FAVORITE CAR?

[Wilma]

Someone commented that we seem to be talking a lot about birds and trivial things.  So here is something that should interest the men as well as the women.  Did you have a favorite car?

Mine was our 1960 Ford Country Sedan station wagon, standard transmission and no air conditioning.  We had traded the 1957 station wagon in on it, but I think the total price was something like $4000.00.  Seemed like a lot then, but it really served us well.  It might have had the original fold down back seats to increase the cargo area.  You thought the current stow & go was original?  No way.  Our station wagon's back seats folded forward to form cargo area clear to the back of the front seat  You could fit a piece of 4 X 8 paneling or plywood in the back of that car.  The front was a bench seat, seating 3 adults.  It carried 9 adult passengers, but the back seat was a bit cramped for 3 adults.  There was plenty of room for half a dozen kids and a couple of dogs.  We used it a lot to provide transportation for school trips.  No buses all the time then.  We took private cars and the drivers helped with the chaperonage.  It finally gave out in 1969.  The radiator was giving us a lot of trouble and one day when I got home, it looked like it wasn't going to go again and it didn't.  We traded it, sight unseen, for a 1964 Ford Galaxie with automatic transmission and air conditioning.  A friend gave me a ride to Fredonia where I selected the car, made the arrangements and drove it home.  The dealer came and picked up the old station wagon.

That's my story.  What was your favorite car?

[larryJ]

I don't know that I had a favorite.  They all have memories both good and bad.  My first car was a '58 Chevy Belair.  It had a broken gas guage so I had to figure the gas mileage by multiplying the 20 gallon gas tank by the difference in miles.  So I knew that if I got to around 200 miles, I needed gas.  I went through two Ford Falcons before being drafted.  I came home to no car and finally was able to get one.  We have had several cars over the years.  The longest was a '78 Toyota pickup with a camper shell that was carpeted and padded for the kids use.  Seatbelts weren't required then.  I drove it for 18 years and over 200000 miles before the odometer said enough was enough.  Lately we have been driving a Camry and a Toyota Sienna van.  We are pretty much stuck to toyotas.  They get decent mileage and are very trustworthy.  I don't need to hear any comments about buying American.  American cars can't keep up with the dependability of Toyotas. 

Larryj

[Rudy Taylor]

My first car was a 1937 Chevrolet Deluxe Sedan, deep blue, with suicide doors, straight pipes and a back seat where passengers could stretch their legs out and still not hit the front seat. (Hmmm)

I bought it for $100 and sold it a year later for $125 when I found a 1951 Mercury with a $225 price tag on it.

But nothing will ever replace my '37 Chevy.

[W. Gray]

My first automobile was a 1953 red Ford V-8 stick shift convertible bought used for $695 in 1958. It had a continental tire rear end that was supposed to be popular. One of my classmates was impressed with my car—not because it was a convertible but because it had turn signals.

After driving it for awhile, I noticed that the body slightly drifted to the left when cruising down the road. It had been in a major accident and originally came off the assembly line painted cream.

The car was an absolute dud and turned out to be the worst car I have ever owned.

Within eighteen months, I had to replace the clutch, had two broken axles, the water pump went out, a hole developed in the radiator, the radio quit working, the heat controls quit working, the top came loose from the boot area needing major repair, the battery had to be replaced, the speedometer quit working, and the gas gauge quit working but not before I computed I was getting 8 miles to the gallon of gas. Besides all that, if it was a cold morning, it would not start.

On a 400 mile round trip to Howard, I had to plug the hole in the radiator with a rag and drive with the cap off. At Howard I bought some modeling clay at the Ben Franklin dime store and put in the hole. It held until I got back home to have it fixed.

Tires did not last long in those days and I would go around to the filling stations and buy used tires at $1 each from the pile of old tires in back of the station. I purchased rubber fake white sidewalls that fit around the wheel because it was not cool to go around with black wall tires in those days. I also purchased "spinner" hubcaps because that was the rage of the time. I replaced the red brake light lenses with lenses that had a large blue plastic piece in the center. When hitting the brakes the lights shined more blue than red. These were another cool item of the time but the states soon made it against the law to have them.

I soon discovered that in the summer during the day, the sun made it too hot to drive with the top town. The best time driving with the top down was after dark if there was not too much humidity. High humidity made the seats and the controls sweat.

I had 18 monthly payments on that car and when it was paid off, I obtained a more sensible 1954 Ford four-door Ford Fairlane, one of the better cars I have owned.

[Tobina+1]

Showing my age here... My favorite car was the car I drove in high school after my parents got a different one.  It was a Chevy Citation - hatchback.  The back seat laid completely down and you could fit a LOT of kids back there.  I don't remember the year of the car, probably early 80's.  That car did a lot of "cruisin main" even though I was only on my learner's permit (hey, I couldn't help it that my friends lived on opposite end of town when I was dropping them off!).

[larryJ]

W. Gray, you caused me to have a flashback to the roads of Elk County back when I was first driving.  Tires had tubes then for the most part and there were a lot of nails which had fallen off hay wagons and such.  I seem to remember getting a flat at least once a week.  Me and my buddy would have contests to see who could change the flat in the fastest time.

Thanks for the memory.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

My first car, actually owned by me, was a burgundy 4 door '64 Ford Falcon. I wasn't allowed to have my own car until I graduated college. My favorite car is usually whatever I own at the time, but I do have great memories of the Land Rover Al and I had. That was a really fun vehicle.  No AC, no radio ( no springs! ). Surf fishing, mountain touring, you name it we did it. Great times at Cape Hatteras! That was 'way back before they moved the lighthouse.  

[W. Gray]

LarryJ

I did have one memorable morning in which I came out of the house to go to school and the tire was flat. I jacked the car up, put the spare on, and it immediately went flat. I had to ride the bus to school that day.

I fixed a few flats back then. The going rate at the time was 75 cents to take the tire off, pull the tube, patch it, put it back together, and then remount the tire. Fifty cents bought three gallons of gas.

There were 402 kids in my graduating class. Almost all the boys owned a car of one type or another and none had air conditioning. No one, but no one, drove a new car. Only one girl had a car and I recall on one occasion the boys clapped in unison as she was driving out of the parking lot after school. She may have been the only girl to even have had a driver's license.

That car that gave me so much trouble was my favorite because it was my first car. Since then, I always have to chuckle when something goes wrong with a current car. I am always reminded that nothing could be as bad as the many troubles I had with that first car.

[sixdogsmom]

My first favorite car was a gift from my boyfriend. It was a 1957 Buick 4door, and that baby could fly! We will not speak about the gas mileage as it had dual carbs. I had a lot of fun with that car, it was very dependable until the vacuum lines started to age. All the accessories were run with a vacuum pump, wipers etc. Very aggravating when it was raining and the wipers quit. I ended up selling it to a collector for 50 dollars after I had driven it for a lot of years.

My second favorite car was a 1975 AMC Gremlin. I bought it used in 1985 as a work car and I ended up driving it all through school and into my first job. It was embarrassingly cheap to upkeep. The last year I drove it we had a huge amount of snow. I carried 300 lbs of cat litter over the back wheels and had strap on chains for emergencies. I was able to get where I needed to go even when many others were off in the ditch or were sliding everywhere. My next car was a small front wheel drive, I sure hated driving that thing when it was slick, you couldn't stop it like you could the Gremlin. Now I just stay home, and thank the good Lord I don't have to brave that traffic in the bad weather. 

[dnalexander]

I have two favorites. My first car which was a truck; A 1970Toyota Landcruiser Wagon named Betsy. It took me and my little brother on many great trips all over Alaska. My second was a 1978 Datsun F-10 hatchback. It averaged 35 mpg and on several trips between SF and LA on Highway 5 I averaged over 40mpg. It was an odd metallic, neon lime, pea soup color. Truly a 70's color. The back seat folded down and I used to sleep in the back on my many trips to Yosemite National Park to do some rock climbing.

David