What is so special about this old advertisement?

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One of the weirdest occasions of my life thus far.
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A young guy smoking a Lexington cigarette after his win at a Grand Prix racetrack during the 60s in South Africa. Who knows, I might have sold him an ice cream at the track so many years ago?

One of my first jobs as a child was to walk around with a big white cooler box, selling ice creams at a racetrack called Kyalami. This was when the international Grand Prix was still being held in South Africa. The pit crews were also some of my customers.
But this post is about that guy smoking the Lexington and you are not going to believe what happened.
Come and look.

See the resemblance? Here is that guy now at 85 years of age!
A great chance meeting took place simply because I was at the right place at the right time.
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I saw this 1938 Packard, 6 cylinder, parked in the road outside a shop and decided to investigate with my camera.
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This is one of those rare beauties that one only sees maybe once in a lifetime. So I decided to wait for the owner to arrive so that I could get the car on camera in the road.
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After about 30 minutes the owner arrived and guess who was driving the car?
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As he approached, I waved him to the side of the road for a quick chat.
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Then he was on his way and you won't expect the next part of this post here below.
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One has to grab these once off opportunities and the guy told me that he also had a Packard 1938, 8 cylinder, coupe at his workshop.

So let's visit his workshop below.

Oh yes, he told me where his workshop was and then he left.
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And there it was. A packard, 8 cylinder 1938.
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Beautiful isn't it?
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Check out the red leather seats.
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My breath was taken away at the sight of this beaut!
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He started that 8 cylinder up and it hummed a most powerful melody to my soul.
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He even had a spare 8 cylinder Packard motor and look at the size of that thing.
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He was also returning that Jeep wagon at the back to its former glory.
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Reminiscing about his adventures of the past with maid Marian here.
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And then that was that, another unexpected adventure that took me right back to the 60s. That's why I always say that one can never know what's going to happen on an outing, and as long as one stays expectant and open minded, anything can happen. I was maybe 13, or 14 years old when I sold the ice creams at the racetrack and who would think that something like this could happen to remind me of those freedom days. Freedom as I could get my own money from the sales to help my mom, as we didn't have a father.
So maybe she arranged this in spirit to show me her gratitude.
Such is life.

I hope that you enjoyed the adventure and the story.

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

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90 comments
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Wow lucky you… this is indeed one of those moments that sometimes just happen but are soooo rare… and what follows is so precious. Love it… 🥰 you were in the right place at the right time.
Wonderful to see his other car too. And the ad from him.
Thanks for sharing this special day with us Zac.
Have a great day further 👋🏻😊 almost weekend!

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Thank you and who would have expected this that happened so many years ago? I was a small and skinny boy in a place far away and now I am a tall guy heading for my 70s.
Just to think that we both ended up in towns at the coast and that he continued with his love of cars is also amazing and I slept very well that night.

Glad to share this chance encounter and thank you for the appreciation.

Have a great weekend Jackie.

!WINEX

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Yes, it’s just cool… the paths life can take someone on. Yep… sweet dreams after that.

Thanks for that Zac. Anytime!
Thank you so much, you enjoy your weekend too.
Talk soon…

!PIZZA

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All good and thank you also my friend.

!PIZZA

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You are welcome, have a wonderful weekend further.
Tonight we set the clocks back…

!PIZZA

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Weekend ended wet today, but it was good.
We don't have the setting of the clocks over here and to me it's a weird concept.

!PIZZA

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That’s a shame, but good for nature.
You don’t? I know other places have different times… didn’t know some don’t have it.
I can imagine it is strange than.

Good night Zac 👋🏻

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Not a shame as I like the wet.

Nope, no different times here as we are close the southern equator, or something like that.

Hope that you will also have a good night Jackie.

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Than it’s good. If you don’t mind.

Aha… learned something again 🤓😉
Thank you so much Zac, enjoy your evening 👋🏻

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Nope, I don't mind 😉

Our winter and summer times are very close, so no need for setting the times.

!LUV

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That’s good somehow.
I wished here they would go with the middle ground and just leave it. As my body clock needs a while to adjust.

Have a great evening 👋🏻😊

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Will never happen as they like to control. Reminds me of my school days that sucked !LOL

Evening was fine and all thunder now 😊

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Yep… I know… before the pandemic most European countries was given a choice to select one time and stick with it. So no change in time in the future.
Than the pandemic hit… and they all forgot about it. Will see if they bring it up. As the people had voted in each country what they preferred.

Yep… control… like school indeed.
Have an awesome day today Zac 👋🏻😊

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classic car lovers will understand how the car was designed. but unfortunately I have no knowledge of classic cars, but this is very unique.

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Who is that guy then? I remember when F1 still had lots of smoking ads on the cars. It never encouraged me to smoke.

It is great to see some of the old cars still being used. Have to admire the dedication of the owners. It must be hard to get spare parts.

Have a great weekend.

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You got me, as I never remember names my friend, but I will get it when I see him again.
I started to smoke in those days in an effort to show the people that I was a man. Stupid as I was short and skinny as a child. But such is life.

You are right as that guy dedicated his life to his love for cars and even now, at 85 years of age, he is still working on cars. Yes, we spoke about the spares and he imports them at great cost.
He is now the third person that I met here that are working on old cars and I am due to also meet some of their friends that also have their own workshops.

!BEER

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That was such a cool story. I love old signs. Some of them are quite funny. I also wonder how they got away with certain ones. Thank you for sharing.

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Thank you Julie. Those old signs can certainly transpond one back in time and some were also made to upset people. The laws were different then and nowadays one has to be very careful with the new signs.
My pleasure to share and hope that you will have a good weekend.

!LUV

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Earlier year memories, cigarette advertising now in reverse gear, old vehicles prove the test of time, better manufacture still on the road almost 100 years later. Original driver from races an absolute treat learning a little of their past history.

Nice captures on all!

!BEER

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The times, they are changing to quote a song Lady Joan, as now the world has declared war against smoking. In the past, the cars were built to last and nowadays everything is plastic with spit and polish.
Should one of our modern cars run into one of those old brutes, the modern car would be a write off and the old car would hardly have a scratch :)

Have a good weekend.

!BEER

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Laws are made to be bent or broken, nanny state mindset. Never fear they taking tax wherever they are able.

Cars are a laugh, crumple machines on four wheels loaded with electronics that most don't need!

Cheers to the weekend !LOLZ

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Very difficult and it will continue to affect the dwindling tax base.

We are in the process of getting another car, but I still cannot understand why anyone would need a camera to reverse, or a thing that they call a GPS. My map books have never let me down!

Hope your weekend is going well.

!LOLZ

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Have fun finding a new vehicle, GPS confuses me more than assists I too go with my book full of maps.

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Thank you and yes, I think that we have found one. I am addicted to manual cars, but now with knee gone I cannot tramp the clutch anymore. So an automatic is a must and it has to be light on petrol. One day I hope to have enough money for a knee replacement, but for now the trade in value of our car is enough to get another car.

People laugh at us with our maps, but they have never let us down. Some strange woman telling me to turn left where there is no road, is not my idea of fun !LOLZ

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Whatever makes life easier, automatic through heavy traffic much more convenient, open roads a little sluggish on steep hills you will enjoy as you adjust.

!WINEX
!LUV

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I had an automatic Datsun for two years after the bike accident, as my left leg was in plaster, and yes, it's a lazy man's car, as manual is in my blood and I hate it when I cannot gear down to take corners.
But such is life, as at least Marian will be happy to drive it.

!WINEX
!LUV

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Could only pass a license in manual when we did our test, drove manual for a couple of months before purchasing a new car which was automatic.

Dealership said automatic was all that was used in USA, would become the norm in this country, we went with automatic, I stuck with them all the way through my years driving, you learn how to kick down much like manual. Had manual motor bike, hubby had manual cars (worked shifts) I had auto 😇 dropping off children, also working in different sides of the city. You will learn to enjoy especially in heavy traffic of late!

!BEER

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I would so love to try one of the new electric cars Lady Joan.
Sadly the distances that they can travel is limited and they are also very expensive.
You certainly have a lot of experience and I only had an auto for 2 years in the 80s, so I think that it is going to be a great experience, especially with all of the improvements over the years.

We cannot afford to buy new, but the one that we selected only has 40,000km on the clock. I think that it's a demo unit, but the sales agent said that a lady driver traded it in as she wanted to buy a van.
So let's see how things go.

!BEER

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Small automatic second hand with low mileage no problem, Suzuki of late have been most popular locally with pricing, servicing and lower fuel consumption. Electric would be a disaster when this country cannot produce sufficient for the home let alone vehicles!

Good luck and hopefully you have the wheels soon!

!LOLZ
!LUV

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We had a look at the Suzuki Jimny but it was way too expensive. Our trade in is a Polo Vivo Maxx, 1600 with 71kms on the clock. They offered a trade in discount that was way too low, so we dropped the idea.
It is a given that sooner or later they will get the electric issues sorted out after the political wars.
Pouring money, taxpayers money into the drain to support the old coal fired stations will have to come to an end sometime, as it is way overdue.

We will collect the wheels tomorrow.

!LOLZ
!LUV

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Four wheel drive is the Jimny, yes expensive same motor in my Suzuki Vitara Brezza 1.5GL Auto is only two wheel drive. My niece enjoys the Suzuki Swift for fuel efficiency, automatic always a little heavier on fuel to manual vehicles.

We will never see electric cars here in our life time!

Government may as well return to coal fired power stations, Europe buying in more coal for the same purpose, electricity!

We gonna move back some paces before we ever move forward again... That is the whole bang shoot worldwide.

!LOLZ

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We picked up our new one today and it's a Ford Eco Sport, 1.0 Trend, Automatic.
Drives like a ship compared to our little Polo, but it has plenty space to fit our food parcels.
Who knows? As I might trade it in for something smaller, so in the meantime I will enjoy the Turbo power, as it has 92 Kw.

Never say never !LOLZ

I read a headline today that the new Kusile power station is kaput. So yes, we are in for a mighty struggle.

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Happy driving becoming accustomed to the auto magic... Change is as good as a holiday they say.

Released a couple of days ago, our nightmare over and above electricity....

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Oy Vay, I continue to search for a clutch and it will take some months to undo so many years of driving manually.

This video is shocking and the vandalism is happening all over the country. This country is methodically being stripped of anything that can be sold. So sad.

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A week or two you will forget all about that clutch !LOLZ

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Hahaha, already starting to cope and the car has a lovely soft ride. Our little Polo was teeth jarring on the bad roads, but this one feels like it is gliding over the riffles and bumps !LOLZ

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You've been on the right place at the right time - you have been very lucky, my friend 😀

What a great day you have had after seeing this beautiful oldtimer - really cool story and photos 😀

And maybe one day your mom will smile at you and tell you that she really has arranged this meeting 😉

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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It was so amazing Hannes, that I still struggle to put it together in my mind. Who would think that so many years later this could happen? Life can be so strange at times 😉

It brought back a flood of memories and that old man just continued to work with his love of motorcars for all of his life. Glad that you liked the story and photos 👍

She was a beautiful young girl in those years and a string of men was always after her, but her priority was her mom and her 3 children. She knew that other men would not accept us as their own and so she never got married until we were all grown up and out of the house. She was and still is my hero 😇

Cheers and thanks.

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I think you would say "such is life", but this time it was even more than that, I believe. I'm happy that you have met this man and had a great time.

We have often talked about your mom before and I know that she really was a great person with so much love for her kids - I think she's very proud of you too.

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Just imagine the occasion Hannes, as a small child it is impossible for that man to recognize me today. So yes, it is much more than "such is life", as life has returned a wonderful memory to my totally unexpected 😂

I think you are right and if I didn't know better, I would really have thought that my mom had something to do with this occasion. But as we both know, that might be impossible 😵
Life is full of mysteries my friend.

Cheers and thanks.

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Everything's possible, my friend - just like you say yourself: life is full of mysteries 😉

!LOLZ
Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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An absolute truth my friend 😁 !LOLZ 👉👍👌👈

Cheers and thanks.

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👉😉😊
!LOLZ

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Thank you for your witness vote!
Have a !BEER on me!
To Opt-Out of my witness beer program just comment STOP below

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How lucky can a guy be, a chance meeting turned into seeing all of that! I looove vintage cars, it takes someone special to rebuild it so meticulously. And who can forget that Lexington advert 😅
Glad you had this wonderful experience Zac, I think your dear Mom pushed some buttons from above to make this happen😇

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An almost impossible event Lady Lizzie and very mystical the more that I think about it.
Yes, the guy turned out be a wizard with the restoration of those classics and I hope to take that 8 cylinder for a drive soon.
That advert was all over the show in those days and at last I met the guy in the advert. At 85 years of age he is still full of life and leaving on a 17 hour flight soon to go and visit his eldest daughter in the UK.
So strange that my eldest daughter also lives in the UK.
Co-incidence? I think not, as there is a hidden message in this weird occasion, and I aim to find it.

Take care and blessings to you guys.

!PIZZA

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That connection is quite weird I agree!
I'd almost forgotten about that old advert, not shabby for an 85 year old at all 👌
Enjoy the rest of your weekend too Zac, blessings for both of you as well💕

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Wow I felt every part of the story and reading to the end got me even more emotional. No one would have ever thought that such a thing would happen but like you said when we go out is good to keep our minds opened to things.

I think you will want to meet such person before and that is why somehow you were opportune to do so and yes, those vehicles are beautiful, especially the black, hehe.

Thank you so much for sharing such beautiful experiences and memories with us, I really enjoyed reading through this. So how are you doing now, hope you are getting better?

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Thank you and yes, I am slowly getting better.
I am glad that you enjoyed the post and yes, an open mind is essential.

!LOL

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It's good to know you are getting better 🥰. You're welcome friend, hope you are enjoying the weekend?

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The weekend ended with rain today 😰

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Oops! But let's take that as a blessing, hope you are not feeling too cold? Please try and get some warmth if you are

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