[quote=Brad54]Those Classic Racks are AWESOME.
I've got a '61 Suburban and I'm a freelance writer and photographer. With the platform option and the ladder, I could make good use of that at events, car shows, etc. ..."
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======True...but you are not the first one to think of it...carter had a cool gimmick there in the 1960s.
Little "history" I found out, from buying these racks and all the original literature I could find:
There were "Photographer's Carpacs" with a ladder option, and they were only made up in the longer sizes...They had a wooden platform, ON TOP OF the thinner wooden slats that the regular ones had.
I have had the good luck to find an original. Not as nice looking from the top...but functional!
Also...I have sales literature from 1960, and then a rehashed version of the same brochure from 1964...over the picture of the Photographer's model on the 1964 version, it has stamped, "DISCONTINUED".
I wonder if they stopped making them because they got sued!
(How easy would it be do get distracted while looking through a lens, and step off the edge or trip over the 5" railing!!).
I wonder how many cars got the roof metal pushed out of shape when a pair of guys climbed up there? As someone else said, those floating feet aren't right at the rain gutter, they're in the area of the roof, and would be prone to oil canning or buckling. I wonder what the weight limit was originally? Two guys back then was probably just a tick over 300 pounds... today that'd probably be closer to 500!
I'm now thinking it might be a good idea to make my own, with long thin feet that rest in the rain gutter.
I LOVE the aluminum stantions and the perimeter rail... I wonder if I could buy just those from Classic?
I love the design of that ladder, too... the steps on it are steps, not rungs.
Can you send me pics of yours?
-Brad
