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Folks Of Interest What did your dad drive?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by wheeldog57, Jun 2, 2023.

  1. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 19,458

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    My dad had a green 51 Mercury before he and my Mom were married. first car I remember was a 53 Chevrolet in 2 tone green. he drove his work vehicle, a 57 Chevrolet sedan delivery, as well as a long wheelbase '52-ish Chevrolet panel truck... blue and Yellow with "T&T Linen Supply" on the side.

    my Mom and the Merc in Tahoe. that's the fender of the Merc in the totem pole picture of my Dad. the Chevy picture was before I was born. that's my evil big brother there probably already scheming on how he is going to pick on me every day of my life.

    Merc.JPG

    Copyfof scan0002b.jpg

    San lorenzo .jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2023
  2. Blairsville G
    Joined: Oct 24, 2020
    Posts: 31

    Blairsville G

    Dad drove my avatar in the 60s & 70s, it looked like this back then. He saved it for me and I got it when I turned 21. IMG_20230607_0001.jpg
     
  3. Boatmark
    Joined: Jan 15, 2012
    Posts: 408

    Boatmark
    Member

    Dad bought his first car, a 39’ Olds sedan, in high school just as the war ended. Traded that on a base no-option 49’ Ford Tudor when he went to college. In 1950 he got into a beef with his Dad over money, and gave the car to my grandfather to square it up.

    Needing a cheap car to make the 70 mile trip to college during the week, and back home to work Fri-Sun he bought a 40’ Studebaker business coupe with a crunched fender for $20.

    With the goal of spending only $100 and having the resources of a local gas station / Plymouth dealer he’d worked in in high school he got to work. Bought a junkyard fender, four new tires, parts for brakes and a tune-up, and some tan paint from the mixed wrong shelf at the body shop supplier. Ended up with going $6 over budget, and drove it three years until graduation.

    Heading off into the Air Force after graduation he bought another new base model no option 53’ Ford Tudor. Drove it thru several levels of flight training and drove from Texas to his first assignment in N.J., and stopped on leave at home in Ohio on the way.

    The 53’ needed tires and one evening he went to the Ford dealer where he’d bought his Ford’s to get new tires. It was a small town place with two cars in a little showroom. Under the showroom lights were a 55’ Thunderbird and a 55’ Fairlane, both red and loaded to the gills.

    Being a dashing young newly minted Air Force pilot he decided not to buy tires for the boring beige Mainline, and instead left with the spiffy red Fairlane. He said he’d first looked at the T-Bird, but didn’t think all his stuff would fit in it being transferred from place to place in the military. (Damn!)

    He met my Mom while at his first assignment in N.J. All the sudden he had a wife, and kids stated coming, and the wore out flashy red Fairlane gave way to a black 58’ Mainline sedan that was a deal when a guy traded it in with 2k miles on it when his wife couldn’t get the hang of a three on the tree. It was the car my Mom learned to drive a stick in.

    Real life meant 15 years of family wagons, company car wagons, and Volkswagen Beetles until he bought a used Austin Healey 3000 that was his daily for years until it was ragged and became my high school car.

    He went on to have some more OT interesting stuff, but his two favorites over a lifetime were the Healey, and that red 55’ Ford. In fact, it was the first of decades of red cars.
     
  4. SuperWasp
    Joined: Sep 24, 2021
    Posts: 8

    SuperWasp

    The old man's first car was a used 58 Impala he bought from a local company that was selling cars out of its fleet. It had a dual quad 348.... I always thought that was a really interesting spec for company issued iron.
    He traded the Impala for a new 67 Camaro RS convertible. Oddly enough he became a Chrysler guy later in life when us kids came along. Although, he never made mama sell her Cougar. That's sitting in my garage as I type this.
     
  5. topher5150
    Joined: Feb 10, 2017
    Posts: 3,544

    topher5150
    Member

    Most I'm not allowed to talk about but from my fuzzy recollections, there was a white early 60s F-100. A baby blue 56 F-100 with a 351c and a Dodge front suspension. He had a 1940 Ford Tudor std that he resurrected from a chicken coop and drove it for a few years, tore it all a part put a Mustang II front end, a 302/C4 with an 8" rear in it "got all the hard work done" then decided mehh I'm sick of it and sold it.
     
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  6. earlymopar
    Joined: Feb 26, 2007
    Posts: 1,675

    earlymopar
    Member

    He was a died-in-the-wool Mopar guy (Duh):

    1960: Moved from Iowa to Oregon with the family in a 59' Plymouth Suburban, 9-passenger station wagon pulling a utility trailer with our camping gear.
    1965: Purchased a new 65' Dodge A100 for his work truck
    1966: Purchased a new 66' Dodge Charger, 383, 4-speed
     
  7. enjenjo
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 2,747

    enjenjo
    Member
    from swanton oh

    in order
    27 Model T sedan
    35 Chevy Master four door sedan I came home from the hospital in it
    41 Pontiac coupe
    48 Chevy two door sedan
    48 Pontiac fastback coupe
    50 Buick special four door
    48 Chevy coupe/248 GMC motor
    58 Buick special four door
    65 Buick special four door
    67 Chevy C10
    72 Buick Skylark four door
    75 GMC 1500
    80 Plymouth Horizon
    81 Dodge Omni
    88 Buick Century
    96 Buick LeSabre
    04 Buick LeSabre
    15 Buick Encore He drove it one time before he passed
     
  8. Lessee.....gotta go way back to remember.
    1. 29 Ford two door sedan....he rebuilt the engine it that one in High School shop
    2, 39 Lasalle 4 door. I remember that one because we lived on the N. California coast..mushrooms grew in the rear carpet.
    3. An old gray 41 Olds 4 door...My mom said some of the car doors were wired closed.
    4. 47 Pontiac 2 door streamliner in black. Dad totalled it, broke his leg and had to crawl through brush to get back up on the road to flag down some help
    5. Blue 46 Pontiac coupe
    6. Black 50 Pontiac 4 door, straight 8\ hydro..my mom blew the rods out of it passing a truck with us kids in the car.
    7. White 52 Pontiac 4 door
    8. 55 Pontiac chieftain 2 door hardtop...got wrecked
    9. 54 GMC work truck
    10. 55 Olds 4 door
    11 Brand new 64 Falcon Ranchero...black with red interior...260/4 speed
     
  9. What did your dad drive? That is the question. What didn’t my dad drive, it started with a pair of 1942 Chevrolet sedans, two late 50’s ford pickups, an O/T Plymouth convertible, one jeep wagoneer, an O/T Chevrolet suburban and ended with a 39 Plymouth convertible and a 34 Plymouth 2dr sedan. Okay I’m out of breath, I need to go take a nap.
     
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  10. Apart from his first car (a '51 Nash coupe), until my sister and I came along, my dad always drove some pretty cool cars; a '59 Austin Healey 100-6, a '62 Corvair Monza, a '57 Bel Air convertible (a car that I constantly chided him for selling from the day I discovered cars until the day he died), a '58 Ford Country Sedan wagon with the 300-horse 'Interceptor' 352, a '66 Charger, and then the car I came home from the hospital in, a '69 GTO. In the mid-sixties he had the opportunity to buy a gullwing '55 Mercedes 300SL for what you would now pay for a used Honda Accord. But my grandfather talked him out of it, said German cars were unreliable. Thanks for ruining my inheritance, grandpa.
     
  11. ramblin dan
    Joined: Apr 16, 2018
    Posts: 3,799

    ramblin dan

  12. The first car that I remember my dad driving was a 1949 Ford coupe. I remembered it sounded powerful so I suppose he had glasspacks on it. But he wasn't really a car guy so it was probably stock. He once told me his first car was a 1934 Ford coupe that his uncle helped him rebuild using some Lincoln pistons? Don't know how that would work.
    He had a radio and tv repair shop so his daily driver for years was first a 55 Ford station wagon that I learned to drive in, then a 60 Ford station wagon. He used these to haul televisions and cabinet radios to his shop. He only ever bought one car brand new and that was a 1967 Fairlane 2 door hardtop, beautiful turquoise with black vinyl top. He gave it to me before he died and I still have it, about 75000 original miles. No pics of any of them.
     
  13. Lloyd's paint & glass
    Joined: Nov 16, 2019
    Posts: 10,121

    Lloyd's paint & glass
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    From the stories I was told, he drove my mom to drinking :D
     
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  14. hkestes
    Joined: May 19, 2007
    Posts: 585

    hkestes
    Member

    He drove the #41 car in this photo and that is his 57 Fuel Injected Bonneville convertable towing the #14 car.
    [​IMG]

    Also drove this #41
    [​IMG]

    And this Willys
    [​IMG]
     
  15. My Dad’s first car was a used ‘49 Olds slope back (?) - it was the only used car he could afford that had the ignition and most all the buttons and such to the right side of the steering wheel since he lost his left arm in WWII. I believe it was also a 3- speed on the column - I only saw one b&w picture of it and he said it was green. He wasn’t sure though as he is color blind! lol!
     
  16. big duece
    Joined: Jul 28, 2008
    Posts: 6,921

    big duece
    Member
    from kansas

    Olds Fleetline ^^^^
     
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  17. Board Track Racer
    Joined: Feb 18, 2009
    Posts: 7

    Board Track Racer
    Member

    A couple old Harleys early on.
    ‘57 Ford then a ‘65 Mustang.
    Acquired a ‘65 Corvair from his Aunt after she passed.
    ‘72 Mercury Montego.
    His last vehicle was an ‘82 GMC pick up. Between the Montego and GMC he bought a ‘74 Superglide.
    Lost him in 1987 from a heart attack at the young age of 53.

    The pic of him on the Harley was taken by me. We did a father son road trip around Lake Erie. I must of been around 13 at the time.
    Cleveland to Windsor, Canada. Spent the night then onto Niagara Falls. After a day or two there we headed to SW Pennsylvania to meet up with mom at my grandparents house.

    I got dropped off so he could get back home for work and would ride back with mom after the visit.

    Let me tell ya! Those King/Queen seats are not very comfortable, especially when your the passenger. The inside of my legs hurt for a couple days …was well worth it and remember that trip like it was yesterday.

    B838FCEA-E440-43FE-8C96-79E1467901F8.jpeg 4C35CC1F-1E57-4FA5-BB3E-3B19EA7FD360.jpeg DABD0F8C-FE4E-434B-9519-294D4CC2E714.jpeg FC0CC855-2433-43DA-BF6F-BFA74B8F1E24.jpeg E80AD17C-19C5-469F-9EDF-F30DFD011BBB.jpeg 205A5A4B-33A6-42CC-9533-69FF15A25E25.jpeg 84FF703B-79D1-49FC-98E5-D2E2EDCAA1AC.jpeg
     
  18. coilover
    Joined: Apr 19, 2007
    Posts: 697

    coilover
    Member
    from Texas

    My Dad's first ride was a team of mules and a farm wagon. Before WW2 we still used mules for fence building/mending as you could put all the tools and wire in the wagon and signal the mules to move up to ones present position---didn't work with a tractor. First car I remember was a 35 Ford 5w coupe with a Montgomery Wards pickup box kit which I started driving when I was 10.
     
  19. 34 5W Paul
    Joined: Mar 27, 2020
    Posts: 360

    34 5W Paul
    Member
    from Fresno CA

    My Dad was a dyed in the wool Ford guy but I have no idea why. He died 25 years ago and his dad passed when he was just 6 years old. So, not much in the way of stories. He just never talked much, particularly about his early life. I've heard he was a hell raiser, but he sure didn't want any of his kids to be one. I did get these photos from my cousin. Unfortunately never saw these when my Dad was alive. Would love to have gotten some back story. I just know he'd never let any of his kids have a "motorsackle". No chance.
    He rode a customized flathead Harley way back when he was in his twenties. Heard the guys across the street got him into bikes. Scalloped paint, bobbed rear fender, no front fender.
    077931290002s.jpg

    He drove a truck for over 40 years. Early photo here of his truck with my now 89 yo uncle and 76 yo cousin.
    Dad Truck.jpg

    39 convert probably not long after the Harley. Dapper dresser, pocket square and all...
    Dads 39 Convert.jpg

    Then a 49 Ford convert and married my Mom. Kids started along right away and the 49 gave way to a 55 Ford Station wagon in light blue. He was working on it in our driveway and it backfired and puked flaming gas all over his face and neck. He was burned badly and was hospitalized for a while. The skin grafts were noticeable the rest of his life. There was a brief Studebaker ownership and an Oldsmobile F85 with a 215 V8. The 55 wagon gave way to the first car I remember.
    That was a '62 390 Country Squire that my brother Tom crashed and totalled. Then a Pontiac Le Mans with a tri-power 389. With brother Tom around, Dad removed the linkage to the outboard carbs. Tom bought a linkage set and would borrow the car and install the linkage. Tom got it airborne along with our two other brothers. He blasted over a train track hump in the boonies and the car never sat right after that.
    Then Dad got a '67 Galaxie with a 390 in it. The smog heads were dogs, so at rebuild time the smog heads and thermactor junk was all ditched and some early castings installed, along with a floor-shifted toploader 4 speed. Ran really good after that.
    When he passed away in '98 he was driving a Ford pickup.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2023
  20. Jacksmith
    Joined: Sep 24, 2009
    Posts: 1,785

    Jacksmith
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Aridzona

    My step Dad drove a black '57 Plymouth Fury that had a 413 transplanted in it. I had no idea at the time what that meant. I just remember getting pinned back in the seat when he raced & beat a new Corvette! I was around 7 years old then. My Mom wanted a "family car" so he traded it in on a '61 Plymouth station wagon. UGH!
     
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  21. Chris430
    Joined: Feb 7, 2023
    Posts: 58

    Chris430

    Dad drove and raced a 65 F-100 he got from grandpa. Mine at 13 till present but not mobile or in this good of shape. The 63 XL-100 Jack Fuche drove influenced me to put 63 trim on my 65. I tore the driver door trim off leaving a payphone after a very flustering conversation with a girl. A photo of it with my brother and dad at a camping trip and a couple where I lived in Ft. Worth in the mid 90's with mom behind the camera. Made the 2 hour trip to my parents house one Friday evening and pulled an all night engine build. Cranked it up and called it a night at 6am Saturday. Got out of the shower just in time to see my dad and brother taking off down the road leaving some of my rear tires behind. Would be nice if $600 could still get you good block and head work done.
    IMG_20230121_200252_01.jpg

    IMG_20230121_201615_01.jpg

    IMG_20230121_201506_01.jpg
     
  22. Chris430
    Joined: Feb 7, 2023
    Posts: 58

    Chris430

    Just noticed the Goodyears, usually bought Cooper Cobras at $120 a pair. Must have been in-between paychecks.
     
  23. Jet96
    Joined: Dec 24, 2012
    Posts: 1,431

    Jet96
    Member
    from WY

    My dad's sweet '55. 235 with split manifolds and dual pipes, twin carbs on a homemade intake. It had a Yogi Bear sticker on the rear quarter.. My mom still smiles when she talks about all the places they went in it! I came home from the hospital in it two years after this pic... IMG_4255.jpeg
     
  24. He was a carpenter. Drove a '55 Powell pickup for quite a while.


    [​IMG]
     
  25. Ahughes
    Joined: Mar 15, 2023
    Posts: 32

    Ahughes
    Member
    from Spokane Wa

    Can’t get ahold of a pic from back in the day right now, but here my dad’s first car. His grandpa bought it new in 56 and gave it to my dad when he graduated high school. It’s a radio delete power pak 4 door. Odd combo IMO but I guess that’s how he wanted it. Happy to say it’s mine now :)
     

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  26. lostn51
    Joined: Jan 24, 2008
    Posts: 2,421

    lostn51
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Tennessee

    That is a nifty little truck! It almost looks like a Tonka truck from back in the day when I played with them.
     
  27. firemangordy
    Joined: Feb 28, 2007
    Posts: 487

    firemangordy
    Member

    The first car I remember my dad having was a black '49 Pontiac fastback. In '59 he traded it in at Parkwood Chevrolet for a green and white '55 Chevy 210. In '63 he painted it white and put chrome reverse rims on it. Boy, did I think we were stylin' riding in that car. It started the TriFive love affair for me. Later he had the '62 Impala SS and the '65 Malibu SS. When I bought a Nomad and joined the California Nomad club he bought the '57 Nomad and joined too.
    Happy Father's Day dad. Miss you.
    Dad's '55.jpg
    Dad's '62 Impala SS.jpg '65 Malibu SS.jpg '57 Nomad 2.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2023
  28. sshep
    Joined: Oct 13, 2018
    Posts: 281

    sshep
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    His first car was a Model A Sedan

    Image_055a.jpg
     
  29. Country Joe
    Joined: Jan 16, 2018
    Posts: 541

    Country Joe
    Member

  30. wheeldog57
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 3,593

    wheeldog57
    Member

    What year is the car in the lead photo of this thread?
     

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