Family Tradition... Looking to build a traditional ride for the family. We will soon have two kids and need something that fits a family of four + a stroller or two. I have my mind on some mid 50's caddies or early 40's ford's maybe even a 50's wagon, not sure yet. but I know this, I want my kids to be safe, and my wife to drive it from time to time, so I will stray a bit to the conventional side and probably run a sbc with a 700r and discs up front. Beyond that everything else will be traditional. so let me see pic's of your family rides (and custom strollers) and here your suggestions.
I crossed this same bridge some time back. I myself will have 2 here in a few weeks. I now am the proud owner of 3, 1954 ford ranch wagons. Nothing cooler than a 2 door wagon if you ask me. I may be interested in letting one or two of them go. They are all 3 buildable, and 2 of them are extra nice. Let me know if your are interested!
Although my kids have grown up, physically, a long time ago, here's what I call the family ride. You can't beat the older cars for all that heavy steel, like driving a tank compared to today's cars. 56' Merc
Here's one for you, certainly large enough to meet your requirements. This is mine in pre-start condition as I received it.
my 2 family rides are a 53 chevy and a 28 tudor..although the only one road worthy at this time is the 53...but im workin on it!
I thought my '35 sedan would be a good "family ride" and for the most part it is. The grandkids love to ride in it, I can easily get two child seats in the back but there is no trunk so cargo room is scarce once you pile all the p***engers in. I suppose a four-door might be better for ease of access. A 50's wagon, like one of the two-door wagons might be great.
I am currently building a 57 ford 4 door custom 300 for the wife. I am putting power brakes but am going to leave the manual steering for now to see if she is happy with it. I won't bother to put disc brakes on the front unless she feels it would be better. It has the stock 272 (rebuilding it right now) and fordomatic trans. Only thing inside I am going to do for safety is put shoulder seatbelts on all four corners and lap belts in the center. It has a HUGE trunk, will be a nice cruiser and a good overall family ride.
Well don't hate me here but, I would go with a 68 - 70 Sedan DeVille. They have new enough technology to be very dependable. They are solid as a rock, easy to find in good condition at a good price already have a great brake system and drive like a Cad really should! Please don't hate me for my honest opinion even tho you didn't really ask for it.
That's a super solid '55 Pontiac!!! I run a '56 Ford Tudor Sedan as my take the kids to school, run by the grocery store etc..... I'm looking for a '55 Ford Ranch Wagon or 55-56 Pontiac 2dr Wagon as my ultimate family car. Here's the '56... Too busy driving it(daily).. when I get another car on the road, the Ford will get the 'treatment'
New guy here doing the exact same thing. 1951 Buick Roadmaster. Got 3 little ones and the Missus to haul. Not sure about letting her drive it though...
I haul my (3) kids around in my 2 door 49 Hudson all day long. It's got tons of room, and built like a brick ****house... The kids love it. I love it too. Most 50's cars will be big enough inside and have a deep enough trunk that you can haul anything you need. My Hudson has more room than my work rig which is a minivan... I also had a 62 Olds 4-door for a while, and I could haul 7 adults without any problems. Old cars are big, you'll be fine in whatever you get.
A '29 hiboy with a rumble seat is a great family adventure car. Used to strap the car seats down in the rumble and travel a lot when my daughters were just young'ns. Of course, it neccessitated a luggage trailer, but the whole deal worked really well. Of course, a hiboy roadster might be considered marginally useful in some climates. As for daily driving, my '40 coupe worked pretty well after we snuck the bench seat into the back, in place of the opera seats. I deemed them unsatisfactory due to the inablity to secure a kid with a seatbelt in them. The bench seat is sort of two-plus-two seating. An adult can get in and go across town for bugers, but it really is too small (unless you are a kid) for a long trip. This might mean that it is a good family ride for several years, but eventually, the little darlings are going to get too big for it. One good thing about a '40 Ford coupe is the ginormous trunk. Groceries, Costco runs, etc. no problem.
Born in'48 I grew up in the '50's so I know first hand how MY family rode. I am the second of five kids and we are all still alive and mostly well. When I was a kid my Mom wouldn't let Dad buy a 4 door car because she was afraid one of us would open a back door and fall out while we were going down the road. Don't laugh, before seat belts and child lock rear doors barely a month went by without hearing of a kid doing just that. In fact I actually saw a kid open a door and fall out of a car right in an intersection as his Mom was making a left turn. Luckily, she wasn't going very fast and managed to not roun over him in the process. Dad drove a '40 Pontiac 2 dr sedan, a '48 Stude Starlight with the wrap around bac wndow and a '52 Merc 2dr. As it turned out, Dad did buy a couple of used four doors as we got older only because the price was right ($300 for a 40,000 mile '53 Olds 98 in '58) but by that time us kids didn't want nything to do with those ugly "Grandpa's cars". Hell, Even my grandpa bought 2dr's The last one beng a '62 Impala 2DR HT THe only reason there are so many 4 dr cars still around is because no "kids" wanted to use them up "back in the day"
Good point on the 4dr body style... When I was born my dad had a 1959 Cadillac 4-door HT sedan, sold it two years latter for just that reason.
Its gotta be a caddy bro......... and as it would happen - I'm selling one!!! LOL Actually I really am selling my 54 coupe deville on the cl***ifieds..... but I won't peddle it here. Caddy's rule
53/54 Chevies are affordable, easy to work on and fit the family fine. My wife loves driving our 2dr 54.
as stated before, look into a cadillac. i have done a few 60 erea. they have decend braking and tons of power,room , and not to mention coolness factor.
I'm leaning towards a Cadillac 55 or 56, but a 49 Hudson like "hudsoncustom" would be sweet also. I might add that I only have around $10000. for this project so I might be dreaming.
I've had a 4 door Custom 300 for about 5 years. Just finished a HO 302/AOD swap. Great family car, too. I have twin sons and it was especially great when they were younger. The next major project will be welding up the drivers side rear door and suicide the right side doors. That way, nobody can ***** that it's a "lame" 4 door...just a really strange 3 door. The picture below was taken about 4 years ago at the Roundup (the car has also been lowered 4" since this pic was taken). It amazing how much the kids have grown since then!
When my kids were growing up we had a 55 Nomad with a 365" Cad in it. It worked out real good, with all the room and the big motor.
I borrowed these from the '62 Chevy thread. They seem to be good traditional "family cars".....(look at the back seats..)
When my kids were little,I picked up a stock 53 Chevy wagon--it had been a ranch car ,so it had very few miles on it. I didn't do a thing to it--just drove it--6 volt electrics and all.Did the drive-it thing almost every weekend--backed it in and the wife and I sat in lawn chairs while the kids laid down in the back.Kids fell asleep--close the back--haul *** home. Even left the kids in the back on warm nights at the house--they loved it!
Man that is sweet. I had purchased a 58 ford that is sitting in the back right now but found a better 57 that had the 272 in it. The 58 had the 6 and 3 on the tree and I have 76 351W and an aod from a carb mustang I was going to put in it. I kind of like the 58. Who knows maybe I will do something with it down the road. How did your conversion go? Makes the car a whole new animal huh? We are doing an aod from a c4 conversion in my dads 66 f100 right now. I like the idea of the suicide door. My 35 dodge has them and it is a cool little feature the kids love. What did you do for the 4" drop?
I built this car with intentions of converting it to a 2-door, but maybe someone would want it for a family hotrod. It is forsale in the HAMB cl***ifieds if anyone is interested Modern 350 V8 with auto trans and new brakes.
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