Featured What kind of car did you dad have?

Cebies....all Chebies......Impala's & Bel ares

 

When I was a kid, my dad had a '55 Bel Air. I also remember him having what I remember being a '68 Ford F150. But I'm a little confused because I remember riding on the running boards and the '68 didn't have running boards. So I could be wrong about that.

Throughout the 70s, he had two or three F150s. In 1984, he bought a Dodge Ram, until 1987, when he gave it to me. I still have it.

My mom had a 1956 Nomad (who was the genius who designed a two door station wagon???) and later, a 1972 Country Squire with the ugly fake wood paneling. Sometime in the late 60s she bought an MG, which my dad later took away from her because she kept getting pulled over for speeding on the then-new and usually empty Red Mountain Expressway.

In 1978, she bought a Ford...I want to say Fairmount, but I don't remember. I just remember she had a CB mounted in the dashboard.

My first car was a '74 Dodge Dart with a vinyl top.

 

My dad's first car was a model "T"

Being a mechanic with a rather large quantity of junk cars, I suppose the list is somewhat exhaustive of those he owned.

 

VW Bugs
Several Caprice Classics
Chevette
Couple Buicks
Chrysler New Yorker
Nova 4 dr

He is a soccer grandpa and currently drives a mini-van.

 

1950 Studebaker Commander

1952 Ford F-100

1958 Mercury Monterey

Then we moved off the farm ...

1964 Ford Mustang Convertible

And then I bought, when I got my baseball scholarship and knew I wouldn't have to spend any of my money on college ...

1969 Ford Mustang 428 Cobra Jet

Dad had a fit.

 

Model A

36 Chevy and 56 Chevy

I only saw the 56 since I was born in 58. He also had a 1950 Chevy pickup. Real nice truck, wish I still had it.

 

Rather than my Dad, here are the cars I had:

1950 Chevy Fleetliner Deluxe

1957 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe with power pack.

1967 Old Cutlass

1978 Chevy Malibu Classic Station Wagon

1986 Buick Century (my first car with fuel injection).

1993 Olds Delta 88

2004 Toyota Avalon

I also owned a 1973 F250 Camper Special (to tow boat)
1991 Chevy 2500 Pickup (to tow boat better)
1966 Ford Mustang with 289 V8 (drove to work for 17 years).

 

Some of my earliest memories was a 53 Chevy Impala



My Dad liked Oldsmobiles, we had an 88 and a 98;





These are all the correct colors if I remember correctly.

 

1956 DeSoto
1964 Chrysler Newport Custom
1970 Chrysler Newport Custom
1979 Chrysler LeBaron

Yeah, he liked Chryslers!

 

Daddy would swap a car because it had a flat. One car sticks in my mind...





1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser with a Breezeway power rear window. Ours was white like this one.

Grandpa was a Cadillac man! If Cadillac built it he owned one.

 

'41/'42 Plymouth (really don't remember, but I know it was before auto production was halted for tanks, jeeps etc for WWII).
'51 Nash Statesman (became MY first car)
'54 Nash Ambassador (became my second car, and probably one of the best riding cars I've ever driven)
'58 Nash Ambassador
'62 Chevy wagon
He was a traveling salesman, so he put quite a few miles on each one.

 

First car I remember was a used 1935 Chevrolet. Drive at night and the lights might go out, then followed a cab home.

Next a used 1936 Dodge. That was a real car. Ring job at 60,000 gave bragging rights.

First new car a 1949 Ford with overdrive!

 

Local car shows are a summer staple up Nawth. It gives the car guys about three months to drive and show what they did in the garage all winter. Reading about all these old automobiles got me looking forward to summer evenings at Dave's Diner or the Frankfort Marina.

Old cars are great in small doses. Folk will say, "They don't build 'em like they used to." There's a reason for that, you know. I had a '64 Falcon with a 101 horsepower 170 cubic inch in line six that couldn't get out of its own way. The Fordomatic offered two forward gears - slow and slower. The windshield wipers offered the choices of on or off. The washers were operated by stomping on a rubber bulb wedged between the high beam switch and the lever for the floor vent.

If it was cold you had to mash the gas pedal two and a half times before you pulled out the choke, started to crank while slowly pushing the choke in until she fired. Then you had to pull the choke all the way out and let it run for a while. Those 13' bias ply tires would thump like nobody's business until they warmed up, too.

I don't think we'd have much patience for that kind of car these days. Shoot, my son just waved his keychain at the window in the hall and his car started out in the driveway. :thumbsup:

 

I got my dad's 62 Falcon. Sounds familiar except I had three on the tree. My wipers were operated by a vacuum pump and when the engine was under strain (always it seems) the wipers slowed to a crawl. Loved that car though till my brother drove it through and over a telephone pole.

 

Carburetors how many times did I have to rebuild those freaking things? And if you bought an automatic transmission GM car, you could count down the day you had to replace it.

Now my Honda...holy cow!

 

Funny you should mention that.... My older brothers threatened to lock me in the trunk when Dad traded the '67 Valiant for a '69 Fury II. Thanks for bringing up painful childhood memories. Maybe that is why I have unresolved issues with Chrysler products.

 

'58 Chevy Bel Aire

'63 Ford Galaxie 500

'68 Chevrolet C100 Pickup

'72 Pontiac Catalina

'84 Pontiac Cutlass

'89 Mercury Marquis

 

All that effort should have qualified you for a degree in engineering from Syracuse!

As for windshield wipers; try driving in the mountains with the old vacuum operated ones. Really bad in a hard rain, even worse in a snow storm!