What’s the tipping point between “old junk” and “vintage good”? It’s a question that has higher stakes if you spend any amount of time scoping out Brooklyn stoop sales and flea markets (the mind boggles at the number of pricey particleboard dressers marked as “mid-century”). Clearly, what’s old can continue to have economic value, at least as a shill for suckers; some things, like “restored” wood from creaky old barns, can even survive a long, obsolete dormancy only to reemerge with surprising beauty. But, as some of our best stories this week proved, our favorite vintage shit was damn good to begin with. – Chris Wright
Words Without Context
A Notable Quote From The Week
“Adjusting for inflation, the cost of a small color television set, for example, would cost almost $4,000 back in 1963.”
– Jack Seemer
A Watch Revived From the ’70s
In 1975, Girard-Perregaux launched a funky-shaped sports watch, the Laureato. This year, they re-released it, this time with an in-house mechanical movement.
Our Favorite Vintage Amp
Jack White famously used a Silvertone 1484 during the White Stripes era; Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes uses a 1960 Silvertone cabinet. The small 1482, meanwhile, is prized by many session guitarists in the studio for its unique tonal characteristics, such as its early breakup at low volumes; even its darkness is seen as an asset, capable of injecting grit into a Gibson or tame the brightness of a Tele.
5 Nissan Skylines
Thanks to the good ol’ 25-year rule, R32 GT-Rs and earlier Skylines are now starting to show up on our soil. If you ever grew up playing Gran Turismo and pining for one, you owe it to yourself to bone up on your import laws. Or, you know, buy one someone already brought here.
This Autumn, Wear Suede
Proof that you cannot kill the 1970s coolest jacket material.
Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama Dine Out
Okay, so Obama and Bourdain aren’t all that old. But they’ve both been around the block, and both are sporting gray these days. They ate noodles on the season eight premiere of Bourdain’s show, Parts Unknown, this week.
