What is it about old rifles that draws people to them? Who doesn't marvel at the craftsmanship and history of an old Winchester?
The same is true with old classic cars. Who doesn't want to jump into a 1960's Corvette or Lincoln and head down the highway?
As far as visual aesthetics, why do vintage pin up girls still hold such allure, after so many years?
To me, old Bear bows all tell a story. The 1950's bows have an innovation that jives with the era.
Many think of the 1950's as a "Leave it to Beaver" type world. In fact, the 1950's was the time of rock and roll's birth, the beginning of the end of segregation, the beatnik poets, television in the home, the space race, the H bomb, the reasearch for "pill", fins on cars with pink accents and more and more.
Those old bows all help tell that story.
If you look at the radical changes from say 1957 to 1959 in the Kodiak, Kodiak Special and Grizzly, it's a reflection of the how fast America was changing.
When I pick up a 1962 Kodiak Special or a 1963 Grizzly with that minty blue-green glass or the innovation of the dogleg Kodiak, those bows scream a story about an America before JFK's assassination where hope had few limits.
The bows post 1963 also tell a story. The late '60's Super Kodiaks reflect the muscle cars coming out of Michigan. If the 1969 Super Kodiak doesn't remind one of a black muscle car with a souped up V8, nothing will.
Just as pictures tell a story and music tells a story, the old bows all tell a story.