My father in 1961.
(first posted 6/20/2015) Doesn’t time quickly slip by? Having had the realization I can remember my father as being significantly younger than I am now, it seemed wise to lasso his automotive history before it slipped from my brain.
Prepare yourself: The list of his various steeds is lengthy, not unexpected for a man now in his 70s who for many years had a 100 mile daily commute to work. Buckle up; let’s go for a ride.
1946 Ford
How many people had this for a first car in the late 1950s? My great-grandfather gave a 1946 Ford to my father and my father’s cousin. They lived less than a quarter mile apart on two different properties out in the woods of Alexander County, Illinois, a county in the southern tip of the state that borders the Mississippi River on the west and the Ohio River on the south. My father soon bought out his cousin’s half of the car for $5.
My father would later sell the car and he gave half the proceeds to his grandfather. Part of this 1946 Ford remains as I currently possess the external sun visor. It is in surprisingly great condition from my having found it in a scrap pile of my grandmother’s in the late 1980s.
1956 Mercury
The proceeds from the 1946 Ford went toward the purchase of a 1956 Mercury after my father graduated high school in 1961. He was going away to further his education but needed to have transportation. Sadly, this Mercury did not provide reliability.
My father said his Mercury was the lowest trim level Mercury for 1956 and its only option was an automatic transmission. He also states it was extremely hard to start. One weekend as he was preparing to leave for the three hour trip home, the Mercury was being temperamental and the engine refused to fire. A classmate had an idea: He would use his Dodge to push my father up to speed. Then, once up to speed, my father would drop the car into gear and he would be good to go.
When they hit 50 mph, my father said he dropped the Mercury into gear. With a loud “BAM!” the car started and he did not shut it off until getting back home. That weekend the Mercury went away.
1962 Ford Falcon
This is what replaced the Mercury in 1962. Purchased from the upstairs storage area of Ford Groves in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, this baby blue Falcon embodied the thrifty motoring concept Ford advertised. With two doors, the 170 cubic inch straight-six, and a three-speed manual, this car had a radio and heater as its only equipment. This car was quite robust; a fuel stop once revealed the supplier had placed diesel fuel in the bulk gasoline tank. Unknowingly purchasing a tank full of diesel, my father drove the Falcon home as it coughed and smoked fiercely. It returned to the station without incident the next day so he could dilute the diesel with fresh gasoline.
My father drove this Falcon extensively as he used it for work purposes and the frequent traveling young bachelors are prone to do. However, a powerhouse it was not. One night the Falcon was unable to pull a steep hill covered in loose gravel. My grandmother’s neighbor came along and pushed the Falcon up the hill in his 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air.
1965 Ford Fairlane
By 1965, the Falcon had accumulated nearly 84,000 very hard miles. Heading back to Ford Groves, my father purchased a 1965 Ford Fairlane, a copper and black two-tone with a 289 V8 and a three-speed manual. To this day, he will not fully answer my question about why a 22 year-old bachelor purchased a new, four-door Fairlane.
The road to my grandparent’s house was at least five miles of crushed creek gravel regardless of path chosen. The day my father purchased his Fairlane, he had a flat tire in the time between leaving the dealer and getting to his parents house.
This Fairlane is also a reminder about the quality of exhaust systems. The muffler on this car rotted within two years. He kept the muffler bandaged up with tin for a number of years but by his own admission it did little to nothing for noise. By this time he had entered college for more career potential, money was precious, and such trivialities like mufflers could wait.
He kept this car until 1970 when it had 93,000 miles.
1969 Ford Fairlane
When my parents married in 1968, my mother brought her 1962 Chevy II into the communal property pool. Powered by a four-cylinder hooked to a Powerglide, it threw a rod through the side of the engine block on their wedding day after an aunt had mistakenly placed it in low and over-revved it. After the car received a different engine, it remained problematic and disappeared for a new 1969 Fairlane.
In news that shocked me, my father did cross-shop other brands before purchasing his Fairlane. What else did he test drive?
Yes, he purchased a Fairlane over a Charger. His argument was the Charger had a 383 and would have used a lot of fuel. While true, the 302 in his Fairlane was renowned more for durability than efficiency. My first car trip after being born was in this 1969 Ford Fairlane when it could have been in a 1969 Charger.
However, the Fairlane was the right car at the right time for my parents. Soon after getting married my father was drafted into the United States Army. With the military having been drafting college students, my father had signed a deferment to postpone any draft. After he graduated from college at age 25, he was drafted and reported to Ft. Leonard Wood for basic training.
He did not finish basic training. On Easter Sunday 1969, my father broke his hip during a drill. Uncle Sam patched him up, but his repairs did not allow for regular duty. Working on base with various office jobs, my father had the ’69 Fairlane with him and its two doors and automatic transmission worked out quite well for access, room to store his crutches, and drivability. From what I’ve been told, this car was rock solid and free from drama throughout their ownership.
1970 Ford F-100
Having bought a house and transitioning back to civilian life, the 1965 Fairlane was traded for a new 1970 Ford F-100 Custom, identical to the yellow one seen here.
At the time, Stout Ford in Mounds, Illinois, was literally a one-man show as Mr. Stout was owner, salesman, and mechanic. He kept few cars in inventory and would happily order you whatever you desired. In 1970 he ordered my father a yellow, 1970 F-100 with the 240 straight-six and a three-speed manual.
Ever see the movie Mr. Majestyk with Charles Bronson? If not, here’s a chase (in black and white and dubbed over the English) toward the end of the movie. Except for being airborne, the way the Bronson character drove this pickup wasn’t vastly different than how my father drove his pickup.
As a child, my parents built an addition onto the house, doubling its size. It was typical for my father to overload this pickup to the point of being deliciously obscene. 4,000 pounds of rock in the bed? No sweat, let’s add some lumber and bagged cement on top to save a trip later.
One Saturday I remember the rear bumper being about five inches from the ground. I thought its new accessibility was great and started to bounce on the bumper. I was quickly yanked from there for fear of the tires blowing out. It seemed pickups weren’t overloaded until something bent, broke, or blew.
Over time the old Ford was driven less frequently. In my memory, it never topped 50 mph due to a worn front suspension. It had 74,000 miles by 1985 when it was traded off. The body had rusted and fallen onto the frame, putting the shift linkage into such a bind one could not shift out of first gear. Jacking up the body and placing some shims in strategic areas, my father went pickup shopping. When he found one he did not negotiate with his typical gusto for fear of somebody looking under the pickup.
This was the first vehicle I ever drove.
1973 Ford Torino
Shortly after I was born in late 1972, the 1969 Fairlane had 95,000 miles and it went away for a new, base model Torino.
My father always drove this car like he hated it. Recently my father told he regrets having purchased this car. He had been eyeing a Ford Maverick due to his commute but Mr. Stout talked him into this Torino that was in his minuscule inventory. He purchased it shortly before the Arab Oil Embargo, in which price was the only affect in his area of the country.
This car was a disappointment due to its 12 mpg appetite at super elevated fuel prices. A wallowing pig, it would strain, wheeze, and moan to reach a top speed of around 88 mph. However, a broken timing chain was the only thing about the car that left my father sitting and he put 123,000 miles on it before selling it in 1982.
When I was eight years old, recycling aluminum cans suddenly came into vogue. I remember taking a bunch of cans with me to crush when we arrived at a grandparents house. Impatient, I started to crush them on the rear floorboard while going down the road. My father wasn’t expecting such a noise and thought something was wrong with the car. When he discovered what I was doing, my industriousness was squashed.
Perhaps my father’s disdain for his Torino rubbed off; to this day, I do not like any Ford Torino. Such a beautiful name was placed on such an ugly car.
1978 Plymouth Volare
The Volare was purchased as an addition to the Shafer Fleet in early 1979. My father was driving the Torino to work and leaving the F-100 with my stay-at-home mother. Upon her return to work in 1978 or 1979, some adjusting had to occur.
A leftover 1978 model, the Volare was now my father’s commuting car. Equipped with two-doors and a slant six, this was the first of many cars he would buy from Guetterman Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge (a dealer that soon hedged its bets by taking on Ford products) in Cairo, Illinois. Swathed in the same putrid brown as the Torino, this was a top dog of the Volare hierarchy. The nicer version was out of character for him but he likely got a screaming deal on it given the timeframe.
Early on there were some various ancillary issues that required dealer involvement but mechanically the Volare was great. The catalytic convertor was removed and it soon gained a few rust bubbles on the vertical surfaces of the trunk lid, but it never broke the paint surface.
Something about this car induced animals into committing suicide. Pigeons loved to kiss the front turn signal covers as both were often broken. It attracted dogs and it helped greatly reduce the local dog population.
The Volare also hid an unusual talent for stellar off-road capability. One night during a freezing rain storm, my mother slid off the road returning home from her job at the hospital. She took about twenty acres to loop through a recently tilled field on her way back to the road but it didn’t faze the car a bit.
It stayed around for 103,000 miles.
1981 Dodge Omni
With the Torino looking ever more sad and pitiful, one cold Saturday in January 1981 dad took his entire family to go car shopping. This entourage for car shopping was a singular event.
Returning to Ford Groves, he test drove a gray two-door Mercury Lynx with a four-speed and blood red interior. Dad wasn’t overly impressed. We then drove to Guetterman’s.
Sitting on the lot was a blue Omni Miser powered by a 1.7 liter Volkswagen engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission. Equipped with air conditioning and an AM radio, this was my father’s latest commuting car. At that time he kept fanatical records on fuel purchases and the Omni nearly always topped 30 mpg. It even achieved this on a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, for the 1982 World’s Fair. I suspect he still has the log book for this car somewhere in his man-cave.
I once drove this car when I was ten or eleven. I have driven every vehicle he’s owned since calendar year 1983 as his philosophy has always been if one’s feet can reach the pedals they are old enough to drive. Thank heaven I grew up on seven acres of property with a lot of county roads nearby.
My father’s list is long. Come back tomorrow for Part 2.
A very nice part 1 history of your father’s vehicles. These personal pieces are always among my favorite to read here at CC.
I Googled the Mr Majestyk film with the F100 – and found this gem in the IMDB Trivia section – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071866/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
“The Ford truck was not modified to do the stunts – it was pretty much box stock. Ford used clips from the film in TV commercials to demonstrate how tough their trucks are built.”
Pretty incredible given some of the driving in that clip
Personally of all these cars I particularly like the Torino for some reason, and the 65 Fairlane too
I remember this Ford truck commercial. FORD got a lot of positive exposure from this ad. Everyone was talking about it back then. It was so much more impressive than “The New Tundra pulled the space shuttle!” ad but then again Jan was most likely in charge of stunts when she wasn’t greeting people at the dealership. I miss those old Ford trucks.
Convergence at the end – my first car was an ’81 Omni Miser although I’m closer to your generation than your dad’s. and mine was ten years old and had already had at least one teenage owner before me (which at least meant a decent-for-the-day aftermarket radio, although she failed to ditch the whitewalls).
I was class of 61 and can relate to this. Enjoyable story and look forward to the next installment.
Love those old Fords.
My grandfather traded a 71 Ford LTD in on a Volare. Plymouth must have been targeting the Ford guys in those days.
Ah, I see the apple didn’t fall far from the tree after all. A bunch of Fords and then a VW engine at the end!
I’m looking forward to part 2, this was a great read. It seems that your dad kept a lot of his cars going for well over 100k miles, somehow I got the impression over the years on here that this was a quite difficult feat back in the day. A 100-mile-a-aday commute over what I assume are relatively lightly traveled rural-ish roads probably helped (?). With that length of a commute reliability (or a good mobile toolkit and the skill to use it) is paramount.
Hmm, I had not realized the similarities.
From what he has told me at various times, the Falcon was getting to be fairly sad toward the end, but he also drove it on all kinds of terrain and surface types. The ’65 Fairlane was also looking no so fresh by 1970.
I remember the Torino well and it was his first to go beyond 100k. And this goes into where my experience collides with the remembrances of others. Sure the trim and finish on some of the cars was less than stellar, but he has had very few mechanical problems in all the miles he put on these American cars. When I hear others talk about their American cars falling on their faces, it always leaves me wondering what the circumstances of use were, how maintenance varied, and how driving habits differed.
No doubt the long distance driving helped considerably with his cars, but some of them – particularly those in Part 2 coming tomorrow – weren’t all used as commuter cars.
My dad’s experience with reliability older American cars was very similar. Almost all of his cars were reliable, if anything in his younger years it was rust he had a problem with controlling. His early cars had some oil burning issues, but that was also after they had over 100K miles, so for that era it wasn’t bad. Later on he got very good at keeping cars in near showroom condition for long periods of time and kept several to close to 200K miles. He has never once had an engine, transmission or any other major component fail on any of his cars.
According to my dad, his most problematic cars were the 1960 Dodge, the 1971 Mazda and the 1979 Fairmont which was by far the worst offender. His most reliable cars were is ’72 Torino, ’76 Malibu, ’84 Parisienne and 07 Civic.
American cars back then were built rugged and could withstand abuse and neglect better than Europeans. Not to say that’s a good idea, though!
There is something you be said for strong, low-tech engines like OHV/pushrod inlines, V6s and V8s. That DNA ran well into the 2000s, in Chrysler’s Trenton 3.3/3.8 V6.
The 1978 Volaré Jason’s Dad owned marked the high point in the evolution of that car. There were bugs in the first year…mostly not in design, save for the propensity of the front fenders to rust, solved by 1978, and the much-vaunted A-bodies did the same, but definitely in assembly and workmanship (shades of Chrysler’s 1957s) which were shaken off. Their ruggedness, with long-lived drivetrains and strong bodies, came to the forefront. They did require regular measurement and adjustment of the front torsion bars, which tended to sag as they bedded-into their soft rubber “pivot cushion bushings.” That was a job that required a 12″ ruler and, if adjustment were needed, a box wrench and ten minutes if you were slow at it! I did it at each oil change. Otherwise, they could wear their front tires on the inside due to positive camber, and off-road excursions on rutted fields could be a problem!
Sounds like your dad treated his Ford F100 like I treat mine. Or maybe even worse, if that’s possible.
Great story. I love mini auto-biographies like this. One can a glean a lot about a person’s personality by the cars they’ve owned and their attitude to them.
The first time I saw pictures of your ’66 with its bumper nearly scraping the ground, I had some serious flashbacks.
A man of good taste in cars.Thanks for a great read.I really like the 56 Mercury,pity it was a dud.
Good story, Jason ! That’s quite a variety here…and part 2 has yet to come….Of this collection I like the 1970 Ford F100 most. Looks clean and capable, with a decent level of comfort for that era.
I think your dad is about my dad’s age. He’ll turn 73 in August. He started working at the age of 14, at the local feed mill. His daily commuters were bicycles, all his life. In the old days these bikes were mostly black, and all Dutch made. Practical, simple and durable.
(By the way: what’s the English name for braking by pedaling in reverse direction ??)
He has been on- and off-road his whole life. Yet never in vehicles he owned. Here are the ones I vividly remember, since roughly 1970.
Farm tractors: Hanomag, Deutz, Ford and Massey Ferguson.
Fork lift: Hyster, diesel.
Light flatbed trucks: Hanomag Henschel, Volkswagen T2 double cab and T3 single cab.
Vans: Mercedes-Benz T2 and T1, Ford Transit Mk3, Ford Escort 1.8 D.
Trucks: DAF A-series 4×2 truck, DAF 2200 6×2 truck, Scania 85 conventional 4×2 truck,
Scania 111 COE 6×2 truck. Finally a series of Scania COE tractors: types 92, 113, 143. The last one was the King. It had a mighty 14 liter V8, 450 hp IIRC, a sleeper cab and a steerable pusher axle. It towed a tipper semi-trailer with 3 axles (and 6 super singles) for grains, fully loaded about 110,000 to 130,000 lbs GVW.
He rarely drove the family’s cars, only longer distances on vacations etc. Thinking back he must have been about 35 years old when we bought our first family car: a used beige Simca 1100.
Coaster Brake. Pedal forward normally, then when done pedalling “coast” along with the pedals stationary (in Neutral basically), then push back on pedals to brake.
Thanks ! It’s called a “terugtraprem” in Dutch. Literally a “backwards pedaling brake”. I just knew that couldn’t be correct.
How does that word work – is terug like zurueck in German (back) and prem like Bremse (brake)? What is the tra part? Or do I have it all wrong? 🙂
Terug – trap – rem.
Terug = back, backwards, reverse.
Trap = from the verb “trappen”, meaning pedaling in this case.
Rem = brake.
That’s basically how the coaster brake works !
Nice writeup Jason ! .
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I’m a Chevy Truck Fanboi but those specific years of Ford pickups were like anvils .
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-Nate
Great read. My father is from the same generation as yours, probably within a couple years of your dad. He had quite a variety of vehicles in his lifetime, although as time progressed he got very good at making cars last a long time and keeping them in excellent condition (as you can see he avoided cars from the 1990’s all together). Some of his early cars turned into rusty oil burners, so by the time he could afford a new car, he was very meticulous.
His cars included:
1955 Chevrolet Bel Air 4-door 235 six
1960 Dodge Pioneer 4-door slant six
1965 Chevrolet Impala 2-door 230 six
1967 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova 250 six
1971 Mazda 1200 4-door
1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport fastback 400
1973 Plymouth Fury 318
1976 Chevrolet Malibu Classic 2-door 350
1979 Ford F-150 460
1979 Ford Fairmont 302
1984 Pontiac Parisienne 305
2007 Honda Civic 2-door (still owns)
2012 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible (still owns)
The Torino and the Malibu are the two that lasted all through the years. I own the Torino now and my brother has the Malibu. The Torino was my Dad’s first brand new car (which he special ordered) and the Malibu remained his daily driver until 2007. For all those years my dad always wanted a convertible but practical choices always took precedent. That finally came to be when he bought his Vette a few years ago. It’s kind of funny on father’s day weekend I actually have both his old Torino and his old Malibu in my garage and I drove both. It’s nice that now my son get’s to enjoy the same cars I did when I was young.
I enjoyed reading your story. And yes I got the mr. Majestic reference.
Enjoyable read its put me to thinking of my fathers list of cars, only a few would be familiar to the readership but not as many as listed here and with less make variety, bring on part two.
Great, great story. It is amazing the twisted web the human animal creates, and our transportation is just a tiny fraction of it in the grand scheme of things. Can’t wait for part 2 🙂
I enjoyed the tour of the Shafer driveway. The Omni pretty much overlaps the 1980 Horizon that my mother owned.
We car guys tend to idealize these old cars, and always imagine them at their best. One thing I enjoy here is hearing the stories of the lemons. Even the best models suffered the occasional dud, and the 56 Mercury fit the bill for your father.
Great Post, love the family anecdotes.
Love these articles! As an enthusiast, though, I’m always gobsmacked that some people just stumble into a car dealership and buy whatever is there without researching their very, very expensive purchase. I don’t even buy cheap electronics without checking CNET.
We are all the products of our era. I am almost exactly the same age as Jason’s dad. We knew the reputation of the cars that were available when we went to the dealer. Sometimes that reputation was wrong.
I promise you that research is easier today and it needs to be. There is much more available then there ever was before. The closest to this site was the letters to the editor of Hot Rod, C&D etc.
“Having had the realization I can remember my father as being significantly younger than I am now,”
That’s a slightly scary thought! I’m not there yet but getting there–my earliest memories of my Dad are of him at roughly my current age (34) so it’s not far off. Very interesting story though, and fascinating to hear about the purchases of someone who, it seems, almost always bought new but stayed at the reasonably-priced end of the spectrum. All my memories of family car-shopping are of used purchases; to this day my father has only purchased one brand-new car, a 1972 Nova coupe upon graduating college and getting a job.
Also interesting to hear of a base model Torino. It seems like all the ones that survived into my memory were “Gran” models; I wasn’t aware of the base-specific grille design until a few years ago.
Same here! It gives it such a different look.
I guess I missed this one in 2015, Jason—and enjoyed it a whole lot this evening. I don’t know how much of your Ford Guy status is inherited, but this is all fascinating. Perhaps I should do such a writeup for my father—perhaps more cars, but likely less “personality” than what you’ve given us today.
BTW, I’m reminded of my oddball soft spot for the 1965 Fairlane, with its one-year-only look. I imprinted on one ’cause the neighbors owned it, but haven’t seen one decades and decades…..
Thanks again!
Having owned over 100 cars myself shopping for them was often just the cheapest thing that runs ok or the most rego per $ to be found, it led to a wide variety of end of life and near death cars and also I taught myself awide variety of repairs some good and others were the temporay No 8 fencing wire variety Kiwis are famous for that become permanent because they outlast the vehicle.
I have always enjoyed your posts, and now approach them with the anticipation of a good story. This one did not disappoint.
Some observations – Your father was a very handsome man. He seemed to deal with life directly and did not overly worry. These are great attributes, which he seems to have passed on.
Could it be that the out-of-character Fairlane purchase had to do with a young woman? That is the most common reason why men do not want to talk about a matter, even years later.
The picture I get of your early years was of a rural life under wide-open skies; one that seems more and more rare. It is a great picture.
P.S. – a couple of tidbits.
I’ve read that Charles Bronson was a legit tough guy; he grew up so poor that he often went to school in hand-me-down dresses. Good reason to get tough!
Not sure how effective that Charger ad was. I suspect many male viewers (the intended audience) took a look at that ad and thought “What a thing of beauty; too bad that damn car is in the way!”
Thank you.
Where I grew up was sort of a mixture. The property was seven acres on the edge of a town of then 450. The county itself was predominantly rural although we lived ten minutes or so from a town, just across the state line, of 40,000 – the largest in the area.
If I had to guess the Fairlane was likely priced at a point he liked and the door endowment was beside the point. There are a few things in which he has no preference, this perhaps being one of them.
I know most all of my fathers cars except between my birth in 1953 and 1960 when a big Dodge Seneca came home. I know of the car he got after returning from Japan in 1946 and the one he let get away from him in 1949. Living in New York, where he was born, he learned of what you could call a barn find for New York City. Stuffed in the back of a long garage was a 1938 Dusenberg that he wanted to buy and talked to the owner who was selling. It wasn’t big bucks back then, and he could manage it, but something got in the way and years later he lamented about the one that got away.