here is a short list of cars and hopping off points:
first car i remember :
1959 chrysler imperial
dad backed over my tonka dumptruck in Yerkes (collegeville 1961)
omaha nebraska in 63 dads 1960? carmen ghia light blue
both cars came back to rd4 reading pa in 63-64?
light green 56 caddy dad got for $200 from someone but mom hated it cuz it looked to her generation like a ghetto cruiser.
we were all driving to little linden and i think mom made a remark about it and dad impulsively
pulled into the rambler dealer in douglasville ...
he comes back out and we all go over to a lavendarish silver rambler wagon... the only new car
we would ever own.
i think it was under $3,000.
there was a lambretta motor scooter that sat in the middle of our sidewalk for years.
yellow 65 econoline
blue 68 econoline van
orange 69 econoline van
kays gold safari wagon trans mount fixed with vicegrip on trip to Ts farm.
yellow montego / garden hose heating / pull speaker wire shifting / spoon key
vw bugs 6 or so
jennys red pinto college car
vista cruiser wagon
yellow 67 mustang was green from selman
yellow mustang 2 from selman
1949 White truck
1958 dodge dump
vw rabbit camo paint doors welded shut top cut off
63 fairlane top cut off sold in AZ
62 fairlane
63 limo $900 with 57,000 miles on it... popped out of park and rolled down hill into willow tree.
68 camaro
dodge dart convs red, brown? blue?
toyota wagon brown
toyota johns
f250 pick ups
65 impala conv
70 mustang white
70 boss 302 white
67 mustang gta red
65 mustang med blue
green dannek 68 malibu 4 door
black comets 60, 61
vw bus red/white
green torino
67 fury II white
vega
datsun wagon yellow drove to AZ water pump failed. pushed to an exit by a gambler on his way to reno with a black eye. his bumper was then torn off by a passing uhaul...
sally and jacks dart swinger 340 w positraction blue w white interior
Jim
ReplyDeleteReading this list I realize how many cars there actually were... I have conflated a bunch of them, like John's corolla wagon and the Datsun b210. The Datsun did make the trip to Flagstaff in 1986 with you and William. You guys picked me up at the airport there, I was flying back from my year in England and had visited California. We stayed in Flagstaff a week with the anagama kiln built at North Arizona University by Yukio Yamamoto. The history of that kiln is here: http://www4.nau.edu/ceramics/kilns/tozanhistory.htm
William and I took a side trip to the Grand Canyon in that car, hiking down to the canyon floor and back up, carrying just muenster cheese, which melted, and some triscuits. We drove back to Reading nonstop with the three of us taking shifts driving. With not much back seat room, sleeping during the other shifts was difficult. I remember stopping in Oklahoma at a diner and being shocked by this state trooper in a kind of over-fancy uniform with big gun holsters, bold stripes on the pants, decorated shirt, giant cowboy hat. We ate a meal there that was like bisquick no matter what you ordered: jim had the biscuit and gravy, both made of bisquick, I had the bisquick pancakes, William had bisquick muffins. People were ordering 60 oz sodas which I had not seen on the East Coast yet. By the time my last driving shift came around, we were on the PA turnpike, just three hours from home. Despite being that close, I just couldn't do it, just couldn't open my eyes. So Jim just pulled over onto the side of the turnpike, and got out, stretched right out on the gravel. William and I reclined in the front seats. We sleep like that for an hour until a state trooper pulled up and asked us what was the matter. Being phobic of police, we hurried outta there with Jimmy driving again, but still heavily sleep deprived. Our 42 hour trip included that nap. I think the Datsun ended up going down to Baltimore with me that fall with one of the orange cat's from John's van story, the incomparable Warren.
The Lambretta scooter memory was good since we had to actually walk around that thing for years. Later on we walked around the Honda Goldwing, so that's what I remember.
I didn't realize you got the mustangs from Selman. Selman of course had great cars and taste in cars. One time Dad and I went down to his house in Maryland to housesit. Dad showed me the garage which included a model A and model T? I'm a car idiot so I don't remember. But Dad and I did take those out for a spin! Of course the best car he had was the silver 1956 Mercedes Gull Wing coupe which we really took out for a ride. What a fancy ride. Selman gave me a tshirt with a drawing of the gullwing printed on it he got at some owners convention, which I proudly wore for years, that kind of car makes an impression!
Omg, Jessy, that description of your road trip is SO US. So, Reed Family. Was the whole world like that? Just naive and confident and scrappy with a box of triscuits.
ReplyDeleteAnd that OK meal of bisquik made me laugh and laugh.
JimE, maybe I missed it but is your 60 Buick Electra convertible on the list? I loved that car.
ReplyDelete