Memorial Day is May May 27th. What did your Father drive after WW2?

[BucketofBolts]

Memorial Day is soon. My father was flying B-26 Martin Marauders. When he came back to SC he purchased a milk chocolate colored 1933 Buick Victoria Coupe for $45 signed up for the GI Bill got accepted at a local University and drove that vehicle back & forth to Furman University in Greenville SC. 

[1937hd45]

After he loaded the last B-17 out of Great Ashford he returned hone to his 1940 Plymouth married my mom and got on with their lives. Miss them every day. Bob 

[Harold]

My father was discharged from the Army Air Corps in 1946 and when he got home to New York he bought a '38 Pontiac.  He kept the Pontiac until 1952 (my mother refused to ride in it anymore) and bought a new '52 Plymouth Cambridge. 

[TerryB]

My dad was too young to be in WWII but he was in Korea before the Korean conflict, 1949 I believe and also spent some time in Japan. I recently found this photo of him in front of a 1946-48 Chrysler.  He always preferred Chrysler products his entire life.

 

[jan arnett (2)]

Model T

[huptoy]

My father had a 1938 Pontiac & sold it to the dealer after D-day when he went to France.  He arranged to get first in line when he wanted a new car afterward.  In 1947, with price controls & 6 month wait on all new cars, he ordered a Pontiac & Ford.  Picked it up the Pontiac on a Saturday morning, traded in in on a new Ford.  The Pontiac was now a used car not under price control.  The trade in value was now greater than the price control value & the Ford dealer could sell at any value.  The Ford was easier to sell than the fully loaded Pontiac.  He advertised the Ford in the Sunday paper and & sold it before noon.  

 

We lived on a streetcar line & didn’t need a car.  We didn’t get a car till May 1950 when my sister was born.  He would sell all the appliances with a complete remodel.  Actually, he traded a new kitchen, including a dish washer, for the Studebaker.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

My father was in the SeaBees. He met my mother in the USO, I guess in Quonset Point, RI. She was from Pawtucket. He was in the Philippines when the war ended. He came back  and they got married. They acquired a 42 Plymouth and set out to start their new life in Philly. The Plymouth broke down 3 times on the way. They left it in New Haven and took a train. Dad went back and got it but didn't have it long. He never had a Mopar again. He had a Studebaker then bought a new 49 Ford when cars became available. he favored Fords from then on

[keiser31]

1932 Chevrolet Confederate roadster. Blue with black fenders, cream wire wheels and a barrage balloon for a top. My Dad shot it down and used it because he needed a new top.

[JamesR]

The first car that I'm aware of my Dad owning after WW2 was a 1947 Hudson, so he obviously didn't drive that when he first came home. I think I remember hearing that his first car was an Oldsmobile, so I'm guessing that's what he drove when he returned. I've gone through a lot of his old photos in the last couple of years, though, and I don't remember seeing one of an Oldsmobile. Dad was in the Navy and traveled the world during the war.

[plymouthcranbrook]

The first vehicle I know of my Father having after WWII was an early 30's US Mail  truck he bought at a surplus  auction held by the Post Office he worked at. About 1953 or so.  A few years after that a 1940 Plymouth Road King 2 door sedan

[Taylormade]

1936 Buick coupe with sidemounts.  I was brought home from the hospital in that car in May of 1946.

[zepher]

My father was much too young for WWII being as he was born in 1940.

My grandfather was a machinist during WWII and worked in the shipyards in San Francisco during the war.

Grandfather had a 1950 Mercury Coupe but I do not know what he had before that and my father is no longer around to ask what they had before the Mercury.

[Dynaflash8]

black 1939 Buick Special sedan...........1941-1951

Edited May 27, 2019 by Dynaflash8 (see edit history)

[38Buick 80C]

a baby stroller...born in 1945...

[Jim Skelly]

Dad was discharged from the Navy in June 1946 after they removed land mines from the harbors, planted by the Japanese to stop the Allied forces.  He bought a '41 Buick Special 4-door sedan with compound carburetion for $1200 - about the same price it cost new.  He returned to college and got his degree, and retired from GM.  He only owned GM cars, and the majority were Buicks.

[Mike36]

10 hours ago, keiser31 said:

1932 Chevrolet Confederate roadster. Blue with black fenders, cream wire wheels and a barrage balloon for a top. My Dad shot it down and used it because he needed a new top.

Keiser ! Look quick, there goes one of those by your house !

[61polara]

Dad graduated from high school in 1941 and left North Carolina for Baltimore to become a riveter at Glenn L. Martin building the B-26 Martin Marauders.  In 1943, he was drafted into the Army and served with the 167th Combat Engineers in France and Germany.  Discharged on January 1, 1946 in New York City, he returned to North Carolina, bought a 1939 Pontiac Eight and started college.

 

Around 1949, Dad's younger brother was still in the Navy. (Enlisted at the age of 15 and was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked) He was driving his 1941 Buick Super home on a weekend pass for a date with his girlfriend and fell asleep; car totaled but he was unhurt.  Hiched the rest of the trip home and borrowed Dad's '39 Pontiac for his date.  Somehow he managed to total that car as well.  Dad, without a car, borrowed his father's '46 Dodge Club Coupe, took a curve to fast on a dirt road and totaled it.  Three cars lost in a week.  Dad replaced the '39 Pontiac with a '47 Kaiser, and Grandpaw replaced the Dodge with a '49 Plymouth.  I never knew what my uncle ended up with.

Edited May 27, 2019 by 61polara
More info (see edit history)

[28 Chrysler]

My father had a 1924 Dodge farm truck until shortly before he got married on Nov. 1st 1945.

He had bought a 1937 Chrysler Royal  4 door sedan that he used for almost 10 years.

[Jim Bollman]

My Dad worked part time at a Chevy dealership before going in and returned to the job when he returned, after serving as a tech sergeant in Europe. I assumed the dealer pulled some strings but my Dad bought a new 46 Chevy. Not sure what used car he had till he bought the Chevy but he had fond memories of a 34 Buick that he had before going in so he may have had it tucked away. The 46 was the only new car he owned till 1966. I was expensive to have around I guess.

[Gunsmoke]

My Dad joined the Canadian Navy in 1941, and decided to store his 1936 Auburn 8cyl Coupe, a car he loved. By 1943 a friend was pestering him to buy the car, it had brand new tires and tires were scarce due to wartime rubber demands. Reluctantly Dad agreed to sell, told me years later it was the worst car decision he ever made. 

[JACK M]

When I was a kid in the fifties I remember dad had a Plymouth woody wagon, Don't know the year.

After that he always had Lincolns.

[Pfeil]

My father was driving the same car he had before WW2. A 1940 Pontiac he bought new traded it for a new 1950 Chieftain 8 Deluxe with a 4 speed Hydra-Matic. Ten years and 100,000 miles was my Dads criteria.    

Edited May 28, 2019 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[Frank DuVal]

After the war dad was still driving his 1940 Chevrolet Master sedan, he bought new. He traded it on a new 1952 Chevrolet. He was not allowed to join the service, as his job at the foundry making munitions was more important!😉

 

Lots of stories of war time rationing in our family. DId you know butchers bought back used grease from cooking to sell to factories making explosives?  Dad got word of the gasoline rationing from the service station (Winn's Super Service) he used, and filled two 55 gallon drums to last him a while. He only lived a few miles from his work.

[Rusty_OToole]

During the war my dad was stationed in Canada, and drove a 1930 Model A Deluxe roadster with twin side mounts (I have pictures). After the war, living in Kapuskasing drove a 34 Dodge, later got a Dodge pickup truck he used to move the family to Toronto. As a licensed union electrician with both construction and maintenance tickets he made good money, and soon bought a 1947 Hudson Commodore Eight Drivemaster. That was the family car when I was born in 1951. After that a series of run of the mill Chevrolets Fords and Dodges. I remember a 1938 Dodge green sedan when I was a toddler and a baby blue 1947 Ford coupe. Then a 57 Ford sedan, a 62 Galaxie, 67 Dodge Dart and so on.

[39BuickEight]

I have no clue what my grandparents drove during that time.  I wish I did.  The love of cars doesn’t go back generations in my family.  I do know my grandfather once said he always wanted a Packard.