sporty car family car Hello, After using the 1959 Chevy 4 door wagon for many trips to the Salton Sea vacations and daily driving to work, it got pushed aside for a smaller, sporty, driving car. When the 1965 Mustang came out, it was the rage in So Cal, as well as elsewhere. The thoughts of driving a smaller, better handling car in daily traffic had its appeal, let alone making anyone look like they were in the "younger set." By this time, there were four licensed drivers in the family, but only one got to drive this new Mustang. My wife wanted to drive this car to college and shopping. NO... Her mom wanted to use it for shopping and errands...NO... The other sister also wanted to use it for dates and school functions...NO WAY. The Grinch was going to keep this "image" car for himself and that is what happened. So, this is the only photo of the car in its "new" state. Was it used for the whole family to go places? Nope...ever try to fit a family of 5 into a Mustang coupe? Jnaki My wife liked this Mustang very much, but no one got the chance to drive and tell about it, other than the dad... So, he was "tuned out" each time they heard the word...Mustang. This is the only photograph of the car. A popular car that was not so popular any longer in this family. By the the Fall semester of 1966, I met my wife in college. I was introduced to the whole family, but, the Mustang was gone, replaced by another larger Chevrolet sedan that could fit the whole family. My wife wanted the Mustang as her first car, but it had bad connotations of sharing with the rest of the family...So, her first car was the affordable, used, 1962 Corvair coupe that she drove for the next 5 years.
My parents, my brother, me...pic taken right before my dad sold it, bills to pay. I was two then, I'm now 47 and the car is where it belongs...in my garage. It was gone for 40 years. My dad owning a bodyshop and towing with some racing along the way, we have so many old car pics, but this was "the one" I wished he had back. Maybe it was because my favorite color was purple, maybe I liked the uniqueness of the bucket...the fact that he built it frame up, himself, was enough for me to want it back. I remember going for those Sunday drives after lunch & once in a while, he'd stop at the nearby farm where it sat & would ask if he could buy it back. Always, "no". The owner passed away in a tragic accident seven years ago now, we found out the bucket was still around, had changed hands to his nephew & were able to buy it back from him.
1955 Manhattan Beach,CA 1955 OKC NW Hello, Back in 2002, we did our cross country drive from So Cal to the intended Maine Coast target. We spent several days in the Southwest and in the same route, visited OKC. The surrounding residential areas obviously have changed and looking for my wife’s old homes/school from the 50’s was quite a challenge. The constant moving back and forth from So Cal to OKC then back to So Cal for good, in 1957, was a hectic time for the elementary school kids. Right when a student (oldest daughter) gets settled in a specific grade level with friends in the neighborhood, the family gets uprooted and moves back to OKC. Jump in the 55 Chevy and drive back to the old homestead. But, by then, it was not the same. Some friends moved, others moved on to new friends, etc. Not the best case scenario for a solid, continuous neighborhood, elementary education. It was the same for the other kids in the family, too. On our short visit, we had a photo, but no address other than it was in the NW area between 30th and 47th. We found the elementary school, but we cruised up and down a ton of streets looking for the old house from 1955-57. No such luck… A lot of the homes had been refurbished and changed. The streets had a lot more growth in bushes, trees, and other landscape. Jnaki To our surprise, recently, after weeks of looking at almost every street again in the NW OKC area, (walking distance of the elementary school) on Google maps, we found what we think is the same house, 62 years later. Yes, the young kid/grandmother memories of “…walking through snow to school” story lives on, again… 1955 2017
My dad's 41 Buick fastback. Hello, When we lived in a 20’ long, post-war trailer from 1946 to 49, it was our first home in Long Beach, CA. But, little did I know that there were other neighborhoods elsewhere. Since I was only 2-5 at the time, my world was very small. But, it was the 40’s and the trailer park was a cool place to explore and visit our relatives that lived in nearby small trailers, too. Around 1947, our trailer was small and there was very little room to store stuff inside, no one had a garage or storage shed, so it was inside the trailer or not. My friends had regular tricycles and I was getting pretty good at riding and steering those three wheelers. We had visited a downtown toy store in Long Beach during other Christmas shopping excursions and saw this unusual vehicle for kids in the window. I thought it was a tricycle like my friends’ versions, but when we went inside, we were surprised to find out it looked like an ordinary tricycle, but it was a pumpmobile. (what I called it many years later) The handle pulled back and the vehicle moved forward. The faster a person pulled back, the faster the cycle moved. Steering was a “push” either way for the direction of travel. My dad thought it was too difficult for little kids, but it was in a toy store for little kids. He could not pry me off of the floor sample, so he left me there to dream about rolling around the trailer park in my pumpmobile. After several other trips to this same toy store, the scenario was the same, run over to the pumpmobile to sit and dream about rolling around near our trailer. I was about to give up hope of ever getting this vehicle until one Christmas (1948) My dad rolled out this pumpmobile out of their small bedroom covered with ribbons. There was no way to describe how I felt about my dad smiling while rolling this pumpmobile toward me that Christmas morning in our little trailer. He did not have far to go, but the pumpmobile took up the whole walkway from their bedroom at one end to the small tree and seating area at the other end of the trailer. The trike looked bigger than the small Christmas tree. I was the absolute happiest kid in the whole world. I spent all day riding that trike all around this old trailer park. Now, I did not have to run after the other kids with their bikes. I could, at least, stay up with them on my own trike. I did not have to go to school for several more years, so I remember riding all over the neighborhood by myself. Back in those days, a small kid on a trike in the neighborhood was ok... no kidnappers or bad guys. Where did we keep the trike since the trailer was so small? My dad used to chain the trike to the outdoor faucet just outside of our trailer. I spent hours cleaning that bike every day. Maybe that is how I got to be a neat freak about keeping cars pristine. Jnaki (My wife has a running joke that gets told to all of her friends…Women always feel guilty about a ton of stuff [true enough]…She always says the only thing I feel guilty about is that the car is not clean after a rain or storm. Ha ha!)
Jnaki , That's a very COOL family story. I have a similar one too. It was 1957 and the only store in our little town with toys, was the Western Auto. They had all the neat bicycles, pedal cars, tractors etc. When we went to town. My dad would let me set in, and play with them. While my mom was at the beauty shop. There was this little green convertible. That I would just get in and set there. I would play as if I were driving all around the country. And I never wanted to leave! When my birthday and Christmas rolled around { Dec 30th } I opened my last and largest present. And I will never forget it. There was my little green convertible! I put soo many miles in it. And most of the time I wasn't even moving. lol {Great memories} Ron....
Hey Ron, Your story is just a classic first car story and result... that is funny, but, somehow, I skipped those pedal/metal cars. I guess, I overused that pumpmobile so much, as it was my first "car." We eventually got a pedal one for my son, many years later, to keep that tradition going... Knowing you and your background, you probably still have that steel convertible stashed away in your massive "toy playground!" Great memories and toys. Nice suit, too, by the way...very stylish. Junji
In the 50s a hardware store in Canyon Texas had two Harley Hummers on display A fancy red one and a plain no chrome blue one.. The red one eventually sold to a "rich" kid who was the envy of the rest of us. The plainer blue one sat in the store for so long that we actually started to wear through the paint and the running board rubber was seriously worn. I don't know if it ever sold. The store owner seemed to understand, maybe even enjoy the dreams we had sitting on that thing. I've got about 90% of a 165 in my shop now. Still dreaming.
Oh yeah.Pedal cars.Had one when I was about 5 or 6 in the form of an airplane.Going along the sidewalk the prop would spin.Those were fun days.My first 2 wheeler was a"sidewalk"bike.Used a V belt instead of a chain. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Hey Jnaki....I read this entire thread again today...You are very amusing..I would like to ask you a question inasmuch as your profile page tells NOTHING...My question...when you got your small pox and other like shots,Did they use a phonograph needle???No offense intended..
Hey WB, That is funny, and you are probably right. When we were little, we had to line up at elementary school to get our small pox shots. They rolled up our sleeves and gave us the shots...and I mean shots. It was not just one needle, but somehow, they punch in several holes in a circular pattern. (old time medicine) So, for the last 65+ years, we all have been running around with a small circular scar to show people and modern medicine offices, that we were given those painful shots when we were little. Jnaki Did it look like a phonograph needle? I was not looking, because I knew it was going to be a big hurt. (watched my friend, who is/was a "tough as nails" kind of guy, almost faint when he got his shots, it was like a tattoo artist, dot, dot, dot, dot). I have hated shots ever since... but it was not a one needle shot like flu shots today. Sometimes upon seeing that scar, the young nurses in the new medical offices ask what that is on my arm. Age moves on...with stories to back its weirdness. The offense should be a forced shot when we knew nothing, but it saved our lives for our long future from that point to today. Plus, it allowed us to travel to lots of places.
I hadn't thought of ALL of us having those scars for a long time. The one thing we all had in common should have united us. The thing they used was the size of a car cigarette lighter. The scar is worse on those of us who picked the scab off.
My scar got covered in a tattoo LOL. All of us in school had them back in the day. Scary with all those stickers bunched into one apparatus. Especially for us youngsters that most never had a shot of any kind before. They used a similar multi needle setup many years later when going into the USMC but it allegedly blew the medicine in with compressed air or something right through the skin. Felt pretty mild compared to a bunch of regular needles. BUT they said don't move or flinch a few guys did and it tore that area up pretty good.
Family camping in the 50’s (photo used in previous photo posts) Hello, Camping was a family thing to do in the 50’s with the access to car camping sites available to all families. My wife’s family always took the long 300 mile round trip to the lonely Salton Sea in Southeast California. Our dad liked trout fishing, so he took us on his favorite, 600 mile round trip to Lake Crowley and the Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Mountains to camp. In a recent event that I attended, I was told by my cousins that one thing they remember about my dad was that he liked to drive and drive he did, in his Buicks. (after I was born in upper Northern Cal, he single handedly drove 11 hours and 700 plus miles to Long Beach with the whole family in his first 41 Buick fastback.) But, as long as the dads were able, they pushed for family camping events. My wife’s family camped until the kids started in high school. Our family stopped camping when we started competitive sports in junior high school. Jnaki Since I like to continually scour our family photo files, I found a photo of the leaky, orange canvas tent that my wife used when they were little at the Salton Sea. Then, our own family used it in our first camping trip to the Mammoth Lakes and to Refugio State Beach north of Santa Barbara. After suffering a daytime rain squall, plus many leaky mornings waking up to a drip on the face and head, the orange canvas tent got replaced by a more modern, 4 season tent that was sealed and protected by a full rainfly. But, the photo was taken at one of the Mammoth Lakes campsites, many years later. Refugio State Beach North of Santa Barbara Mammoth Lakes campsite no more leaky canvas tents No cell phones, radios, ipods, just books, unlimited hiking trails and great food from the lakes. Although the leaky, orange, canvas tent was replaced, the reliable green, "pump gas" stove was still in great working order for those tasty bacon and eggs, morning smells, wafting around the campsite.
1958 Santa Ana, CA Hello, After going through our recent early spring cleaning of family memorabilia boxes, up popped this classic photo of our great, great, great grandma standing next to her house in Santa Ana, CA, in 1958. It was near where great, great, great grandpa taught at a local college. Those two were a couple of "old folks" who just happened to be some of the kindest people we knew. My wife definitely remembers the times spent at their house in OKC when she was in elementary school. One of the fabulous comments that was told to me about my wife's mom and her from this classy old guy was..."She has brains to go along with looks, so she can do what she wants." Great Mom and grandparents... The Buick was one of several cars that he kept for 10+ years. When we got married in 1968, these two grandparents were at our small wedding. They were the oldest people there, but they had to be there because we liked them so much. The G,G,G, Grandpa and my dad had a field day talking about the Buicks past and present. When they looked at the big, blue, 58 Buick, of course, my dad brought up his blue 57 by comparison. Two old guys rambling on about cars...a great moment in family history. But, by this time, my dad had gone up to a super large, land yacht of a Riviera in his army green/black, 1968 cruiser. It was so large that when we drove it to Laguna Beach to get our wedding rings made, we had to park in the residential area and not in those tiny parking lots there at the beach. Jnaki During 1967-68, we visited that old Santa Ana house many times. The driveway was quite narrow as the house is an old pre WW2 home. The bushes took a beating every time G,G,G, Grandpa drove in and out of that tiny garage. (It surprisingly, had room for that Buick.) But, he continued to drive into his early 90’s. That cool old couple was well protected in that big Buick. The huge, blue 1958 Buick was his last car… My dad’s 57 Buick was relatively tame compared to this wild, chrome laden 58 version. In one automotive magazine, they labeled this 58 Buick as the “epitome of chrome laden” cars from the 50’s. But, the sight of two old people driving around in this big car was just classic. That old photo holds a ton of memories from the past. Thanks, Nana and Grandpa…
I thank this may be my favorite H.A.M.B thread. I tried to do a little restoration of a few old family photos. My grandparents in the model T. Mom and Dad in 1950. My Mom and our 57 Chevrolet. Also the house I grew up in. Also thanks for the cool stories. I like the memories past. And making new ones too. Ron.... Sent from my SM-G920P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
G,G,G,Grandpa 1930’s somewhere in Tennessee, near Tennessee A&I College Hello, We recently found this old photograph in my wife's, late dad's, box of photos. It shows a cool looking Phaeton somewhere in Tennessee. The photo shows the G,G,Great Grandpa on her mother's side. Great, Great, Great Grandpa had a solid life in education. One of the schools he taught was called, Tennessee A & I or sometimes called the “Normal School” in those days. He traveled all over the Southeastern USA, spent the 40’s in OKC, and made a final venture out west to So Cal and Santa Monica in particular. He and G, G, G Grandma had their final home in Santa Ana, CA. He had a ton of different cars over the years and this photo is somewhere in Tennessee, as was told to us. The photo shows a nice Phaeton that looks like it is now stuck in the mud, off of the main road. My wife's mom said that her dad was a careful driver. But, after witnessing him drive into and out of his narrow garage driveway in Santa Ana with his big Buick several times, I can see him in that old, photo situation way back then. He wasn’t very tall, but he was a strong, wiry guy. One time in 1968, we were all at his Santa Ana post- war house for Christmas. The presents were exchanged in front of the tree in the den. We were all in the front living room afterwards, chatting about something or another. (That side of the family is very chatty.) When, all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Christmas tree moving on the driveway. It was moving window to window, going from the backyard to the curb. These old houses had windows that were higher up off of the level driveway. The only thing I saw was the moving tree. Of course, it was a… “what the….” moment. I mentioned to everyone that a moving Christmas tree was going out to the curb. Everyone whipped around and started laughing. It was Christmas Day and the tree had seen its last moments in this old house. Everyone was amazed and said… “That is old Great Grandpa for certain.” The tree had to be placed on the curb for the trash guys to pick up the next day… Great Grandpa did not want to forget. But, on Christmas Day? Ha! (What happened to the "old wive's tale" of good luck for the year, if the tree was left up until New Year's Day? ) Jnaki He and his wife…(we called, Nana,) were the oldest people at our small wedding. That was an exceptional time. “AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL NORMAL SCHOOL: In 1909, the Tennessee State General Assembly created three normal schools, including the Agricultural and Industrial Normal School, which would grow to become TSU, Tennessee State University.”
Crazy how differently generations of our families can run. My G,G.Great Grandad fought in the war of 1812 and his dad in the Revolution. The girls our age don't like us but later on we can fool the young ones so our kids come later in life. Well,... we think they are our kids.
NW OKC Hello, Great grandfather’s, sister’s, daughter’s house in early 1969, Northwest OKC. The whole extended family lived in the NW area of OKC. They were spread out in that big area of the city. It is primarily my wife’s family, cousins, and beyond. This is the last of that side of the family still living in the OKC area. We are all getting older with family getting spread out all over the USA. These post war homes were built in quite a few neighborhoods in this NW area of OKC. Jnaki The very early Chevy Nova from 1968-74 were very popular. (3rd gen) They were big cars by todays standards, but back then a mid size car compared to the larger full size Impalas and Caprice models.
This is my dad with mums youngest sister, and the truck dad drove. Must have been about 1960ish... Not sure what happened to Colleen...
1948 first real home in the Westside of Long Beach. My dad's 1941 Buick Sedanette, Fastback parked outside of our "white picket fence." Yes, back then there was such a thing as a home with a "white picket fence" in front and along the sides. Some unhappy photo subject all dressed up with nowhere to go in those days. Hello, We moved from the tiny trailer court on the other side of the LA River to our first real house in 1948. We lived there until 1953. (The trailer park was our first official home in Long Beach from 1946-48.) We moved to this old Craftsman House with a big front yard and huge backyard. It even had a three car garage with separate opening doors for each stall. Attached to the garage was an odd-ball living quarters, a bachelor(ette) apartment. It was a single room with a separate bathroom and multi-pane glass entrance door. There was a dirt alley running behind all of the homes to give access to those back alley garage entrances. No one ever lived back there when we lived in the smallish front 2 bedroom house. It was the boys' playroom and place where we were sent to get away from the parents. Ha! Rainy days?...out of the house and into that back yard room was the mode of the day. This old Craftsman House is now gone, replaced by a new elementary school with the same address. (Hudson Elementary 2335 Webster Ave.) Our unofficial "backyard" beyond the garage and single room was the huge field and the Terminal Island Freeway. This location made visiting relatives and friends in San Pedro fast and easy. Jnaki The actual house was a stone's throw away from the Willow St. end of Lions Dragstrip which was not built at the time. But, big semi-trucks pulling those big box trailers were just a real "stone's throw away" from our hiding spots in the tall grass adjacent to the Terminal Island Freeway. The big chunks of grass and mud made flying balls with tails, perfect for the big targets. 2335 Webster Ave.
Hi Jnaki, I have talked to you before about living near Lion’s drag strip in Lincoln Village off of 223rd st. In 1954 we sold our house and move in with my aunt and uncle. They live at 2821 Baltic Ave. not far from you. I went to John Muir school for a year. We bought another house in Lincoln Village and moved back to the old neighborhood. Did you go to John Muir school? Hal Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hey OMH, How are you? Wow, that address is across the street and around the corner from the old Stephens Junior HS. If you were still at that 2821 Baltic address in 1956-58, you must have gone to Stephens. It is only a couple of blocks away. That junior high school drew kids from Webster, John Muir and Garfield in the lower Westside. We lived 2 blocks from Garfield Elementary in the south, as Caspian Ave. dead ended into the school playground. It once went through the playground, but eventually was closed off. We walked to Garfield from 1953 until 56, then walked to Stephens. I knew a ton of kids from all of the elementary schools that went to Stephens Jr. HS and then to LB Poly HS. (From 1956-62.) Jnaki So, the question is: In Lincoln Village, where did you go to elementary school and what years did you go there? Lincoln Village is as far north in Westside, Long Beach as you can be. But, they all had to be in the Long Beach school system. The nearest elementary was Webster Elementary near 32nd and Santa Fe. Then on to Stephens Jr HS a few blocks south… (Then on to Long Beach Poly HS.) Is that the timeline for you living in Lincoln Village? A Poly HS graduate?
Hi, Lincoln Village wasn’t in the city of Long Beach, it belonged to L.A county but our address was Long Beach 10. Before zip codes. When we moved back to L.V. I went to Dominguez school on Santa Fe between Carson St. and Del Amo. Then I went to Wilmington jr.high and then Banning high in Wilmington. L.A. city school district. Hal Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hey OMH, Wow, we always thought 90810 was Long Beach. Today, it is Carson, CA. You went to a couple of "rough, tough" junior HS and definitely, a very tough high school. That is too bad, 5 miles to your Wilmington Jr HS VS. 2 miles just down the street to Stephens. But, in high school, it was about the same distance east or west or north to Dominguez HS. At least, you were close to all of the Santa Fe Ave. doughnut, hamburger, ice cream shops and stores. HA! (and...extremely close to Lions and the Long Beach Drive In...for sure) Jnaki
Some more....this was actually Culver City, Ca. that had open fields!?!. Both grandparents..........I miss them like crazy.
Mr. Paul,Ladyhrp's grandfather and his Model A taken in 1949. He and a Mr. Snipes worked for the Blue Ridge railroad and drove the car to Greenville,S.C. to catch the train on work days. Mr. Paul retired and traded the Model A to Mr. Snipes for a double barrel 410 ga Lefever nitro special shot gun. Many years after Mr.Paul died I met Mr. Snipes and in our discussion I mentioned my wifes grandmother Jessie and he spoke up and told me how her husband and he worked together on the railroad and owned a Model A together and he had traded him a shot gun for the car. I told him we own that very same shot gun and if he still had the Model A would be will to trade again. He laughed and said he sold it years ago,needless to say we still have the shot gun. HRP
That's a pretty valuable shotgun. We have my wife's great grandfather's 410 single shot that he used to protect his sheep with in Wyoming. I would have wanted more protection.
The Jalopy Journal
