Motion Pictures What were you driving in 1956?

The 1956 Hudson Hornet 4-dr sedan with three-tone paint and gold trim was among the ugliest cars ever built. Comfortable reclining leather seats, the 352" Packard V8; the problematic TwinUltramatic transmission sent most to an early grave.

jack vines, who got his driver's license in 1960 or so.

 

A 1950 Buick Super convertible. Thought I was cock of the walk! Living in sunny San Jose that summer, never put the top up.

Ben

 

1956
13 years old.. Downhill Hotrods and Rockets were our game..

 

1956 I was 14 years old. I was driving wheel tractors, a D4 crawler tractor, wheat trucks, from the field to the grain elevator and back on dirt and gravel roads. And the old WWII jeep that all us kids learned to drive in. I was issued an ag license which was good for farm use only.

 

I was, of course, some 26 years in the future in 1956, but having experienced a couple of '54 Chevrolet passenger cars, I'd say you could do way worse for inexpensive, reliable transportation back then.

ETA: My paternal grandparents had a Morris Oxford in 1956. My maternal grandparents had a Studebaker of some type.

 

A bike, I don't remember for sure as I was 6.

 

My Crib.

 

I was 7.. My dad was running an Olds 88

 

In 1956 I was 9 years old. My oldest brother bought a new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere hardtop with a 301 with a 4 barrel and duals. It also had the torqueflite transmission. We would take the Southern State Parkway on Long Island to go east and stay at our house in Copiague for the weekends. There was not a lot of traffic, and my brother would slide over and let me steer for a while. It was fun, but I knew that my brother still was holding onto the wheel just in case. It was still a big deal for me and I'm sure it had something to do with what I drive today.

 

In 1956 my mom was 10, and my dad was 11.

 

In 56 I was waiting on my grandpa to trick my grandma into dating him lol. They actually got together as a couple in 56. Mom was born six years later

 

I was "driving" a Schwin while Mom and Dad had a 54 BelAir the first part of the year and a new 56 Mercury station wagon later in the year.

 

Wow......where do I start. I was 11yrs. old in 1956. I was riding my Monarch 26" bicycle and trying not to hit the barn....which I did on one of my maiden voyages and I dented the beautiful tank with the button operated horn in it. My dad saw it happen and just walked away shaking his head.....I am sure resolved to never buy me anything nice and new again with $$ our family didn't really have.
There was a long hill in town two blocks long.....with a hard right turn at the end.....so you wouldn't go over the bank into the river ! We built a wooden cart with rope steering and four or five of us would race to the bottom.....fearful of that hard right turn at the finish line.
In our basement, I was also building a Briggs Stratton lawn mower engine to put on the wooden cart. We got it done and we learned to steer not with the rope, but using our feet on the 2x4 front axle. Wanting more power....I fashioned a thinner head gskt with layers of tin foil and added some model airplane fuel.....and promptly pitched the rod thru the front of the block. Our local lawn mower guy brazed the broken block chunk back in and gave me a new rod !

My biggest event was my first attempt to drive our Case VC tractor. We had to pull a water tank on a skid with a log chain to water livestock in the field. I will never be the same after that event......I would simply dump the clutch instead of slowly releasing it....and promptly broke a perfectly good log chain. My dad was not a patient man and I certainly tried every little bit that he had.
Not sure why....but our dad got me and my three brothers a horse that same summer.....maybe he knew we all needed a break from internal combustion !!

 

We didn't get a 49 Olds 88 until '57.

 

Randy, we were Downhill Racers in '56, that's how I get away with having this on my '29.

 

I was nine, riding shotgun in my dad's 55 Buick Special sedan. I didn't learn to drive until I was 12.

 

Rocking the back seat of my Dad’s 55 Buick Special, and sleeping under the back window, laying on the package tray behind the rear seat.

 

I was on a bike. My folks bought a used 55 DeSoto. I think my dad had a 55 Ford work car.

 

I was riding an old, rusty bicycle I got from my uncle's junkyard - no chain guard so you know how that can chew up a guy's Billy the Kid jeans or Red Ball sneakers. My dad was borrowing tools from my uncle in that junkyard, taking apart our '52 Henry J four-cylinder flathead engine, finding out that it was running poor because of a bent valve, replacing that valve, reassembling the engine and tuning it to run like a top! Across the highway from our two-story house was Ed's Drive-in, a burger joint where the local young bucks and the enlisted airmen from the nearby base would gather in the evenings in their souped up jalopies. I'd watch it all from the second story window. I can feel the slight southwest breeze wafting the fragrance of fried food, carrying the sounds of early rock and roll on the radios, tires squealing as hotrodders peal out from the gravel parking lot to the asphalt highway and rumble through rusted glasspacks to a stretch down the road where they could drag. Yeah, 1956 kinda set the hotrod gears in motion in my head.
Here's my dad, standing in the front yard about halfway between Ed's Drive-in and my bedroom.

 

I was 16 in 1956.... driving my Moms 51 Ford four door.....

LynnW

 

Wasn’t driving a darn thing, born after in ‘61

But I’m sure in ‘56 I was thinking a cammed 265

 

My mom was a small kid in 1956…….think my grandparents had a Merc.

 

An 8N was my first motorized ride!

 

At one year old, I was probably in a stroller, or a pram.

 

Any bike I could borrow, until 1962, I got a Bianchi from The Pep Boys
In '58 I drove a '50 Plymouth. In the drive way.
In '61 I drove a farm tractor.
First cars were in 1963, a '53 Ford and a '53 Dodge.
The next year I got my License.
In 1956 my uncle had a '54 Dodge Hemi.
In '65 I had a 1956 Dodge D-500 Hemi, dangerous

 

I was 12 and on vacation at Marblehead Ohio visiting my grandparents. My grandfather's best friend Boz ran a limestone quarry there and he let me drive a Cat road grader for my first experience "behind the wheel". He had to pry me away from out of the cab when we finally finished my first driving lesson. I had to stand up as I was too short to properly sit on the seat to drive it. PS My dad bought a new Blue 56" Chevy 210 2-door that year, 3 on the tree that my Mom use to burn rubber with it and make me laugh.

 

Dad turned 16 in '56. I didn't happen until 10 years later.

 

my first ride.

 

That's. Really close to what ours was ... Nice !
Yours was upscale with a steering wheel &a brake