My previous post was all vehicles that I (or later, my wife and I) purchased. Now I'll list the few vehicles my folks had..... going in chronological order, from my first memory: The first vehicle if my dad's that I remember, maybe from the age of 3, which would have been early 1955 or so.....a 1948 (?) Dodge Club coupe, similar to this one, only a darker color: Next car up was a '52 (or '50-'51 maybe?) Pontiac Streamliner 4-door sedan - a pretty obscure model by today's standards It was green, with a blue fender, once dad had a little incident. I don't think he ever got the fender painted. Next up was a car I spent a lot of time in. We had it for quite a few years, and did a lot in it - a '58 Chevy Biscayne 4-door sedan, all white. We went on long trips in it, went camping in it, dad and I even used it as a 'truck' delivering newspapers to stands, racks, and stores in the afternoon. That work, hauling around hundreds of pounds of papers at a time, pretty much ruined the Chevy So, in the spring or summer of 1963, dad decided it was time for a new car.....his first BRAND-NEW car. A 1963 Chevy II Nova hardtop (basically like this one, but it wasn't an 'SS'): So then, our family got bigger..... Step-mom came in with her red '63 Falcon Futura 4-door sedan, the car I learned to drive on: In late '64 or very early in 1965, dad's '63 Nova got stolen. They found it the day after the insurance settlement check arrived. Dad replaced the hardtop with a new '65 Nova station wagon, in blue, with the 283.... Dad only bought the 2-seater, so my step-brother and I usually travelled as 'cargo' if the whole family was going somewhere. A year or so later, dad had already worn out the first set of tires, and installed a set of re-treads on the Nova, one of which promptly exploded on the Santa Ana Freeway on the way to Disneyland one hot summer day. Of course, mom blames it on the vehicle itself, instead of it being a case of poor tire in over-loaded, over-temperature situation. So, the Nova gets traded in on a new '66 Chevy Caprice, again, one with only 2 seats and no A/C..... Yellow this time. Actually have a pic of this one, and no, the kid is not me. I was 14 or 15 by this time. he's not even a relative. The Caprice Estate was the last vehicle my folks had at the time I graduated HS and got my own car. They still had the '63 Falcon as a second vehicle. The Falcon later blew up and was replaced with, of all things, a '61 Sunbeam Alpine, which I attempted to rebuild the motor on. Didn't work out well. The Caprice was replaced in 1969 by a new '69 Ford Galaxie 500 hardtop, then in '72 that was replaced by a slightly-used ex rental '72 Gran Torino hardtop. The Torino was replaced by a 2-door Ford Granada (not sure if it was a '75 or '76). For some reason, it's a vehicle I barely remember. It may also have been an ex-rental from the same family acquaintance. Then, in '79, they bought a new Olds Cutlass coupe (V-6), and then, after dad totaled the Cutlass, their last car, a '90 Thunderbird. Most of their vehicles were rather plainly-equipped. No A/C on any vehicle until the '72 Gran Torino. No power windows until the '90 Thunderbird.
