Folks Of Interest What did your dad drive?

Dang. That is super cool.

 

1951 Pontiac Chieftain.

That got replaced with a 1967 Firebird.

 

The oldmans first car was a 41 chevy coupe blew the six up bought a 50 Ford pulled the flathead out and put a 53 merc in said it was a fast car. Was a Ford man the rest of the way 52 wagon,56 wagon,55 merc we still have,63 galaxie 500 , 62 wagon and a bunch more Istill drive his last new truck he died three years after buying it. True storie on that truck after I bought it from Mom I switched radio chanels the next morning it would be back on the oldies chanel it kept doing that for a while.

 

My dad was pretty much a Ford guy and that was passed onto me. I had a bunch of '64 Fords, a raft of FE parts, a Falcon, a few OT Mustangs and Fairlanes too. Like I said, he had an eye for neat cars in good colors. One of his later cars was a '86 Caprice, a rich maroon and loaded. He got bamboozled out of it in Florida, it had a bad intake manifold and he let it go cheap.

 

My dad had a ‘57 Chevy hardtop that he had a stroked out 283, Duntov cam, 3x2 intake and 4 speed. It was a pro built motor and was super fast and super cool but one day in 1962 he was racing a 409 Chevy and as soon as he set the front wheels down in 3rd he saw the state police turn around and started chasing him. So in his infinite wisdom he stayed in it and rolled it 7 times wheels to wheels in a flat curve with cheater slicks at over 135mph and was thrown out twice but the car rolled over and took him back in to finish the ride lol. He told me the car was upside down and the hood was open and saw the carbs on fire so he crawled out as fast as he could with a bunch of broken ribs and arm and the state policeman came up and kicked him to see if he was still alive. He told me that he asked the fella “why are you kicking me?” Needless to say he made the front page of the local newspaper and my grandfather had to come pick him up from jail. While he was waiting on my grandfather some cops told him that folks were stealing parts off his motor. After it was all said and done when it came to buy another car he brought home a ‘58 Corvette and my grandfather put his foot up his ass and told him to take it back. So now I know where my dumbass came from

Anyway here are the before and after pics which I think was taken a day or so after the wreck.

 

My dad drove a 10 year old 35 Ford pickup to highschool, but was not a hot rodder. I begged him to take me to the Street Rod Nat’s, in Tulsa, 1976. We saw a 32 Ford roadster, black, steel wheels, whitewall tires almost unheard of style at the time. He said, “Looks like every car in my high school parking lot”.

 

I came home in a Fiat 1100. My dad got a Chevy II Nova when I was two: black six-cylinder (no V8s here) with red interior. When he was posted to the UK he got a Fiat 850 Coupé. He got his first Mercedes-Benz, a W115 250, in about 1968. Then, when posted to Canada in 1973, a Plymouth Cricket (Mitsubishi Colt) station-wagon as a snow-weather hack; then an Audi 100S Coupé; then his second Mercedes-Benz, a W116 350SE. Back in Pretoria, a VW Golf Mk1, which eventually became the first of my string of Golf Mk1s; then a BMW E30 325. Posted to DC in 1984, a J-body Olds Firenza, and in '87, his third Mercedes-Benz, a W201 190E 2.6.

My dad died last August. We sold the 350SE in January. My nephew has the 190E 2.6.

My dad never got to the MG TC, Alfa-Romeo Giulietta Sprint, or '48 Chevy Fleetline he always wanted.

 

"Set the front wheels down in 3rd''.

 

Dad wasn`t a hot rodder, but did tell me of his 49 I believe, Olds Holiday, that he had a shop install headers and a magneto. I imagine that was a pretty hot car back in the early fifty's.
It seemed he got into Cadillac's and was sporting a new 57 then a 59 and the last I remember and grew up with was a 61 Eldorado convertible.
The 57 seems to be a Eldorado Seville.
The 59 seems to be a Eldorado Biarritz.
I`m on his knee.

 

my dad had a 35 Ford 5 window at 18 (1948) cars were $50-$150 at that point. Road time trials and pushing your buddy down the road we’re some of the antics. He installed bumpers over bumpers to prevent grille/trunk damage. Broke his collar bone in a corner wreck. Next car to date Mom in was a 47 Merc convertible. Then a 56 Crown Victoria. Kids needed the 64 Country Squire wood sided wagon next. I remember the wagon and his 56 Ford pickup. Ford guy for life.

 

Dad had a 54 Bel Air, then a 55 Bel Air, 60 Impala, 64 Bel Air, then the last was a 69 Belair. Those full size Chevys are still near and dear to me.

 

My father had a chopped 50 Mercury convertible in 1959 when he was a senior in high school. He had many other cars over the years. During early to mid 1960's he had Model A coupe on 32 frame, a couple 33 Fords, 1962 Impala SS and 1957 Chevy.

 

Pops was a diehard gear head having the top down in the snow!!!! Way too cool

 

My dad has had this '33 Chevy 2dr Sedan since 1980. It still looks the same today.

My dad with the '33 in 1980...

My mom and almost little brother and me with the '59 Apache and '75 Celica in 1981...

 

Dad bought a robin's egg blue '57 Chevy 210 just after getting out of the Army and before getting married.
When my brother and I came along later, he let us play in it, pretending it was the Batmobile.

 

Dad was a ford man but drove whatever he could afford,
first car 1932 Chevy 4 door, because fords smoked alot!
Then a 1946 Ford Club coupe 6 cylinder
the Black green 1950 coupe
1950 hudson 4 door grey primer
1952 Nash 4 door blue
1951 ford 2 door sedan
1955 Merc 2 door
1959 grey ford 4 door
1961 White Ford Galixe 2 door 6 cylinder 3 on the tree
Retired with some little chevy vega

 

So cool to see the pictures and hear all the stories, this is why I started this thread. Keep digging through your old pictures, tell the stories as you post them up.
My Dad's dad was a GM guy, referring to the shoebox Ford he said "those Fords you can't tell if they're coming or going"
Grampy and his dad built a trailer out of a banjo rear and angle iron to haul the Army medical tent and all the camping gear up to the White Mountains every year. It was used all the way up into the late 80s when it was pushed into Dad's backyard. In 2008 after my dad passed, I grabbed it and built my roadster around it

 

My dad had a 57 4dr wagon. Family tell me it was a 283 4 bbl with 3 pedals. The last one I remember was a 65 chevyII wagon 6 cyl three in the tree. I guess he liked stick cars which was a challenge cuz he was missing his left arm up to the elbow...

 

Auburn 851 Speedster, 39 Merc, 49 Ford, 52 Ford (all convertibles), and 55 Buick, 55 Pontiac, 65 Cad

 

Amongst a litany of Land Rovers while he was stationed in Africa, upon arrival back home he bought a 1954 Morris Minor.

It was a bit patchwork.

This was a little newer but I'm including it because he still has it.

Phil

 

I came home from the hospital in a 65 Sport Fury, grew up with a 69 Road Runner in the garage. He still has the same RR and we built another 65 Sport Fury like his several years ago, both 4 speed cars.

 

here are a few. dad taught me to drive in the '62. wish i had that merc today!

 

My dad's first car was a V60 37 Ford sedan followed by a 49 Ford. Never spoke highly of either. Next was a 50 Pontiac and a 57Chevy 4dr h/t. Next was a white 62 Impala 2 door hardtop327. My father drove a work truck daily so my motor drove starting with the 57. My mom loved red cars so later I had the 62 painted red. I got 2 black cars on a seal bid auction and had one painted blue for my mom, a 440 police car.

 

My dad's first car was a new 39 Ford standard coupe. He went into the navy in 40 and my mother made three trips over the next two years from coast to coast in that car. Dad was killed and my mother was pretty sentimental about the car. We lived with my grandmother in SoCal but took at least two trips a year back to the ranch in Texas, all in the 39 coupe. She used to drive a little over 65 so she could "average a mile a minute". I wish I could find a picture of it but we weren't much of a picture taking family back then.

 

During the depression, my Dad drove whatever worn-out junk he could afford and ran it 'til it died (he could fix just about anything, he just didn't have good stuff to start with). After WW II he had a '37 Ford coupe that he got from his brother, then in the late '40s he bought a '47 Pontiac. His next car was a '51 Stude which he drove for a few months and HATED!! Got fed up with it and traded it in on a new, end-of-the-year '53 Pontiac for my Mom. He was through buying cars for himself: the cars were for my Mom, he always had a pickup, but he was now a die-hard Pontiac fan! Next was a '56 Chieftan wagon, then a '62 Executive, and the last car he bought her was a '68 Executive, a couple of years before he died. He always pissed and moaned when my brothers and I bought anything other than a Pontiac!
Oh... I DO know that at one time he had a '28 Buick.... I saw a picture of it with deer strapped to both front fenders and a broken front axle.... Seems he'd broken the axle on a cross-country run to avoid a Teddy Roosevelt State Park ranger that was after him and his brother for poaching on state land during the depression! The stories that guy could tell (but wouldn't let me try out myself).

 

My cousin sent me this photo of our respective dads standing next to what might have been our uncle's Alfa Romeo. My dad is on the right.

 

Dad’s ‘50 Pontiac at my grandfathers gas station. He followed up with more Pontiacs, a ‘57, 2 ‘59 Catalina’s, a ‘60 Catalina, a ‘62 and a ‘63 Bonneville, a ‘65 Catalina, and an OT ‘72 Grand Ville convertible.

 

My dad never owned a car. Learned the car stuff on my own making every possible mistake along the way.

 

When I was growing up my dad had a 41 Chevy coupe he had purchased just as WWII started. He drove that until 1953 when he sold a load of cattle and purchased the 53. Finally in 1961 he was on the local school board and in charge of bus procurement and was at Misle Chevrolet in Lincoln NE. the area Blue Bird bus dealer where he ordered 2 new buses and came home with a brand new 61 Impala hardtop with a 348. Even as a kid I always suspected a little kickback to my dad for the bus purchase?

 

My dad's first car was a non-descript Model T that he and his brother purchased used in the early '20's. They drove that until they could afford a used Model A roadster. In '37 they decided to go on a trip from NE to CA to visit relatives so he splurged on a nearly new '36 Chevy sedan. Made the round trip with it, got rid of it and said he'd never own another Chevrolet. Next one that I know he had was a late 30's Dodge, followed by a '46 Dodge sedan which I came home from the hospital in. Growing up there was a '51 Ford sedan which he kept until the block cracked in '63. He replaced that with a '59 Ford Galaxie with a 332 and Cruisomatic; beautiful car but I found out it was a dog the first time I was allowed to drive it by myself... That was the last of the HAMB friendly cars he owned. He drove for over 70 years and was never involved in an accident or put a dent in any of the cars.