What did your dad drive?

My Dad drove a 40 Ford Convertible he purchased in 1959, just before I was born. Dad is gone now but I still have the car. Back in the early days he put in a 265 Chevy small block, a floor shifter, custom interior, and fender skirts. Now it is restored all original.

He had a few other cool cars over the years, but this was his favorite.

 

Ill be honest. One of the coolest story dad told me was the 57 ranchero that had a factory installed 312 in after his dad(my grandpa) did some gun work (he was a gun smith by trade) for the head guy at the ford assembly plant in Chicago heights. Later on raced it at us 30!!!!

He prolly tell a better story then I!


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back in about 50-51, my dad's first was a 30 A cpe. Dove grey and he put a set of red 35 ford wires on it and modified the exhaust. He's had old cars and hot rods since and still turning wrenches on em. The 55 I now drive was his back in the 60's-70's.

 

That is a GREAT story. Thanks for sharing.

 

Dad's work car, not sure what model / year but, it was a 2-door!

 

He ended up selling it to a very good friend of his who painted it metalflake lime green W/gold interior and had "It's a mans world" lettered on the quarter panels. Not long after the paint job it was totaled when some old lady ran a red light and wiped out the frontend.

 

My dad had a '38 chevy business coupe that is now mine

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looks like a 1961 Dodge ... maybe a Plymouth

 

Here is one of his cars I was able to locate. Thanks for the thread and bringing back memories. Larry

 

here's my pop and his 51 Merc around 1955. he wasn't a car guy at all, just a nice used car at the time



here's a profile pic with Mom.

 

Racecars mostly.... Now he drives this.

 

Wow! A very rare Canadian '49 Monarch 3-window!!! Sweet..

Dave

 

i dont know what his first car was, but here are the ones i do know about.
65 falcon, 63 falcon wagon, sunbeam tiger. only drove it home then parted it out. pan head chopper, traded the chopper for a 49 caddy, 302 maverick, 68 302 mustang, 74 maverick, 63 econoline. a few mopars i think. i know that there were LOTS more but these are the one i can remember. the only car he ever wishes he kept was the mustang.

 

My Dad never drove anything modifed........but for several years had a string of neat cars simply because they were just used cars at the time. His first car ever, bought in 1945 after he was discharged from the Army, was a '30 Model A 2 door, followed by; a '32 V8 4 door, '37 85hp 2 door, '41 Chevy Fleetline 4 door, '49 Ford 2 door, '50 Chevy 2 door, '53 Merc 2 door, '57 Chevy 210 4 door, '62 Chevy Biscayne 4 door (new), '65 Biscayne 4 door (new), '68 Chevy C-10 (new), '70 Chevy C10 (new) which was his last vehicle purchased.

Ray

 

1955 Studebaker Commander, Tiara Gold with black interior. In 1962 I built his replacement engine, a 300 inch Studebaker V8 with lots of Granatelli parts in it. Andy was one of my dad's customers of his auto parts store. It was a real good runner. Dad gave it to my older brother when Andy bought my dad a 1957 Golden Hawk that was one of the 100 Bonneville prepared models. The 55 was totalled in a rear end accident caused by a girl in tight white pants walking on Van Nuys Blvd. on cruise night. The Golden Hawk dad drove until he put over 300,000 miles on it then story has it that little brother rolled it and totalled it in the desert of Palmdale. That's where I got my first over 130 mph ticket in that same Golden Hawk. Dad bought a 1968 Dodge Charger with 383 Magnum to replace the Hawk. Cool car. I borrowed it to go on our honeymoon. Good memories.
Dan

 

That is cool!!

 

Ford Mainline -54, Buick Century -55, Buick Special -55, Mercury coupe -59, Ford Sunliner -59 amongst alot of other neat cars

 

Dad is/was an old car guy, but a restorer- not into hot rods. I was nearly born in a Pierce Arrow while my folks were on a Horseless Carriage tour, luckily we made it to the hospital before I came out and ruined the interior of that one.
He had a new 64 SS 409 4/spd impala (340 horse). Living in Seattle and working downtown he said it was a pain in the ass cause the tires wouldn't stop spinning on those rainy hills. He gave that to my Grandpa and bought a '56 beetle as a commuter car. When he went to Switzerland for work in '65 he bought a new Porsche 912 at the factory. He brought it home and drove it for a while then traded it to his friend for a 64 SC Porsche 356. Has had Porsches ever since. Drove away from their wedding in his 1914 Ford.
His current stable includes-
1914 Cole touring car
1924 Oldsmobile model 30 Touring
1928 Model A sedan
1927 Pierce Arrow (aluminum bodied sedan)
1931 Pierce Arrow
1941 Buick convertible
1957 Belair hardtop
1960 Porsche 356 B roadster
1961 Rolls Royce
and a couple Pierce parts cars (I've been eyeing one of the cowls- that'd be a unique rod)

Couple months ago he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Started radiation, now chemo, and last week he bought the 24 Olds- all the rest are all restored so he needed a project car- hope he finishes it and finds another after it!

I have just a couple pics on this computer- I think the Buick and maybe something else.
(OK, one of my Porsche and his Buick, the other is mostly a pic of a gas pump he has but you can see a couple cars in the periphery)

 

The main cars of interest were a Bonneville Golden Hawk that he had when he got married to my mom. It was a package deal because she already had three kids. Bye bye Studebaker. Then in 1971, my parents bought a used Chevy 70 Impala with a COPO 454 Ls7. Coolest car ever. They sold it just before I was able to drive it. I still harbor resentment about that. From what I understand, my brother had a lot of dates that the girl never knew she had. It was always on Central Ave in Phoenix. My Mom always wondered how he could go through so much gas just picking a girl up.

 

Too many to list, but here are a few He had a Metalflake red 55 around 63 64 389 Pontiac Radiused rear wheel wells,then came the 59 Anglia around 67-71, then the Red White and Blue Opel in 70 -76 the Willys he built with Bill Boer around 63 ran till around 67,and a whole lot before and after. We are not a picture taking family unfortunately. He is on here as lkrodder I know he has pictures of his street rods from around 77 on Model A coupe we built with a narrowed rear around 78-79 350 4 speed Mcreary tires and Widened steel wheels with Moon Discs, Model A sedan 350 Chevy, 54 Merc with a 472 Caddy with a Hone overdrive, Big block chevy 40 ford coupe 38 ford coupe with 351 Cleveland.As I said I could go on and on.He has a Model A coupe now with a small block Chevy a 48 Ford F1 I think has a Ford motor he is building a 39 Ford Coupe with a Hemi and he has a 36 ford Truck with a 500 inch caddy that's almost done.

 

My dad had a few Model T's early on, but his first brand new car was a Model A Ford in 1929. After less than two years he gave it up to his mother and bought a used '28 Chrysler touring. He often told me of the many Model A deficiencies once that Model A was passed on to me.

For the rest of his life, except for a '37 Chevy sedan (the car I came home in from the hospital), dad stayed with Chrysler Corp., Dodge, Plymouth, and DeSotos, for all of his family cars. While I was growing up, he had a couple non-Mopar work/hunting trucks his older brother gave him, but he never bought another Ford car after that Model A. He was not a car crazy, Model A Ford guy like me.

 

Other than a Model T he shared with his brother, the first car my dad told me about him owning was a 34 Ford coupe.His uncle helped him "soup it up" but not sure what all they did. He had a 49 Ford coupe as the first car I remember as a kid. I remember him tinkering with it and it had some loud glasspacks. He got drunk and wrecked it and after that he pretty much just bought station wagons until I talked him into buying a new 67 Fairlane with a vinyl top that I still have to this day.He wasn't really much into cars by the time I was 6 or 7 so I don't know where I got my love of them,it wasn't from him because I had to pass up on a lot of good deals that he thought were not good ideas.

 

Dad didn't drive. He walked everywhere...uphill both ways...through six feet of snow...in barefeet.
He has owned various fairly conservative cars over the years. He currently owns a 1930 Model A Town Sedan for the last 35 years.

 

my dad bought a 53 dodge coupe when he got out of the navy in 58
any pictures he had were lost when my grandparents basement flooded
he ran a few engine combos red rams, a 392 hemi he said it was the fastest when he was running the 57 poly engine with dual quads sold it when he married my mother in 61 and bought a falcon because he needed a reliable car to drive to work

 

My pleasure Larry. Aren't memories half the reason any of us build these cars anyway?

 

Came home in a 40 Ford fordor, then Dad bought a new 48 Ford coupe it was black, dual exhaust, skirts, lowered in the back, chrome swan hood ornament with lit blue plastic wings. He kept it untill about 51 when he became a licensed dealer and drove something different all the time. Great time to be a teenager when I could take a 57 chevy 270 on a date or some other cool ride off the lot. Great times. ~sololobo~

 

When I was born, my dad didnt drive, he rode. My mom went to the maternity ward on the back of his Norton International...

 

no pics but he said his first was a 37 terraplane followed by a stude commander then a turqiose and white 55 chevy ive seen a pic of me as a toddler behind a 59 chevy and I remember riding shotgun in a chevy apache pickup(mint green and white) the next I remember is his 67 chevy no window van. we used to haul his fishing boat and camp in it so it has very fond memories. when I was 16 I tried to buy it from him but he wouldn't sell it to me. something about a 16 year old kid with a van equipped with beds and etc. didn't seem like as good an idea to him as it did to me. to me it is the one that got away.

 

I can remember my dad driving a 55 Buick because you would have to push the gas pedal to the floor to start it. I always thought that was so cool then he had a 57 4 door Chevy then a Buick 225 (deuce and a quarter)... ;o) great memories for sure..Thanks Dad....sure do miss you.....

 

Wow, some really cool cars the dad's had.

My dad never owned a car in his entire life (passed at 89 yo). But having grown up in Europe and being an artist, he seemed attracted to various Lancias, plus he always like the Buick Roadmasters my uncle, his brother, would show up with. As a kid I remember how much he liked, and me too, his early to mid 50's Roadmasters.