In the opening to All in the Family, the famed 1970s TV comedy, the central characters – working-class conservative Archie Bunker and his often-befuddled wife Edith – sat at a piano singing, “Those Were The Days.” They waxed nostalgic (“Mister, we can use a man like Herbert Hoover again.”). And the song ended with them singing, “Gee, that old LaSalle ran great, those were the days.”

That reference was pretty obscure even then, 40 years ago. The La Salle, a luxury car line, was (according to Wikipedia) produced by General Motors from 1927 to 1941 in tandem with the Cadillac line. I don’t recall ever having seen a LaSalle in my whole life.

Until yesterday.

Visiting with Barb’s family in Momence, Ill., about 80 miles south of our Chicago home, during the annual Gladiolus Festival, we attended an antique car show and saw this vintage beauty, described by its owner as a 1927:

Notice the hood ornament of the car’s namesake, Robert de la Salle, French explorer of the American Midwest, in grand pose. They don’t make hood ornaments like that these days. In fact, do any cars even have hood ornaments anymore?

Here’s what it looks like in a side view:

I’m not that much of a car guy, but I do like history a lot. So here are some more relics from the earlier days of the automotive age…

And they had fun, fun, fun 'til her daddy took this T-bird away. A 1957 Ford Thunderbird, which I undoubtedly saw some of the cool kids driving around New York City when I was very young.

A 1929 Buick. GM sure did make some spiffy cars back in the day.

A Ford roadster. Maybe owned by a Michigan State fan? Go Green!

Keep on truckin', 1931 style

Ever wonder what a Stanley Steamer (the car, not the housecleaning company) looks like? That's a full, kerosone-heated boiler under that hood.

Don't you wish you had a giant steam valve in the front passenger seat well?

My first car! Not really, of course, though this 1912 Model T is in a heck of a lot better shape than my 2001 Honda Civic.