The earliest car I remember was my Dad's 65 442 and my Mom's 69 Galaxie 500. Dad sold the 442 in the early 70's and got a 68 Cutlass. Mom sold the Galaxie in 1980 and bought a New Delta 88. About fall of 75 Dad got a New F250. Basically as soon as my brother got to driving age the cool cars went out the window. Luck for me my next door neighbor owned a 72 GS 350. That car was mine when I turned 16 for the price of $150. It was also what I learned to drive a stick in.:Brow:
Family cars My Dad split when I was 7 and my oldest brother stepped up to the plate to raise myself and my 2 other brothers. I can remember his cars like they were my own. He has the nastiest 66 Impala SS with a worked 327 and 4spd. It was sinister black primer with a reversed teardrop hoodscoop (like on the old Thunderbolt Galaxies). That car got me lusting for fast cars. He had a few 55/57 Chevies...one in particular was a 57 wagon...I think it was called a "handy-man sedan"...that thing was a beast too. He always had something really cool to drop us off at school in.
Mmnn... I will sperate mom and dad, but they are still married.. Dad.. Farthest back I can recall... 66 Plymouth Fury.. and a 65 Bonneville (was a neat car) Then he switched to big Buicks: '70 Electra 4 dr HT, Blue/white top -- nice car, but was rear-ended by a drunk. '73 Electra 4 dr HT Midnight Blue/White Top .. Had this for a long time, also eventually rear-ended. '73 Centurian 455 4 dr HT.. Dark Brown/ off white top.. this eventually was my first "daily driver" '74 Lesabre Luxus .. 4dr HT / 455 .. this one was nice.. Red/White top, Sport wheels, and every option. Then he switched to Suburban's after me and my sister moved away.. Mom?... 2 cars 1982 Skylark 1989 Century I spent many a road trip sitting in the front seat of a Full size Buick, listening to the hum of a 455 at speed. Probably why to this day, when a 455 gets withing a block or so, on it's way here, I can hear it coming, and it does not matter what type of exhaust it has on it.. they just have a distinctive tone, prolly due to the bore size. JW
i got the pictures of my dads cars from the time i was born till my sister and brother were born, then they switched to family movers. he had a 59 bel air, 62 bonneville, and the car i remember most was the 65 impalla SS. i can still recall a trip to san bernadino to visit my relatives one summer vacation. we were traveling acrossed the nevada desert on this LONG, empty stretch of highway. mom was asleep in the back seat, and i was in the front with dad. i was pretending to be driving with the clock [bench seat and the clock frame was the perfect size] and i looked over at the speedometer and noticed the red pointer was way over to the right. mom never had the pointer that far over! :eek2:
what i remember being born & raised on a farm in southern ontario , may dad has owned many vehicles , cars & trucks , all the from a 37 ford pickup to his 2003 dodge dokata for trucks , and froma 1951 chev deluxe sedan to his 2001 lesabre . the two vehicles that i remember the most were a 78 green ford pickup with 460 ci & it was fast , and 1976 blue/white chev impala 454 ci & it would move . but i do remember a 1968 pontiac parisienne where i learned all about the birds & the bees . one of my dad's cars , that my grandfather purchased new , was a 1957 pontiac laurentian 4 dr sedan , inline 6 + powerglide. it was black with a white top with a silver highlight along the side of the body and it had a black & silver interior . it was & still is a beautifull car . my dad inherited it from my grandpa , & my dad traded it on a new 1963 impala 2dr ht . the pontiac was sold to a local couple who garaged it for many years . low and behold , the pontiac dealer who originally sold the pontiac to my grandpa , purchased it from that owner & restored it to original . unbelievably , the car required no body panel rusto/resto . when the dealer past away about 5 years ago, the car was auctioned , but i am sure that it is still alive & well today .
Family Cars?! Well, the ones I was brought up on were certainly not the variety to foster an interest in hi-po machinery! Since all of us "kids" are still living at home right now, here's the complete list of all our cars in the order purchased :laugh: Cars in BOLD type are the ones we still have I was born Oct. 78. Since that time. '74 Datsun Pickup - Rusted, traded for '82 pickup '76 Datsun 210 Sedan - Rusted, traded for '80 wagon '80 Datsun 210 Wagon - Rusted, traded for new '88 Vista '82 Datsun King Cab Pickup - Rusted Beyond Belief, traded for taurus in '92 '88 Colt Vista - My daily driver since 6/95, 227,000 on the clock '89 Ford Taurus - Purchased in '92, traded for caravan in '94. POS '94 Dodge Grand Caravan SE - 3.3L, 177K miles, still runs like new, paint is peeling '90 Ford Tempo - Purchased in Spring '95 as a new driver for my mom with 60K, died Feb. '97 with 83K, blown trans, also leaked oil and antifreeze. Traded for Contour '72 Buick Skylark 350 - Brother's car. Purchased 4/96. Upgraded to 455 10/01. Undergoing Performance Resto now. '72 Buick Skylark 350 - 4 door, wrecked, pulled engine, trans, sent to scrap yard. Gave the guy an old 286 computer for the car! Owned for about 2 weeks. '97 Ford Contour - Bought new in 2/97, new driver for my mom, 85K on it now. 6 recalls, but much better than the tempo '71 Buick Skylark 350 - My car, purchased 10/97, 197k miles. Today, has 243k miles, PAE 464ci, runs 11's. '86 VW GTI - Brother's driver. '98-'99. ODO broken. Good running car, beat suspension. Traded for 240. '95 Nissan 240sx - Brother's driver, '99-'02 '72 Buick Skylark - 4 door, no engine, no trans. Used for a parts car. (Fenders, hood, deck lid, core support, interior pieces, etc) Owned for less than a week. '96 Toyota Corolla - Prior Lease vehicle, purch. in '99 with 26k. Has 60k now. runs great. '02 Buick Rendezvous - Dad's new driver. 19k miles '02 Pontiac Trans Am - My 1st new car. 29k and running great! '03 Nissan 350 - Brother's 1st new car, 8K miles '65 Buick Electra 225 - 65K original miles, I saved it from the jaws of death late last year. Purchased 12/02. Taking it to BG tomorrow!
Here is my dads near-new 62 Country Sedan. Thats me on the trike. I learned to drive on this beast, 292 Y-block and three speed column shift. This car took us EVERYWHERE for at least ten years. Lots of fond memories with this one. Mark
Well ... here is the first car I have any memories of... this was Dad's 1800lbs-18"setback-engine-drive-from-the-back-seat gasser that did double duty as our family car for a while. :grin: This was the other one we had for the longest time... in fact I still have it and it's getting a 455 Buick :Brow: Hopefully, tonight, as a matter of fact! Other's in the list... dad had an old Buick V6 powered Willys Jeep for a while and up until about '96 we had a '71 Skylark that we bought brand new. I miss that one, too :ball:
Only 2000+ more member's left to reply ! Looking very kool so Far ! Kinda funny how time slips by so fast ,but the memories seem like yesterday ! :laugh: :TU:
Hi All, The first family car I remember was a 1967 Pontiac Laurentian. This was then traded for a 1969 GTO Red with white top and black interior. I can clearly remember the day my Dad brought it home, what it sounded like and that new car smell, I was 5. Then we got a brand new.... wait for it... Vega:eek2: notchback with a powerglide:spank: Then my folks split up (probably because of the Vega) and we had a multitude of P.O.S that were utterly forgettable. Later we got a brand new Duster, which my brother and I learned to drive on. By then I was into my own cars. The last car my Mum had before she died was a beautiful 77 Electra Limited. 403 and every option possible, nice car. Adam.
How did I get into Buicks? After the mess of different cars my Dad was into? He bought Mom the Plymouths-64 Valiant, 71 Valiant, 81 Reliant, 89 Acclaim(turbo)93 Century. Dad had a 60 Corvair, a couple Citroens, then grandma's 64 Lincoln Continental, then a 72 Olds 88(royale), 74 Volkswagon Dasher, 76 volks Dasher, 65 corvair, another 65 Corvair, a 78 Chevy Malibu (with a 400ci engine by '80) 80 olds diesel, 84 olds diesel, 87 T-Type Turbo. He had some play toys too-a 39 Packard, a 41 Cadillac, had a couple Marmon v-16 cars that never got finished. He has a Cadillac v-16 now. Grandpa + Grandma had Buicks.
'69 Buick SportWagon 400....... I clearly remember riding in it and either looking up through the Vista Roof or the back top glass side panels .....Dad said it was the best car they ever owned Mom got creamed in it in about '75 totaling the car - pretty bad accident that she walked away from unscathed. She firmly believes the "Sporty saved her life.:TU:
Family cars Dad was an engineer at Chrysler so you can guess what brand most of them were. Dad's Cars: '55 Dodge Coronet Royale '59 Dodge Coronet Royale (big ol fins) '60 Desoto Fireflite '64 Cadillac Calais (where did that come from?) '65 Dodge Polara 500 383/torqueflite (I still want one like it) '68 Dodge Polara '71 Chrysler Newport Custom (learned to drive in this one) Mom's Cars: '62 Dodge Lancer '62 Plymouth Valiant '65 Cuda '69 Chrysler Newport My '69 Riv is the first Buick in the family. :TU: They say I was always the black sheep. Do ya think?
1960 VW Beetle 1962 Volvo 4spd 4 door 1962 Olds 98 with 394 V8 1973 Buick Estate Wagon 455-4 (Major party mobile) 1976 Chevy Caprice Classic 4 door 350-2 (this car would not die) 1985 Subaru GL wagon (blah)
Adam, Growing up in Detroit and taking frequent trips to Windsor I recall that you had different cars in Canada. I don't remember Ford and GM doing this but the Chrysler products had a Plymouth front clip on a car that was otherwise like the U.S. Dodge. So you had Dodge tail lights on a Plymouth and vice versa. Do you ever see those anymore? I'd love to get my hands on one of those mid 60s Plyodges.
ahhh the 70's The one stand-out in our family was the '77 Ford Country Squire station wagon. We loved riding in the way back and sticking our fingers in the gooey tar trunk mat. The fold-back piano hinge was a great source of pain as well as the piping hot seat belt buckles. (Which we had to buckle behind us to make the buzzer stop.) That car had the mighty 351 2bl which managed 0 MPG while still being a pig. However, you could slide a piece of 4 X 8 piece of plywood in and close the tailgate, no problem. Mom sent a deer packing @ 65 MPH with only a broken grille to show for it. (Perhaps the faux wood paneling increased the fenders tensile strength ) What a car?:gt:
Our family tradition was that the new family car was 'mom's', and 'dad's' was the hand me down. He mostly used it to commute to the train station during the week and golf course on the weekends. So I don't need two lists like some others here. 54 Olds Holiday (totalled by my brother in 1959) 58 Olds 88 (used, world's longest car) 57 Buick Roadmaster Convertible (used, and a lemon) 61 Chevy Corvair (their first new car, big step down) 64 Buick Riviera (new, but another lemon) 66 Buick Riviera GS (one of detroit's best cars) 69 Buick Electra 225 (reliable, roomy back seat) I graduated high school in '71 so it's obvious what kind of car I started driving in. That Electra was a real cruise ship. I loved the Riviera's too. We passed the 66GS around to a couple of new drivers in the family up to the late 80s. When I was young and reckless, once outran the cops with it. (am I allowed to admit that?) Those of us that drove it all have our own stories.
canada vs u.s. cars dick: in canada , chrysler produced cars that were specific to the cdn market - i.e. the plymouth savoy . dodge products in some lines that may have had the same model , may have different tailights & grills than the u.s. models . we also had fargo trucks . ford canada produced the meteor which was like the ford cars but being sold by the mercury division . the monarch was like the mercury but sold by the ford car division . (50's - 60's) there was also a mercury line of trucks which were like the ford trucks but sold by mercury division . for gm , canada had the pontiacs but there were no similarities with the u.s. pontiacs . pontiac also had the acadian which was like the chevyII & the beaumont which was like the chevelle & the astre which was like the vega . there are probably more , but that is all i can think of for the 50's & 60's .
The Fifties..Great Style!! I think I am the old man here.. The earliest car I remember was a 1950 Plymouth, blue 2 door sedan.. Sold it in 52 to a neighbor who added (catch this..) directional signals! In 1950, directional signals were not yet standard equipment..nor was a heater, etc.. My dad only bought 2 door cars..I think he liked the sportier feel of a hardtop.. In 1953, he got a Buick Special, two tone, blue and white..with the wide white walls..it had the radio antenna mounted at the top front of the roof and had a knob inside so you could turn it left or right..Neat..This was a 3 speed on the column..not sure what size V8 it was..Sharpest car in the neighborhood! In 57, he traded the Buick for a new 57 Olds 88..my mother (who didn't drive) picked the color..white, with the long black trim stripe..black and white houndstooth cloth interior..did that thing move..standard size Olds V8, though..not the big engine..this was his first (and last..he passed on young) Hydramatic..still no power windows or seats..he just didn't believe in that stuff. Boy, would I love to hve either of those two beauties today.. Stanley
