same way about my '87 S Class
"Because the Cadillac that's sittin' in the back
It isn't me
Oh, no, no, no it isn't me
I'm more at home in my Galaxie."
--Blind Melon, 1995
I was thinking of this song. It came out just after Shannon Hoon overdosed... 🙁
Best Blind Melon song
"T-minus whenever it feels right, Galaxy 500.
Planets align.
A king is born."
I knew someone would reference it haha.
Jupiter cyclops winks at me, yeah, he knows who's drivin'
@@TheExtraterrestrialPedestrian Oh yeah!!!!!
Hit neutral in the tail of a comet
Let the vortex pull my weight
Hey kid, are you going my way?
“Chrome mags, a million drags, it never lags… six-hundred-sixty-six miles-per-hour!”
Every time they go to Pittsburgh I’m like “hey, they’re in Pittsburgh”
I own a few classic cars and I'm no older than 25. The best way to view cars of this age are as outliers of TODAY's society; a beautiful exception to the modern CUV rule. While everyone else is holed up in their angry, modern transportation devices, the car and by extension you are the reminder that life can be made fun if a person aims to integrate beauty and quirkiness into their lives rather than settle for the modern norm, a beauty that can be unpretentiously captured by a classic car. Onlookers will only be happy to see such an aesthetic vehicle in public rather than connect it to a time that was less than wholesome.
Yes yes yes, more literary theory and history with RCR. I may not 100% "get" everything that you serve to us but I love hearing your passion for your art.
Great video and speaking of driving a car during a time of history. My wife and I bought our 2001 Mustang GT convertible in October 2001 a month after 9/11. We bought it because life isn't guaranteed and wanted to have a fun car. Still have that car and still think of why we bought it every time we drive it.
That's pretty intense
That was the deepest winga dinga I've ever felt. Americanized me to my core.
Ya gotta admit...
When that Hood Opened, it Looks like the Briefcase on Pulp Fiction...and in 75 my dad had a 500 4dr.
You can really tell in certian episodes that he was a teacher and this is ome of those episodes where his inner teacher comes out full stop
Having been in conflict with culture as of late. This is the most intelligent and articulate breakdown that I have listened to. Who knew an automobile could be that kind of catalyst?
Automobiles, especially of that era, are as much art as any painting or piece of music, and like any other art, are products of, and commentary on, the culture of their time.
I kinda love how the person who owned this car essentially segue'd you into your own point by putting a Barry Goldwater bumper sticker on the back of it. If you want a tl;dr version of your entire video I think, to those that know who Goldwater is at least, you could just take a picture of the Galaxie 500 peeling away with THAT sticker on the back.
"But things ain't so bad
'Cause I've got a Galaxie 500
"
you lieeee
The Reverend! Did NOT expect to see this reference.
@@SavkexDD lol you are right. 2020 has been a shit show and I have a focus st not a Galaxie.
I’m in my own Galaxie... 1973.
@@PowerMountie Nissan Micra K11 2001 xD
The Ford Galaxie, the official representative car of "Ah yes! Saturdays are made for Dads! And Dad's car."
The Galaxie dad also helped their neighbors build a fence, repair the plumbing and so on. didn't matter if they were better or worse than him. He accepted you as you were and everyone loved thar about him. Modern suburbia needs a new Galaxie dad
It's easier to get rid of the context when you think about it this way - buying a Galaxie doesn't earn the old ford any money, it's not like buying nestles water where you can't disconnect their policies from the product. They don't make the galaxies anymore.
Great point
And there wasn't anything that terrible about Ford by the 1960s. They were just a big corporation like any other. Henry Ford and his repellent beliefs had been buried years earlier.
@@markmiller3279 wasn't his grandson in charge at the time? Not that that necessarily means anything about the granddaddy's beliefs.
What I got from this: Pittsburgh drivers on Friday at 3pm got no chill and that pedal is pressed down as far as possible.
Chose a Mr. Regular character voice to read this.
"I want the convertable, and I want soft seats, and I want enough room for the twins and I don't want the "little lady" to ask to borrow it. We have the Fairlane and it has the power steering."
I think as generations of people continue they are less likely to connect an old car with negative connotations of the past. Cars like the galaxy are so wonderful because they can foster a great time with a group of people, best to focus on the fun. Great Video 👌
RCR Pioneering the car video essay. Regular is such a misnomer is almost every way and that’s what makes these guys so special. I enjoy watching almost every video but this one spoke to me on a whole new level. Keep it up RCR much love from Jersey!
Check out their PT cruiser one if you enjoyed this
I know right? Transcendentalism and “death of the author” apropos a car, incredible.
This is more old-school RCR. Much like TopGear is not really about cars, just blokes having fun; RCR is not about cars but philosophy and history and a touch of nostaliga for times we have never seen and like the rosy-glasses version of the '60s, probably never existed. Just like the Westfalia review, this is RCR at its best.
@@nitehawk86 Agreed. Without a doubt, Mr. Regular is the best English teacher I've ever had.
I don't feel the slightest guilt for the injustice of a period of time I wasn't alive in. The end.
simplicity is the greatest complexity, well said.
Gary "U.S." Bonds? Holy shit you absolute man of culture.
I am the proud owner for 33 years of a 63-1/2 Galaxie 500 HT. 390 4BBL Automatic, PW and PB. It is an absolute beautiful cruiser. Drives and rides just as nice as todays cars and also as reliable. I've put about 45,000 miles on it and mostly trouble free. Yes a couple of minor glitches, but was able to keep going until I got home. Also had one brand new in 1963, 352 2bbl, 3 on the tree, no ps or pb, Yet for a heavy car I could parallel park with one finger on the wheel. Great cars if you look after them as with any car, they all need care.
I feel like if the Beetle can transcend being made by Nazis and be such a loved car, I think the Galaxie can too.
That's why you care about the product itself and not the company and people who make the product.
Nice icon Mosaic : D
It can transcend being a Nazi product all it wants, no amount of masters-level English philosophy editorializing will ever help it transcend being a shitty car.
I never understand why it is hard for some to be able to separate the artists from the art. For example, I've seen some of Hitler's art work online; it is not bad, has a charm to it. I know who painted it, I know what he did, but I can still appreciate the artwork itself for what it is: art. Context as you said is always important, and we must always keep that in mind. As times change, it is appropriate for us to reexamine what we value and celebrate within our modern context and how their old views line up with ours. However, throwing out everything from the past because it does not live up to our ideals is asinine, because the logical end conclusion of that train of thought is that we should stop creating anything. Nothing will ever live up to the more "enlightened" ideals of future generations, ergo we should stop creating and cancel our whole culture because of that realization.
I have no issue with Jeffrey Tambor, Kevin Spacey, or Roseanne Barr never working in Hollywood again. That's fine. Far less talented people get away with far less.
This doesn't mean I'm going to burn DVD copies of American Beauty, Arrested Development, or the first 7 seasons of Roseanne in effigy.
I might join in a burning of Pay It Forward, The Ropers, and the 9th season of Roseanne...but I felt that way before cancel culture existed.
I caught that part too
The Ford Galaxie: When suburbia was a good thing.
I’m always taken back when he references a town I live nearby. Then again he’s probably the most Pennsylvanian man who’s ever lived.
The kind of car ford is scared to make again but they will listen to some idiot who thinks slapping a mustang badge on a suv is a good idea.
It’s a sad time.
Boom King76 yeah. At least the bronco looks okay.
@@MultiRokusho It’s way better than what Chevrolet considers a Blazer. Abomination.
On the business end, why make this car(or even the Crown Vic) when their biggest seller is the F-150?
86twin it’s kind of like how colt has the 1911 in a trillion different configurations and they more or less forget about every other iconic gun they have made until recently. However any re issues cost four times what a used original is worth. I know cars and guns are different markets but the same kind of philosophy seems to inhabit both companies.
My families summer cruiser is a red 64’ Galaxie XL with a drop top and a 390 paired to a C4 console shift. I can’t help but smile like an 8 year old whenever I drive it, and everyone smiles and waves at you when they see it. It’s not fast, it doesn’t handle (no power steering), but man does this car eat up the pavement like John Pinette at a Chinese buffet. Like Mr. Regular once said, this is a car that doesn’t accelerate, it advances. It’s in no hurry to go anywhere. It is excess to the max for 1960’s Ford and I love every single inch of it despite its many shortcomings. The whole car is designed to 100% bring attention to the driver. This is a car that changes the image of any person that drives it, it’s a persona on wheels. It’s for driving on a warm summer night with a pocketful of money for gas (10mpg w/premium is a small price to pay). It’s a car for purely living in the moment, in your own world, where nothing else exists but you, that car, and however much road lay ahead of you.
I think you should start a spin-off channel, where you cover various literature topics as Mr. Regular, called "Regular English Lessons". Watching this makes me want to take one of your classes.
I like it when Mr. Regular tickles my brain. Feels good!
That's kinda how I feel about Disney right now, with their "Forced Diversity" when a movie is sold in America then all that diversity is edited out when they sell it in China and when they support the Chinese government literally burning their people, or the old times of constant racism and Disney's "Dislike" of the jews...
Can I still enjoy a well animated story involving talking animals and silly songs?
Being a cartoonist If I boycotted the company I would literally have to give up half of what makes my identity, but....
Maybe I just pop on The Aristocats and allow myself to be happy for a brief period of time....
Who knows, but this silly review of a classic car kinda caught my feelings pretty well.
Man I would give anything to roll around Pittsburgh in a piece of classic American Iron. Playing the period correct music
Brad Kitchen Steel. It’s Pittsburgh, for christ’s sake.
@@RobCamp-rmc_0 But it is also "Iron City", or to pronounce it correctly, "Urn City"
@@nitehawk86 true, but it’ll always be the Still City to me
...I only lived there a couple of years, the hell do I know
@@RobCamp-rmc_0 Our biggest export is people, now. :(
@@nitehawk86 it’s the rust belt, I’m all too aware. If it’s any consolation, I prefer Pittsburgh to Cleveland big time and I feel a lot of nostalgia for the city. If I wasn’t settled down in a good school district for my daughter, I’d happily come back.
Thank you for the video. Thank you even more for educating me. Since the Neon SRT video you’ve been my light house in car culture... always showing me the way.
The owner kept cutting so many people off lmao. Bet he totals this car eventually.. by hitting an Aveo or some $2K shit
Reminds me of that article that's like "$180,000 Aston Martin killed by $200 pink car"
Wow. Best RCR writing in some time, and that's saying something. The way you two bring context to the moments that produced these cars is incredible. Great job!
The reviews that turn into literary musings about college-level philosophical concepts should be immortalized in lucite-protected optical media so that long after society collapses, some distant, future society of bipedal, lemur-descendant hominids can dust off our forgotten archives and agree with unanimous melancholy that at least some of us tried.
These things used to race Mini Coopers here in the UK back in the ‘60s. They still do in some historic competitions. It is an incredible sight to behold.
I’ve always wondered: why the wrist bandanna?
Joel Harris Conversation piece? For example i have stickers in the door frames of my car where you can’t see them, because the car wash i go to they dry the door jambs afterwards and they ALWAYS mention the stickers. It’s a pattern interrupt for a boring job, and every time, the person smiles.
Maybe he enjoys people asking about the wrist bandana. Maybe that hand is cold.
i just assumed he uses a bandana as a mask and keeps it there when he's not wearing it
@@graumail I’m thinking probably the mask thing
My parents had a Falcon station wagon and blue Galaxy 500. My sister smashed up the back one day. My dad smashed up the front not long afterward. He still drove it for a while all smashed up until he got a Buick Special.
I see Nick is getting comfortable with a bit of rap. Keep flowin' buddy
he gettin ready for the 64 impala review
Beautiful writing, earnest emotion, this is why I've followed this channel for over 5 years.
Honestly this is one of the top three videos youve made. Well done friend. Best lines were "I think Cancel Culture is mostly an excuse for people to avoid having to engage with context" and "Bad actions committed in bad taste don't automatically equate with actions committed in bad faith."
My dad had a 63 Galaxie as a high school car in the 70s. Then when I was growing up, a 73 pickup with the 390 engine. His FE started life as a 360 truck engine, but crank swapped to make it a 390. With a Holley 4 barrel, I can attest, it truly was "diesel levels of torque". A marvelous vehicle to learn to drive stick, just put it in gear, let out the clutch and it would just lug you out of whatever hole you had found yourself in. God I miss that truck.
This week on "Mr. Regular uses the yardstick of the 90s-2000s to measure cars of the 60s-70s"...
It's almost like that's the bulk Mr Regulars early everyday car existence. Generations do be marching through time
This episode is beautiful. Well played, gentlemen. I absolutely love your brains. I am not a car fanatic but your slick way with words and humor keep me and many other non-car people coming back. Keep up the excellent work. - jrdn in pdx
I’ll be damned if this isn’t the most thought-provoking ramble I’ve heard from Mr Regular to date. Damn. Where’s my pen?
Hi Mr. Regular! This video is fantastic, and I always love coming to a car review and leaving with a lesson in transcendentalism! I just acquired my own 1969 Galaxie 500 convertible with a 390/ auto combo. It's a car I have been lusting after for the last 8 years, when I first met it, and it has been as though fate demanded that I own this particular car. I hope someday you will have the chance to review it, so I can tell you the rest of the story. Maybe once I get it a bit more done. Have a great day!
This is one of the best videos you have ever made!
My old pops races at our local track, Wanneroo. I've always heard about how big american cars can be, but minus a few imported utes, really had no idea until I saw this thing irl. My god just the sound of a big 427 v8, the size of the rear tyres on this thing, the supreme SIZE of it compared to the little cortinas and escorts around it. King of the road on the street and on the racetrack. Amazing to watch.
The official car of coach dad noises
This is why i like Mondays
As always, mr regular, just a beautifully worded exploration into the context of the car. I once thought I was the only one who felt uneasy at vintage car meets, given each car's provenance. Please teach us more.
[Paraphrase]: "Cancel culture is the result of people not wanting to deal with context."
[Paraphrase]: "Selection for Societal Sanity. [...] Our job is not to create content, but to create context."
This is what the some game from 19 PISSING YEARS AGO warned us about, and some random car review basically brought up, much to my anxiety!
Oh, yeah. Rad car, bro.
GW!
Have you read Orwell's 1984? You should if you haven't already. It will shock you how so much of American politics of the last decade or so mirrors the content of that book.
@@shred1894
I know a fair bit of it, but I've never read it. I think I've actually got it, somewhere.
Thing is, I've heard it said that Orwell got it wrong in one regard: It's not governments that took us over the edge.
Feh. Artsy people.
"I drive this because its mettle and its history, and all the character flaws of the person who designed it are mine, as well, so it represents ME."
Is not something the average person is thinking. With anything. Most of the time, it's just "This car looks cool, so I'ma grab it up, maybe work on it a bit, and drive it."
I bought a 1975 El Camino Classic because I fell in love with the pale banana-yellow and dull chocolate two-tone coloring, goofy headlights, and sheer size of the truck in order to haul stuff around. Any history of the creator and faults found within are faults of their own personalities and of their own time.
It doesn't represent me. I do.
Just like every Ford Focus owner is a kid wearing a snapback cap and smoking a vape, a college woman driving a cheaper car to upgrade later, an old man driving his dog around on a Sunday, a family member coming from a few states away to celebrate Thanksgiving, or a businessman whose main business is conducted over a Facetime app, everyone who owns a car represents themselves.
I had thought this was common understanding, but it seems increasingly rare nowadays. Judging people by what they own, what they wear, or what you hear about them is small-brain. Judging them instead by the experience you have with them is big-brain.
So don't let those things worry you so much. They're not important. Do what you enjoy, and live a happier, simpler life.
Or don't. Honestly, whatever makes you happiest. This is just what I've found.
You look like a million bucks driving that beauty
How many times have I questioned my own existence while sipping bourbon while I watch a car review? at least once because of this video. Thank you Mr. Regular, you’re a true inspiration.
"Ah, yes! Saturdays are made for DADS... and Dad's car!"
One of your best films to date. Made me really think, and not just about how cool a Galaxie is.
5 s e c o n d s a g o weeeee wat is sleep
LOVE the bumper sticker. Glad to see I am not the only political dork old car lover who does this.
I have a Bush/Quayle '92 sticker on the back of my '92 Explorer, and had a Reagan/Bush '80 sticker on my '78 F150.
The phenomenology of objects as opposed to the ideology of objects is something I often also get hung up on.
I don't think I could ever own something made in a context where I would be tortured or killed for being myself and living my best in public, because even as I write a revision on the phenomena of the object through experience there is an underlying current of ideology that tells me I do not belong here, it's a communication through the textual object rather than the experiencial object
And yet, I daily a ford, my weekend car is a VW and my partner drives a BMW, all groups that have problematic histories, and while we could say the divorce of these objects from their sublime historical ideology stems from the time in which they were created it still really only skirts the question.
While these are objects and machines are fun and significant we need to make sure to not fall into the revisions of this period without recognising the systems these objects supported.
Once again another great review RCR
P.S.
Sorry if this is confusing/unclear English isn't my strongest language and it's late where I live.
I had the same idea. Objects are enjoyable in their own right, but don't fall in the trap of thinking that makes their era okay. As far as problematic groups go, basically all institutions and civilizations have a violent past. That's humans for you.
All parts of history have good and bad. If you say “things were so much worse bad then,” be happy! That means we have improved. Would you rather say “things were better then and terrible now”? I hope not. Think about scientific improvement. We may feel pity for those without our modern conveniences, but anyone who would morally judge the past for lack of knowledge would be called arrogant. Why is moral progress any different? Moral progress is just as much an accumulation of trial and error as technical progress. Hold onto the good things that we have from every generation without shame. Learn from the failures. We are not gifted with perfect knowledge. Humanity has slowly pulled itself up out of technical and more poverty. Sometimes stumbling back, but still moving forward through the long view of history. Be grateful to those that suffered and survived so that you might have a chance to exist in a better world.
As someone who only speaks English, I would never have known that you're not a native speaker if you didn't say so. Your English is great man.
I came here for a car review, not a page out of Plato's Facebook feed
all jokes aside, this is a great video
I'm a simple Catholic man. I see the Blessed Mother on the Dash of a Galaxie 500, I say a Hail Mary and click "👍".
Blasting Subdivisions in this Galaxie 500 would be awesome
Dodge Swinger 1973, Galaxy 5-0-0,
All the way stars' green, gotta go.
Dodge Swinger 1973, top down, chassis low,
Panel dim, light drive, Jesus on the dashboard.
T-minus whenever it feels right, Galaxy 5-0-0.
Planets align, a king is born.
Whenever it feels right
Whenever it feels right
Whenever it feels right
Whenever it feels right
I would love to see a Galaxie without the song toy on the dash.
I searched comments far and wide just to see if anyone else got the clutch reference. 🤘
@@abandonedanthracite5852 gotta represent
Your low profile shots of that Galaxie got a proper inhaling of air from me, those simple line are captivating.
Again, to live where this was "regular".
What would have been it's European equivalent?
alfa romeo spider imho
Mercedes-Benz 190 sl
Probably something that Americans would depict as a kei car
I'd say Opel Admiral
Definitely something like a Merecedes Benz 190 or 280 SL
In the context of watching Lizzo play the Crystal Flute and the backlash that the performance caused (and I don't give two shits about personality or the twerking), an individual of an oppressed era is able to take back their dignity and start to rewrite the narrative of the objects/art only with the consumption of the iconography of their oppression. Lizzo playing the crystal Flute was more about an individual who was highly talented being able to play a beautiful piece of art. To the same extent someone who is part of the LGBT community can buy a Galaxy and let that come to define them as an expression of success and style. To a level it can be argued (correctly) that the only way to right the past is to enable the objective to be separated from the context.
We can respect the history of James Madison as a founder, criticize his role as a revolutionary who was not willing to go the next step, and allow the objects of history to establish new meaning.
Ah, we’re on philosophy time this episode! (Saturn never stood a chance). On your essay on context and transindentilaism (or however the hell you spell it) I can see the difficulty on enjoying a product on its merits away from its real world connections and maybe even effects. Like take for instance Axis vintage World War 2 aircraft. Those are some of the most coveted creations on the planet to historians and many aviation fans fawn over the engineering of the machines, but there’s still the real world connection of those tools being used as weapons by vile nations who have murdered the innocent and waged a war to destroy and conquer all. Can one appreciate the intrigue of an old axis warplane without condemning in time everything that tool was used for and crafted for?
Anywho its intriguing what kind of cars get you to go teacher for the episodes Mr. Regular and crew. Those are honestly the episodes I enjoy the most, not just the discussion of the vehicle as a product but its public perception and effect, or what it can represent
Indeed, I feel the same way about gun nerdery. Self defence or wartime, it's built to efficiently kill, or at least maim. (Not to mention just shooting someone in the leg can still kill them from the shock to their system.) And yet the engineering is mesmerising, the bullets themselves are like tiny solid-fuel rockets, and so on. Sometimes I can lose myself in the engineering, but often I'll snap back to thinking about how they were actually used.
I’ve always found it absurd how people (especially people from the anglosphere) have these weird political hang-ups about classic cars/military vehicles from certain cultures. They’re very… selective about it in terms of what’s okay and what’s not. Like, if I were to refuse to eat middle eastern food/enjoy Arabic music because of systemic homophobia/Antisemitism/anti-atheist sentiment in middle eastern societies, then, I would rightfully be considered absurd. Yet we expect people who build scale models of Fw. 190’s or take interest in Brass-Era American/British vehicles to prove their innocence of toxic masculinity/whiteness/anti-semitism, et cetera.
This is a good example of what makes this channel great, I learned so much that had nothing (or EVERYTHING lol) at all to do with the car. I love it!
When I was in college I had a geography professor who was from Kenya. When we got around to talking about colonialism, his perspective was pretty shocking to me, and it's one I had never considered: he said that although there were atrocities committed by the British, and although colonialism obviously wasn't a good thing overall, there were some good things that came from it for his people (e.g. modern sanitation, roads, schools, etc.). I think we should have a similar mentality when it comes to considering the relative value of things that were products of terrible people and/or terrible times, because at the end of the day, what does it profit society to deprive itself of a car, or a song, or a film, or whatever it may be because of the sins of their creators?
The messy, inglorious truth of living in this world is that beautiful things don't always come from beautiful places, and if we go down the road of banning anything made by someone who at one point did or said something we find objectionable; if we are truly honest in this line of reasoning and don't just go after the pantomime villains but instead nit pick every little thing every artist ever said or did, eventually there will be no art left worth enjoying.
I love how this channel is about cars while being about more than just the cars. It's damn near a perfect balance. Bravo, and I say (type) that sincerely!
10:40 Comin' into the fast lane. Look out everyone.
I love how he cut off that... Dodge Magnum??
@@passacaglia28 I think that's a Hyundai Genesis.
The owner was pure class in the real sense of the word. Notice how he ashed in the tray, not flicking out the side like a douche. Plus he looked cool in his Galaxy.
I think we should look companies like Twitter straight in the eye and say, "You know what? No. We're not going to listen to you. You weren't created to be the central moral authority. We will decide for ourselves what's right and wrong. Get out of here."
Reckoning with the Troubled Twenties in a Ford Galaxie 500
The car didn't do all of those things and it was a goal to own for all regardless of their social status.
The Galaxie wasn't even that much of an aspirational object, just a nicely trimmed mainstream convertible. Poor folks aspired to own this. The middle class dreamed of Lincolns and Cadillacs (and Imperials if they were so inclined).
Wow. Hypocrisy runs deep in the States.
As for the car, it's shape is so iconic and cool, I want one, no matter how it drives.
"Goldwater in '64" aha
You want historical context? Right there, rear bumper, left.
In '64 my cousin had a bumper sticker....AuH2o
Gross right?
@@SYH653 Reminds me of the movie Mississippi Burning - where the Klan leader had the Series 62 Cadillac Sedan Deville with the "DON'T MIX" sticker right on the front bumper and confederate flag flying proud on the radio antenna. If there was ever an example of a car's historical context, it would be that car in that movie.
I'm sitting here in my 1963 ranch, drinking coffee, I realize that I'll be thinking about this video all day. I bought the place because it's completely untouched since new. I'm the second owner. Its up to me to push this brick block of nostalgia towards a better future. We joke about the doors that block off the kitchen but it's obvious that the original home owner didn't want to acknowledge the helps existence. I am enjoying the fruits of the previous generations but I should not look at the past with rose tinted glasses or ignore the not so great side of the past.
This was a damn good watch.
Thank you RCR.