What did your dad drive?

The first one I remember him having was the 55 Ford 2dr I was brought home from the hospital in 1956. He traded it for a new 61 Falcon then totaled it in 63 and replaced it with another 61 Falcon. This is the car I learned to drive in and the reason I am Falcon crazy. He then picked up a 63 Ford,70 Torino GT ,73 LTD, 77 Caprice. The Torino I bought from him when I was a senior in High School,(no my parents didnt give it to me)when I got a job. Good memories and I miss them every day.

 

My dad's first car was a flathead Ford powered midget racer that my grandfather gave him to run around the Panama Canal Zone in 1944.



In 1950 he bought a black Studebaker Starlight coupe and that was the car I came home from the hospital in.

We had a string of Fords through the fifties and early sixties (except for the 55 Cadillac that my grandfather gave him when he bought a new one in 1958).

In 1964 Dad came home with a 1960 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider and I fell in love with sports cars.



After a couple of Ford Country Squire wagons dad started branching out - usually buying the more interesting cars for my mother. Our driveway hosted an early F85 Cutlass with the aluminum V-8,several Corvairs, pickup trucks, a 66 Coupe Deville, a couple of Pontiacs, even a VW; and a couple of BMW 2002's (back before BMW's were cool).

The day he passed away he bought a postal Jeep. With all the weird stuff I was dragging home our neighbors were always wondering what would be in the driveway every week.

 

^^^^^
That reminded me that I forgot to mention my Dad was a letter carrier on a mounted route. Here are the early ones I remember.

 

A black and white 1959 corvette

 

I came home in a 1946 Chevy. Dad traded it in for a brand new 1962 Saab. He drove that thing till it rusted to a piece of dust, still ran great. Dump a quart of oil every tank full.

 

In 1966 I tried talking Dad into a new G.T.O. Because I was a new driver at the time, the insurance would have gone through the roof. He did buy a new Tempest with the O.H.C. 6 and all syncro 3 speed with Hurst shifter on the floor. The car had a real neat note to the exhaust and was a blast to drive.

 

Hudson Hornet..........

 

My Dad mostly drove Eldorados and station wagons but occasionally something cool too.

 

My Dad had a 53 Ford and a 59 Ford wagon when I was born. He had several more Fords and a Merc at the end. When he was young he had a few model T's and A's. Then a 32 coupe, maybe a second deuce, then a 34, then a 36 sedan, a 40 sedan, 46,48,49. All Fords. When we returned to the dealer after test driving a new Maverick when I was a kid he asked what I thought about the car. I suggested he buy the Boss 302 next to it on the lot. He grinned, Mom said no.
He once talked about wasting allot of money on cars when he was young. He said he wasted money on stuff like aluminum heads and intake on his 32! Told me the best car he ever had was the 40, and his favorite car was a 50 Merc but said he could never afford one.

 

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Here's my dad and his Ford Crestliner...


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Among the many cars my dad had, the one that is most remembered is his blue 62 Bel Air. It was originally a 283, 3-speed on the column, and had the dog dish hub caps. He and my uncles got a 340-horse 327 and muncie 4-speed out of a wrecked 63 Corvette and put it in it. He had a local guy make him some mellow sounding glass packs while getting the dual exhaust made for it. In Joplin, on 7th and Main, the BF Goodrich store was having a grand opening and had just put out a set of Cragar S/S wheels. This was in 69 if I remember him correctly? Either way, he had to have my grandpa co-sign for him and those "high-priced" wheels....something like $25 each? hahaha. So needless to say, he bought the first set of Cragar S/S wheels in the Joplin area because they were bitchin and he liked the blue in the center cap matching close to his car's color. He eventually removed the skinny round bar shifter and put in a Hurst Competition Plus. He said the worst part of the car was constantly fiddling with the dual points in the Corvette distributor. (Man, think about how cool that had to look when opening the hood and seeing the finned aluminum Corvette valve covers, cast iron high rise, the chrome distributor cover, etc. I bet that was awesome.)

This is the car that my dad had while he and my mom dated in high school.

Before my mother passed away in 2006, I had bought a blue 62 Biscayne to rebuild for both of them. It wasn't the cool bubble top like the Bel Air, but it still brought back good memories for them. Sadly, not much has happened since purchasing it, but dad and I still talk about building it.

The only thing I have from the original car is the white steering wheel he had in the car. He had put the original back on when he sold it in 1972. Never saw it again. Wish I had pictures of it to share. But anyway, that's the main car that my pops and I like to sit around and talk about.

 

1958 Impala, 1963 Bonneville, 1970 Impala, 1978 New Yorker were the cars he drove when I was growing up. He liked big GM products for the most part.
My Grandfather had a nice 1958 Chrysler 300 when I was a kid. Man would I like to have that car now.

 

don't have any pics but he said his first car was a 37 terraplane and I've heard him say he had a Studebaker commander and I barely remember riding around in his mint green and white 55 chevy Apache pickup. I've seen picks of the fins on a white 59 chevy in the garage with me as a toddler behind it, and I know he said he taught mom to drive in his 55 chevy. then it was the 65 Impala that became my first car and his work ride-a 67 chevy shorty van. unfortunately its been all downhill from there.

 

His first car was a Chrysler from about 1930, I don't think it ever left the farm. He had a string of 55-56 Fords. One was a convertible, my grandfather complained it wasn't safe and ordered him to trade it in. Dad showed up with a glass top, which the old man thought was even worse! He had 60 & 61 Impalas and an early Corvair Monza. Had a 66 Impala SS with a 396/4spd, as soon as he got it he had it souped up by a local guy who had built engines used in NASCAR. Unbeatable at the dragstrip. When that got old he bought a 68 C-10 with a 6 cyl (quite a trade) and then came a series of El Caminos.

 

Fords in the 40s and early 50s then a 49 Cadillac through the late 50s. Went from that to a Rambler American during my teen years, then back to Fords.

 

1941 ford convert-bought just before WW2. then a 50 Buick Roadmaster convert-then he was killed on a 57 Truimph. Stepdad had a 56 Holiday then a 57 Fiesta J2 wagon then and big Olds 98 after that.

 

My dad still has one of these. No snazzy whitewalls though...

 

'30 Chevrolet, '49 Chevrolet, '55 Chevrolet, Modesto Ca. 1940-1960

 

My stepdad drove a 70 cobra Torino. Kicked himself always for selling it. Last summer I put together a 71 cobra
Clone for him.

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Early 47 GMC 3/4 ton flat bed. 302 GMC 6 with Jahns pistons, race cam, 5x2 intake. He used it to haul 250 gallons of shine at a time with it. Jim

 

Starting when I was born in 1952, 37 Willys, 37 Chev (I don't remember those) 39 Chev, 49 Chev, 51? Henry J, 51 Pontiac, 52 Buick, (2) 61 Volkswagens, 63 Valiant, 70 Dodge dart. gave up his license in 75. His first car was a 28 Dodge in 1933

 

He was always a Olds man

 

Some men are Baptists, others Catholics.......

 

Your Dad sounds like a VERY INTELLIGENT MAN!

 

30 Buick sedan
37 Ford wagon (still have it)
50 Plymouth wagon
54 Ford wagon
65 Falcon wagon

 

He had a couple of 3000E Ford Zephyr Mk4's. Like this below. The later one had an ivory vinyl roof for extra 1970's fabulousness;

 

My dad's first car was a 1960's triumph spitfire

 

Usually something with a slant 6 and a column shift.

 

My Dad went through a lot of cars. Some I wish he had kept, but as anything in the present, you never know that it will be cool later. Some that come to mind:

51 Studebaker - first car he owned
50 Ford - to which he affixed a speaker to replace the center grill
55 Ford Crown Vic
56 Chevy - which he lent to a friend and burned far from home n didn't see again
60 Pontiac Catalina - avocado green tail dragger
69 Pontiac LeMans
76 Maverick with a BBC, headers, aluminum wheels
77 Thunderbird

And I am sure there are more that I can't remember




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'60 Olds Super 88. 2 DRHT. Cream with copper roof. Would love to have one like it!