What a car! Stock was 371 c.i. V8, 3x2 barrel carbs, dual exhaust, superhydromatic transmission, lots of chrome inside and out. Yes gas was cheap and available. Economy cars were Isettas, Fiats, Renaults, VWs.
55~57 Belair and 65 Mustang
Ford Levacar
When I was quite young our family went to the Ford Rotunda. It must have been in Dearborn, Michigan and I think it was a Ford Futurama Exhibit. They had a prototype Ford hover-car called the Levacar. I can remember it going around a smooth circular track and I think it was tethered to the center.
I remember building a couple of AMT models of it. The model actually had a rubber tube that you blew through and the model “hovered” and moved slightly forward. Just like the story about the Chrysler Turbine car that I related above, I thought I was glimpsing the future.
These concept vehicles made people marvel at the seemingly limitless engineering endeavors that were taking place during the “Space Race” and nuclear power development. A short while later, man would walk on the moon! We need more inspirations of this sort today. One got a good feeling from American technology at that time.
America, what a country.
The 1976 Toyota Corolla. It was my first new Toyota (my 4th car, my second new car) and it was just a fun to drive, extremely economical, and highly reliable little car. It just ran and ran. And it was at a very good time in my life. I was just two years out of the Air Force, was attending college (nights), had a good job testing airplane instruments, and was still single and carefree. My parents (who I miss) were still in good health and I had disposable income.
I’d love to get thet car back all restored. Yeah, I know, it was carburated with drum brakes, RWD 4-banger, no airbags, not even AC. But I loved that little car.
My first car was a 72 Dodge Dart, metallic green with a green vinyl top. When I was in High school in the 1980s most of my friends had similar old 1970s behemoth cars. That old Dart and I went everywhere and did things that looking back, I probably shouldn’t have. It finally rusted away to nothingness.
More recently (late 1990’s) I had a 1989 Honda Accord DX hatchback 5 speed. I bought it with 120,000 miles and drove it for another 130,000 before I sold it to some kid. I literally drove it from New Jersey to California and most everywhere in between. It was a bit underpowered, especially at high altitude up in the Rockies but it was a great car and fit my 6’4" frame very well. It went through a transmission and several brake jobs but never used a drop of oil. I also moved almost every thing I owned at the time in that car except for the mattress and box spring. I miss hatchbacks.
The Chrysler Turbine Car …I remember seeing the car in a museum, same color. What I remember is that Chrysler gave about 12 of these cars to different familes in the U.S. and they were to drive the cars for about a month or two, then they would give the car up to a different family.
It was at the Museum Of Transport in southwest St. Louis county in STL. Mo. They had a machine shed that was packed full of old cars and such. 1923 Elgin Pelican street sweeper, early 20’s Dodge bus, Bobby Darins (Mack The Knife) custom car and to many to name.
Well, the machine shed is now a nice brick building but with only a handful of the vehicles, I hope they are simply in storage. Although in this building there is a turbine Ford semi/road tractor with a car hauler trailer attached with cars on it. It’s a nice museum.
There is a show on the Speed Channel called “101 Cars You Must Drive” hosted by Alonzo Bodden and on a recent episode the Chrysler museum drug their turbine car out and let him take it out for a spin.
Absolute, utter cool IMHO and I’d love to own one, quirks and all.
Pretty neat; idles at 21,000 RPM with a temperature of 1500 degrees.
(One thing I would be curious about was whether anyone close behind would get roasted or not)
Toasted By Chrysler!
I wrote about this car in a previous post, above. There is quite a bit of info online.
I downloaded a really cool actual owner’s manual (like a small book, not just the brochure) that’s in my house somewhere.
Apparently the 1200F full-power exhaust was reduced to less than 500F by use of a regenerator, which cooled the idle-speed exhaust to less than 170F. Traveling through ducts before it got to the outside air, cooled it even more.
In the late 70’s when I was in my late teens/early twenties I had a 1968 Buick Wildcat. It had factory installed FM radio with good speakers, power windows, and air conditioning. All these features were rare in the cars I drove. The color was aqua with a black vinyl roof. Interior was black. At the time I had a good job, live with my Mom and had didn’t have a mortgage or a lot of bills. Since it was a huge car I drove a lot. I remember a lot of skiing trips and going to NJ for the night clubs because the drinking age was lower. I would love to relive those care free days. I sold it to get a orange Barracuda. Would never do that again.
I’ve owned many cars in my lifetime… but I would have to say the one that gave me that “feel good feeling” was my (brand new at the time) 1979 Renault LeCar. It had a huge ragtop sunroof which I loved… and the 41 MPG on the highway wasn’t too bad either. Yes you heard me right… 41 MPG in 1979! They had a (albeit short) cult following on the East coast… everyone “beeb’d” at one another on the road. It was FUN!
'57 Ford Fairlane 500 hardtop. Bought it from my brother-in-law in ~'65 (my first at age 16) for $300. He was a first rate Ford mechanic and had it (312 ci V8 with Holley 4 brl) “supertuned” to perfection. It had the most awesome throaty “sucking” sound when you floored it (like it was trying to suck the hood thru the carb!). It got like 10 MPG (maybe on a good day!) but I was buying gas at 22 cents per gallon from my dad’s tax free farm tank, so I didn’t care! Had the nicest bench seats and I remember being at the drive-in “watching” - not! the latest James Bond movie with my high school girl friend. Only regret (probably most common of all!) was that we did not spend more time in the spacious rear seat!
The ORIGINAL VW Bug… I want another before I die… Although I might die IN it (cute; but safe, not so much)…
I would start with the '63 Impala with a 283 engine, move on to the '65 Impala with a 327 engine. Then there was the '67 MGB GT with the 1800 engine. Never really had any serious porblems with these and they were just simple to fix; so simple you could do it in your sleep or in a coma.
Move to Mexico or Brazil and you can still drive a nearly new one. These fun to drive death traps are still very popular there. In Brazil they have amodel that runs on alcohol.
A 1959 Thunderbird. When I was around 16 years old our neighbor was selling her late husbands 59 bird for 500.00. I wanted to buy it but was not of age to buy a car. My father would not let me buy it as he said was too fast for someone who would be getting his license in a few months. I ended up getting a 70 Ford Maverick with that underpowered 105hp 170 c.i. engine.
Well my dream came true 2 years ago and bought a 59. Pulled out the old tired 352 and installed a rebuilt 390 4bbl from a 64 bird which was a direct bolt up.
Still has the original rebuilt cruise-o-matic tranny.
I take it to weekly car shows and get the honks and thumbs up from other drivers and took 4 trophys so far. The engine has a 10.5 to 1 compression ratio so just barely gets by on 93 octane pump gas.
Its not a daily driver as getting 11 to 13 mpg is nothing to brag about but its fun to drive. Its about a 9.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Also own a 74 Nova and an 89 Stang GT which is my daily driver. Both are also show quality.
For me, these are the good ol’ days. In the '60s I was in school, totally broke, and wondering how I would ever pay off the $4500 in debt I graduated with. Then I got out of the Army with a wife and no job, so no car (I lived in NYC so I didn’t need one). For years I had to deal with divorce, remarriage, kids, jobs, and life as she is lived. Now I work when I want, wife retired, kids out in the world earning money. So I rented a 2007 Mustang last weekend and went leaf-peeping in VT. Drove like a lunatic knucklehead, put it in a ditch (no damage to self or car, but wife threatened me with fire and slaughter), took turns at speed, and really enjoyed myself. I wanted the '65 'stang too bad to tell about, but the '07 was a good substitute. Youth is wasted on the young.
When I was a teenager in the early 70’s, I had a newspaper route and every day I couldn’t wait to get out and ride by this one particular house in the neighborhood.
For in the driveway of this house sat the most unusual futuristic car I had ever seen…years ahead of anything else on the road. It sat on the ground and would rise to the air as the owner drove away…I knew that someday I would own one of these cars. 30 years later…I have mine. The good feelings and “better” times go with me every time I drive this marvelous machine…Motor Trend car of the year in 1972…although mine is the 1973 version of the Citroen SM.
First car was a beat to sh#t 74’ Caddy. 500 cid engine. After turning up the timing and putting a better carb on it, it was a torque monster. Would smoke the tires relentlessly. And didn’t let me down (much) But mostly, I was young and things didn’t faze me. These days I’ve traded my easy-going nature at the time for different problems. Not sure what else to say–life kind of sucks all the time. When I was a more innocent person and less jaded, life was more fun, even if the things that were happening to me weren’t as good. Now, life is good but for other reasons. Such a shame we all have such a row to hoe.
That Imp was a really great car for what I needed at that time. It was a lot of fun.