The sight of this 1952 Chevy made me wonder what it was like for my mom to grow up around cars which look like this. It was made the same year she was born, so it was hard not to make the connection. I never associated my mother with such cars as these but rather thought of her more in line with the very lightly built, ultra-practical and frugally-conceived cars of the mid ’70s and early ’80s, so this Chevy made for quite an instructive basis of comparison. In the United States, this car embodied the hopes and dreams of my mother’s parents’ generation. What cars do you feel most typify the aesthetic context into which your own parents were born?
It’s not unlike car enthusiasts to consider historical events alongside the appearances of common, everyday objects. I imagine fashion designers do the same with clothes (“She saw The Challenger explode? I’ll bet her hair was crimped.”) while film buffs think of contemporary movies; continue and ad lib to suit given predilection. Vehicles, passenger jets, twentieth-century architecture and consumer electronics help me frame my view of modern history, with passenger cars obviously taking precedence. If I have children, a very big if, they’ll associate daddy coming home from the hospital with the 1978 Nova. What will your kids say about their parents?
Come to think of it, I never asked my mother just where she was born. I can’t imagine it was in a hospital as her family moved all through rural Iran in those years, but I imagine a midwife was involved. So more accurately, my mom didn’t come home from any hospital in any car; maybe I can track down the midwife and ask how she arrived at my grandparents’ home.
My Dad was born in the Fall of ’48. Considering he was from the “poor side” of Port Arthur, I’m pretty sure there was still a lot of depression era, if not older, cars on the road. I don’t remember him ever telling me about any car the family had before the 1955 Fairlane, so perhaps they were still rolling around in a ’32 Model A. Albeit, the first car he and his younger brother shared was some ’51 Ford that he’ll hold a grudge against to this day for its chronic overheating, and that “all Fords run ‘hot'” belief. I don’t know whether that later influenced his kinda split personality into somewhat sporty but middle class cars, as just about all the Oldsmobiles (and the Lancer and Corvair that preceded them) had somewhat a sporty flair.
My mother on the other hand, grew up in Menlo Park in the early 60’s, so the metal around her was more middle class African American Aspirational; lightly used Pontiacs, Mercurys, Oldses and the like. As I’ve said before my Great Grandmother was a reliable Chrysler New Yorker customer, and my grandmother stuck with sporty coupes after getting a ’65 GTO in ’68 (finding it too aggressive and her too prone to speeding tickets) and trading it in for a ’65 Skylark until she bought a brand new ’77 Cougar. I think the omnipresence of big bulky sedans, and the youthful contrast of sporty coupes hooked my mother on Sports Personal cars really early tho.
An interesting question. My parents were born in the same era as yours–1950 for Dad, ’51 for Mom–but in quite different circumstances. Both were born in hospitals in New York City, and I know my Mom’s family at the time didn’t own a car. Not sure about Dad’s. So Mom almost certainly came home in a taxi, and Dad may have also, though I’m not really sure. So what would have been the typical New York City cab in 1950-51? Was Checker already dominant, and if so what model as the Marathon didn’t show up until much later? Or would it have been more likely one of the big Plymouth or Desoto sedans of the late 40’s?
Incidentally, my maternal grandfather’s first car was a 1950 “bullet-nose” Studebaker Champion, purchased sometime around 1954. And it’s fun to see how cars figured into old family photos and movies. Mom became something of a product of her youth in that regard, with a decided preference for big American cars to this day (she currently drives a 2010 Grand Marquis). Dad, not so much, thanks to a delivery job in college that gave him lots of seat time in Volkswagens, despite his upbringing in a series of full-size 50’s and 60’s cars as well.
Based on bits and blurbs I’ve read (plus old movies), it seems like those wild LWB DeSotos were the most popular single model of cab in NYC at the time, with Checker and Nash fairly popular, too.
I looked it up because I was curious and the Checker taxi model from that era was called the A4. Continental flathead six and 3-speed column shift, so Chrysler would’ve had a huge advantage with their Fluid Drive (automatics were still too fancy for taxis in 1950). Any Checker this old is now crazy rare!
So that’s what those things are. I’d seen illustrations of taxis that looked like that, and I wondered if the illustrator was just going for “generic late 40’s car” as it didn’t correspond to any actual model I’d ever seen. Good to know!
There are probably about a dozen of these left in existence – give or take a few. I may be off on the number, but it is darn few regardless.
In my case, you’re talking a different generation. Dad was born in 1915, mom in 1914.
What I do know is that mom had a ’46 Chevrolet and she met dad over a flat tyre (dad supervised the changing, but didn’t actually do the work). No idea what dad was driving, but he started selling cars in 1940 or 41 at the Chevrolet dealership, went off to war (his entire unit was made out of Pittsburgh zone Chevrolet salesmen – it was a GM sponsored volunteer callup), and came back to the car dealership upon being discharged. So he spent the next twenty years (’45-65) driving demonstrators and company cars.
Probably the biggest deal to wrap my mind around is that my mother was obviously proficient and comfortable with a three-on-the-tree. Mainly because in all my life, I never saw her go close to a manual transmission. Including my cars, which she never attempted to drive. And I especially offered her many chances to take my ’37 Buick out, figuring she’d get a kick out of the memories. No way. She was a dedicated Powerglide driver from the day the first 1950 hit our driveway.
To put it bluntly, during the marriage of George and Betty Paczolt, from 1948 until the early 80’s, it was nothing but Chevrolets. A couple of Buicks slipped in towards the end of their lives, a Dodge Omni and a Pontiac J-2000, and the Sedan de Ville that he wished he’d never bought, but that was it. Chevrolet.
You don’t mess with what puts the food on your table and keeps a roof over your head.
My parents were born in 1948. In Spain, at the time, there was no car industry, nothing. So the car I’m showing is the one that was built in Barcelona before Fiat landed and helped the dictatorship building Seat cars. This is a Biscuter, number 100, which was given to Gereralísmo Franco.
Copied from Wikipedia the specs: The Biscuter was minimal indeed, with no doors or windows or reverse gear. The 1 cylinder, 197 cc, two-stroke motor produced 9 horsepower (7 kW), had a crank starter, and drove only the right front wheel. Braking was by an unusual three-point system involving the transmission and cable ties to the two rear wheels. One genuinely advanced feature was an all-aluminum body, although steel was later used.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisc%C3%BAter
The European King Midget!
As I’m sure you know, the French company Voisin developed the Biscuter originally. I’m guessing they were another Pons Plan casualty, although I don’t know that for sure. It’s the most sensible explanation for them having gone from designing cars like the one below before the war, to the one above afterwards:
Haha, most likely yes. My father even had an uncle who worked for the Biscúter company 🙂
Dad was born in 1927. He was delivered by a midwife at the farmhouse in Downey, CA. The picture is of grandpa taken in that general timeframe, standing next to a car of the era. I dont know if it was his.
Mom was born in 1931 at a hospital in Glendale, CA, but I dont have any family pictures with automobiles to share.
Early 1930s for my parents, so the Model A would be a good stereotypical car from the era. I am on my way home right now from my grandmother’s funeral – she was born in 1909 and learned to drive on a Model T.
115. Amazing. Dad made it to 90 (or 91) Mom 81. She must have had some great stories to tell.
I count 105. 🙂
Not my math teachers fault, just my brain fade. Sorry for your Grandmother’s loss.
My condolences on the loss of your grandmother. She certainly lived to a ripe old age.
I echo JP with my condolences for your grandmother. Imagine everything she saw in 105 years.
A wonderful age indeed.
Thanks, all. She was a month shy of 105. Incredible lady.
Dad was born in 1923 according to birth certificate, 1922 according to him. Mom was 1928. So lot’s of Model T’s around when they came to be. The first model A’s were just being sold when Mom was born. I’ll never forget when Challenger blew, on my 30th. January 28th,1986. Was working near Vandenberg AFB in Santa Maria at a dealership. A couple of people who worked at Vandenberg told me the explosion canceled future plans for Shuttle Launches from there.
My folks grew up in the ’30s, in opposite situations that colored their attitude toward cars.
Dad was on an Oklahoma farm, struggling with T’s barely held together by rope and baling wire. He broke his arm cranking a ’26 Oakland and hated cars ever since. He always preferred walking.
Mom grew up in Detroit, in a family prosperous enough to have a live-in maid. Her father worked for Detroit Edison, holding the exact same Steam Engineer job that Henry Ford had before he started playing with gas engines. For her cars represented status, and she always enjoyed driving. If she wanted to visit a neighbor across the street, she would get in the car, back out of the driveway, drive 10 feet to the opposite driveway, pull in, and park there.
Dad was born in 1941 and Mom in 1946. Both came from dirt-poor families, Dad from the city and Mom from the country. To my knowledge, my paternal grandfather never owned a car. My maternal grandfather drove Chevys until quite late in life when he switched to Plymouth. I remember being about 4 yrs old when I first became aware of Grampa’s ’57 Chev – it was black and yellow and looked like a giant bumblebee going down the road. At this time in the late ’60s it was just another old car falling apart, nobody knew then they’d be worth $$$$ someday. Then Grampa got a newer car, a ’68 Chev Bel-air stripper. It was blue. His last car was a ’71 Plymouth Fury 2-door, man that car was big and could fly!
Dad’s first car was a ’67 Ford Fairlane, white w. red vinyl and a 3-on-the-tree. He drove more Fords thru the ’70’s and ’80s then switched to AMC and Chrysler in the ’90s.
Mom, (just was at her 99th in Louisville this weekend:
1915 Ford Model T Speedster
Dad (died at 94 in 2011):
1916 Oakland Speedster
and a pretty cool website:
http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/1914.htm
Dave
Dad was born shortly before 1920 in China, in a rural village. What’s a car??? He came to the USA in 1927.
Mom was born about the same time in San Francisco but the family didn’t have cars.
They both grew up during the Depression. They remember Fords with mechanical brakes running away on the hills of San Francisco. Just one time driving one of those was enough for my Dad, just before WWII. His family still didn’t have a car; it belonged to a friend. After that, and a drive in a Dodge, it was hydraulic brakes or nothing for him!
He enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor, but flunked the medical…couldn’t see clearly past about a few inches without his glasses. Even though honorably discharged after only a week, he got a flag on his casket and Taps at his funeral a few years ago. The Veterans Administration still consider him a World War II veteran…as the officer at the funeral said, “He was willing; that’s all we need.” He did not drive all through the War, using shoe leather and Key System trains to and from his job building Liberty Ships in Richmond, CA.
Mom’s family’s first car was a 1941 Chrysler New Yorker, a green four-door. It was handed down to us in 1951 when her brother (it was really HIS car) got a brand-new Chrysler Imperial with a Hemi which he promptly “massaged” to better-than-stock. He kept that Imperial and babied it until he traded it in 1965 for a new Chrysler. It was never in any accident and was garaged its whole life. I sure wish he had kept it instead, for the pittance offered as a trade-in…I’d have found a place for it!
Studebaker i think, or Ford Model T as i saw in the documentary about china from that time period.
when my parents were born in china, Volgas from USSR played a major role during that time period and consider they had few siblings working as drivers, some other typical USSR models were within their reach for some transportation.
they were mostly replaced by Jeep Cherokees in ’80s, Chevrolet Lumina APV in ’90s, and Buicks later on
In 1931 my father came home in a Packard sedan (similar to the one pictured below). I’ve heard the story from my father, but as he was only days old and the Packard was replaced that year or next, I wouldn’t call it a terribly reliable memory – I’ve seen a blurry photo or two in the past, and if I recall it correctly, I believe it was a Packard 6. Later on my grandfather had Cadillacs, more Packards and by the time I was a small child it was large Buicks.
My mother has no idea what make or model her father owned, she just remembers the series of farm trucks (he was a Dodge man through and through).
I seem to be the baby here–my parents were ’64 and ’65, respectively, so they came home in some pretty attractive cars from our point of view! Can’t say for sure what they were, but given the working-middle-class background of both, nothing fancy at the time–probably a 5-year-ish-old Fairlane for my dad’s parents (nothing besides Ford ’til about ’95 or so), and a similarly-aged Biscayne or maaaaybe Bel Air for my slightly thriftier maternal grandparents. Later siblings would be brought home in the ’65 El Camino, but I’m pretty sure my mom’s dad never bought anything newer than two years old. My mom’s mom has never learned to drive and doesn’t see a need to. She does have a Backseat Driver’s Lisence, though.
Almost entirely by accident, my father was a Mopar man despite his parents’ Blue Oval leanings from his first car in ’80 to about ’87 when he inherited the old green farm truck. Wanted a T-Bird growing up; settled for a ’76 Cordoba. Actually turned out to like the Cordoba but couldn’t afford the markup on its second-gen; went downmarket to the ’81 Mirada and liked that even more. All the while having a plain-jane D-100 Custom /6 to pull his custom farm toy hobby trailer to all the little toy shows throughout SW MN. Finally got a chance to pull the trigger on an already 10-year-old T-Bird in ’88 or so; it turns out the car you wanted in high school is usually not the car you want after getting married. Ended up selling that to his high-school-aged brother-in-law, my mom’s uncle, who presumably ran it into the ground before selling it to a Native American, as such things tend to happen in West River SD.
My mother, on the other hand, has essentially no brand loyalty (which is okay) besides preferring Mopar minivans to Ford. And staying away from anything American Motors after the ordeal of her sister’s Matador getting passed on to her (a tale I’ve told numerous times before).
I’ve always been very proud that I was brought home from the hospital in a 55 Chevy. a six cylinder four door, but still..:)
I think that they looked like horses for many people at least. I know that my dad was using horses for farming when he was growing up.
My grandparents, during the 1950s and 60s, drove Chevys and Buicks.
My mother was born in 1933 on a farm in northwest Ohio. Her family had a late 20s Whippet (made by Willys) touring car. It was replaced by a 35 Ford V8 sedan.
my father was born in 1935. His family lived on the Philly Main Line. I dont know what my grandparents owned then, but Granddad bought his new bride a baby blue 1929 Pierce Arrow roadster as a wedding gift. Granddad was more of a frugal new englander, himself, and always drove Plymouths according to my father. He finally bought a Packard in the late 40s and got yelled at when he got home because Grandmother thought the Packard made him look like a fuddy duddy.
Well my folks came from very different backgrounds and circumstances. My mom was born in 1950 and was the first of five children in a typical Irish American Catholic family in PA. They did not have a lot of money but made due and nobody in that family ever suffered from want. My grandfather came back from WWII to work for the railroad in PA. He took the bus to work. They had a car but it was an old one and when that wore out they bought another used car. I don’t think they bought a brand new car until 1992 when they bought a stripper GMC Jimmy 4×4 (auto trans, cloth seats and 4 wheel drive were the only options) brand new for cash. A used car that ran was all they needed as they did not go far and the driving needs were few. When I got the 1992 Jimmy in 2004, it had less then 35,000 miles on it for 12 years of use.
My father’s family were Jews that came over from Eastern Europe in the 1880’s. My father lived just outside Philly in a place called Upper Darby. (He went to school with rock musician Todd Rungren)
I am not sure what he came home in but his family was reasonably well off(they always had 2 cars at a time) My grandfather was a GM man and I remember him having a white1979 Buick Lesabre with bordello red interior for the first 10 years of my life and also a 1980 malibu. In 1987 the 79 Lesabre was wrecked and he bought a slightly used 1986 Buick Park Ave in black(the luminescent opera lights always fascinated me) it was his last car as he died in 1998 and it passed to my aunt.
Now my mom did not have a car until she got married but my dad got his first car as he was going to college. It was a VW Beetle. He had that thing for 6 months or so before it got wrecked and he wound up buying a Plymouth Valiant.
My dad was born in 1911 and died in 2011. He was born into the era of the Model T. For that matter, so was my mother; she was born in 1915. The car Dad remembered most fondly was his 1936 Chevy; it took him and my mother through World War II (including his long daily commutes in Wisconsin to his machinist job), and brought them and my brothers to Tucson in 1948. How long they kept the car in Tucson is unknown to me; I may have come home from the hospital in it in 1953. The earliest cars I remember, though, were Dad’s 1947 Fleetwood that was well-worn when he bought it in the mid-50s, and their 1941 Chevy Master Deluxe Town Coupe that both my brothers learned to drive and which was resurrected when it was time for me to drive.
We always seemed to have junk cars around. There was a 1948 Chevy coupe that must have been a donor for the 1941 Chevy. There was a 1948 Pontiac coupe–I think that was a donor for one brother’s car. There was a Chevy panel truck from the 1930s that friends of my parents had left with them. There was a black 1948 Cadillac that was supposed to be a donor to the 1947 Fleetwood, since the engines were the same; eventually the 1947 Cadillac was parked when Dad bought a 1952 Cadillac Sixty-Two sedan. And the 1952 was traded in on a 1961 Mercedes 190Db–for reasons I will never fathom, Dad decided he HAD to have a Mercedes diesel.
That 1952 Chevy would have been a nearly-new car when I was born. A neighbor had a 1948 or 1949 Cadillac convertible in a lovely shade of green; eventually it was repainted white. Another neighbor had a 1940s Nash in a grey-blue color that had chalked. The neighbor across the street had a 1955 or 1956 Buick two-door hardtop–two-tone coral and black, if I remember. Eventually he traded it for a Checker; I think it may have been better for transporting his severely arthritic wife. Someone else had a 1940s Dodge.
For reasons I never knew, Dad was a die-hard GM man, especially Chevy. He really, really disliked Fords. And at the same time, when he saw the 1970 Torino Brougham I was considering buying, he urged me to buy it. I was glad I did–it turned out to be a good car for the five years I had it. And then in 1984 Dad bought a Ford Fiesta–he found stuff to criticize about it, but he still enjoyed it, and passed it along to one of my brothers in exchange for a gigantic Chevy pickup that served Dad well in his volunteer work with Old Pueblo Trolley.
In my case it was probably a Pobeda or a Moskvich-401. Neither my parents or grandparents drove, but my uncle owned both of these Russian cars at some point in those days.
As to the ’52 Chevy, it sure didn’t look like that then 🙂
I was born in 1955 and came home from the hospital in my parents marroon Canadian 1952 Pontiac…it had the windshield visor and spotlights and headlight visors just like this car. In fact the Chev pictured had the same body as the Pontiac in Canada.
My parents, both born in 1923 and now deceased, were born at home. I am somewhat surprised that my dad was born at home because my grandparents lived in town and my grandfather was steadily employed. I’m sure that our small hometown (population 18k or so then) had a hospital available. My mother’s family lived in a poor, rural area in western Kentucky so her being born at home is no surprise. My mom had 7 siblings and I’m fairly certain that all of them were born at home.
My grandparents were born during the time when the Model T Ford was the most common car around. My dad was born during the Great Depression of the 1930s. My mom was born at the tail end of the 1940s.
My father was born in December 1943. If anybody has ever seen a 1943 or 1944 model car, please let me know! He was the first born, came into the world in Cairo, Illinois, and some of the cars from that time (one of which he likely came home in) can be seen here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/slideshow/the-cars-of-the-shafer-dynasty/
My mother was born in February 1947. She is also a first born, being born on her mother’s 20th birthday. She was born at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, MO; as one of the deluge of babies at that time, there were no room available in the maternity ward and my grandmother was camped out in a bed in the hallway. My mother almost had a public birth in said hallway, but someone was booted from a room just in time. She likely came home in a Model A or some such. My grandparents first new car came along via Chevrolet in 1953. As a side note, my grandmother was chastised for being fancy by going to the hospital and not having my mother at home by a mid-wife. She did not take well to this at all.
I am the first born of these two first-borns. I came home in a 1969 Ford Fairlane 500.
If it loads, here is your 1943 car. Chev fleetmaster. I pulled down the picture because I was born in the era of most of these parents (Jun 43). I didn’t come home in it. I was born in a farmhouse on the Missouri/Kansas border. Perry, this article is going to bring back a flood of memories to a bunch of people. Good article.
My parents were born in 1905. Lost mom in 07 and she was sharp till the end. This 1905 Rolls Royce would have looked something like what she rode in but it would have had horses in front. I think this may not take two pictures so may post the 1943 Chev in a moment. As you will see, it is an Army car and any 43 would have been IINM.
Only one at a time, I guess. Btw Mom could have driven this or any other MT car. This one probably had a vacuum assisted column mounted transmission linkage, starter switch and dimmer switch on the floorboard, vacuum motorized windshield wipers and a lever actuated intake air scoop in front of the windshield. Looks just like my 46 chevy did afaic.
This is a true catch; I knew a few cars were produced during those years but primarily for military use.
Just curious, is the “original” name of your family Schäfer ? (a shepherd in Germany) If you say Schäfer you would write Shafer in English, sort of.
My great-grandfather spelled his name, from what I am told, as “Schaeffer”. When he grew up he went to work for one of the railroads. Part of his job required him to sign his name a lot. Tired of writing it all, he abbreviated it to “Shafer” and it has stuck.
My great-grandfather was the 18th of 21 children (spread over three mothers), so there are all these people with alternate spellings to whom I am likely related. As my grandfather and his four younger brothers are all long gone, nobody is quite sure how the name had been spelled.
I see, with ff. Just like the machinery (ae = ä). Thanks !
Yes, but not quite the beer.
Building machinery and brewing beer. Yep, that’s Germany alright.
My father was born in New York City in 1926. His father, living in the city all his life, never owned a car. So there was no family car. Naturally my father is not a car guy. He has had many different company cars in his life since starting out as a Carnation salesman. From a 1960 Dodge all the way to Mercedes 450SL. I can pretty much list all of them from 1960 onward but not really anything before and I was born in 1953. I can also relate that my father never did any wrenching on his cars. Heck, he has never washed a car and by the time I was eight I was doing the car washing. Still to this day I won’t be caught dead in a dirty car. He is 88, drives a 2004 Buick LeSabre Custom with 37,000 miles, and I still do the oil changes and tire rotations.
He did once tell about a barn find so to speak. Got to remember this is New York City and there really aren’t any barns in Manhattan in 1952. The car was buried back in a apartment ground level garage that he spied and asked about buying. Was all set to buy the car when it was sold out from under him one day before he had the money. It was a 1937 Duesenberg Model J. You! That would have been interesting if he had managed to keep it for a period after I was born. Ouch!
Do know my mother, born 1932 in the Bronx, did have a family car. Her father worked for USPS all his life and was a dyed in the wool Dodge owner.
My father was born in Görlitz, Silesia (now Poland) in 1920. His father was at that time a gynecologist, and at some point around then (or maybe a few years later) bought a new Chevrolet touring car to use on his house calls. Apparently he tried driving it only once or twice, and then hire a driver to take him on his rounds. So I guess my father’s inherently modest driving skills were inherited. I don’t know what year Chevrolet it was, but here’s a 1920.
My mother’s family apartment was across the street from the hospital in Innsbruck, so my grandmother always just walked over when it was time for each of her seven children. We ended up living in the same building, and my mother did the same thing. No cars in my mother’s family, until the 60s.
A tidbit: that apartment my mother grew up in ended up being taken over by her sister, who just died. The Payr family rented it for what had to be over 100 years. How’s that for long-term tenants?
My Germans were from Sellin, on Ruegen – Oestsea, (Baltic) and moved to Chicago. My mother was born at the University of Chicago Hospital in a observation surgery class on childbirth. She was the guest of honor. So, it was trains, trams, buses and other public transportation until suburbia became home in 1964. So, her first car was a 1959 Buick my father spent every dime they had on. (It got repossessed.) So, she had to learn how to drive cars with fins, canted double headlamps and wrap around windshields.
My father also probably came home on the train, because his father was a RR worker. His first car, was I believe, an old Nash.
I wrote about the car I came home from.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto-biography/my-first-ride-1954-dodge-coronet/
Dad was born in an outback mining camp in central Western Australia in 1910. There wouldn’t have been any cars that far out back then. After the Spanish flu took his mom and sister on the same day, and a mine cave-in a few years later took his dad. He grew up in an orphanage, and learnt to drive in their Model T. He drove a mile to the letterbox and back each day to get the mail.
Mother was born in 1921, on a dairy farm a day’s journey from town., on the other side of the continent from my Dad. Her dad had a Chev Four touring car and a flatbed truck. She remembered her dad bouncing in the seat and shaking the steering wheel and telling the car to “Gee up!” She had two sisters, but was the only one who never learned to drive.
I came home from hospital in Dad’s ’55 Morris Oxford Series II. Lots of people in our neighbourhood didn’t have a car at all.
My Dad was born in 1924, Mum in 26 Dads father bought a used Model A truck sometime in the 30s and drove it untill he retired in the early 50s when he bought a used Ford Prefect which saw him out, Mum learned to drive in a 36 Chevy coup’e which was her fathers assigned car from the local county, car ownership was a fairly restricted club in my parents youth the roads were awful and the river provided a prefered method of travel, My hometown had the first concrete road in NZ though the highways were only being paved in my lifetime, When my parents married there were only 3 families/couple in their street who owned cars that was in the early 50s now little old Godz own has the second highest car ownership rates per head on the planet only the US exceeds it, quite a change in 60 years.
My folks were born in the ’30s, Dad into a Chevrolet family and Mom into a Dodge household. No one still alive would know what exact year of car either came home in, but everyone on Mom’s side who was around remembers the first new car, a 1946 Dodge my Grandparents somehow obtained just after the war. New cars were hard to get and it’s arrival warranted colour photos in the driveway of my Grandparents old house. I wish I could find them today!
My uncle learned to drive on that car and still remembers if fondly today.
I can’t find the pictures right now but my sister and I were both brought home in my parents’ ’63 Monza Spyder coupe. They sold it shortly after my sister was born in ’68 to my uncle (to pay for college expenses) who promptly wrapped it around a tree 🙁
Dad was born in 1919; Mom in 1920. His family didn’t have any cars I knew of, though he learned to drive in his uncle’s Pierce-Arrow. (Jack had style, fersure!) The first family car I remember was a 1932 Buick, but the first I remember riding in was a low-ball ’50 Studebaker Champion.
Mom’s family’s first car was a Model T, which was — I assume — well used by the time her father acquired it. Her uncle Harry had an early Harley-Davidson (this photo was taken about 1913), but I suspect horse-drawn conveyances were still just as common then in their small southern New Hampshire town.
Thinking on this, the photo is probably closer to 1920.
My Pop was born in New Orleans in 1927. On his mother’s side, they always had Buicks, dating back at least to the early teens. His father was a Ford man. My Pop loved the classic, really interesting cars of his early youth–Cadillacs, Lincolns, Packards, though most of his depression/WWII era formative years were filled with more mundane, less special cars. I can empathize as a child of 1966–too late for most of the good stuff, having to just make do with what the 1970s/1980s served up. Pop’s first new car was a 1949 Plymouth. My mother was born in New York City in 1934. Mom didn’t get her first new car until she married my Pop, when they got a 1955 Ford. My mother’s father was a huge car buff, and traded through interesting cars frequently, including having a Lincoln Zephyr and one of the very first Mercurys. Oddly for the era, both sets of my grandparents divorced and remarried, so the car universe got broader. My paternal grandfather and his new wife stuck with Ford, while my paternal grandmother stayed Buick all the way. My maternal grandfather moved to Southern California and remained a car nut, going though a big array of U.S. and imported cars. My maternal grandmother moved to the Berkshires and drove Chevys and Fords before remarrying, moving to Houston and enjoying a steady diet of Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs and Buicks with her 2nd husband.
My parents were born in ’40 and ’42, so pre-war cars for sure. Dad grew up near Victoria, TX so trucks and late ’20s and early’30s cars were the norm. Mom grew up in Dallas and they had company cars till the ’50s when they bought a 50 Ford and then a 54 Ford.
Their parents were born 1900-1906 so horseless carrages if any were around Shreveport, Houston, or Dallas area.
I was born in 76, so I grew up with 70s sleds.
My Aunt has a nice photo of my her, my Dad and the other kids sitting on the running board and fenders of my Grandfathers’s Model A. (I think my Grandfather was one of the first ones in the tribe to own a car.) It was a few years older than Dad, but not by much.
My father was born in 1933 in a small farming village in rural Korea that still did not have a paved road in the 1990s, so there were no cars around. The few that were present in the big cities would have been Mitsubishis and Nissans belonging to a few wealthy and/or powerful Japanese living in Korea. It is quite possible that the first motor vehicles that my father saw were Mitsubishi Zeros and other military aircraft from a nearby Imperial Japanese air base, which he recalled often overflew his village. He also recalled that a distant B-29 was the first American thing that he ever saw, and that a Jeep full of GIs were the first Americans that he ever saw close up.
My mom was born in 1925 and my dad was born in 1910. My mom was born at home in rural Kansas and my dad was delivered in a hospital in New York City. Neither one of them rode in a car until well along in childhood. My mom’s parents used a horse and buggy until the 1930s, and my dad’s family used their feet or the subway, mostly. My mom’s first car was a used 1937 Chevrolet, and I don’t know what my dad’s first car was. Neither of them believed in buying a new car, and neither do I. My dad would either drive hand-me-downs, or when mom nagged enough, he would grudgingly purchase a good used vehicle, usually after shopping around for a bargain. The car I came home from the hospital in was a 1958 VW, and we kept it 15 years. The second car of my childhood was a 1961 Chevrolet Biscayne that my dad inherited. It lasted until 1977 when it no longer was driveable, and had to be junked. My mom picked out a lovely light blue 1972 Ford Maverick from the used car lot down the street and I still have that car which is now 100% restored (see photo). When I want a “new” car, I will go to the local junkyard, pick out a good sturdy chassis and build from scratch my very own “new” car, which is of course, is not really new but looks just like it did the day it rolled off the assembly line. Such endeavors do take time, work and money, especially if I restore whatever former junker I rebuild into a number one condition show car. These automotive projects do tend to turn heads at local car shows and win prizes. The most recent “new” car I built for myself and then later sold was a 1994 Lincoln Town Car.
The photo is one of the Ford a Maverick my parents bought in 1977.
My dad was born in December of 1964, so 1965 model year and my mom September 1965 so she was in the debut of 1966 model year.
My dad has the 1966 Ford Galaxie that his parents bought new when he was just under two years old.
Two of my cars are older than my parents, haha.
My grandfather was born in 1901 and was born at home. The first car I know about for him was his learning to drive in a Model T. I don’t know the year of the car but obviously it was about 1915 or so, as I know he had a Harley in 1917 and he had learned to drive the car before that. I remember that it was a Model T because of the story he told one night – going too fast and hitting the frame of a bridge on a country road. The Model T had real spring steel bumpers, so it sprung! and threw the car backwards, smacking my grandfather’s brother’s nose into the windshield. It may not have broken his nose the first time, but it sure did when the car landed and, still in gear, ran into the bridge again! I also know that he and his brother drove from Pennsylvania to California and back around 1920 or so…. but I don’t know what car they used.
By the time my father came around in 1938, Grandad was doing pretty well in the oil business – there are many family stories about the Marmon 16. Yes, 16 cylinders. The car was all aluminum apparently and even had crystal bud vases. The engine was legendary in the family for its silence and power…. my grandfather liked to silently sneak up behind people walking in the street … and blow the horn! Then there was the time my grandmother drove home and forgot to release the parking brake…. and never noticed. The car didn’t care, and she might have gotten away with it if my grandfather hadn’t happen to see all the smoke pouring out from the rear wheels.
I was born in a hospital, and came home in a 1948 Buick Super…. about six years old at the time, graciously given to my dad by my Aunt. The first car I remember though was the 1956 Chevy wagon which was two-tone, green and white. By 1963 though it was rusted through…. and my Dad bought a SAAB two-stroke but that’s another story.
Below is a picture of a Marmon 16 – not the family’s obviously
Wow! Too bad they didn’t hang onto the Marmon as a family heirloom!!
A Marmon Sixteen! That’s amazing. What a rare and special car. The things we should have kept…
Great story. We had a CC on a Marmon 16 a couple of years ago.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1931-marmon-sixteen-death-with-dignity/https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1931-marmon-sixteen-death-with-dignity/
My dad, born in 1928, first car was a 1949 Chevy which is, I am sure, my first car ride.He and his fathers aspirational car was a Buick. Dad has never owned one, but my Grandfather born in 1900 got one in 1969, a 64 LeSabre which he could not drive due to his heart condition. He told me that he always wanted a Buick and could have afforded one in 1928 but got married instead. He said maybe I should have gotten the Buick then.
Mom’s aspirational car was a Pontiac; or a Buick Station Wagon when there was kids; Her family always had Plymouths. Our family cars were always Plymouths or Chevys. Her last car and only Pontiac before she died was a 89 6000. She loved that car. Dad hung onto it a while after she passed because he just could not part with it.
My dad was born in 1898 – that’s not a typo – and to the best of my knowledge his family never owned a car, and he never learned to drive. He did tell me about seeing the Wright Brothers at an air show and he flew at least twice in 747’s before he died. My mom – his second wife – grew up with cars in the family before WW2, but I believe her family was car-less for at least a few years as they rebuilt their lives after coming to this country. She was the driver in our family, but only owned 4 cars in 57 years. The first, which brought me home after I was born, was a 1954 Hillman Minx. The Hillman was followed by 3 Volvos: a 544, 122S and a 240 which she drove 275K miles before hanging up her keys. All stick shifts. The 240 had AC which she rarely used, but she liked the central locking and heated seats. She learned to drive with non-synchro first gears, and persisted with 2nd gear starts even with the Volvos. But she still got long life out of clutches. I have found photos of her dad with 1920’s Citroens and Model A’s, but I only knew him as the owner of a slant-six Dart Swinger … the first car I drove on a public road, at age 15.
There weren’t a lot of cars around when my dad was born and my grandparents certainly couldn’t afford one. He married later than most people and this is very much like the car my dad owned when he tied the knot and the car he brought my sister and me home from the hospital in. Not your father’s Oldsmobile, but very much like mine. I saw it at a car show recently. Major difference, this is black and my dad’s ’41 Olds was blue. He loved that car.
My Dad was born on a small farm in the ’30s. Not Dustbowl, but certainly not prosperous. I don’t know for sure, but would guess that they probably had a Model A or comparable Chevy. I do know that after the war they had a used Dodge that was cheap because it had been repaired after a rollover, but wasn’t ever quite the same.
My Mom’s family were city folk, and had a ’40 Ford when she was born in ’41. That was replaced after the war with a ’49 Mercury and then mostly Buicks from ’56-’88.
This picture was taken on a vacation after WWII and I believe this is their car.
My parents were born in 1918, so the Model T was the car of that time. I came along in 1946, and the first car that I can remember was dad’s 1949 Ford. I started out with a 1959 Borgward, followed by a 1957 Chevrolet, followed by a Mini. Too many to list after that. Pretty much any car made today is miles ahead of any car from my youth. That does not mean that I would not enjoy another Mini. Original of course, not the BMW copy.
Both of my parents were born in Brooklyn, NY – 1950 for mom and 1951 for dad. I know my mom’s family didn’t have a car until many years later and my grandma didn’t learn to drive until she was in her 50s (!!) My dad’s family moved out to the suburbs shortly after he was born, so they probably had a car. No idea what it was, though. Their last car was a Citation hatchback, so probably the ’50s equivalent of that.
I remember my mom mentioning that her father’s first car was some type of ancient wooden-bodied station wagon, probably a Plymouth.
Traffic jam on the West Side Highway, 1951:
Sounds like your parents and my parents had very similar early childhoods–just different boroughs, Manhattan vs. Brooklyn. Same years even. Dad’s family moved to the suburbs (Saddle Brook, NJ) in 1953 and Mom’s (Fair Lawn, NJ) in 1957. My grandfather on Mom’s side took the train into the city for work every day so I presume my grandmother learned how to drive at that point, as she was at home with the car all day. Not sure if the ’50 Studebaker was still in the garage at that point or if it had been replaced with the ’52 Ford that they owned into the early 60’s. On Dad’s side, my grandmother was in the army and drove an ambulance at a base stateside during WWII, so both grandparents were drivers. They only had one car, though–the earliest I’m aware of is a ’56 Plymouth Belvedere but there had to be ones prior to that.
My father was born in Italy in 1916, but his family emigrated to the US in 1919, so for all intents and purposes, he grew up in the USA. He told me his father had a Packard in the 30s and after that a La Salle. I think the first car my father ever owned was a `34Ford that he had in the late `30s. After the war, he had a `41 Packard Clipper 4 door with “pimp” whitewalls. A beautiful car.My mother won a 1949 Pontiac at a church raffle that my grandfather drove because she didn`t have a license at the time. Since this was the first all new postwar Pontiac, many dealers wanted to buy it -sight unseen. I never knew my grandparents on my fathers side, they died before I was born, but my grandfather -on my mothers side usually bought Chryslers and Dodges.The last one he owned was an `80 Fury 4 door, an upmarket model with air, power windows, and a vinyl top.He passed away about a year later, but the car was solod because my grandmother never knew how to drive.
My mom was born in 1920. In the family albums that her sister now has are pix of mom at 2 or 3 years of age, with her parents, and one of these: 1917 Chevy
Dad was born in 1912, in the wilds of New Jersey. Model Ts everywhere. He didn’t have a car until after WWII.
Given that my parents were born during the Second World War, cars at the time of their birth looked like this – or, at least, this one did. As wartime car production was heavily curtailed, it’s not much of a stretch to say that a few of these were running around, if only on the American side of the family.
My mom was born in 1915 and dad in 1916, so most likely Model T Fords, since both families seemed to be Blue Oval.
My maternal grandpa had a metallic blue 1959 Ford sedan with 6 cyl. and 3 on the tree, his last car.
The first car I remember, and the one I probably rode home in, was a green 49 or 50 Ford, with the standard issue 6 and 3 on the tree. The old man liked his cars basic in those days.
We moved across the country in a new 1954 Ford, a Customline IIRC. The old man sprung for the V8, but still 3 on the tree. Mom could drive the 3 speed quite well, and she could work a manual choke as well as any guy. An ability that was useful in her first new car of her own, a 1962 Falcon (the old man sprung for Fordomatic!)
A few years before my Dad was born, but this is my late Granmother with Grandad’s AJS.
1933, not sure what the car is. The boy is my Uncle Harold. Still going pretty well at 88.
I believe it to be a 1928 or 1929 Chevrolet
My Grandmother, Sybil with a Harley? Before they were ‘bad ass’ !
And going even further OT, a QANTAS airliner at their original hanger at Longreach, Qld.
My uncle, grandparents & a friend. I’ll stop now!
Both my parents were born in 1942. In the middle of WW2, in the rural southeast. I can’t exactly say how the average car looked like, but I’m pretty sure most of them had one horsepower.
My parents are war babies-’42 &’43. They started with a worn powder blue 1954 Cadillac Sedan de Ville (?) when they married in the early 60’s. Proved very reliable. Dad moved on to a 220D Benz when I was born in ’71. Then there was a SAAB, and a few MG’s and a ratty Jag XK in my childhood. Yet, there were Cutlasses and Malibus, too. This is where my strange taste in cars came from.
For Dad…Auburn, Ford V8 Coupé, 1936 Chevrolet Master series, Chrysler Imperial Airflow Coupé, Cord 810, Plymouth Special De Luxe, Pontiac Silver Streak, VW Kaefer, Opel Kadett, Düsenberg SJ Town Car, Hispano Suiza Pourtout, Horch 853, Adler Trumpf Junior, etc. And as those had been the last years of the passenger airships era I have to mention the Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg and the Berlin Olympic Games, Spanish Civil War… Quite strange and exciting times. For Mum…Packard Clipper, Packard Super 8 Sedan, Chevrolet Fleetline, Bmw 335, Gmc 352 Military Truck, Mercedes 320, Kübelwagen, etc. and as that had been right in the middle of the WWII. I think it is unavoidable to mention the Jagdtiger, T-34, M-3 “Gen. Lee”, Sherman tanks… Not so funny year…
nothing.
none of my grandparents had cars. My Dad was the first in the whole bunch to get one, a year before I was born in 1966.
Since both my folks were born in the ’20’s the cars they grew up with were mostly depression era cars. I can remember my Grandpa saying he once owned a Star and a Terraplane. He also worked for a time at the Auburn factory in Connersville , Indiana.
My Dad’s first car was a ’31 Model A coupe. This was replaced with a ’34 Ford Tudor with a slightly modified ’36 Flathead. This was replaced by a ’38 Chevy coupe until he was drafted. He once told me ” Remember that ’40 Ford sedan your Grandpa owned when your were little? That was the fastest car in town when I was in high school”. He told me that when I was about 30. That made me laugh considering how he didn’t like me abusing his cars when I was in high school.
My first ride was in a ’37 Ford sedan that my Dad bought after the War. He was a Ford and Oldsmobile man for the rest of his life.
The car in the lead of the story looks a lot like my first car, a ’51 Chevy sedan. Of course that was 50 years ago and the car wasn’t quite as weathered.
Dad was born in East Ham London in 1926,Granddad was in the Merchant Navy and moved with Gran,elder brother Larry and sister Rose to Lowestoft before starting school.His first car was a Ford model Y given him by Uncle Larry after the war then a green Mk1 Ford Consul.
Mum was born in 1924 in Arbroath Scotland and moved to Lowestoft with her parents and Uncle Will her younger brother when Granddad got a better job on the trawlers.Few working class people had cars then,most cars were British as anything else was very expensive.Cars had running boards,fender mounted spare wheels and starting handles.Mum’s first car was the green Consul which my bother,myself and sister came home from hospital in in 1955,57 & 59 respectively.I always asossciate her with green Fords.
My parents married in 1952 and moved near Lakenheath and both sets of Grandparents moved nearby shortly before my brother was born.
Pops was born in 1923 , his Father whom I never met , was a Civil Engineer and loved his big cars , I’ve seen a few photos of Pops and Uncle Bill here and there on Holiday in Grandfather’s various big old cars .
Pops loved his cars but was mechanically inept to a startling degree .
I remember the ’37 Bentley St. James Coupe , ’54 VW Kombi , Saabs , Peugots and even a Renault Reliance .
R.I.P. Pops .
-Nate
My parents grew up in England and Wales during the war. The typical car (Austins, Morrises, Hillmans etc) would have been put up on bricks for the duration, securely locked into a bijou garage.
One grandfather only ever bought Hillmans, the other, rather more dashing, had a series of Jags and Rovers that would all be collectors’ items today.
I’m very entertained by all the stories that have been posted here, and especially the sporadic comments of “they should have kept that one” or variants thereof.
This brings to mind a conversation I had with my father, on his deathbed (nothing dramatic, he was in the hospital for the last two weeks of his life, and only got ‘deathly ill’ in the last four days). The conversation had turned, as it often did, to old cars and his days at Motor Sales/Hallman’s Chevrolet. We’d returned to the story of his first professional car sale, a used 1936 Lincoln Zephyr, and I, as usual, wistfully commented about what a pity it was that he’d hadn’t bought it himself and stored it away.
I think I brought up that line of thought once too often, because I still remember his reply.
“Son, you’ve got to understand, that wasn’t a classic car. It was an old car. A used car. A unit that was taking up space and needed to be moved. Back in those days, nobody was saving antique cars. They were driving cars, period. Anybody who drove something that old did so because he was either too poor to get something better, or too cheap to spend the money. There was no collector car hobby back then, because we were working too hard just to put food on the table to worry about collecting toys.”
And that’s probably the best answer I’ve ever received about why antique cars are so far and few between.
You are spot on. I would also wager that folks of a certain age simply did not understand why one would keep old “junk”.
My maternal grandfather is 90; his father died in 1927. Shortly before his death, my great-grandfather purchased a new car. Nobody knows for sure and the few who are left didn’t pay attention as it was just a car (my grandfather still has an older sister living).
This new car sat in the shed, untouched, until the mid-1960s. At that time my great-grandmother tired of it and sold it for scrap. It was just old junk and she didn’t want any more trash around her house.
Times change, as do philosophies.
My dad was born on the farm in SW Saskatchewan in 1906. No cars in the family at that point in time!
When my parents were born in 1930’s Netherlands, cars looked like bicycles, and feet.
The D family didn’t get it’s first vehicle until the early 50’s after emigrating to Canada, my Dad’s first vehicle was a 38 Desoto in the late 50’s.
I have to come back to this 52 Chevy. I spent hours and hours in one of these in my early teen years. An uncle drove it daily and it was always outside and unlocked on weekends. I must have driven 40k pretend miles in it. It was parked on the road because it rained rust whenever you slammed the door and Uncle Bill didn’t want it on his driveway. I fully intended to buy it and restore it to its former glory when I turned 16. Unfortunately, 20+ years of northwest Ohio road salt did it in before I could do something stupid. I loved that car.
My father was born on a Virginia farm in 1908, so horses and mules figured in his early memories. I don’t know when Grandfather bought his first car, but when Dad finished high school in 1926, he went halves on an Indian motorcycle with his brother. The bike had killed its first owner, a lieutenant at Langley Army Air Field, but the Edwards brothers were bold and bought it anyhow. Sure enough, that Indian almost killed my father a few months later. When Dad knitted up, he bought his first motorcar, a 1923 Essex.
My mother was from West by-God Virginia, and came to Richmond at age fifteen, in 1931. She met my father through a mutual friend. Boy, she got very interested when she saw his car, a 1930 or ’31 Auburn sedan. Not that she was a gold digger, but Dad was a snappy dresser, too. That car had the dual ignition Lycoming straight eight, and would fly. It was, in fact, the car in which they eloped to Washington and were married on March 11, 1933, Dad’s twenty-fifth birthday. Depression? Bank failures? Who cared, they were in love.
I know my father was brought home in a 1929 Whippet in 1932 and his father stuck to Nash/AMC for the rest of his life. My mother would have made her first trip in a newish DeSoto since my maternal grandfather favored Chrysler products for a long time although the first car of his I remember was a 1969 Volvo 164, which suffered un-Volvo like reliability issues and was replaced with a pair of Oldsmobiles, in conjunction with a move from Brooklyn to the suburbs.
I came home in a 1964 Plymouth Valiant and both of our kids rode home in the same 1995 Ford Escort since we have spent more money on bicycles than cars in the last 15 years.
My dad’s first car in the late 50’s was a ’53 Plymouth with 6 cyl. It wasn’t as beat up looking as this Chevy, though, was clean looking in old slides.
By the time I started to notice cars around 1964-5, the most common ‘older’ ones on the streets were 55-57’s.
Dad was born in January, 1942, the month in which most of the 1942 “blackout” cars (all trim painted except for bumpers and windshield wipers) were built. Civilian car production ended in early February.
My late mother was born in November, 1945, right as the manufacturers were selling every new 1946 model car (which were all hurriedly rehashed 1942s) they could make. Some materials were still in short supply and many plants were still in the process of conversion back to civilian use. Waiting lists were long. The UAW went on strike against GM just a few days after she was born.
As for first cars, Dad’s was a ’55 Ford. Mom’s was a brand new 352-powered ’63 1/2 Galaxie 500 Sportsroof.
My parents were born in the late 1930s in China. They grew up in Taiwan and came to the USA as graduate students in the early 1960s. So they didn’t really have a car culture idea until they went to the US. What few vehicles were around in their childhood were probably military vehicles like trucks or Jeeps as they grew up during the WWII era.
One of their earliest cars was a 1958 Ford. Looked very nice in the old pictures but Dad said it was very unreliable and it soured him on Fords for a long time. He also had a 1950s era Ford as a second car. When I was born our primary car was a 1963 Chevy II with the 2 -speed Powerglide transmission. It was pretty reliable to the best of my knowledge – so that made our family a GM family for a long time – we got a 1970 Chevrolet wagon, a 1980 Buick Century sedan, and a 1993 Saturn SL sedan. Only went to a Ford Crown Vic in the 1990s as a company car – yeah, call it Panther Love.
Started getting into imported brands in the 1970s – a ’73 Volvo 144 sedan (influenced by a professor friend of theirs who had a late 1960s Volvo sedan – hah – the stereotyped academic Volvo owner), a 1983 Peugeot 505. Then there was a 1995 E36 BMW 3-series and a 2000 BMW E39 sedan (still around). Had a couple of VW Jettas, a 2003 wagon and currently a 2014 wagon.
One thing consistent – no Japanese models, to this day. Had something to do with my dad growing up in wartime China dodging Japanese air raids and being on the run from Japanese military campaigns.
Also, with few exceptions, they always bought new and kept the cars for 10 years or more.
My mom was born in 1920 and my dad, 1921. I don’t know what cars either’s family owned at the time. Both were the oldest child.
I do know what they drove when I came along in 1957: a light green ’52 Dodge 4-door, not unlike the version attached.
Around the time my mom and stepdad were born, cars generally looked like that 1949-52 Chevy in the pics.
My dad:
And my mom:
My dad’s first car was a ’49 Chevy Deluxe two door sedan, black. So, it looked a lot like the ’50 pictured in the lead photo.
He was born in ’30s Lithuania. I believe cars were pretty scarce there, and despite his family being relatively well off, I don’t believe they had one. He came to the States as a displaced person from the German British sector in ’49. He got is first car in ’57 or so as a slightly older college student.
My maternal grandparents were solid mid price buyers after WW II, so, I’ll guess they had a lower end ’38 – ’40 Buick or similar when the war started and my mom was born.
My Mom was born in 59, brought home from the hospital in a 57 Chevy Del Ray, I was born in 83 and brought home in a 70something Biscayne. My son was born in 2012and came home from the hospital in my 86 Parisienne. A GM tradition !
My dad was born in 1935 and his father was a Chrysler man so I’m sure he came home in a 1930’s Chrysler sedan. My mother was born in 1937, I have no idea what kind of car she would have had her first ride in, but, her father had “odd” tastes in cars. Austins in the ’50’s, Studebakers and AMC’s. My ride home was in a 1959 Studebaker Lark, given to my parents by my grandfather. I remember that car, it was black with a red plaid interior, wish I had it now.
I wrote earlier about my Dad’s cars but forgot something interesting about my Mom. During WWII her two older brothers were in the Navy. My uncle Doyle had always driven flashy cars. In fact he did for the rest of his life. His last two cars when he died in 1987 were a ’65 Mustang fastback and a ’71 T Bird.
Anyway, while he was away during the War he left my Mom his 1940 Buick convertible to drive. She had just gotten her license. She said that she really enjoyed having it .
My father was born in 1932 in Karachi, then part of British India. There’s a photo somewhere of the Chevrolet sedan they had when he was a child.
My mother was born in 1936, south of London. I don’t know what car my grandparents would have had then, but I know that before she was married my grandmother drove a bullnose Morris Cowley touring car – she said that she had it resprayed red (very unusual at that time) after an accident, so it was known locally as the Red Peril.
My father was born in 1915 and mother in 1933.My grandfather allowed my father to drive his new 1927 Buick tourer and in 1930 the new Buick tourer.In 1948 my father bought a new black Buick four door sedan,an expensive rarity for someone so young in Tasmania.Approx 1951 my father started dating my mother and went to visit her in the nearby country town,as he stopped outside her house the postman arrived on his pushbike,took the mail inside and said “there is a man outside with a car half a mile long”.When my father was 69yo he married a 29yo woman,so my stepmother was one year older than me!At the wedding reception I told my two sisters the Sophie Tucker joke.Ernie tells Soph that today is his 80th birthday and he has just married a 20yo girl.Soph congratulates Ernie but then says “when I am 80 I am going to marry myself a 20yo boy and let me tell you 20 goes into 80 a lot more times than 80 goes into 20”.
My parents were born in the teens. Grandpa had the first motorcycle in Iowa, which grandma hated. they had a LaSalle which grandpa put in heat and windows. Dads family were farmers back east and they had model T’s and A’s. Dad became a Lincoln salesman during the depression and picked my mom up at her soriety house in a different Lincoln every date.
Oddly enough Perry cars like that 52 Chev were common when I was born I went home in a 54 EIP Vauxhall Velox which is styled like a 3/4 size 52 Chevy that was in 58 and the E ended production in 57.
1954 Velox was a solid and reliable car.I bought this original and mint Velox in 1975 from its one owner,an elderly man,for the price he asked, $120.
The one owner 1950,60,000 mile Velox bought in 1973 for $140.
The same as when I was born. Literally.
Surprised how many entries feature parents born just before WWI, same years my parents were born. Lately it has struck me that CC is a younger person’s forum. Interesting to see so many geezers chiming in.
Neither of my parents owned their own car until 1946, when I was 6 years old. They bought a beat up 1935 Plymouth 2 door sedan in that year and paid $400 for the thing, a reflection of the seller’s market just after the War when people were desperate to own a car. Not long after, brand new Plymouths went for $1200-1500. (Decades later I bought many a good used car for less than $400, a reflection of the fantasy world we were living in when the $ was king and the rest of the world bought our goods and absorbed our inflation. College was nearly free, housing was cheap, doctors made house calls, foreign travel cost pennies and gas [at times] was 11 cents a gallon. Blind efforts to keep these good times rolling since then have only been possible with trillions of debt, grossly inflated assets, outsourced production, migrant labor and a far-flung military machine).
BUT I DIGRESS.The Plymouth was followed by a hand-me-down ’38 Pontiac via my grandfather, then a ’48 Pontiac, then a ’51 Dodge. In 1961 I proudly presented my mother with a brand new Morris Minor. This, it turned out later was not really her cup of tea, but she hung on for a few years perhaps in an effort to be polite. In ’67 she bought herself a brand new Dodge Dart. Much later, my brother bought her a brand new Civic (’86 or so) but once again this failed to tickle her fancy. (Some people just don’t like small cars). The Dart was it. That was her all time favorite.
They came with either one or two horse power. 🙂
I am _LOVING_ all the comments and photographs .
FWIW , a 4 cylinder 1932 Ford was a ‘B’ Model , ‘A’s were from 1928 ~ 1931 .
-Nate