There’s no doubt that cars have gotten a lot more durable in recent decades. And there’s also no doubt that a good many folks did trade in for a new one every three years. But was that “every three years” mantra a common reality, or a self-serving marketing ploy like Jiffy Lube’s 3,000 mile oil change intervals, or drinking eight glasses of water a day? When I think back to say 1962, and the cars our neighbors and friends around us in Iowa City were driving, it makes me wonder…
Sure, there were newer cars around, but not so much the rule. I was a bit surprised that when we arrived in Iowa City in 1960, that the head of the EEG laboratory at the University Medical Center drove a 1955 Chrysler, and his wife a 1949 Plymouth wagon.
And when I think of where we lived in 1962-1963 or so there was the neighbor, who was also a doctor, middle-aged and no kids, who drove a 1956 DeSoto. And the older couple around the corner drove an immaculate 1957 Ford. And the folks next to to them, also a University family, drove a 1955 Olds. And there was a 1950 or 1951 Dodge around the other corner. And a ’53 Chevy on the other side of the block.
My teacher in 1963 drove a ’54 Cadillac. One of my two best friends, another doctor’s family, drove a ’57 Chevy wagon. The other, a successful food wholesaler, drove a ’56 Ford wagon, which still looked almost new. And another friend’s dad, also a professional, drove a small-window VW (’57 or older). And I often caught a ride to school in a ’55 Chevy sedan. And so on…I felt rather surrounded by a world of older cars. No wonder I’m so obsessed with them. Where were all the new ones?
Oh, right; across the street there was a brace of almost new 1960 Pontiacs. They rather stuck out, now that I think of it; two brand new cars. In a good way, from a kid’s point of view, but I was aware of them being a bit different.
All anecdotal evidence; and this was a medium-sized university town, and folks didn’t exactly live in their cars like today. But here’s the thing: I don’t remember much or any rust on these old cars. Iowa City didn’t use salt back then; people either walked to work or school on snowy mornings, or they plowed though it. The snow plows came around eventually, but I have no memory of salt being spread. And I don’t remember anyone feeling like someone was a pathetic hick for driving an older car. Maybe things were different elsewhere. What do you remember?
I grew up in Midwest farm country (but I wasn’t born until 1977) I can’t remember cars being traded all that often. The people I knew usually started looking for something different when their cars hit 100,000 miles. The amount of time it took to get there depended on the person. I don’t remember anyone thinking less of folks and their old cars.
Good question. At my house, the first new car was a ’55 Stude, then a ’61 Ford convertible, ’65 Mustang hardtop, ’68 Ford XL hardtop. They kept the XL for 15 years. Then an early-80’s Chrysler, finally a 1990 LeBaron, which they kept 21 years until Dad stopped driving. Second cars included a ’67 Fiat 850 Spyder, ’61 VW in ’68, ’70 Maverick, ’73 Pinto. Summarizing, three to five years through the sixties, then far longer.
We can learn a lot about this question by looking at the old photos showing up regularly in the Hemmings blog, and in sites like Vintage Portland. This one from 1965 sure doesn’t look anything like new-every-three. But that’s downtown, upscale suburbs might look different. (And don’t forget about Tom’s Wednesday series right here at CC.)
Where I grew up in Jennings, MO – a St. Louis inner suburb – not the majority. Our community was working-class to middle-class on our side of the tracks and lower/working class on the other.
We were the “poorest” on our street, due to dad’s disability – we never lacked the necessities – but nobody seemed to have a lot of money in those days. Even a friend who’s dad had a good job working for Wagner Electric and lived only two blocks away in a newer house, drove a 1961 Rambler that he didn’t trade until 1966 for a stripper Buick Special I chronicled a few weeks ago.
Wifey’s family lived in Florissant, MO some distance away, a community that really experienced the post-war boom and people were a bit “richer”, if that’s the right word. Her father DID trade every three years and had the first color TV in the neighborhood. They lived the dream. I only dreamt it…
When I was growing up, my dad traded in our cars on a brand new car every three years, like clockwork. That is, until 1985 when he traded in our 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera on a USED (gasp!) 1982 (gasp!) BMW 528e that I saw at our local Ford dealership. They kept that car for at least 15 years until they passed it down to me… and it is still sitting in my driveway today.
Oh yeah, the 1982 Cutlass Ciera (early editions were just called Ciera). Another one of GM’s initially-poorly-executed ideas that turned loyal American car buyers to imports forever. They got better after some years, but boy was the 1982 utter crap. I should know, my dad worked at an Olds dealer when these things came out…
My experience growing up in a close-in Pittsburgh, PA suburb was that those who could afford to do so (and racked up the miles) would trade up every 2 or 3 years. People like us who didn’t put on the miles (my father had passed away and my mother was a substitute or full-time teacher, depending on the time frame) didn’t drive very far on a daily basis. All of the schools, shops, etc. were close. Plus when it snowed and the salt was piled on, schools would sometimes (though not always) close, and the car would stay put in our garage. We took longer vacation trips only every 3-4 years, and only 1 or 2 states away at most. The upshot was that we kept our new cars for 6 years.
But there were a lot of people in our area who simply couldn’t afford a new car, so all of those trade-ins would be snapped up by them. My uncle, who had a low-level job in a steel mill, was one of them. Around 1960 or so, cars built just after WWII were still fairly common, though usually not in the best shape because of rust. Said uncle had a ’48 Dodge, then a ’51 or so Pontiac, followed by our own ’55 Chevy when we moved up to a ’61, and then a ’60 Ford, all used cars. (Our Chevy had only 30K miles when he acquired it — that’s the one we should have kept forever!)
There were a few people who kept their cars for a long time. One of my grandmother’s friends had a ’51 or so Plymouth Cambridge that she drove until at least 1967 (the friend’s husband didn’t drive). My grandfather on the other side of the family kept his black ’51 Chevy sedan until he replaced it with a snappy new 1964 Rambler American 2-door hardtop. (Boy, was I surprised when I was walking home from school in the 6th grade, and he stopped to give me a lift!) Both never drove all that far, and much of their driving was discretionary.
Exception to the rule with my relatives in Missouri – my late Great Aunt had a ’53 Mercury Monterey bought new and was still driving it up through the early 1980s before she couldn’t drive anymore. I wanted that car (50th anniversary Ford product, Flathead V-8 with Merc-O-Matic) – that car was clean . . .
Believe her car went to her son (a distant cousin), who, knowing him, probably sold it for drugs. She also had a sharp red on red ’66 Mustang. I didn’t see either car again after 1985 . . .
My family was all over on this. My dad was a regular trader, as often as 2 years, but never more than 4. Always new, and by 1970, often leased. Others in the family were buy and drive for quite awhile. My mother’s 64 Cutlass was not replaced until 1972. In my white-collar neighborhood growing up, our 8 year old car was one of the oldest around.
One neighbor would get a new car every 3 years, but would keep it for 6 – the former good car became the older car and a new good car would be bought. It was unusual to see cars more than 5 or 6 years old in our neighborhood – until the teenagers started driving.
Almost nobody in our family bought used cars. An aunt and uncle bought a 64 Galaxie in 1967, and they were one of the few people I knew at that tender age who bought used cars. That same year, my grandma got a used 64 Catalina, but then 2 years later, traded it on a new 69 Catalina.
Maybe my family upped the average. First, dad had a company car. Remember those? I think he got a new one yearly because he was a sales manager and drove customers around.
Secondly, he was a salesman and had a lot of friends. And it seems to me he always bought slightly used cars for my mom. They were always less than a year old and we hardly every kept them a year. Maybe he liked trading them or had a friend who was a dealer. I don’t remember EVER any maintenance being done, but I was a little kid and it could have been done at school.
My grandparents kept their cars for about 5 years and I thought that was WEIRD. I remember my friends went through cars like water too.
I was thinking about my parents cars. I was born in 1965 and my dad died in 1981. I don’t remember his early company cars, but he always had a company car. So, by year, here is what my parents drove:
1968 Company Car (cc) and mom’s sedan that we put in neutral and blocked the street
1969 Company Car (cc) and a silver Chrysler Station Wagon
1970 Company Car (cc) and blue GM Station Wagon
1971 Company Car (cc) and white Oldsmobile Delta 88
1972 Company Car (cc) and dark green Pontiac GrandVille (we had this for 1 1/2 years)
1973 Ford LTD Brougham (cc)
1974 Lt. Brown Oldsmobile 98 (cc) and I just can’t remember
1975 Burgundy Cadillac Coupe De Ville D’Elegance and Dark Green Lincoln Continental
1976 Orange/White Chevy Silverado (cc) and Blue Chevy Truck (cc) and White Nova
1977 Silver Ford LTD II (cc) and Light Blue Plymouth Satellite
1978 Silver Ford LTD II (different one cc) and Very Light Blue Olds Cutlass Supreme (first new car for mom since 1956 Chevy, and she had this through 1981)
1979 Ford LTD Boxy Yellow (cc)
1980 Ford LTD Boxy Blue (cc)
1981 Chevrolet Caprice Yellow (cc)
Plus we had two Ford Trucks that dad won as football pool bets as 3rd vehicles. One was an old work truck that had a camper and he won on a football bet where you have the 100 squares. The other was a extremely used Ford truck that the bed was completely rusted through. He won this on a bet and then won another bet that he could get it started.
John,
We the same age as I was also born in ’65, but very early in the year though.
I think it largely depends on what your parents did for a living and how much they made as to whether they bought every year, traded every 2-3 years or kept their cars longer or bought new or used.
Though it is generally agreed that most older cars up through the 70’s, generally could not last much beyond 100K miles, if that so the old addage of replacing your car often was probably more common then than now.
But I know that a lot of people would simply take their 2-3 YO car and turn it into a second car and buy a new primary vehicle and finally sell the older vehicle when it was 5 or 6 years old and the now used newer car becomes the second car and so on.
It was very common at one time to consider your car at 50-70K miles to be largely used up, today, that’s still considered low miles and with plenty of years of use left in it.
My parents being lower middle class at best, military until my Dad’s retirement in ’71 meant we often kept our cars for a long time and mostly bought used though they have bought new on occasion.
I grew up in Houston in a middle to upper middle class neighborhood and the economy was doing very well. So that probably accounts for some of the quick trades.
My first car was a 1970 model in 1981 and if I think of my 16 year old friends and their parents, the oldest next car I can come up with was a 1978 (except for 3 antiques in great condition).
But yeah, cars didn’t last back then at all. I know most cars ended up at the junkyard when they hit 100,000 miles.
Even my grandmother’s LTD – once it hit about 60,000 miles she was scared to go to the grocery story in it and she took really good care of it.
Silverado. Loved this truck as a kid.
Boy those long LTD IIs were UGLY!
This car was fantastic brand new. And it fell apart very quickly. It really turned me against GM. I was a big GM fan boy before this car.
These LTDs, to me at the time, looked so much better on the outside. But they were plain jane vanilla on the inside.
The question to me is not why did AMC fail but how did they stay in business?
My first car was a ’68 Chrysler Newport custom, the 4 door sedan, sadly, not a hardtop.
I barely had it 2 years before I had to scrap it. Rare disc brakes and one of the pads slipped out of place and the rotor got badly scored and no replacements were easily obtainable in 1983.
Love that old land yacht though.
All of the rest of my cars were compacts or subcompacts, well, except for the Ranger truck.
Our neighborhood was a new subdivision just outside of a small college town in southcentral Pennsylvania. We moved into our house in January 1967, and our car was a 1959 Rambler wagon. It was traded a year later for a used 1965 Chevrolet Bel Air wagon. Let’s just say that, even as a kid, I was relieved when the Rambler went away.
Most people didn’t trade every three years, but I do remember a fair amount of brand-new cars in the neighborhood, and your car did indicate your status. Which was why both my mother and I hated dad’s 1973 AMC Gremlin, which was bought as a year-old car in 1974.
Our next-door neighbor had a brand-new, dark blue 1969 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight convertible. I remember thinking that it was quite a car even then.
But there were whispers of a drinking problem and spousal abuse, and then his wife divorced him that year. The Oldsmobile soon disappeared and was replaced by a clean 1957 Ford Custom 300 sedan. I remember that causing a fair amount of comment among my mother and other moms in the neighborhood…at that time, driving a 1950s car, even in good condition, was not a good thing from a status standpoint. The house was sold in 1971 to a Mopar family with a brand-new 1971 Dodge Coronet, which was soon joined by a 1972 Dodge Polara sedan (which, at that time, I thought was the ugliest car I’d ever seen). They later bought the first 1977 Chrysler LeBaron in town.
The family of my friend across the street had a baby blue 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix with the eight-lug-nut wheels when we moved into our house. I still remember riding in the back of that beauty and marveling at the console and heavy use of interior chrome. It was replaced by a brand-new 1968 Impala Super Sport fastback with a floor-mounted four-speed and the hot engine (can’t remember which one, but I do remember a rumble that was quite unlike that of our 1965 Bel Air). I spoke to his dad the other day and told him he should have held on to those cars, and he said, “You’re telling me!”. The Impala was later replaced by a loaded, lime green 1976 AMC Hornet Sportabout, which was followed by a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. His father was a car enthusiast.
My friend up the street had a father who was a double-dipper – a retired U.S. Army colonel who worked at the local army depot. His mother was the head librarian at the nearby state university. They were the one family who replaced a car every 3-4 years for BOTH spouses.
His mother’s 1965 Ford Mustang coupe was replaced by a 1969 Mustang Grande, which was followed by a 1972 Ford Pinto Runabout (with air), a 1977 V-6 Pinto Runabout and finally a 1979 Mustang V-8 hatchback. His father drove a 1967 Dodge Coronet 500 sedan, which was replaced by a 1971 Chrysler Newport sedan, followed by a 1973 Chrysler Newport sedan, and finally a 1978 Ford Thunderbird. His parents retired to Florida in 1980, and I assume that they are long gone by now.
The retired couple across the street from us had a 1965 Dodge Polara sedan for him and 1964 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass coupe for her. This was followed by a series of coupes – a 1969 Pontiac Catalina, 1972 Ford LTD and 1977 Buick Regal – for him, and a 1973 or 1974 Dodge Charger SE for her. He died in the early 1980s, and she drove a K-based Chrysler LeBaron until she died a few years ago.
A friend’s family on the next street bought a 1968 Chevrolet Malibu Super Sport hardtop coupe when they moved into their house, which was followed by a 1972 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Luxury Sedan.
All of these cars were bought brand-new (except for ours!).
The one exception was the family of my friend who lived in the apartment complex near our neighborhood. His dad was studying for his doctorate while he worked. They drove a 1960 Rambler station wagon and 1960s VW Beetle. These cars were later replaced by a brand-new 1970 Ford Maverick and a used 1966 Ford Galaxie hardtop sedan (it may have been an LTD – I remember the interior having the “panty cloth” material). The Maverick was replaced by the first 1978 Plymouth Horizon in town (a complete lemon) and the Galaxie was replaced by a used 1970 Mercury Marquis hardtop sedan (a really plush car, and a tough one, too).
One thing that sticks out in my mind was how rare 15-20 year old cars were as daily drivers. In the late 1970s, an elderly woman had a 1950 or 1951 Ford sedan as her daily driver. The man who did a fair amount of handy work for my grandmother drove a mint 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook sedan. One family drove a battered 1959 Dodge Custom Royal hardtop sedan. At that time, those cars stuck out like a sore thumb in our town. Today, people drive cars from the early or mid-1990s and no one really notices.
That is probably more than anyone wants to know about the car-buying habits of residents of one Pennsylvania small town during the late 1960s and through the 1970s!
Well, for what it’s worth, I conducted a little survey in the summer of ’74 during a long road trip from PA to CO and back. Somewhere out west (Kansas/Nebraska?), I kept track of the model years of cars approaching from the opposite direction on I-70 or I-80 (as a passenger of course). Now, we’re talking about an era somewhat later than that of Paul’s and my early childhood. Also the survey would be biased because old beaters would be less likely to be driven on the interstate than newer cars, at least for people who were multi-car owners. A second bias is that 1973 was the all-time best model year for sales up to that time.
Anyway, fully half of the oncoming cars were either 1973 or ’74 models! Try the same today (if you can even identify the exact model years); 2011-12 models would make up only a tiny fraction of the total.
In the summer of 1973, my family drove from Pennsylvania to Disney World in our 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 Holiday sedan. I remember thinking that we were about the only people on the interstates who didn’t drive a 1972 or 1973 car!
I was especially envious of the lucky souls who were driving brand-new Colonnade Cutlasses, Regals, Monte Carlos and Grand Ams. If my father had come home in a brand-new Cutlass Supreme or Salon, or Grand Am, I would have thought I’d died and gone to heaven!
Envious = Colonnade.
Now THAT’S funny!
Zackman may not like the Colannades, but we thought we were the cat’s meow cruising out to Colorado and back in our ’73 Monte Carlo!
Geeber, I remember the summer of ’73 the same way! Went on some road trips and many new 72/73 big cars, middies, and station wagons cruising along at 70 mph.
Went to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and seemed like 1/4 of the cars were 71-73 Canadian Pontiac Laurentans/Parisiennes.
We had a ’68 Plymouth Fury wagon, and I kept bugging Dad to get a new Caprice Estate wagon. Who knew the end of cheap gas was literally months away?
Chicagoland, the sad part is that in September 1974, we did buy a 1973 car – a 1973 AMC Gremlin, which turned out to be THE worst lemon either my parents or I have ever owned.
My parents bought it to replace the 1965 Chevrolet Bel Air wagon and to “save gas,” but the Gremlin really wasn’t very efficient with a 258 I6 and automatic. At that point, I wanted either a Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme or a new-for-1975 Omega hatchback with Oldsmobile’s trademark styled-steel wheels.
My parents traded the 1967 Oldsmobile for a 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Holiday hardtop, and the Gremlin didn’t get any better gas mileage than the 1976 Oldsmobile.
My Dad had a 51, 59, and 64 base Chevrolets, all traded with low miles (under 50K) and rusted and tired looking. Not very many people I knew had brand new cars in the 50s and 60s. My friend’s family had a mid 50’s Nash, traded it on a used 64 Chevy wagon. Our next door neighbor bought a 69 Fury to replace a 61 Dodge.
A guy up the street had a 61 or 62 Cadillac, bought when several years old. A co worker of my Dad had a new 59 Cadillac that he kept until he died, probably well into the 1970’s. All in all, in my town, new cars were only seen with the wealthy. Ordinary people bought a new car and kept it for years.
There was always some older gent who had a mint old car, as today. In 1969, I recall drooling at a 49 2 door Cadillac sedanette with a very old guy at the wheel. An emerald green with sombrero hubcaps and WWW’s, it was a beautiful strange sight. Some years later, around 1980, I saw the car at a body shop that did restoration work. It was for sale, I believe at $ 4,000. The guy told me the interior needed redone; he had put plaid seatcovers on the torn seats.
For my opinion and experience, trading every three years really didn’t occur. Wear and rust out determined the trade in time.
One item I forgot to mention. It seemed that married lady school teachers had the best cars. When about in the fifth grade (1962), I recall teachers driving a Electra 225 conv, Olds Dynamic 88, and an Impala SS coupes, all new. That two income family made quite a difference. Plus, the ladies were likely married to professional men, not factory or store workers.
Brings back memories of a teacher I had in high school. She was in her early 30’s, about as good looking on the eyes as you could get away with back then and still keep your teaching job. Her husband was a district manager with GM. Which means this mid-30’s fox (think Phil Spector girl groups and add ten years) was driving a Corvette Sting Ray to school every day.
The “old days” for me were the ’70s and early ’80s. My parents kept their cars for a decade before trading them in, but my Dad’s friend Mr. Harrison bought a new GM B-body (usually an Olds) every three years like clockwork.
Not sure if he was exaggerating, but he claimed that since he knew he wasn’t keeping the car, he never did any maintenance — not even oil changes. There were no “certified used cars” in those days, which means someone most likely got stuck with a sludged engine each time they bought one of his trade-ins.
That story stuck with me and is one of the reasons I’ve always bought new, not used (and then driven them into the ground: 246,000 mi. and counting on my current car).
My dad was in the automotive parts business and until he got older and business declined, he traded often. After WWII: a 1947 Lincoln V-12…. terrible engine problems, follwed by a 49 Buick Roadmaster sedanette (sharp!), a 50 Buick Super sedan, a 51 Cadillac model 62 sedan, then a 53 Cadillac 62 sedan. Not sure why 4 cars in 4 years! Next a 56 Caddy 62 coupe, bad problems, then a 57 Caddy coupe de ville (as shown). Things got tougher; he kept the 57 until a 1965 Chrysler 300 4dr hardtop, then a 73 Chryler New Yorker Brougham….etc.
Most Lincoln V-12 owners (Zephyr models on) – especially those who had those gorgeous Continentals – a majority of them went with ’49-’51 Lincoln (Ford Truck based) flatty V-8’s or Cadillac/Olds or Lincoln OHV units. I remember my scoutmaster’s neighbor had a ’41 Continental with a postwar Lincoln V-8 under the hood.
My grandfather had one of the more transparent car buying patterns:
1956 Chevy
1959 Chevy Impala
1963 Chevy Impala
1967 Chevy Impala
1970 Chevy Impala
1974 Chevy Caprice Classic
When he passed away in 1977, my grandmother bought a 270Z. With a manual. Go figure.
Sorry, meant to type 280Z on above comment.
My Dad followed the three year pattern for many years:
66 Galaxie 500
69 LTD
72 Montego
75 LTD
78 T-Bird ( Heritage model )
81 LTD
All bought new, and all but the 81 were two-door models.
When we lived in St Claire Shores (‘burb of Detroit) my father drove to work (the Ryerson offices must have been vaguely near downtown, but no clue now) and my stay-at-home mother needed wheels for errands. As I recall, we had:
54 Olds sedan
56 Poncho sedan
58 Chevy wagon.
Typically, the older car was passed to my mother. The Poncho disappeared somewhat before we moved to a suburb of Chicago on the train line to the Western Ave Ryerson works. So, my father seldom needed a car and my mother’s driving was lessened.
63 Chevy wagon
66 Mercury Monterey (the breezeway beast)
70 Poncho sedan set up for towing a tent trailer
72 or 73 Chevy Nova hatch. (my sold the trailer after my father died and didn’t need the somewhat unreliable Pontiac. Not that the No-va was any better.)
At this time my mother got remarried and I moved to California and lost track of the cars. As I recall, the last ones were a 90-ish Taurus wagon replaced by a late-90s Lumina that my mother still has and seldom drives (she’s 89).
I tried to keep cars longer. Record short time for keeping a car was the 02 Focus ZX5, kept 18 months, since we needed a 4WD truck. Record long was a Toyota pickup kept 17 years. Current cars/trucks are 98 and 03 trucks, and a 12 Forester.
Relatives in Northeastern Missouri, while I was a kid growing up in the 60s/70s seemed to trade their cars every 2-3 years, yet, my immediate family and most of the town I grew up in (San Rafael, Cal). kept their cars even back then 5-10 years. As a kid we had a ’55 Pontiac Chieftain 870 (traded in January ’66 for a leftover ’65 Dodge Custom 880) and a ’61 Pontiac Catalina Safari (traded in Sept. 1971 for a ’71 Olds Custom Cruiser). I grew up in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood and most of the neighbors had cars it seemed 5-10 years old . . . . If I turn back the clock, circa 1977, in our neighborhood there was a: ’68 Mercedes 280SE, a ’71 Chevelle, ’62 Chevy C-20, ’74 Corolla, ’65 Olds Cutlass, ‘ 71 Olds Cutlass, ’55 Dodge Royal (Poly not a Hemi), ’66 Fairlane coupe, ’64 Plymouth Belvedere, ’69 Pontiac Custom S, ’68 Cadillac Sedan de Ville and a ’69 Chevy Impala coupe. in ’77 my Dad had the Olds Custom Cruiser, my step mom a ’72 Plymouth Scamp. As you can see, these weren’t brand new cars.
My parents usually kept vehicles til well over 100K, but Dad always got the new car. Mom was relegated to whatever used car was purchased for her.
1958 Chevy Impala – new, was issued a state car in ’62, sold the Chevy.
1966 Ford Country Squire – new
1972 AMC Matador wagon – new, traded the Squire for it, drove it til 1981
1981 Ford F-100 – new
1984 AMC/Jeep XJ Cherokee, new, traded the F-100 for it.
1985 Ford F-150 – new, drove it til 2000
1997 Ford F-150 – used, drove it til 2007
2006 Chevy Silverado – used, still has it
Mom’s cars
1966 Pontiac Tempest – used, 4 door, OHC 6, radio delete, had it til 1979, junked.
1967 Plymouth Sport Fury – used, only had it a few years til the frame cracked in ’75, junked.
1972 Mercury Marquis (Brougham of course) – used, junked in ’85… whatta car.
1991 Mercury Sable – used, traded the Jeep for it in 1993
1999 Ford Focus – used, traded the Sable for it. Still drive it today.
Neat car trade chronological history. As I mentioned, my Grandfolks and Uncle were the ones who traded every few years. From the time I can remember my Grandfolks (not counting 2nd vehicles which usually were trucks) had a:
’58 Plymouth Belvedere
’64 Dodge Custom 880 (first of their cars with a/c)
’66 Dodge Monaco
’69 Chrysler New Yorker (twin snorkel police 440 with dual exhaust)
’74 Ford Country Squire
’76 Ford Granada
’81 El Camino (a primary vehicle for awhile)
’86 Mercury Grand Marquis (my Grandmother’s last car).
The Uncle had:
’62 Dodge Lancer
’66 Dodge Coronet SE
’71 Plymouth Gran Fury Gran Coupe
’74 Ford Country Squire (Grandma’s car sold to him after her Granada acquisition)
’78 Plymouth Fury Suburban Wagon (the epitome of Chrysler’s bad 1970s spotty quality)
’85 Olds 88 Royale
’92 Caprice
’97 Grand Marquis
’98 Grand Marquis
’00 Grand Marquis
’02 Grand Marquis (the last car he had – he passed in 2002; my Aunt still has this car).
Both Grandparents and Uncle did a lot of driving as is/was necessary in rural N.E. Missouri, so if the car was a few years old at trade time, they usually had 50-60K on the clock. . .
I’m trying to think of what cars the neighbors owned when I was a l’il kid…and all I can remember is a ’57 Olds…this would’ve been about ’60-’61. I was 3-4 years old.
We moved around a lot, my dad “went where the work was”, and where it wasn’t, was my birthplace of Butler, PA. Dad was a foreman for a number of slag companies, and he usually drove nicer cars for much of my childhood. I don’t remember that he ever bought new…they were usually a year old.
1961 – ’60 Ford Sunliner…didn’t keep it long, traded the following year…
1962 – ’61 Chrysler New Yorker. We were living in Wayne, MI in a new subdivision, on a double lot…and I walked to school. 2 memories of the New Yorker that stick out:
– Racing his BFF Lew after midnight on a Detroit expressway. Lew was driving a ’62-’63 Buick or Olds (don’t remember)…Dad won, although he broke the speedometer cable in the process and never fixed it.
– Wanting more fuel economy, he disconnected the secondaries on the 413…said it would get 20 MPG highway after that.
1966 – we moved back to Butler PA and the New Yorker was traded for a ’65 Plymouth Fury III 4-door sedan. Dad called it a gas hog, and since the only available job in his field was 50 miles away in Youngstown OH, the Fury gave way to a green ’65 Bug…which lasted about a year driving those 100-mile round trips between Butler and Youngstown. During this time frame, Mom got a ’60 Valiant…I only remember it for a couple years. But at 6 years old, it was the oldest car we’d had to that time.
1967 – After the VW wore out, it was traded on a ’65 Mercury Park Lane Breezeway sedan. The Merc was a much more comfortable ride than the Beetle…but for a kid like me the Bug was more fun. It accompanied us to Niagara Falls, Canada in 1968-70 before being sold north of the border. We were moving to Vermont, to the house where my mom grew up…sacrificing $$ for a different way of life. Now our family automotive choices were all over the road…
1970 – ’64 Chevy II wagon 6-stick. Dad bought it from Uncle Ken in Butler, it had been Ken’s 2nd car and an unusual choice in retrospect as he was a big-time MoPar guy…’60 Plymouth, ’65 Dart, ’66 Coronet, ’68 Polara…the last three were all bought new or close to it…he also owned a rather cool ’64 Tempest 2-door with a stick…I think that was Ken’s work car.
1970 – they bought a ’69 Buick from my grandpa – Mom’s dad – in Vermont. The Emerald Green paint had fallen off the passenger’s side rear door for some inexplicable reason. Dupli-Color to the rescue!
1971 – Dad bought Uncle Charlie’s ’58 Chevy Fleetside, more bondo than sheetmetal and it had the no-flame 235. But I learned to drive on it!
Anyway when we lived in Butler in the late 60’s, Lenny, living across the road and searching for enough fries to make a complete Happy Meal, bought a new ’66 Belvedere II. Black over yellow…and a Hemi. Don’t know what kind of job Lenny had…must’ve been a good one to replace all the parts he scattered across PA 38. Two years in and he was on his third engine…a 383 after the Hemi and a 440 were done in by his hooning, plus a litany of 4-speeds and rear axles.
The Johnsons next door had a ’66 BelAir wagon that for all I know was bought new. The family on the other side of us…I only remember the black ’64 Impala SS 283 4-speed one of the sons owned…he was a hooner too but not anywhere close to Lenny’s league. Down the street from Lenny, Johnny’s dad owned a ’60 Dart – yes the full-size one – and I think it was a two-door sedan.
In Canada, we lived in a mobile home park…most of the neighbors drove newer cars as I remember…from a new ’69 Mercury pickup to a yellow ’69 Corolla. Among the older cars were a ’64 Buick Wildcat and ’63 Olds Starfire.
Vermont was all over the road…lotta imports, like today. Older cars too as long as the bodies could be maintained with all that snow and salt. Oil undercoating was a necessary way of life. Did I mention it’s stinking expensive to live up there?
Today, our newest car is the wife’s ’05 Subaru Outback. I drive a ’97 Blazer with 265,000 miles (only original mechanical part is the transfer case…I’m debating whether to fix the small rust-and-dent damage or look out West/South for a nice one with a bum engine. Yes I like it that much and it walks thru snow like few vehicles I’ve ever owned…a necessity when your job is “radio personality”.
I’ve owned exactly two new vehicles…an ’85 S-10, a GM Greatest Hit in my book – and an ’88 Corsica epic fail. The ’14 Impala looks enticing…and I’m hoping my wife doesn’t want to trade her ’05 Outback for the new butt-ugly-and-heavier-than-the-current-generation-but-has-the-same-engine-and-notorious-CVT Outback. But her BFF at work’s husband is the GM at a Pittsburgh Subaru store. And the dealership’s been good to her on the more-often-than-expected repairs the Subie has needed.
All that said…I’ve owned a ’54 Chevy in 1975-76…a ’57 Chevy 1979-85…’70 Monte Carlo in 1988…and currently own a ’91 Caprice that my 20-year-old son is now driving and wants to buy from me.
See the pattern?
I know the point here is the old adage of trading every three years…but with my mish-mash upbringing from solid middle-class to working class across several states and two countires…for me it was all over the road. I do remember an 1940 Pontiac ad in an old newspaper I’d discovered…
“Built to last 100,000 miles”.
Now if it can’t go at least 250,000 my feeling is it’s a POS.
Funny – everything is opposite today. Back then, hubby got the new car and wife got the hand me down. My extremely wealthy great uncle bought himself a Buick or Olds and always got the wife a Chevy.
Now, I always give my wife the new car. She carries the kids around. We use hers on the weekend. My car was for mind numbing commuting. (Until 2011 when I couldn’t take it anymore and bought my Mustang).
A curbside classic topic I would love to see: How BRAND LOYAL were people then vs. now? I have to admit my parents almost always bought GM cars (other than company cars). My grandparents on both sides preferred Fords over GM. One side hated the rust through back windshield on GM cars (because they were insane and kept them over 3 years :>). None of my family or friends were Chrysler people and I only knew of one AMC.
I am not brand loyal at all. I have owned almost every major brand.
But I look at the comments above and so many people back then were incredibly brand loyal.
Very few Aotearoans bought new cars on a regular basis thru the 60s 70s for the simple reason they were not readily available import restrictions kept supply down and demand up and punitive finance laws made new cars unaffordable for most Kiwis.
My dad was one of the few exceptions being company secretary at a GM dealership meant he had access to new cars and from 64 when he traded his 54 Velox on a new PB Velox he bought a new car every 2 years maximum. Demand for near new cars meant he made money on every sale and a couple of times his boss actually sold dads car without his foreknowledge as it was the only one they could get. Dad would just choose something from the used car selection to run untill a replacement arrived from the assembly plant. No we werent rich far from it but Dad had access to cars,
The queue for new cars in NZ didnt disappear untill the flood of used Jappas happened in the late 80s but even then NZ new cars without all the extras commanded a premium because you could get parts and trust the speedo reading.
I can’t believe CC started an article about trading in cars. I was thinking about a neighbor of ours who traded frequently when I was a child.
When she moved in to the neighborhood in 1975, she had a 1973 or ’74 Buick Electra Limited, all black, and I remember riding in it a couple of times.
Then, 2 years later, she bought a 1977 Sedan de Ville, all black.
Then, 2 years later, a 1979 Lincoln Town Car Collector’s Series. How she went from an $11,000 Cadillac to a $22,000 Collector’s Series I have no idea. She seemed to go double in cost each time. Maybe before she passed away she had a fleet of Rolls Royces.
My father was a salesman for Socony Mobil. As such he travelled the wollen mills, shoe factories, and even milk producers (they needed wax for paper cartons) in New England. His specialty was “process products”, or any of the products that Mobil made that were used in the production of “stuff”. He put about 30,000 miles (48,000 km) yearly on a car, which in the early ’50s was a lot. So he bought a new car on a yearly basis. I would enumerate such cars, but it just dawned on me that this would make a most excellent COAL. Keep posted.
My dad was pretty religious about a 4-year cycle, which lengthened a bit in later years. He himself had company cars which traded every two years, then switched to every three years. Our family cars (which mom drove mostly) were a ’55 Oldsmobile 88, a ’59 Ford Galaxie, a ’63 Mercury Monterey Custom, then in 1967, a ’65 Lincoln Continental, a 1971 Lincoln Continental, then the cycle skipped two years for a 1977 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, which we had until his passing in 1980 (mom kept driving that one until 1993). He would begin to get itchy about two and a half years into the cycle, and he would start visiting all the car showrooms, much to my delight. The family cars usually never had much more than 20-some thousand miles on them, and my mother would complain that the current car was only nicely broken in, we couldn’t afford it, we don’t need a new car, etc. etc. But dad was relentless, didn’t want to lose value any more than four years worth, so the current model, whichever one it was, would be consigned to the trade-in lot. My dad, being a sales manager, loved the interaction with car salesmen, and he would haggle with them endlessly. Back in the day when you could bring a new demonstrator model home for the night, he would show up periodically with some new model, and my mom would scream bloody murder. Once he came home with a new 1960 Thunderbird, and mom went ballistic. “You take that thing right back,” she would say, but my brother and I loved it, you never knew what he would come home in. “Dad, can we keep it?” we would chime in. There was the ’62 Cadillac which I’ve written about before, and a ’62 Impala SS one time. A few years later, it was a 1966 Lincoln Continental, all of these invariably invoking the same response from exasperated mom. But in car crazy L.A., dad kept on in spite of the bad karma from mom (btw, she would usually acquiesce to the inevitability of dad’s ways). Me, not so much. I’ve tended to keep my cars much longer, just hate the new car purchase experience. Fun memories!
Growing up in the Maritime provinces, salt (and a lot of dirt roads) were the real killers. Even as a child in the 1950’s I don’t remember seeing cars in town that were more than 8 or 9 years old. So it seems the opportunity to keep a car for a long time was pretty limited.
Our first car was 1954 Nash Canadian Statesman, bought used from a neighbour in 1957. Rust was already appearing, and by 1960 there was a hole in the floor by the driver’s seat and the occasional weed growing through the door sills! By that time our family circumstances were improving, and we traded it for a new 1960 Falcon wagon.
From then on the trading cycles were 1963/1965/1967 for my Dad’s car and 1964/1967 for my Mum’s (she got the Falcon in 1963).
How did people afford it? Housing was much cheaper in those days of course (not to mention smaller), and people didn’t travel as far and as often as they do now. There was no extra virgin olive oil or organic beef in the supermarkets, and I remember a lot of frozen vegetables and hamburger variations on the home menu. Eating in restaurants was truly a special occasion.
Aside from a washing machine, a TV, and maybe a ‘console stereo’ in the living room, there wasn’t much else to spend money on.
Sounds like a very similar upbringing to that of my own, Canada in the 1960s and early ’70’s. Plenty of Depression era children around, people who know the value of a dollar! I can’t recall how often I ate potatoes one variation or other, hamburger and frozen peas. It was at least twice a week.
I was in a nice white collar neighbourhood in Quebec as a child and any car over five years old was a total head scratcher. Cars rusted to bits at Warp Speed in those days. My dad tried for four years but his cousin, who worked at the same place, traded his car every three years.
Cars in real terms are cheaper now than they were in 1965. Imagine the depreciation on a $4000 Impala new in 1965. You’d be lucky to get half of that after two years. That $2000 is $14,600 in today’s dollars, or almost $7500 a year. That is a lot of dough in depreciation. Compare that to my Honda Fit, which I paid $15,000 for and sold three years later for $11,000.
My parents bought new-to-them cars very infrequently, and only one new car ever, a ’68 Impala SS. Every other car or truck has been used. My mom passed away when I was in high school, my dad remarried a few years later, and he and his new wife have also not bought any new cars since then (20 years now). Let’s see if I can catalog them:
1968 Chevy Impala
1960 Chevy Stepside pickup
1973 Ford Torino (terrible car but they kept it for about 8 years)
1972 VW Beetle
1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser wagon
1989 Chevy Silverado (eventually crushed by a falling tree (!) and replaced by a…)
2007 Chevy Silverado Z71 4×4
198x Toyota Camry (stepmom’s)
199x Toyota Camry (also stepmom’s, also crushed by the same huge tree, replaced by…)
200x Acura TL
OTOH, my wife and I have generally bought new cars lately, although we started off with used:
1987 Honda Civic wagon (rear-ended and totaled)
1987 Chevy Caprice Classic wagon (replacement for the Civic)
1995 Saturn SL1 (first new car)
1998 Saturn SC2 (new)
2003 Subaru Outback H6 wagon (bought new, still have, my daily driver)
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300D (no longer have)
2006 Mini Cooper S hardtop (hers, also new)
2011 Mini Cooper S Clubman (hers, replacement for the 2006)
Her dad was a retired Army Command Sergeant Major, and in his retirement, liked to drive a new car every year, so that’s what he did. That probably accounts for our more frequent trades to some extent, especially of her vehicles. But she makes a nice living, and this is how she rewards herself.
My parents certainly weren’t in the new-car-every-three camp, though a couple times they came close out of necessity:
Mom’s first car was a Renault Dauphine. When she rolled it just before my parents got married (it had much worse handling than a first-gen Corvair) they got a new ’58 Volvo named Eric the Red.
In ’67 Eric was getting a bit long in the tooth so they replaced it with a new Saab 96 2-stroke wagon (‘Sonja the Saab’). It had horrible electric problems, and when the tranny “fell out’ less than 5 years later they went domestic for reliability: a brand new Vega wagon (named ‘Vera’) (with predictable results).
In another 5 years my sister and I were too big for the Vega’s back seat and the oil problems had returned (after a warranty rebuild), so they got a ’77 B-body Impala wagon. ( ‘Irma’) That took them through some great road trips and then my college years, when they downsized again into an (unnamed) Escort wagon.
I recall very well the 1937 Ford coupe the orchestra director in my high school drove for a number of years. What I don’t recall was any of my friends trading more often than they had to. Possibly the small town 2 lane blacktop type of driving kept things going longer than most.
My family was pretty poor. Until I went into the Navy and my sister married two years later, I can’t recall a car less than 10 years old. I am embarrassed to say that as a teen with my own income from a job, I had a newer car than my folks. I don’t know about the mileage but Dad kept them till they were liable to break. I recall him and my brother in law changing rod bearings in our driveway.
My cars from 1958 to 1962. 47 stude, 46 chevy, 53 Ford (X3), 55 Ford, 57 Ford. Wound up giving my folks a car after I grew up and understood life a little better. Too soon old. Too late smart.
Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s it seemed to me that some folks just got new cars more often than others. Some folks bought “new” used cars frequently, some bought new frequently. It seems the same today, except the cheap and poor can get away with it for longer because the cars are better.
A good friend of mine and fellow civil engineer is reknown for his tightwadedness(extreme frugality is fairly common in civil engineers by the way). A few years ago, his wife totalled (again)her car and he responded by buying her a CRV with “only” 88k miles and they proceeded to drive the wheels off until last year when he realized that the car was a sh*tbox that couldn’t get them to the grocery store reliably, much less to Florida for the Disneyworld vacation he finally got enough Disney visa points to make it free(he doesn’t take his family on vacations other than annual beach and ski trips that involve his parent’s timeshares). To everyone’s shock and every local Toyota dealer’s distress, he actually went out and bought (after about a month’s shopping)a new Toyota Highlander Limited. I would bet real money he will keep this car until it’s at least 15 years old. Having a newer, safer, or reliable car just isn’t important to him if he has to pay for it.
I tease him for being cheap and endangering my God daughter’s life by running tires to baldness on his sh*tbox and he teases me for buying a new car every 2 to 4 years and wasting even more money by replacing expensive tires with more expensive tires when half the treads left.
Different strokes for different folks.
We were middle, middle class in Louisville, KY. Yet from ’57-’65, my father had a new Buick every year (actually an Oldsmobile in ’64). My mother didn’t drive until my Senior year of high school (’63) when she got a Plymouth Valiant slant 6 with push-button torque flight (?) (go figure). Guess he drank for the GM coolaid. Some day I will write my car purchases, BUT normally 100k+ miles and then something to replace it. Currently a ’74 MG-B, 2007 BMW X5 4.8i and a 2012 Subaru Imprezza (the ’04 Forester literally blew up last year and we need a 4 wheel drive to leave in Co in the winter) in the garage.
My dad had a 56 Chevy, 63 Chevy, 67 Ford, 69 Ford, 72 Ford, 81 Subaru, 86 Accord, 92 Taurus and who knows before 56. All but the 72 were 4 doors. All the Fords were his sisters cast offs that he give her a bit more than the dealer in trade. He was smart enough not to buy the 75 Maverick and 81? LTD II.
My father was cheap. I remember the 69 had rusted through behind the drivers side back wheel well. His fix was a beer can (steel) cut up and bent flat , pop rivets, bondo + a spray can of more or less matching paint.
The 67 Ford he sold to a coworker who bought it for her son. The son within a short period of time more or less cracked it in half when he went a bit too fast over a railroad crossing. The salts corrosion had done the frame in.
Me, I keep them until they blow up or get totaled. The last 3 Hondas lasted 6 years, 10 years and 12 years.
Yes they did, every 2 years in fact. My dad’s parents traded in both their cars every 2 years for new wheels. It was considered fairly normal for them. They were a thoroughly middle class family too, not wealthy, living in suburban Toronto. Of course that was the 50s, 60s, and 70s. My dad has totally changed his purchasing habits. Now he drives reliable Japanese cars until the wheels fall off or the repairs get too pricey, usually about 12-13 years and 420,000 kms.
Since I seem to have started the query, I guess I’ll chime in. Of course, there will be some bias. Being the son of a Chevrolet dealer 1950-65 tossed two obvious biases in there: what’s acceptable to drive, and living in the rich suburban school district (Westmont Hilltop in Johnstown, PA) had me seeing things a bit different.
Obviously, if you couldn’t afford a new car every three years, you didn’t. But in Westmont, you could tell who had cars ten years old and older – the hired help. I chuckled a bit at the previous story of divorce, spousal abuse and an Olds 98 being replaced by a low end ’57 Ford. Yep, those were the social ‘graces’ I can remember as a child.
Teachers in the ’50’s were incredibly low paid (and made up for that by having ‘careers’ in teaching rather than just ‘jobs’) so are probably the worst examples of someone in a white collar job and what they drive. My father hated selling to teachers, as they’d fight you for every nickle on the deal. I always figured this was one of dad’s quirks until I discovered a high school teacher had bough a new AMC Ambassador with the standard air conditioning, ordered it with the ‘delete’ on the A/C, and then had an aftermarket unit installed in the car – because the aftermarket unit was $15.00 cheaper. Never mind that it hung under the dash, cut into legroom and looked ugly as hell. He saved $15.00.
Going into downtown Johnstown, the cars were poorer, of course, although I remember it being a real red letter day for me when I saw someone driving something older than ten years old – or finding (I’m talking early 60’s here) someone driving an orphan nameplate. Never saw anything pre-WWII being driven at that point.
From my biased vantage point, though, the big thing I saw was the push on the part of the car industry selling hard on the ‘three year trade-in’. This was a big part of dad’s business, and he’d often admit that the three-year types were a major part of his sales. After dad left the dealership we still roughly kept to the three year schedule (which I considered a comedown after two new cars every year) going into the mid-70’s when it started to change. By the 80’s, I never knew how long dad was going to keep a car.
Something to keep in mind: Especially in auto blogs, you’ve usually got a large population that takes pride in keeping cars for long periods of time. Watch that the modern attitude of frugality doesn’t color what you’re seeing 50-60 years ago. People were just as different as were their cars compared to today. And . . . . . . in real money, cars were more affordable back then. Nobody would have considered a 5-6 year car loan. You were talking 2 years tops, and still had to come up with a major part of the purchase price as cash on the table.
And with all that, I still have the feeling that it was easier to buy a new car in 1962 than it is in 2012.
According to AAA data, the full per-mile cost of owning a car has come down over the decades. It was 9 cents a mile in 1950 (83 cents adjusted). Today, it’s 60 cents, for a typical sedan. And the variable costs have come down even more. The purchase price of cars then might seem a bit lower, but the depreciation was pretty brutal, which of course reflects how much a longer lifespan cars have now.
What’s changed is that other things have gone up dramatically (education, health care, etc..), but car ownership has been dropping over the long haul. Which of course explains why car ownership is so much more prevalent. Who doesn’t have a fairly-functional car toady, unless they chose not to? Back then, not always so. Ask Michael Freeman; he grew up without cars in his family.
Readng all these comments really makes me smile. Those around my age appeared to have similar circumstances as either I or families I knew.
Whenever we get back to the St. Louis area and my old buddies and me I get together for beers and food we’re probably no longer encouraged to eat, the talk invariably goes to cars and the heaps, bombs and junkers we used to drive and work on.
I don’t know who bought all those glamourous hardtops, convertibles and sports cars, but it wasn’t anybody we knew, that’s for sure. Where we lived we had to go to the nearby mall or shopping center or to a car dealer to see those rides and drool all over ourselves at those fortunate enough to afford them.
Years later some of us picked up those glamour rides used…
We may be buying a new car in the next few weeks – 8 years between new cars. Perhaps our last new ride.
Our “professional” (engineer) family (the old man) traded cars every five or six years. But his was a different take…like others here, he was a German immigrant and conscious of spending for spending’s sake. AND…for some years, he was in a sales-related position and got a company car. Every two years, a new one.
In any event, he cared nothing for status. We didn’t entertain or worry about social standing…and his sales was industrial. An engineer selling industrial goods to engineers.
Others in the neighborhood…most of them traded at least one car every two years. Typical was the family with the “good” car, that got turned in every two years, and then the “other” car…in this case, a 1956 Bel Air, rusted out over the headlights and in other places. When that car went away, it was replaced by a 1963 Fairlane, than a 1963 Olds 88. And finally (the Energy Crisis hit) a Pinto.
Well-paid blue-collar workers in our little community, did tend to trade every year. A lot of them worked in the Cleveland Engine Plant for Ford…and got the “A” Plan price. Many more worked in the Chevy plant two miles away, also employee pricing.
And…ya just about had to. Cars didn’t hold up.
We gripe a lot today about the price of new cars today…but they last three times the miles and five times the calendar life of cars in those days.
To get a really definitive answer to this question we’d have to consider both new car sales and total car sales — and probably some kind of industry estimates of how many new car sales involved a trade-in.
I suspect that it went something like this. An affluent segment of the marketplace traded in every one, two, or three years, with wealthy luxury car buyers more likely to trade more frequently. Less-affluent buyers (or thrift-minded shoppers who preferred pre-owned cars) didn’t necessarily buy that frequently, but whenever they did, enough people were trading in that there was usually a ready supply of late-model used cars to choose from.
I believe there’s a comparable situation in the U.K. today. Because a lot of people who have cars there have them through their employers, at any given time there’s a fairly sizable glut of two- or three-year-old, newly off-lease models on the market. (That shows up in really shocking depreciation rates for anything that’s expensive to run — except for high-end Germans, six- and eight-cylinder cars can shed two-thirds of their value in only three years.)
I think these tiers are still there today. I’ve never bought a new car, nor felt the need to, because there is always a healthy supply of clean 3-year-olds coming off lease.
One difference from the old days is that the people taking a bath on owning a new car for so little time aren’t necessarily wealthy. The overselling of leases means almost anyone can pay $300+ a month for the car of his aspirational dreams. The cheap old Mainer in me remains shocked at how many young people drive Lexii or 3-series here in the city.
My experience of childhood cars here in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 70s pretty much matches Bryce’s, but without the access to new cars.
No way most people would trade a car until they had to, as the motor trade had everyone over a barrel!
Although NZ was a wealthy country, car imports from post-war to the mid-80s were restricted. So we had a repair infrastructure with near-Cuban levels of ingenuity to keep old cars going.
I can remember boxy 20s Model As and Chevs still used daily – much patched and bodged though.
My Dad, a builder, saved up till ’63 and paid cash for a black 55 Ford V8 2 door Ranchwagon. In NZ these came in only 3 bodystyles (Customline sedan, Mainline ute and the wagon) and one stripper spec (almost no chrome) so Dad brush-painted a bright red stripe where the Fairlane chrome would have been, to cheer it up. He kept that till the late 70s.
Our neighbours had a Humber 80 (a badge engineered Hillman Minx for the NZ market) and then a rare (in NZ) 2-door Mark 1 Ford Cortina.
My best friend’s Dad (a school-teacher) had a ’52 Ford Zephyr 6 and a split-screen Morris Minor sedan. We went on holiday with them in convoy and the Minor blew up mechanically so we ended up all crammed in the one car.
A teacher at school with a big family had a mid 30s Vauxhall limo of some sort in appalling, sagging-in-the middle shape. Mr Opie, who seemed as old as God, had a beautiful early Citroen DS19 (UK-built with the walnut dashboard weirdly at odds with the futuristic everything else) .
As Bryce said, a reforming Labour Govt came in ’84 and threw the market open to anything from everywhere and it all changed within 2 years!
Growing up in suberbia in the ’50’s and 60’s my parents traded cars every two or three years; my dad worked for General Motors so perhaps we were more affluent than others in the neighborhood. Digging through my memory a sizable number of our neighbors drove their vehicles considerably longer, I simply don’t know if they were being frugal or
simply couldn’t afford to buy new cars on a frequent basis.
I grew up in the 1960s and ’70s. I lived in a very average, middle-class neighborhood; my father was a police officer. Our neighbors were regular working people, though some of the kids I went to school with had parents who were more professional types, but about the percentages you would expect. We never had a new car, and I don’t recall many of them being around, with the exception of kids whose fathers were salesmen. They were the ones who got new company cars every two or three years.
My grandfather bought his first new car right out of college (mid 30’s plymouth convertible) and never bought a used car, which I found to be an incredible story when I first heard it as a kid and wanted to do that myself. I realized how totally unrealistic that was for me when I was old enough to start buying my own cars. I was in my late 20’s before I could have possibly bought a new car, and didn’t actually buy one til I was 40 and got my beloved 2011 Mustang GT.
I’m a little fuzzy on what he had after that up to 1955, I think 2 or 3 other cars. My grandmother wrecked one. In 1955 he got a V8 Chevy sedan. He and my grandmother only ever had one car at a time, because he taught at a prep school in a small town and could walk or bike to work. After that they had:
62 Buick Special
69 Ford LTD
77 Pontiac Catalina
86 Pontiac Bonneville (custom ordered with V8 and all interior options, but with blackwall tires, plain hubcaps and no vinyl top. He wanted plain on the outside, nice on the inside to discourage any break in or theft)
92 Ford Crown Vic (in 1994 from a recently deceased neighbor’s wife, only used car he ever bought)
So he made up for buying new by keeping them for several years. He died in 97. My grandmother had to quit driving in 2000 and she gave me the Crown Vic. Very nice and only 24k mi, but I didn’t need the car and sold it. I’m glad I never bought a new car when I was young cause the cheaper cars in the 80’s and 90’s pretty much sucked. I liked my older used cars a lot better!
My parents only bought one car new. (1963) That car lasted 6 years – longer than we had any used car. Dad’s preferred method seemed to be to buy a used car that was 2-4 years old and drive it about 3 years.
Contrary to popular mythology not everyone was a DIY type back in the day. Dad’s complete collection of tools was a bent straight blade screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a wood handled hammer. Needless to say, Dad didn’t do auto repair.
But if Dad bought a 2-4 year old used car every 3 or so years, someone must have been buying the new cars that became used. If Dad -and just about every other father in the neighborhood- bought a “new to him” car every 3 years, someone out there somewhere must have been buying the genuinely new cars.
I do clearly remember that new cars weren’t that common (though not unheard of) in our neighborhood, but cars were traded frequently – every 3 years or so. It was just as unusual to have a really old car as a brand new one.
Our family, large and Catholic (redundant, I know) had nothing but wagons. But other families had interesting transitions, for no discernible reason.
One year the childless neighbor couple traded their VW bug in on an Electra 225. One extreme to the other.
Another family had a brace of used Dauphines, for about 6 months. They also had a Corvair, and Invicta, and one of the first PU/camper combos I’d ever seen (mid -1960s)
There was a new Mustang in the ‘hood, in ’65. It was only around for a few years.
I always enjoy running across the fot of the green Cad.. I think mid fifties US cars, and particularly the GM products, had styling comtemporary designers out to consder. The tall, three bbox design, with some attention to rounding, is passenger and truck friendly, and easy to look at. No clutter.
My grandpa did a trade every two or three years or so. With only one exception, in my lifetime, it was always Nashes-Ramblers-AMCs. The exception was his last car — a ’66 Dodge Coronet. My dad was a three-year trader, too, but I knew him only to buy lightly used, never new.
My family had a tendency to do ten year stretches starting in the early 90’s.
Dad
1991 – Lincoln Mark VII (replaced a 1986 Conti that he traded in with 100k, father kept it until it had an accident at around 170k)
2001 – Lexus ES 300 (father kept it until he passed away in 2009. It is now one of my finance vehicles.
Mom
1992 Acura Vigor – My mom would rag out cars like crazy and then give it to one of my brothers who would kill it through neglect and crap.
2002 Toyota Camry – Only had 80k. She moved to a condo when Dad passed away. It drove fine. But she wanted something nicer to take her girlfriends out in since she had dinged the heck out of it. I bought her a…
2012 Toyota Camry XLE – Florida gold (a.k.a. beige)… as long as she’s happy.
Me
1994 Toyota Camry – Kept for 12 years and 239k miles. Sold it. Just rediscovered it’s existence. It is still on the road with close to 300k miles.
2001 Honda Insight – Bought for $4096 three years ago. automatic. It nearly got me 70 mpg’s on a drive down to South Atlanta the other day.
Good Brother
1984 Toyota Celica Supra – Brand spanking new. Kept it for 12 years (I think). Major rust issues since he went to medical school in Chicago. sold it with a bit less than 100k due to chronic electrical and rust issues, and has leased cars through his business ever since.
1994 Toyota Camry Wagon. His wife kept this for about 12 years. Gave it at 140k to the bum brother. Bum brother kept it for 6 years and 12k miles before I had it traded in when mom got her 2012 Camry.
My parents have always bought a new car and drove it till the wheels fell off. When I was little my parents had an 89 Olds 88 and a ’77 AMC Gremlin. The Gremlin was replaced in 87 by a Plymought Voyager and the Olds in 90 by a Honda Accord (but my dad kept the Olds around as a third car for 8 more years). In 97 the Voyager was replaced by a Dodge Grand Caravan and the Accord was replaced in 98 with another Accord. The Accord lasted till this year when it was totaled while parked infront of my dad’s office. The Caravan was replacd in 2011 by a Ford Fusion.
When I started driving I bought used cars. I’ve only bought my first new car, a 2012 Mustang because I could afford it. Otherwise If you buy new it only makes sense to me that you should drive it till the wheels fall off and replace it. You get your money’s worth out of the car that way.
I grew up in a military family (Air Force) until my Dad retired in 1971, I was in the first grade when he did so.
Then he went to work, briefly for a property realty company and then for the state of Washington for a few years before finally settling into safety and risk (risk management) with the Tacoma School District in 1976 through retirement in ’91 so we didn’t always get to have brand new cars all the time and tended to keep our cars a few years.
Whether new or used, Mom always had the nicer (generally) cars. When they got married in 1954, they had a used car, don’t know what but in 1955, bought a brand new red and white Mercury Monterrey that they drove until 1961 when they knew they were being transferred to Europe (Germany, then Scotland), they replaced the aging Merc with a gently used ’60 Dodge Dart Seneca 2 door sedan to take with them to Germany and then when they were transferred back to the states in the spring, early summer of ’64, they shipped it back along with all their stuff. Sadly it sat on the deck of the ship and developed issues so they had to replace it.
They then bought a brand new ’64 Dodge 330 wagon with factory air and the slant six while in Jacksonville staying with my Mom’s relatives and her mother. They kept that car until 1977, selling it with lots of miles (over 140K) and rusting away and by then, we’d been living in a middle class neighborhood and were by no means the only family with used cars, some older, most just a few years old. When we moved in, in early 1970, neighbors were still driving a ’65 Chevy Impala wagon (in plum no less!), which got replaced with a used ’71 Buick wagon but most of us in that neighborhood tended to buy either very late model used cars or kept the car bought new for a good while. My Dad mostly drove Gov’t GSA (general service administration) auction cars, beginning with a ’66 Belvedere (I think) that had a piston collapse and the rest were a series of full sized sedans from the GSA until 1982 when he bought the Fairmont and later the 83 Chevy Citation as his cars. Mom had the wagon, then a 70 Plymouth Fury III sedan, a ’72 Gold Duster, a ’76 Vega wagon, then the Buick, which got replaced by a 2 YO Honda Accord SE-I in ’87 which was replaced with the 91 EX Accord which they bought new, the rest were all purchased second hand except for the Buick.
Of the new cars my parents had over the years, the ’55 Monterrey, the ’64 Dodge, a ’76 Honda Accord, ’83 Buick Skylark, ’91 Honda Accord (EX sedan no less) and that would be the very last ultra brand new car they’d buy as the ’95 Chrysler Concord was barely a year old when we bought it used and my Dad would pass away in 1998 and Mom bought a 2 YO Honda Accord EX with leather that she ended up replacing in 2005 with a yo Dodge Stratus that she still drives today and will likely be her last as she’s 80 these days.
I’ve never had a new car in my life and the newest have been 8-9 YO when I bought them, lowest miles on them may well have been the 78 Fairmont, as I honestly don’t recall what its mileage was as it was a pretty unforgettable car otherwise.
The ’83 Civic was 9 YO with just under 113K miles on it, the ’88 Accord was 10 when I got it and it had I think 123K then, the ’92 Ranger truck was 14 YO when I bought it and it had 189K on it then, I had to get rid of it as it was dying with 237K nearly on it. The Mazda I have now had 110,680K when I bought it in January as a 9YO vehicle, it’s almost a decade old as it was built in I think Dec of ’02 IIRC and it now has 114,200 something thousand miles on it already.
Does anyone out there remember their Dad saying, “Once a car hits 50,000 miles it is done!”? Well, growing up I can remember those words all too well. I grew up in Rhode Island where I still live. We were a middle class family and my parents owned their own business. My Dad drove station wagons for the business and my Mom always had the “nice” car. The wagons would get some heavy use. He would keep them until they started needing major repairs. Dad was a car person and got stuck with the wagons! My Mom (even though she had nice cars) on the other hand thought cars were a “waste of money” and would fall in love with whatever she drove. We would have to beg her to consider trading them in! I’ll give you a rundown of what I rode around in growing up:
Dad’s Cars:
1969 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate – Ironically it was yellow and a real lemon – he traded it 2 years later
1971 Pontiac Grand Safari – Rust color, 455 V-8, clamshell tailgate, special ordered – Dad hated the auto climate control A/C and vowed he would never order it again!! LOL (and he never did!) Engine blew in 1976 @ 85,000 miles and he had it rebuilt and then traded it
1977 Chevrolet Caprice Estate – Dk brown, 350 V-8, special ordered – Engine ran great – the body was awful – it was rusting badly under the back windows after 3 years! Hubcaps often flew off that car as did moldings and emblems! Still have one of the rare “sport wheel covers” Dad ordered in Mom’s garage today. Feel like we had that car forever!
1982 Ford Country Squire – Medium Fawn Glow metallic with matching interior – Dad found it in classifieds with 5,000 miles in it – The owner needed a larger vehicle for his band equipment so had to sell the Squire. It had the Interior Luxury Group which Mom thought was too nice for a station wagon. It did make the Squire wagon almost Lincoln-like. I always wanted Dad to get a Ford product so he could have the cruise control on the Ford luxury steering wheel – and we finally did! He liked this car a lot; only complaint was it was underpowered. Said it got great gas mileage, though! I remember taking many trips in that car and thinking how nice it was.
1987 Nissan Maxima – WHAT? A FOREIGN CAR? Dad had about 80,000 on the Squire and the tranny was starting to get weak. A friend of his suggested he look at the Maxima wagon. Well this time the wagon is being left behind – he left the dealership with a brand new loaded GXE 4-dr sedan! Charcoal gray/gray leather. The first year he seemed to like it but I think he missed the American luxury. Kept it for three years until:
1990 Cadillac Coupe deVille Spring Edition – Dad’s last car. He wanted a Caddy before he died (in 1993) and got his wish. It was medium blue with a blue top and interior. Loaded to the max! It was on the showroom floor and he said that’s the one I want! (Made them remove the gold emblems for silver ones – thought gold was tacky!) Mom drove this car until 1998. It was a great car – reliable and luxurious.
Mom’s Cars:
1966 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible – White with black top and interior – I remember that car being huge and riding like a boat!! Also remember going to the drive-in in that car – Wish we had it today!!
1972 Oldsmobile Toronado – Gold with tan top and interior – my folks went in to buy a Cutlass and drove out in a Toronado! That was also a 455 V-8 like the Grand Safari – imagine owning those two cars today? The gas alone would kill you!! Went to see the tall ships in Newport in 1976 and the Toro broke down on the Newport bridge – front end axle part broke and it shook like it was going to explode! SCARY!!
1979 Buick Riviera – Charcoal gray with Silver top and oyster white leather – 350 V-8 – special ordered – Mom loved that car, but it was a staller – never could remedy that car’s stalling issue. It was totaled in 1985 and replaced by:
1983 Jaguar XJ-6 – Cobalt blue with tan leather – enough said about that one – electrical nightmare – Mom kept it around even after Dad died in 1993. She garaged it and sold it in 1996. She drove Dad’s deVille until 1998!
1998 BMW 528 – Cashmere beige with tan leather – Mom is driving this car today – it has 74,000 miles and looks brand new. Mom loves it and says she will have it til she can’t drive anymore.
So that is my parent’s trail of cars over the years. If Dad were alive today I have no idea what he’d be driving….maybe a new Lincoln or Buick, or maybe even another Caddy??
I grew up with the same opinion. At 50,000 the serious repairs started. At 100,000 the car was shot, used up, and would need a complete rebuild if you wanted any more service out of it. And if you were smart, you didn’t.
That’s always stayed with me. I traded my ’96 S-10 at 148,000, not because it was falling apart (quite the contrary), but because I’d never kept a car that long and was getting nervous. And I was getting tired of the car, too. That is the longest mileage I’ve ever had a car – easily double what I’d ever done previously.
My Porsche was bought at 116,000 (well, in my budget, you don’t find them in five figures) and is currently at 128,000 – I seem to have gotten over the nervousness, although I doubt if I’ll still have it at 150,000.
True, Syke. I currently am driving a 1996 Accord LX 5-speed with 208,000 miles on it. It runs like new and I know it will go well over the 300,000 mile mark. But every once in a while I still get that nervous feeling. I guess it is from growing up in a family where cars were traded before they hit 100,000 miles or if they started giving us some trouble. I guess my Dad’s comments will forever be in my head!!
There were people who traded every three years and people who didn’t. My dad did. He died when I was 8, but I remember asking why he got a car so often (we were working-class). He had 2 reasons: While you could get 100,000 miles out of a car, repair and maintenance costs really started to climb at about 40,000 (warranties were typically 12 months/12,000 miles).
The second reason: Inflation hadn’t kicked in yet. Car prices increased only slightly year to year. If you traded at the right moment (usually the end of your 36-month payment), you could keep your monthly payment the same and be in a fresh car. Sometimes he’d allow himself a year without payments and trade later. And my birth in 1956 changed the family budget. Dad did some downsizing:
Dad’s cars were a 1953 Olds Rocket 88 Coupe, a ’56 Mercury Montclair Coupe, a ’60 Ford Falcon 4-door and a ’64 Ford Falcon wagon. He died in 1965.
I had an uncle who felt the same way as Dad. His cars: ’55 Thunderbird, ’59 Thunderbird, ’63 Thunderbird Sports Roadster and (after a gap caused by Ford’s abandonment of T-Bird convertibles) a ’69 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. He died three months after buying it.
My mom, suddenly alone with a young son after Dad’s death,, moved us from L.A. to Bishop, California and the Falcon wagon went from getting 40 commuting miles a day to maybe seeing that in a week or two, but road trips to see friends in L. A. every six weeks or so would put 600 roundtrip miles on the odometer. It was much lighter duty than Dad’s L.A. commute, so maintenance and repair issues weren’t that major. So Mom kept the wagon. Besides, cars were now going up in price quickly enough that you couldn’t keep your payment level without adding cash to your trade. And Mom hated car payments.
By 1970, Mom had found a good job with the State of California and gotten enough promotions that she made more than Dad did. She bought a 1970 Mercury Monterey Custom Coupe and paid cash. She kept it 18 years, putting only 91,000 miles on the odometer.
In 1988, with grandkids on the way but 600 miles distant, Mom wanted a car she could drive long distances and not worry. She bought a new ’88 Honda Accord LX. It was the last car she ever owned. When she died in 2005, after moving to Phoenix to be with her grandkids a decade before, the car had 94,000 miles.
Me? I started out burning through cars; ’66 Falcon sedan bought used in ’72, new ’73 Pinto, new ’74 Capri 2.8, new ’75 Mustang II…but that’s when inflation kIcked into high gear. I kept the Mustang II for 40,000 miles, traded it in 3 and a half years for a leftover ’78 Toyota Corolla SR5 Liftback, held that for 5 years and 70,000 miles and then bought a new ’84 Honda Civic sedan, which gave 14 years and 144,000 miles of trouble-free service (and then some…I gave it to a friend who needed a car).
Dad grew up poor and driving a newer car made him feel like he “made it”. Being an engineer, it had to be practical. There certainly were no salted roads in Los Angeles. First one was a 1955 Pontiac 2-door sedan, followed by a 1959 Chevy wagon, 1963 Rambler wagon, 1965 Chevy wagon and finally a 1969 Dodge Sportsman van. After that, it was divorce and a succession of used “midlife crisis” cars, more interesting stuff, like the Continental and Tornado. The new cars were always financed with a two-year note and were traded in rather than sold privately or kept as second cars. Mom didnt drive.
Going over all these family cars (and enjoying them immensely) brings back a lot of family memories for me in the stuff dad and mom drove. And I can remember one from the mid-80’s that really drove a big lesson home for me:
Don’t hesitate to follow your dreams – and don’t cheap yourself out to the point of missing them.
Where this comes from: Dad, being a die-hard GM man, always considered Cadillac the ultimate. And he always dreamed of owning one. Not an irrational dream, he could have easily paid cash for one the day after he left the Chevrolet dealership. And every replacement car for the next twenty years. For twenty years he always dreamed Cadillac. And he always bought Chevrolet or Buick (with one Dodge Omni in there). Well, there were kids to put thru college (no student loans in our family – including little sister’s medical school), and dad just figured on too many responsibilities and just couldn’t bring himself to spend the money.
Finally, spring of 1986. I’ve been married six years already, little sister is not only a doctor but married two years earlier. Mom finally got on dad’s ass to quit quibbling and get himself that Caddy he always dreamed of. Even went with him to the dealership to pick one out (which she never did, she always drove what dad issued her, with some considering for her needs.) May 1986 and there’s a medium blue Sedan de Ville sitting in the driveway. I noticed that the old Sunday rides, a staple of our childhood had returned – the two of them, plus mom’s sister who had always lived with us.
November 1986 and mom’s dead. No warning, no illness. And dad couldn’t bring himself to touch that deVille once we were done with the funeral. He went back to driving mom’s Century Estate Wagon (which I eventually ended up with), and by April 1987 the Cadillac was sold. He never got enought time to really enjoy that car, and he never again owned a car that really turned him on. It was back to Caprices for the remaining six years.
If I ever sound shrill, either here or at TTAC, about not treating a car as a spreadsheet, this is why. My dad wasn’t a car buff, he was a car salesman. Cars were units to be moved. And when he finally got that one car that meant something to him, he waited too long.
Don’t let money get in the way of your dream car(s).
I totally agree with that Syke.
It’s easy to dream of doing whatever but never taking the opportunity to just do it. I’ve been dreaming of getting back to doing road trips, and thanks to the Mazda I picked up in January, I have done just that, not big trips as yet, but a road trip or 3 none the less.
While the Mazda wasn’t on my radar at the time, it turned out to be just what I needed, an affordable car with decent enough mileage and reasonable to fill up on my meager budget and so I can afford to do said road trips on occasion.
Plus, I love it for what it is, a driver’s car that is also practical.
Thanks, Syke. That was really worthwhile.
One other thing that’s probably worth noting, and that’s regional differences. In Los Angeles in the early 60s (even in working-class Inglewood), you’d see new cars on the street the week they went on sale (sometimes even earlier…offer the dealer enough and the official launch date goes out the window). Within a month of new model year introductions, it was tough to go more than a few blocks without seeing this year’s model of something.
I am born in 1964 parents born in 1942 – Only child – family lived in Queens, NY until 1972 when we moved to Long Island
This is informational – not bragging. My parents had tons of money even in the 1960s – a ferociously large house and pool. They retired recently. They never spent more than half of what they earned. Other than the Mercedes all of these are routine cars driven by people with 1/100 of their wealth. People with money do not spend it.
Now check out these cars
All are two door vehicles – All were purchased new
Dad 1962 Buick Wildcat – bought with the wedding money
Mom 1967 Buick Electra 225 (she learned to drive with that car)
Dad 1971 Buick GSX Skylark – a real GSX (replaced the Wildcat) – You may think that this car was money because it is expensive now – It was only 600 more than a regular Skylark with a 350.
Mom 1977 Mercury Grand Marquis Coupe (replaced the Electra) – quadraphonic 8-track sound
Dad 1979 International Scout II (replaced the GSX) – AM radio only!!!
Mom 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood Coupe (replaced the Marquis)
Dad 1994 Chevy S10 Blazer (replaced the Scout)
Dad 2002 Chevy S10 Blazer (he bought it when he found out they are no longer going to make 2 doors – replaced the 1994)
Mom 2010 Mercedes CL65 (replaced a 25 year old Cadillac)
It has been really interesting reading the cars that everyone grew up with. I guess I’ll join in.
My parents got married in 1958. My dad was trained as an engineer but was a born salesman. My mom was a nurse. When they got married, she had a 53 Chevy 210 sedan and he bought a used 57 Buick for their honeymoon. To Chicago – who hoo!
My folks kind of ran the gamut. There seems to have been a used 57 Ford wagon that was a lemon, then a 58 Ford Anglia and a 59 Karmann Ghia. Both got traded (I think) on a 61 Olds F-85 wagon shortly before the family moved from Ypsilanti, MI to Fort Wayne, IN. For awhile, we were a one car family. Then dad got a company car – 63 Bel Air wagon. Yes, now we had 2 station wagons. The Olds wagon got traded on a dark green 64 Olds Cutlass hardtop with bucket seats and a console – but no air.
The company Chevy wagon was traded for a white 66 Country Squire. My parents divorced in 1967, Dad kept the Squire and Mom kept the Cutlass.
Dad got remarried in 68 and my stepmom got a 68 Cutlass Supreme coupe. Dad got a new company car in 69 – an Olds 88 with air. I never understood that one, it was the only Olds he ever picked out for himself.
He left the company soon after and started life as a self employed management consultant. He picked a 69 LTD, then leased a 70 Mark III and a 72 Mark IV. He always loved his Lincolns, and believed that you had to look successful to be successful. Stepmom got a 74 Cutlass Supreme coupe, Dad got a 76 Mercury Monarch, followed up by a 78 Lincoln Town Coupe (my favorite of his cars). Then an 80 Town Coupe (my least favorite). Stepmom got an 82 Cutlass Ciera.
Dad started having health problems in 80-81, sold his company and got a desk job with a big company. Dad got a used 84 Continental sedan, stepmom got an 87 Tempo, then a 90 Acura Integra. Dad had an 88 Taurus, then a 90 Accord (Mrs. JPC’s may have influenced him) then another couple of Taurii and finally a 98 Continental that he owned until he died about 10 years ago. Stepmom drove the Integra for awhile, and has had a succession of Camrys since.
After their divorce, Mom kept the 64 Cutlass until replacing it with a 72 Cutlass Supreme coupe, then a 74 Luxury LeMans sedan. Then an 80 Plymouth Horizon sedan. She finally hit her stride with an 85 Crown Vic followed by a 93 (both of which I bought from her). She currently has an 06 Buick LaCrosse that she won in GM’s Hot Button Contest, of all things. She misses her Crown Vics, but she is north of 80 and is afraid that they are too big and powerful for her now.
It is funny to see how several of you grew up in and around some of the same cars that I did. It is also funny that people like us here at CC get a better sense of who we all are by what we spent time riding in as kids.
Oh and me…….
I learned to drive on Long Island and got my license 3 days after my 16th birthday. The road test guy said that I drive remarkably well for someone who drove legally for only 3 days, wink wink…..
I got that 1971 Buick Skylark GSX and paid my father $4000 of money that I earned, $200 per month for 20 months. I had my own insurance at 16 and I was an emancipated minor because my parents didn’t want any risk from me. I never did have a car accident but I understand why they did that.
Starting college I moved to Manhattan and paid for a garage and kept that Buick until July 1987 when I bought a Cadillac Allante that I still have and I still garage it at the same place. Time stands still. I got 15000 for that Buick. It consumed a shocking amount of gas. It rusted even though it was never used during winters and was garaged every night of its life. It was restored and is now a show-only car. I know the owner. The Allante now has 324K on it and going strong. Its 25th anniversary in 7/17/2012.
Growing up in the 80s and 90s in the Toledo, OH area, there were neighborhoods where there were plenty of new cars, and neighborhoods where there were very few, and if there were, you knew where those people worked (Jeep, Hydramatic, Maumee Stamping & Assembly). I attended elementary school in a middle class neighborhood in West Toledo. There were plenty of families who drove cars as long as they could reasonably afford to fix them, and the closer I got to junior high school, the more I saw Japanese cars that were driven to the point of being merely frames (rust belt, you know?). When we moved to the ‘burbs in ’94-95, the cars were a lot newer (and, uh, more Japanese), but then the neighborhoods were a smidge more affluent as well.
I first remember that we had a Dodge Aires wagon with vinyl seats that were ridiculous in the summer. I assume my dad bought it new. It was a basic model, power nothing (except maybe steering, but I was too young to know).
My dad bought a Ford Taurus brand new right when they came out, A/C, but nothing else. It was really cool after the cream color Aries. It never worked, I may have mentioned it before.
My mom got a 1987 Buick Century (loaded up: power windows & locks, A/C, etc) shortly after. The Taurus, even to 7 y/o me, felt much sportier. We had to trade with my Grandma for her decrepit ’78 LeSabre. The less said about that thing, the better. It died in the left turn lane of an extremely busy intersection near Franklin Park Mall. Thanks, Buick.
There was an ’82 Olds Custom Cruiser with fake wood siding and the ’85 (maybe?) Caprice Wagon (classy in burgundy, no sarcasm here at all, it was really a good car) that replaced that driven by my dad alongside my mom’s ’89 Grand Voyager that had aftermarket rims that totally went with the fake wood siding on that.
Then, in 1994, we moved over the border into Michigan, and our cars changed to better match the surroundings of our new suburban subdivision. My dad got rid of the barge in exchange for a ’90 Honda Accord, the car I learned to drive on. Wow, what a ride that was. He put literally hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles on it. In 1996, we got rid of the old Voyager for a brand new, loaded-to-the-gills Grand Caravan. Everything about that van was great (except the lack of lumbar support in the seats, but that’s why God invented pillows), it was such a great vehicle for our family vacations. Of course, over the course of its nearly 200,000 mile life it probably ate about 4 or 6 transmissions (that’s not an exaggeration, unfortunately).
And then I moved away, and I have had a series of used cars: a ’97 Accent (A/C, but nothing else, purchased in a deal we got hosed on), a ’91 Cherokee (probably the coolest car I’ve ever had, before I crashed it on I75 in the sleet), a ’98 200SX (loaded, but suffered from abuse at the hands of my sister), a ’93 Impreza wagon (hooked me), my then-girlfriend’s (we’re married now) ’89 Camry (another Japanese car revelation: 18 y/o, drove like brand new!), an ’02 Outback (best car I’ve ever had?) and my current ride, a who-cares-what-year-it-is-because-it-sucks-so-bad Mitsubishi Minica (I’ll commit seppuku before I drive one of those expletive-inducing rolling clinical depressions again), and an ’03 Impreza wagon (best car I’ve ever had?). I doubt I’ll ever buy a new car, but then again it’s difficult to imagine making more money than the small amount I make right now, but who knows? Certainly, we won’t be the trade-for-a-new-one-every-three-years people.
My grandparents got new Buicks every 4 years on average from 1950-73. I’d bug my folks all the time, “when are we getting new?” Even if our car was only a year old!
Some neighbors would get every two, but in most middle to upper class Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs, driveways were showing new cars about 4-6 years. It was like buying new computers, TV’s or redoing kitchens/ bathrooms every 3-5 years, these days.
The status symbol that Motown really pushed was ‘buy new cars every year!’ but only show off social climbers did that.
Paul, Iowa City still doesn’t use salt; they use sand in the winter. Probably why I have good luck spotting CCs when I’m up there.
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