Author Topic: What was the most unusual car you or your father owned (Read 10970 times)

1marty · « **Reply #30 on:** June 12, 2011, 03:00:42 PM »

In 1967 I bought a 58 VW bug (with a sunroof) for $125. The was no gas gauge and when the car ran out of gas you flipped a lever which gave you 1 more gallon of driving. Going up a steep hill the car lost power and hitch hikers thought I was stopping for them. Going over a bridge in a high wind the front hood use to pop up and my wife use to lean out the window and tell me if I was going straight. My wife and I were hit by a big olds head on and the car was so light the olds just shoved us aside. Next morning I jacked the fender away from the wheel and was on the road again. I sold it for $50 bucks.

yellowtail3 · « **Reply #31 on:** June 27, 2011, 12:15:25 PM »

Dad had an Opel of some kind in the late sixties. Fortunately he replaced it with a 1967 Mustang, which later went to me

BBF · « **Reply #32 on:** June 28, 2011, 02:37:47 PM »

1964/65 Citroen Ami 6

Bigeasy · « **Reply #33 on:** June 28, 2011, 03:05:32 PM »

When I was 16, (1975) my uncle gave me his navy blue 1964 Caddy Fleetwood. The car was in real nice shape, with a 472 motor, if I remember right, auto dimming headlights. You could have a party in the back seat..

Way to un-cool for me back then, I sold it to buy a 1965 GTO. 10 year old Caddys, back during the "gas crisis", just were not worth much at the time. Wish I had it now, and the goat to, for that matter..

Larry

gstewart44 · « **Reply #34 on:** June 29, 2011, 06:26:38 AM »

Several lemons, - '65 pontiac bonneville, '68 volvo, but the most unusual was ........1971 Honda 600....
It was more like an all weather go kart!

tward91574 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 16, 2011, 12:41:59 AM »

While stationed in Germany(West Germany) I bought a Borgward Isabella station Wagon! I think the rings were shot, goin up a hill people would walk by me! Had really bad brakes. I remember everyone trying to get the high parking spaces so you could push start the car in the morning. Batteries were awful and we didn't drive them enough to keep them charged. I remember gas being $.90 per liter in 1968.
tim

Pat/Rick · « **Reply #36 on:** August 04, 2011, 08:24:30 AM »

I think it was a '57 Plymouth station wagon that had a push-button auto tranny.

AtlLaw · « **Reply #37 on:** August 04, 2011, 09:09:23 AM »

Just thought of these while responding to another thread. I had a Hudson Hornet and my father had some great big ol' car, can't remember the make, but it had a semi-automatic transmission. The only one I've ever heard of... $:-\$

Bob J · « **Reply #38 on:** August 04, 2011, 09:22:29 AM »

1959 TR3A 1991 CC engine..... Fun little car with pop out windows (instead of roll up/down)......

curteric · « **Reply #39 on:** August 04, 2011, 09:34:01 AM »

51 Chev Coupe Delux, Black roof, white bottom, Sixwith three on the tree.I still have the paper work from when Dad bought it. Two tone paint was a $25 option. He paid $650 cash for the car. I also have his tax return for that year. He was working as a furnace repair and installer, for Sears in Bismark N.D. Taxable income that year was $1250.
In June of 94, I had a midlife crisis and, bought a 1990, Mazda RX 7, Convertible. In June this year the wife and I drove it to Boston to visit our daughter. It just turned 122k.

rwng · « **Reply #40 on:** August 05, 2011, 04:47:57 AM »

My most unusual car was my first. In 1981, I bought a 1973 Chevy Malibu for $265. The wierd thing about it was how much torque it had. I could just "punch" the gas pedal and the tires would instantly break loose and keep spinning until I let off the gas. This was without holding the break. I put G-60-15's on it and they couldn't grab the pavement either. This car only had a 350, 2bbl but it was a monster. I don't really know what the gearing was but it had to be as low as you could go.

chefman · « **Reply #41 on:** August 10, 2011, 05:28:51 AM »

I came home on leave in 1971 from USAF Tech. school to find a 63 Impala SS, 409 ci, dual Carter AFB's, 3:56 posi-traction, Borg-Warner 4 speed, Hurst shifter, American Mags, sitting in the driveway. Yeah Boy!!!!

45-70.gov · « **Reply #42 on:** August 10, 2011, 06:46:49 AM »

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=59+fleetwood+limo&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=677&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=Gjsc21IPpkvzpM:&imgrefurl=http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/992125&docid=SB5SDvlkN7fVwM&w=600&h=450&ei=MadCTvCTNYm5tgfos6y4CQ&zoom=0&iact=hc&vpx=235&vpy=307&dur=1013&hovh=101&hovw=135&tx=99&ty=44&page=2&tbnh=101&tbnw=135&start=16&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:16

this was not it.....i don't think
but an exact match
my dad paid $800....for my birthday
he didn't want his boy getting hurt in a small car
he had no idea what a part wagon it turned into

i was 16 1972[?]

yellowtail3 · « **Reply #43 on:** August 10, 2011, 10:13:33 AM »

Quote from: 45-70.gov on August 10, 2011, 06:46:49 AM

i was 16 1972[?]

you're an old phart; I was only 11!

Cheesehead · « **Reply #44 on:** August 10, 2011, 11:18:41 AM »

My Father had a 1937 Ford Sedan V8, 60 horsepower. It was in very good condition with the original mohair upholstery. He owned it for over 30 years. All original. Fun to drive.

Cheese

ourway77 · « **Reply #45 on:** August 17, 2011, 10:44:12 AM »

My wife and I both worked so she needed the better car as she drove thru some very bad neighborhoods. I had a Fiat 2 seater with what we joked about as having a lawn mower engine. Well being a police I would park at the station. Upon completion of my shift I would go to my trusty 1950 Fiat only to find those clowns I worked with picked it up and put it on the sidewalk. The beat patrolman seen fit to place a ticket on it and this became my unit's funny stunt to pull. At first it was funny but then became a P-I-T-A. LOUIE

tunnug · « **Reply #46 on:** August 18, 2011, 04:15:56 AM »

The first summer after I graduated back in '77 my uncle gave me a car that was complete but not running, it was a late '50 s Chrysler New Yorker, four door with a back seat the size of a couch, push button auto., with the dash looking like something from Flash Gordon's rocket ship, white with large wings at the rear and a front bumper larger than the rear bumper of most trucks, the thing had a monster engine, I believe it was a 454 (not sure), I got it running and gave it back, I was embarrassed to be seen in it, wish I had it now.

AEA · « **Reply #47 on:** August 18, 2011, 04:56:33 AM »

Many moons ago, at the age of 16-17, I had a 1940 Ford Business Coupe with a flathead V8, 3 speed column shift.

I had the engine reworked with Mercury pistons/rods and a few other things I can't remember. Took it out for a test drive (still with the hood off) and under heavy power I hit second and blew the transmission!

Went off to the Navy with the car sitting in the backyard and when I came back on leave a while later, my Mother had sold the car. Found out later that the Guy that bought it got it only for the engine that he put into a Ford pickup.

He was beating 390 Fords in drags with that pickup/engine!

Ron/Pa. · « **Reply #48 on:** August 19, 2011, 10:53:13 AM »

1959 Chevy , the one with the "WINGS!!" That was my " Dad, KIN I borrow the Car this weekend" cattin` around Car. It would run too!! Had three in the Tree. Man, I would slam that thing in 1st and pop the clutch and hitting 15mph would slid it into second. As soon as the Speedometer hit 35 into third it would go. After hitting 3rd gear it would slow down to 30!! I had the old Girl up to 80 but couldn`t get it to fly, like the legend of old said would happen.....

Flash · « **Reply #49 on:** August 22, 2011, 02:07:48 PM »

My dad had a 1963 Ford Galaxie with a 427 in it. He hated it because it used so much gas but all the kids in the neighborhood loved it. He bought it as simple transportation and had no idea what he had.

rockbilly · « **Reply #50 on:** August 28, 2011, 10:37:35 AM »

As a buyer/seller in the late 40s – early 50s I guess Dad brought just one of everything home. I remember an old Allstate (made by Henry J. Kaiser I think) it was tough as nails, set high and was well suited for the rough, muddy roads of the time. Sometime in the mid fifties he came home with a Hillman; it had a car front with a box on the back. I think it must have been for cargo, but it was one of my first. I drove it to school for a year or two, it was also my first “motor home.” I slept in it while on fishing/hunting trips and used it on my paper route. It had a four cylinder motor and stick shift, got good gas mileage, I needed that even though gas was only $0.28 a gallon at the time. I don’t know what ever happened to the little Hillman, it disappeared after I went in service.

Dee · « **Reply #51 on:** August 28, 2011, 11:39:24 AM »

1st car was a Renault Daphene. Lasted about 2 weeks before the engine thrashed. That was replaced with a 1959 2 door Pontiac Catalina metalic blue-green. Had double fins on each side, a runnin 389 engine, and was clean as a pin. Not exactly a teenage boys dream car, but maybe the best car I ever owned. Wish I had it back.

bobg · « **Reply #52 on:** August 28, 2011, 01:02:56 PM »

The first car i remember my Grandfather having was a Henry J. Could see the road through the holes in the floor boards. He told my brother and i if we had to pee don't ask him to stop. That is what the holes were for. I suppose my father had other ones but the first i remember was a 1951 Ford.
My first was a 1959 Ford. I was in town one night doing what teen age guys do. It was getting late so thought i better head for home before my old man started calling the local cops to see if i was in jail. I turned on the back road out of town that my parents lived on and punched it. Do you know how much damage you can do to a car at 80 MPH when you hit a patch of ice and jump a 4 foot ditch and end up in an apple orchard? Probably the one car i liked the best was a Ford Torino. Not sure now but i think it was a1978 or maybe a 72. $:-\$

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #53 on:** August 29, 2011, 01:05:38 AM »

dad once came home with a 68 fairlane gt with a 390 4 speed. He must of got a good deal because he never before or after had any kind of performance car and was very tight with his money. The only one that ever spun a tire with it was me. I got caught burning the tires on a back road by one of his partners at work who told my dad on me. It cost me a new set of rear tires! the oddest thing ive owned was a chev vega with a 350 v8 in it.

Doug B. · « **Reply #54 on:** August 29, 2011, 01:37:14 AM »

The first car I can remember my folks owning was what I believe was a black 1959 Rambler. I can't remember the model but it had a push button transmission. It had the "fins" and the spare tire mounted above the rear bumper on the trunk. Dad used to get really p.o.'d when the buttons would push through the dash while shifting.

I can't say this vehicle was unusual, but I owned a Opel Manta. I believe they were a GM German import at the time. It had to be about a 1970-71 model, and was semi sporty for a high school kid back then. It had a four speed, and thankfully for me, was a gutless wonder! My mom drove a little Opel station wagon. That's the car I wish I owned today!

gstewart44 · « **Reply #55 on:** August 29, 2011, 03:17:41 PM »

Quote from: Doug B. on August 29, 2011, 01:37:14 AM

The first car I can remember my folks owning was what I believe was a black 1959 Rambler. I can't remember the model but it had a push button transmission. It had the "fins" and the spare tire mounted above the rear bumper on the trunk. Dad used to get really p.o.'d when the buttons would push through the dash while shifting.

My dad had a 1959 Rambler station wagon - fins and all it was an unusual looker of a vehicle, but with a straight 6 and three on the tree plus overdrive it got about 24 mpg on the highway. Plenty of room inside and under the hood. Easy to work on. that would be my most wanted unusual car. We finally sold it after it had 385,000 miles on it. AMERICAN MADE!!!

45-70.gov · « **Reply #56 on:** August 29, 2011, 04:06:01 PM »

how is this for unusual?
a wet and dry matching set
i drove them both today

streak · « **Reply #57 on:** August 29, 2011, 06:35:23 PM »

45-70,
Those are cool!!
Like the wide tires, good for deep sand!!

45-70.gov · « **Reply #58 on:** August 30, 2011, 06:03:23 AM »

i live on an island with lots of sandy beaches and nice bikini fillers

quickdtoo · « **Reply #59 on:** August 30, 2011, 07:17:24 AM »

I've got a couple unusual vehicles in mind that Dad had, one was a mid 50's Humber Hawk, the other was a 60's VW Micro Bus that he put a mid-mounted Hudson Hornet inline 6 cylinder in. One that I owned was a 1955 Goliath, it was 2-cylinder, 2-stroke, fuel injected, front-wheel drive coupe, a mechanic friend of my Dad's gave it to me as a gift for pre-graduation, he also gave me a room full of spare parts since they didn't make them any more, I refinished the body and painted it Silver Mink Gray, got lots of oohs and awes smoking the front tires in the high school parking lot!!

Tim