Cars from your childhood (Buick, station wagon, Ford, American)

[stilldriveem]

First memories are of my Dads 65 Impala SS ( kept until 1974) and my Grandmothers 67 Impala ( kept until 1980). My folks also had a 69 Chevy C10 from new until 1981. For age perspective, I was born in 66. Also my dad traded the Impala for a 74 Montego which I currently own and my grandmother bought a 74 Impala to replace her 67 after it was totalled and I currently own it as well.

[StealthRabbit]

My 3rd car (~ age 11) was a Metropolitan Nash... pretty classy (But I didn't know at the time...)

[WyoNewk]

My dad was a Kansas farmer, but he was also a used car dealer on the side, so we had a fair number of cars over the years. Some we kept for quite awhile, others were ours for a matter of days.

The oldest I can remember was, I believe, a Ford Model A. We didn't drive it much, because it embarrassed my mom, plus what I remember most about it was a (50 mile?) trip to my grandparent's place. It was a muddy country road with water standing in the ditches. That was good, because we had to stop a few times to get water to add to the radiator. I don't think we had that car for long. Unless it was one of the few late 20s/early 30s cars that sat on the farm unused and unsold until they finally went to the scrap yard.

There was one old one that I really liked, a '39 Pontiac 2-seater coupe. It was a beautiful car, just like new when it was about 15 years old, and it sold quickly. Unfortunately, the guy who "bought it" rolled it on the way home. Dad never got paid for it, so it sat on our farm for years.

The oldest car I can remember using much was a '48 Chevy. My seat was usually the "hat shelf" in the back window. Dad must have gotten it new or nearly new, because he replaced it in 1950 with a '50 Chevy AND a '50 Mercury, both 2-door coupes. I liked the Merc, but we usually drove the Chevy and drove it for a few years, finally replacing it with a '52 just about like the '50 -- same color (2-tone green) and then a '53.

During that same time period we had two black '47 Fords, one a 2-door and the other a 4-door. My brother got the 2-door for "his" car when he turned 16 but wrecked it. I was riding in the back seat and got thrown out the front door. No injuries, thankfully, but bro then got the 4-door '47, which he didn't like much. That's the price you pay for wrecking your favorite car. Dad parked that wrecked car where you saw it from the front door (or window) of the house. It bothered Mom, but Dad said he wanted my brother to be reminded of that wreck regularly.

We quit farming in '57 and moved to Iowa, so no more car dealership. Dad's next car was a used '55 Chevy with the new 265 c.i. V-8. This one had the power pack -- 4 barrel carb. It was a nice car, nice enough that I helped myself to it when I was 14 and the folks were out of town for the weekend. I let my friend do most of the driving, since he was a little older and had a driver's permit. Well, he tore out the transmission. (It still limped home, and I never did admit to Dad that the transmission went from revving it up and then pulling it into gear to "lay rubber".)

About a year later, when I was barely 15 (1960), Dad brought home a '54 Chevy that had been "customized" -- rolled and pleated naugahyde interior and painted candy apple red. He said it was for Mom, but she had another car and never drove it. It wasn't her style, and was obviously for me, but I had to wait a year to turn 16 before I could drive it. I loved that car and drove it for a couple years, but I really wanted to "own" my car so sold it for about what Dad had paid for it and gave him the money. I replaced it with a '56 Chevy 2-door hardtop, then a '62 Corvair sport coupe when I finished high school (in '63), a '64 Pontiac Gran Prix and a new '68 Chevy 1/2-ton pickup. By then, I was no longer a kid. End of story.

[pekemom]

I remember my father had a greenish Studebaker, then he got a two toned blue Studebaker president.

[beer belly]

The one car that stands out as my favorite was my dads '68 Fairlane with a 428 CJ.....fondest memory was dads 75 Plymouth Duster that he would let my brother and I drive at the air field all by ourselves at age 13 and 14. Ironically, he also had a '70 Dodge Challenger, which got wrecked, and later on in my 20's I bought a '71 Challenger (brother wrecked), and now vow to have one when I retire in about 5-7 years.....my toy

[BostonMike7]

My dad had a 1984 Mercury Capri 5.0L. Loved that car, and it looked so mean.


Kinda lit the spark that got me into Fox mustangs later on when I could drive

[Frihed89]

1926 IH truck, replete with spark adjustment. I don't recall if it had a self-starter. If it did, it was broken and we had to use the crank. It died around 1957-8, after I burnt out the clutch. My first car was a used 1949 IH pickup.

[jackmccullough]

The first car I remember my mother having, which they would have bought when we moved to the suburbs in 1958, was a Desoto, probably early 50's; I was able to lie comfortably across the shelf behind the back seat. Then there was a series of station wagons: two-tone (white over gray) Pontiac, Fairlane, Country Sedan (I think the same as Country Squire without the fake wood paneling).


If you have nine kids and only one driver you're not going for the small cars.

[maraging]

My mom had an 79 vw rabbit I believe. My dad always had mid to late 70s half ton Ford's. My dad also had a 67 911 in the garage. It rotted away to nothing and he gave it away. So sad

[Hemlock140]

My parents had a 1948 Desoto, 1957 Chrysler New Yorker wagon 392 hemi, then a 1964 Chrysler wagon. My grandmother had a 1964 Chevelle that I used to take my driver test at 16. Thee next door neighbor had an ugly green bullet-nose Studebaker.