In alphabetical order, these are my top nominations for Hall of Fame for products of outstanding quality: Airstream trailers and motor homes: canoe; Douglas DC-3; Ford Model A; Jeep; Pentax SLR; Tilley; VW pop-top Westfalia camper.
I’ve had direct contact with six of these eight gems. One exception is the Airstream series of shiny, rounded and virtually everlasting travel accommodation vehicles.
Canoes have been one of my earliest. In grade school social studies classes I marvelled at how the Europeans adapted the indigenous birch bark canoe to explore Canada. Throughout the following centuries, canvas, aluminum, fibreglass and Kevlar materials improved upon its construction, but its excellent design remained unchanged. I’ve owned four, constructed with three of those materials.
I’ve flown in four variations of the DC-3: an RCAF C-47 Dakota, a Millardair on a class aerial field trip, an American corporate variation, and Buffalo Airways flights between Yellowknife and Hay River.
When I was fifteen years of age, Morris, my older brother, had a Model A pickup, the successor to the Model T. We chugged along from Toronto to Detroit to attend a Ford Model A convention. He took me along. I fell in love with the versatility of pickups. I am now driving my third pickup, a Mazda B3000. Ford now manufactures its export model, the Ranger.
Approximately 640,000 Jeeps were produced during World War II. Along with its airborne military cousin, the C-47, the ‘Jeep’ has become a generic term for many 4×4 vehicles. Its simplicity made it ideal for mass production, and servicing under austere combat conditions.
During their formative years, most of today’s professional photographers had a Pentax SLR in their hands. Me too, and I still do. I’ve gone through six evolutions of the Pentax, from screw-on to bayonet mount, film to digital, fixed vocal length to zoom, and direct viewfinder to live screen also.
During those same years, I also wore a Tilley. It’s not a hat, it’s a Tilley. It’s versatile, durable, distinctive, it floats, is accompanied by a free replacement warrantee, and even has a secret compartment for spare cash or a credit card.
Now, it’s your turn: tell me about your current or past involvement with any of those classics. Do you have a nomination for an addition to this product hall of fame? No postage required: nuthilltoo@gmail.com.
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