What cars did your parents have when you were growing up. We had:
1 Pontiac Convertible during the fifties
1 Lincoln Continental Convertible during the fifties
2 Cadillac Convertibles during the fifties
2 Chrysler Imperials with air conditioning during the sixties
Ford station wagon with fake wood panel. The best part of that car was the rear jump seat that was rear facing. I liked to sit back there in no car seat and pump my arm to truckers trying to get them to blow their horn.
Its sad that my daughter is the age I was when I sat back in that jump seat. She will not have those fun memories. Today she is stuck in a booster in the back seat. When we get to the dirt roads, she gets out of her seat and gets to sit on my lap and drive the last mile home. She is a good driver for a 4 year old. Her little sister is 2 and also wants to drive so she gets to drive the 1/4 mile driveway.
Parents had a 1963 Ford country squire station wagon. Was also the first car that I learned how to drive on. The car had no power stearing or power brakes. Parking the car was very difficult as it took a lot of effort to turn the steering wheel.
My dad was initially a Mercury guy. His first new car was a 1949 Mercury coupe that he jazzed up with a sun visor and fender skirts. The next car was a 1953 Mercury Custom 4 dr. sedan. We put a lot of miles on that car. My parents kept that car for 10 years, but my dad is the only one who drove it the last year or two because it was so rusty that you could see the road through the floorboards.
My mother got a 1959 Mercury Monterey hardtop in 1961 or 1962. I learned to drive in that giant boat. Mileage was not very good with the 390 engine, but gas was 20-25c/gal. A dollar’s worth could get you a night of cruising.
We had one of those green station wagons, but without the paneling. My dad loved old 60s Cadillacs, so in the 80s, he would get those and fix them up. Gas hogs.
My first car was a 69 Gran Torino, purchased when I graduated HS in the 80s. Smelled like piss, just like it’s previous owner.
My dad was a Chrysler guy. He traveled the state of Florida for a living and that involved a lot of driving, with a short stop at a customer site, then back on the road. He preferred Chryslers because, while they were cold natured and very touchy when cold, after they had warmed up, they started right up…GM cars seemed to need to have the engine cooled a bit longer before they wanted to start. He drove Chrysler Newports and Plymouth Fury III’s. He did own one 1960 Chevy Impala, but swore off GM when he was driving the family over the skyway bridge in Tampa and the windshield wipers quit in the middle of a blinding rain.
He pus so many miles on a car that he bought a new car every year… He always went to the same dealership and the same salesrep. We became friends with them, and the kids would call him “Uncle Jack”.
I think you meant contact paper.
The first car I rode in was my mom’s Studebaker Champion. She bought it when she started teaching 2nd grade.
Then my grandfather gave us his 1955 Ford Crown Victoria that we drove well into the 1970s.
When my maternal grandmother had a stroke I got her 1975 Plymouth Savoy to drive to Junior College. No power steering or radio on that big car. 2-speed pushbutton transmission. What a rust bucket.
When I graduated from undergrad parents gave me a 1973 Pinto with a sunroof, which I still drive occasionally and show at car shows. Better shape now than it was when I got it used in 1976.
But later I inherited my paternal grandma’s 1965 Plymouth Fury which is under restoration. 1960s cars were much better made than 1970s.
Can’t remember what year car it was but my Father’s friend had a Chrysler product that I drove after a day of ice fishing. I was the designated driver and can remember the car having a push button transmission.
I learned to drive in my dads 1974 Chevy pickup with three on the tree.
My brother in law had me drive to the top of a steep hill with a stop sign and made me work until I could get off the clutch and on the gas without killing it.
My mom had a 1956 Plymouth Belvedere that had a pushbutton transmission
My first car I ever bought was a 1965 Plymputh Belvedare. It did not have the push button transmission though.
I bought my first car in 1966. It was a 1963 Plymouth Savoy (Plymouth’s lowest and least equipped model) with about 30,000 miles. The only options were an AM radio and the in dash TorqueFlite push button automatic. The only chrome was the bumpers. I drove it two years and added another 30-35,000 miles.
I think the last year was 1963. By the way, I think the Belvedere was the Bottom trim line that year. We had one for a while as well, with the legendary Slant Six engine.
Beleive it or not, there used to be a trim line called the Plaza lower in the Trim Line. Mostly taxis and corporate fleets bought that car.
My mother, who was widowed at the time, bought me my first car as a graduation present when I graduated from college in 1969. It was a 1969 blue Oldsmobile Cutlass S (sport). I loved that car.
The Standard Catalog groups the 1963 Plymouth lowest model as the Fleet Special/Savoy. It states that the Fleet Special had slightly less standard equipment than the Savoy. About all that could be is lack of a heater. Mine also had the Chrysler slant 6, which I thought was a actually a very good engine.
The Standard Catalog states that 1958 was that last year of the Plaza and that it was replaced by the Savoy.
This is not a pic of my car, but is one just like mine and the same colors.
A reliable, utilitarian car if there ever was one. Those slant-sixes would run 200,000 miles with no problems. That was remarkable in those days. Either the Mopar manual or 727 auto transmissions were excellent, also. Only trouble with the manual was 1st gear was not syncronized.
Still got my 1965 Fury IIII same color as yours with a 383. That was the top trim line. RIP Plymouth!
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