That pang of nostalgia. Sometimes it hits you when your mind goes idle while waiting for a bus or a train. Other times, even in the most unexpected of places, it slams you right in the face. This set of keys belonged to the car I had ten years ago: a rusty 1989 Ford Taurus wagon. My dad found them quite randomly around the house. Remember when separate trunk/hatch keys existed? They’re what you see here.
Last week I came across a gas cap that belonged to a Triumph TR7 that I owned 13 years back. I had replaced it with a locking one, and this one ended up in the bottom of a long-forgotten toolbox.
I was poking around in dad’s toolbox the other day, and ran across a set of points and condensor for their old ’69 Chevelle. We got rid of that car in 1984.
I’m sure there are still keys to my old ’76 Chevelle floating around, I think everyone in the neighborhood had a set of keys to it at one point, it seems like, since it didn’t leave the family for 24 years.
I have saved every key from every vehicle I’ve owned. I keep them in my desk at home on a Pentastar key chain my grandfather gave me in 1986 before I could drive. And they’re not the copies, they are the original keys. They copies went with the buyer. I also have a “Cordoba” coin from the interior of my first car, a Pentastar hood ornament from my mom’s 1987 Plymouth Voyager, the Omni badge from the dash of my 1986 Omni and the “New Yorker” badge from the dash of my grandma’s 1984 New Yorker turbo. I loved the fact that the N’ yorker and and Omni badge were interchangeable!
In my Mom’s garage there is a sport wheel cover hanging on the wall from my Dad’s 1977 Caprice Estate Wagon. If I get a chance the next time I am there I think I’ll take a picture of it. It instantly brings me back to my childhood whenever I see it.
You’d need a pretty long nail to hang that wheelcover on the wall!
The plastic clips securing the center piece of my1981 Monte Carlo rally wheels were constantly snapping off. Five little cheap plastic tabs. With one broken, 4 would do the trick. Two broken? Forget it. I bought new ones, I bought used ones, I still have two that are missing two tabs. I traded the car in 1988 and kept the centers for garage decorating purposes.
I always wanted a 4th generation Firebird convertible with a 3800 so I bought one used in 2004
Sitting here in my den,beside my metal cast 57 Chevy, is a sheared 1\2 inch thick,1 and1/2 inch long 3/4 hex bolt. 8.8 strength. Its was used to secure the left side motor mount to the block on my 3800 Firebird. You can see where they had to use an easy out to remove it..
Twice in five years I had to have it repaired at great expense. I asked everybody I knew including Sajeev over at TTAC. He surmised that at some time the K member must of got bent. The alignment was within spects,and the car traked perfect. Who knows?
A very cool car. Except for its nasty habit of eating cash,on a regular basis.
The Firebird had to go in 09 ..
I keep that bolt as reminder to never buy a 4th gen F body again.
Not too long ago, I ran across an old locking gas cap from my 75 Eldorado, which got totaled in 1993. The cap fits my 78, so I’ll keep it.
Time to time, cleaning out files, I’ll come across bills of sale or owners’ manuals for various cars. Sometimes paper for accessories for cars long gone. A few years ago I found the bill of sale for a relatively-expensive Holley carb, I had bought for Blazing Saddles, my Pinto Squire. It was to replace the worn-out Motorcraft carb…it was a special aftermarket series Holley had at the time, supposedly to use newer technology and higher tolerances to increase fuel economy. I never noticed a change in gas mileage, but the thing started and ran better. And the throttle butterfly didn’t bind as it did with the old carb.
Yeah, and, keys. I keep a big Master ring of keys – in case I lose my pocket keyring. And I keep forgetting to clean it out. I’ve got keys for cars on there that have been scrapped 25 years now.
Yeah stuff turns up occasionally from cars past mostly spares or hand books I have quite a few of those, and an Amon Corona I owned is still in use locally great car should not have sold that one.
A while back my mom found a brass key ring with a small Oldsmobile Rocket keychain and a small key on it (all matching brass), that must have belonged to my grandfather at some point. I never could figure out what the key went to, as it’s too small to be an ignition key, but now that you mention it, it must be a trunk key to an Oldsmobile my grandfather owned at some point. I keep it in my night stand.
At one point I also found the valet key to my aunt’s old Toyota Camry.
A couple years after she got rid of it, I found the factory stereo unit to my mom’s Jeep Grand Cherokee in the attic. She had replaced it with an aftermarket unit that had a CD player.
I still have a Jeep knit winter hat the salesman gave me when my mom bought her 2nd Grand Cherokee.
My mom saved the BMW license plate frames, keychains, and trunk cargo liner she bought as accessories on her old X3. She was able to trim the cargo liner to fit in the back of her new GLK.
Cleaning out a car before you trade it in is also quite a walk down memory lane. Among the things I found cleaning out my old Highlander were my grandmother’s sunglasses, deep under the passenger’s seat. She had passed away 2 years before. I felt like it was her way of saying hello.
“Cleaning out a car before you trade it in is also quite a walk down memory lane. Among the things I found cleaning out my old Highlander were my grandmother’s sunglasses, deep under the passenger’s seat. She had passed away 2 years before. I felt like it was her way of saying hello.”
Ain’t that the troof.
When I sold my 2010 Yaris…of course I had to empty it out. It was stuffed like a rolling dumpster. And under the seat I found a ten-piece blister pack of Nicorette. I’d finished with that in early 2011.
Of course I had to break one open and chew it…and then another…
Only supreme willpower kept me from rushing to the drugstore to buy more. Nicotine…is one of the most addictive things man has ever gotten into.
My key chain is the hood ornament from my 1985 Buick Century station wagon. And I found the owners manual to my 1991 Chevy Blazer when I was moving and going through my books. Not to mention all the Haynes guides I have for numerous vehicles I no longer own.
Amidst the detritus at the bottom of my box of wrenches, there’s still a used set of points and condenser from the ’65 VW bug I drove to work decades ago.
Those are the same as used by my former Pinto 2.0 L.
The answer to this is a resounding yes. My house and garage are full of pieces of memorabilia of dearly departed cars. Off the top of my head:
Keys to my 82 Civic, my dad’s 84 Pontiac 6000 wagon, and others.
A new distributor cap and rotor for my 82 Civic.
Side marker lights, wheel center caps and new motor mounts for my 95 Thunderbird.
Extra wheels and tires for my 2000 Sentra.
The original Rochester dual jet from my 1980 Caprice Classic.
And hundreds of items from 60’s Mustangs which of course may still be useful on my 65 Coupe one day.
I also can’t bear to throw away car literature. I have brochures for many cars that I have owned or was remotely interested in going back decades.
I just realized this week that I still have the #2 phillips screwdriver from the toolkit in the 1975 Saab 99 that my parents owned.
Painted the spare bedroom about a month ago, and found the gearshift knob from my 1979 BMW 528i.
I still have the brochure for the car, and it shows a plain wooden knob without the BMW logo. I must have purchased the knob as an accessory, and put the original one back on the car when I sold it in 1986.
Ditto most of the above. I finally threw out the valve spring compressor for my ’71 Vega last year, though.
I still have the owners manuals to my first three cars; for some reason I lost enthusiasm for keeping them around after that, though I wish I’d kept the rest now.
Although it never was actually attached to the car, one of my most prized possessions is the Cadillac ownership grille badge my grandfather received with his last one, a ’92 Sedan de Ville. It was his 34th.
34th? Holy crap that has got to be some sort of record. I finally scored one of these at “the yard” but I believe it was either #3 or #5.
Anyway, it’s so cool that you still have that.
Grandpa Sayers owned one of the very first VW stores in the Midwest, and made a killing in the 1960s and early 70s – so he always had a new Cadillac. He once bought a new Coupe de Ville in the morning, and “traded” it in for an Eldorado that afternoon.
Unfortunately, he died in 2005 with next to nothing – a victim of his own extravagance.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/dealers/sayersvw_councilbluffs_ia.php
I usually try to give all the bits and pieces to the next owner. I do have a few things from a few cars over the years – mostly parts cars. A shift knob from Mercedes 220D, Toyota SR5 and a Datsun 210. Lada Niva gauge cluster and some random Smiths gauge from British car ownership.
It’s always interesting what turns up in my old snap-on roll cabinet. Most of it is residue from 20 years of pulling wrenches on other people’s equipment, but I have found the odd piece of cars long gone. Holley carburetor parts from my drag racing days, A couple of GM HEI ignition modules that I always carried in the glove box of my beater ’77 GMC, a Sun Super Tach that I’ve had since the ’70s and probably still works and some keys of hazy origin. Also a T handle from a Hurst shifter. I always preferred the round knob and the speed shop I bought from threw in the T handle. I never even installed it so it looks new 30 years later. I should probably clean that toolbox out one of these days and see what else turns up…
Back in 1986, I was 14 and my sister was 11. My mom drove a blue 1979 Plymouth Arrow. One day, my parents could not find the keys to said car….they spent the next few hours tearing the house apart until my mother started sobbing in frustration. They finally gave up and called a locksmith (not cheap).
Flash forward to around 2011…I’m visiting my sister now married with a kid. That afternoon, she turns to me and says…”wanna know a secret?”
“Sure” I say.
She disappears into her bedroom and returns with a car key on a Plymouth key chain.
I knew immediately what the key was and spent the next ten minutes laughing! Apparently, she had found the key among her belongings the day it was lost in 1986 after the locksmith had already been called. She saw how upset my parents were and was afraid to say anything and just held on to that key all these years!
My mother had the same car. Did it have the white interior?
I’ve still got the keys to my ’66 Catalina, and I’ve got an oil filter for my ’75 B210 somewhere in a box in the closet. One of the hidden costs of doing your own oil changes is that extra filter that you never end up using!
Yeah, all my crossfire injection stuff. I still have the parts & the 84 vette that they came from. I went with a truck style tbi & holley intake, a nice healthy bump in horsepower over the factory 205hp rating. It was nearly plug & play, even used the stock ecm.
Lincoln keys remind me of the cars and my first wife who just had to have them. Luckily neither of them stayed around. Unluckily, neither did my money.
I drive older cars now and my wife is much easier to get along with. Definitely an upgrade all the way around.
I have.. Ahem had more than 100 old chilton and haynes manuals, combined with a bunch of other manuals like: chrysler electronic ignition systems circa 1985 and others that I dont remember now. My rented storage locker had a moisture problem which ruined anything paper or wood vineer.
I still have the mustang grill pony from my 1977 Mustang. Took it off at the Goodwill lot right before I donated the car. With it horrible paint color, I am surprised they took it…
Still have on my key ring the hatch key to my ’89 Omni that I foolishly traded in 1995 for a ’91 Spirit, which promptly blew up, leaving me a $5500 boat anchor. I beat on that poor Omni for two years, and it never complained. But that Spirit was so shiny in the front row of the dealer lot, and it had an automatic transmission and a/c! What could go wrong? Now, whenever I’m tempted to do something stupid with cars, I look at the Omni key. Might explain why I’ve been driving my super reliable Cavalier for 11 years.
Frame them.
Seriously. I have the monroney sticker, license plate, emblems and keys of my two retired cars framed.
I’ve been driving for 32 years and only owned five vehicles to date. My other three vehicles are still active members of my fleet.
1984 BMW 733i Silver with a blue interior.
I don’t have much, but do still have a Unisyn carb synchronizing tool from my SU carb days … 35 years ago. And the owner’s manual from my ’75 Alfetta Berlina. Oh, and the window price sticker from my ’81 TransAm.
Gawd, I forgot about LICENSE PLATES! Buried in my stored stuff, I have a nearly-complete Ohio series, 1963 to the 1974, the end of year-embosed plates. Then the 1976 series, the 1980 series, 1985; 1991…think I have the 1998 two-tone series, and all recent series.
As well as a script California plate and a Colorado truck plate. And, more recently, Michigan and Wisconsin plates…
Unfortunately there’s not much of a market for such things. And it would cost me more to dig them out than they’d be worth.
For some reason my old man never wanted to throw out license plates, and I kinda inherited that mental disorder.
I’ve got a box full of 1961 Corvair promotional tie-tacs and cufflinks sitting in the attic. Sold a bunch of them off on eBay about five years ago, may put some of them up for sale again.
Not for sale is my collection of Chevrolet 1/24th scale dealer promotional models – 1953 thru 1965, missing only the ’57 BelAir station wagon which my sister grabbed years ago.
The last copy I received of the license of my first car. I sold it in 1997 but still have somewhere in the house those papers. I also have the keyring that I used at that time with all the keys still in it. I don’t use it anymore but keep it as a reminder of my dad from which I inherited it along with the car when he died in 1989. He was only 46 and I was 15. I spent many good times with my dad and later with my friends in that car so I kept those two things as a reminder of great times long gone but always remembered.
I kept an original Huf key from my ‘66 Volkswagen 1300 bug. It was a classic “little old lady” car, only driven in town, back and forth to work, for twenty-two years. I bought it in 1988 from a German immigrant who’d been working on bugs since the first KDF Wagens showed up on the Eastern Front. That’s his shop on the key fob. It had 77k on it when I bought it and when I sold in in ‘95 I’d racked up another 125k. Herr Niedermeyer is right, the ‘66 was “The Best Beetle Of Them All.”
Seeing old keys like your VW makes me think how much better looking well made metal keys like yours are, than the boring and bulky black plastic boxes that replaced them on newer cars.
About a year and a half ago, I found some paperwork, along with a copy of the title, of the first car I bought, a 1974 Roadrunner. About a year ago, a friend of mine in Las Vegas was behind a similar Roadrunner in perfect shape, in the same Silver Frost Metallic with red stripes that I had. He called me, and told me about the car, and I wondered if it could be my old car. Could it have survived all these years and a winter in the salt before it went to Vegas? He followed it to a shopping mall, and after the driver got out he read me the VIN. It was my old car! It’s been restored to new shape, and had it’s original 360 replaced with a stroked 440. The driver came out and my friend let me talk to him a few minutes. He was the third owner, it had been restored by the second, and he bought it after seeing it at a classic car show. He says he found my name in some papers that the second owner had given him with the car. If I can get to Vegas, he says he would be more than happy to let me drive it.
I deliberately kept the owner’s manual of my 1972 Toyota HiLux and I have it in my office. I knew I’d never see one again so I kept it to prove that at one time these odd little trucks existed.
First a comment on the comments. Regarding the sunglasses, while I keep my cars maintained to the nth degree and usually pretty clean on the outside the interiors are generally littered with all kinds of stuff I just don’t have time to clean out.
Many years ago I lost track of my favorite sunglasses, a pair of Ray-Ban G-15 Wayfarers (like John Belushi wore in “The Blues Brothers”). Searched like a demon, without success. Almost a year later I’m driving my 1987 Jetta when someone in front of me does something stupid, causing me to execute a maximum effort stop. No accident, thanks to the nice brakes on the VW and as an added bonus the negative G forces produced several unanchored objects including my sunglasses in their black case, which is what camouflaged them so well to begin with.
When we moved my parents out of their last house I discovered my dad had kept a now 40-year-old pair of Sun instruments branded Penske which we obtained from J C Penney. The inductive timing light and Dwell/Tachometer still work, but on what?
A few years ago I found a small box of car parts in the basement. It contained some interesting stuff and thanks to the miracle of the internet I was able to dispose of it properly.
Hudson Terraplane Hubcap – I pilfered that from a wreck in a farmers field as a child. I found a guy with a Terraplane and mailed it to him.
Gauges, emblems and interior switches from my 72 Matador. Finally decided I’d never have another, found a guy with a Matador and mailed them to him.
1946 Ford Hubcap. Given to me by my Uncle Peter, too scratched to use. It turned out to fit nicely on top of our chimenea, so keeps the rain and snow out of it and is a tiny “car guy” touch in our landscaped back yard.
How about a lifter from my 1971 Volvo 242 DL? I found it on the ground when the motor self destructed. Then I found it 18 years later when I was moving things out of my parent’s house.
I still have the keys of my first car, a 1982 Renault 5. The poor thing burned down to the ground in 1990. After some floor pan welding went horribly wrong…
The window wiper that was in the car came out unhurt, what a relief !
It’s in my current car now, 23 years after the Renault’s meltdown.
I have a spare trim ring from my ’85 1/2 Escort in my garage, along w/a mirror for my father’s ’68 Barracuda still in the Mopar Parts box. Also, I still have a CD player from my ’89 LeBaron GTC, as well as the rear floor mats, which are now in my ’05 Focus. Speaking of my Focus, it now sports the license plates from my father’s ’73 T-Bird, as well as one of the licence plate frames.
I’ve got quite a few pieces of ephemera but my favorite is the hubcaps from my Zayde’s 68 Olds.
Since I am a license plate collector, it goes without saying that I have all sorts of reminders like that. When I was just starting out in the hobby I traded away some of the plates off Pop’s cars, and about 20 years ago one of the 1949 Washington plates off his 1934 LaSalle turned up in a box at a local license plate collectors’ meet, so I bought it. At the very same meet an hour later I found the mate to it, and when I told the seller about its significance to me he gave it to me. The 1950/1953 license plate off Pop’s 1950 Packard turned up on ebay and I bought it back from a collector in Delaware. Of course I also have quite a few plates that have been on my own cars – the 300L and the 62 Lincoln convertible to name two – and a box of about 10 or 12 singles and pairs of license plates that have absolutely nothing in common except that they were on 1957 or 1958 Plymouths.
I found the original ignition and trunk keys for my 92 Taurus the other day. You could have started the car with a spoon toward the end.
Somewhere, I have a key to an 81 Mustang I had a two week long flirtation with until I realized it was a horrific piece of junk. Thank goodness it belonged to a friend, who let me borrow it while was between cars and was hoping I’d buy it.
In my grandfather’s file cabinets I found the original sales receipt, window sticker and dealer tag from his ’70 Plymouth Fury.
I don’t have much old stuff floating around, but I do still have the hood ornament from my very first of many derby cars… a ’74 Coupe De Ville that I ran way back in August of ’81 at the ripe old age of 18. Imagine… a car not yet 8 years old being so rusty and worn that all it was good for was demolition derby. Boy have times changed…
I still have a bunch of items related to the 1971 Ford LTD that we had in the family for 30 years, including the complete set of original service manuals and D-sized wiring diagrams. Original sales brochure with the light bulb ‘better idea’ campaign theme as well.
I also kept a full set of the taillights (LTD had the four-light center section, and only for that one year) which someday I plan on mounting on a board and hanging in my garage. I figure that 4W nightlight bulbs will work nicely to light it up.
I have gotten rid of literally tons of automotive parts and accessories over the past two decades (If I hadn’t, I would be a hoarder, given a piece of larger property somewhere . . .). It’s amazing how quickly it can accumulate.
I didn’t keep anything from my first car, a 1990 Plymouth Sundance. Just a few good memories of my first taste of the open road. My father however has shift knobs, keys, and brand specific tools from his former collection of VW Beetles. (Including the beloved 66′) and his 1956 Porsche Speedster. He swears he’ll take the window surround down to Road America and get $20 for it.
I have all the window stickers for every new car I’ve purchased save one (I do have the dealer receipt for that one but the detailer had thrown away the window sticker before I got a chance at it). Interesting walk through 40+ years of car ownership. I also have manuals and brochures for a few of the cars.
Nine years back when I was cleaning out my late father’s last apartment in a retirement home, I found a stack of cancelled checks for various cars he’d purchased over several decades. He had recorded the value of the trade-in and what car was purchased with each one. I had to throw away a pile of stuff but I kept those checks. Also have the window sticker, brochure, and original keys for a 1978 Mark V Cartier that he bought new. It was an aspirational car and and these items provide pleasant memories of him when it was purchased.
Still have a hubcap from my ’57 Chevy hanging in my garage. Sold it in 1975.
My late father-in-law apparently kept all of the paperwork/documentation from nearly every car that he owned. When my wife and I were cleaning out his files after he died several years ago we found invoices and window stickers for literally dozens of cars; the first one was from a 1954 Olds, which she said was the first new car her father purchased. We thought about saving all or some of this but in the end just destroyed it; she didn’t really want to keep it and in the end it had no real meaning to me.
I ought to keep it all in one place: I have the purchase receipt for my father’s ’39 Olds, purchased after the war, the cormorant hood ornament from my ’50 Packard, various owners manuals, you name it. When my parents moved into their condo in 2006 I ran across a pair of brand new key blanks for the Saab 99 we owned from ’73-75. Ended up selling them on Ebay to a grateful buyer.
I have a set of vanity license places that say RODAN.
I had a roomate back in the mid-80s that was a Godzilla fan. I took him car shopping one day and when we were at the Chrysler dealer he saw a Conquest in the showroom and was VERY impressed with the styling. He asked if I’d keep an eye out for a used one. A few months later I found a nice ’87 Conquest with only 7500 miles on it in the rare Atlantic Blue, sort of a gray slate blue, very pretty. He ended up buying the car and because it was a dark color and seemed to fly at mach speed, he got the RODAN vanity plates for it. We had fun with it till we parted ways. Early in 2010 I got a call from him. He was married now and his house was being reposessed. During the call he wondered if I’d be interested in buying the Conquest. I ended up verbally agreeing, sight unseen, for $1000. That weekend we went to pick it up and there it sat on flat tires, not having run since 2002, with the RODAN plates on it. I managed to get it home, have restored it and drive it to car shows today. It has collector plates on it now but the RODAN plates have a spot of honor on my garage wall. Rodan is a part of MY history and I am so glad to have found her and to be able to drive her today.