This post by Blaine H. got me thinking about my grandfather’s 1966 Chevelle:
So here’s another photo of an epic road trip out west. This is my aunt Emmy and uncle Alex, my mother’s youngest siblings. They were 17 and 13 at the time. This was the only car my grandfather ever bought new, a 1966 Chevelle 300 with a six cylinder Power-glide. I remember this car from my early childhood, my grandmother (who did not drive) loved the Chevelle because it was the first car they’d had that was modern and didn’t have constant problems.
There is not a lot of happiness going on in this photo, my grandmother had died the previous year and my grandfather organized a road trip out west with the two children remaining at home. Hamilton to Vancouver was about 2,700 miles each way.
What he did not tell them was that one of the purposes of the trip was to meet a woman he had been corresponding with to assess her suitability for marriage. The woman turned out to be thoroughly unsuitable, including young children she had neglected to mention. My aunt remembers lots of driving, soggy camping, and an unpleasant scene in British Columbia. None of which was the car’s fault.
Early Chevelle sedans are the best. In every generation after this one, the 4-door seemed like an afterthought, thrown together after the 2-door was designed.
Wagons, too. If I ever get rich, I will own a ’65 2-door wagon, restomodded with modern powertrain/suspension/brakes.
A road trip that would never happen in today’s world of communication via internet and social media – or even affordable air flights. Such a different era, right down to the modestly equipped Chevelle.
I always liked this very attractive Chevelle. They were very popular in the American Midwest, many equipped in the same manner as your grandfather’s car. A local favorite was a dark green two-door hardtop with the 283 – made “cool” with wheel covers removed, installation of a three-speed manual floor conversion, and an after-market radio with a “reverb”* rear speaker – driven by a young co-worker at my place of employment during high school.
*
http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-car-radio-reverb-system.html
Wow, Emmy and Alex win the CC Awkward Road Trip competition! Quite a story, and hopefully they were both able to find humor in it years later.
And the luggage strapped to the roof… definitely a relic of a bygone era!
And I thought my dad was a PIA. 🙂
Yes, it’s too bad that they never met. That would have been interesting.
50 years on this is more of a “shake your head and move on” sort of family legend. When my grandfather did remarry two years after this trip my aunt went to university and got her own apartment. My uncle lived with his older brother’s family for a few years.
They both made darn sure that they didn’t do this to their own children 🙂
I read this whole thing thinking Paul was the author. The super tall kid is what convinced me it was HIS uncle somehow. And somehow it all made perfect sense. Until I read Paul’s comment and then yours, Doug. Then I had to reread the whole post again and the comments, still no help. Only on the third time through did I see that you were actually the author…Sheesh.
Well, that’ll teach you to read more carefully, Cavanaugh.
Thanks for this story Doug. Hopefully, your granddad, aunt and uncle, maintained mostly good memories of the long drive. Crossing much of Canada by car would have been quite beautiful in so many ways back then. Hopefully, offsetting the disheartening part(s). And making the most of the experience was helpful.
The drive itself being much more arduous back then, with mostly two lane highway not diverting all the small towns. No cruise control, less conveniences. Heavy traffic in some locales, with no passing lanes. NVH from the car, and plenty of wind from opened windows. And no one to share the driving with.
It certainly would make each of them stronger people! And more appreciative of the country and people in general.
Good story, at least from the perspective of 50 years later. And it reminds me of my friend’s first car which I drove a few times in late high schools/early college which I had completely forgotten. A ‘67 Chevelle, four door, blue with 283 and Powerglide. We got it stuck in some sand while camping, took a while to get out. That 283 could dig some ruts!
“None of which was the car’s fault’ – indeed, your Grandad’s car provided yeoman’s service in this extended road trip. Road trips I took as a kid were always to the Maritimes to see relatives. One of those relatives, Uncle Wilf, who lived in Lakeburn NB at the time, (near Moncton), had a ’66 Chevelle, in light blue. I am certain I rode in it to Shediac and Fundy Park, and certainly Magnetic Hill, but I have no recollection of it, as I was eagerly looking forward to my first time swimming in ocean water. During this particular visit I was also enjoying his dog Sparky, who lived to 23 grand years old, and the mini golf course he had constructed on the property next door, which was not his land, but we got great enjoyment from it nonetheless. Great memories, great times. Excellent synopsis Doug.
Hamilton to Vancouver would have been quite the trip on two lane blacktop through Canada back then. No AC, but open the vent windows!
Our family made two trips from Edmonton to Toronto in a 62 Comet, at least my Dad took the bulk of those excursions on US twinned highways. Thanks for your story.
When I saw Alex in the photo, I thought, “Gee, he’s quite tall for his age.” He has my sympathies when getting asked all the time about his age and his height. And whether he played basketball or not. Also those irritating questions, “How’s the weather up there?” and “Are you sure you’re 14? Let me see the ID or passport!”
That happened to me a lot of times as I grew up: I went through a massive growth spurt during my puberty and was already 195 cm tall (about 6’5″) by time I was 14 and 205 cm (a shade more than 6’8″) when I reached 18. When travelling in Europe or through the United States with my parents in the early 1980s, we got asked a lot to produce my passport as to prove that I wasn’t 18 in order to qualify for child ticket or fare.
Ha! That’s funny, I thought I had trouble finding shirts with long enough arms.
Actually both of them are now older versions of what you see here. Maybe Alex looks so tall because Emmy is so short. She is 5’2 in a family of six footers. I wound up with the same body as Alex, a bit over 6′ and gangly. I doubt he played basketball if he was as clumsy as me, also sports were not a priority for Dutch immigrant families. Assimilate and get educated!
Because of their age difference with my mother (>15 years) and because my grandmother was in poor health my mom had more of a mothering than sibling relationship with these two, and they are somewhat like siblings to me.
Thanks for sharing extra morsel of information about Alex and Emmy!
I lucked out with clothes most of times. Only problem I have is some long-sleeved shirts and sweaters that seem bit short on the sleeves.
I’ve learnt how to shoehorn myself in small cars such as Alfa Romeo Spider, which I won the bets from the sales consultants who thought I would never be able to fit in Spider and drive round.
A good story. We look back on this golden age of families, but it was never really so. At least the car was not part of the drama. Making the trip in a rusty 58 Ford that needed a quart of oil at every fuel stop could have made things so much worse.
And really, pictures taken of anyone at around age 13 ought to require special credentials to access.
In looking at this photograph, I am thinking it was taken on the TransCanada highway going west, just east of Canmore/Banff, Alberta as you enter the Rocky Mountains from the foothills west of Calgary. The nearest place is a hamlet (not even a town, more a cement plant) called Exshaw, or perhaps Seebee, a place that no longer exists as far as I know and where there is a small dam.
Aunt Emmy is kind of hot.
Seems like road trip season at CC. No chance for US-like road trips in little Israel but after the 6 Day War my uncle decided to tour the newly acquired Sinai Desert and quite an epic trip that was – the roads were basic at best and you could still see loads of deserted Egyptian army vehicles everywhere. And he had the perfect car for the trip – a 65 Buick Skylark fitted with AIR CONDITIONING (!) which performed at Death Valley temperatures without missing a beat. Hear it is at some oasis with uncle, aunt and cousin (pic was taken by my father).
Ok, driving across a recent battlefield in gigantic heat and therefore possibly meeting one’s maker is assuredly worse than meeting a prospective new mother!
Any more photos of this trip (or further stories, for that matter)? I ask because this is like the trailer for a great story.
Adults sometimes forget what it is that things in their lives might mean to kids. I know I’ve done it.
That is a gigantic distance to be sittin’ knees up on vinyl, listening to wind roar and the moan of a six n’ Powerglide at sixty.