A Love Affair With The Automobile

[victorialynn2]

Forgive me if we’ve had a thread like this before.

 

I’m curious to hear stories, and see pictures, of cars that had special meaning to you. 

 

Perhaps it’s the car that started your love affair with the automobile, or the one that got away. Maybe it belonged to a relative, friend, or it was one you owned. Maybe it was one you took someone special on a date in?

 

It’s always interesting to hear the stories behind the cars, so please share them with us. 

 

I will be sharing one, but I want to find a picture of a car that I haven’t posted about before. I have been having a hard time going through the boxes of photos I rescued from my dad’s, but it's about time I stop avoiding them. Stay tuned. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by victorialynn2 (see edit history)

[cahartley]

This is the car that tripped my trigger when I was a young teen.

It was in the basement of the local Ford dealership in my small village.

The owner's father had bought it but it got relegated to the basement under the garage for many years until his son got it out of there and into the show room where it was on display for several years.

I stayed in love with it until I got my first collectible car at age 58.......a 1920 Model T Coupe.

[victorialynn2]

The Model T, such a classic. I loved my dad’s. He had a pickup and was married standing in the bed of it with his wife. 

 

What was your first classic? 

[Michael-Resurrector]

When I was a boy I got a present of a pretty big Jaguar XKE that ran on a giant battery in the control and turned and everything. I love it and Jaguar XKEs. Also I liked our Volvo P544 black. Well, up until we were turning and some guy ran the stop light and hit us so hard it lifted the car up on my side, it was like in slow motion. Anyway I was just thinking today about a Volvo P544 has about the same shape as the back of a Jaguar XKE, and if one were to put a (fiber glass) XKE front on that volvo it would kind of be a poor mans XKE. Both cars I love into one (weird, I know). Also I want to make a fiberglass car the one below these cars. And some big toys not around anymore below that.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

 A car nut since birth! My dad was a car salesman in the 50's, he brought home a different car every day. I would sit in the window and watch for him to see what he drove home.

 When I was 10 or so a man across the alley from my grandparents had a Model T and a Model A in his yard. He let me play in them and I was hooked! 
 Picture below taken today in my shop shows I am still hooked!!

 

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Jeff Perkins / Mn (see edit history)

[TTR]

Sorry Victoria, but while I’ve shared few of my adventures & experiences with (vintage) automobiles from past 40+ years here and on couple of other forums, I’m saving most of them, including intimate details of my “first” and other “juicy” affairs for “pay-per-view”, i.e. book(s). 😉

[J.H.Boland]

Hello Victoria

I still have my first scrapbook of old car articles from 1958, when I was 10 years old. By the time I was 14 we had moved to a farm and Dad finally relented. He let me buy an "old" car. A collector friend had a number of Caddies and LaSalles sitting in his yard, and he sold me this '39 LaSalle for $75. We towed it the five miles home behind our two cylinder John Deere AR tractor. A while later,my kid brother (he was 11) and I were tinkering with it when it started up ! It had no exhaust system on it and the cylinders had been filled with oil when my friend parked it. My brother bailed out and didn't look back until he had run at least 100 yards. I jumped in and drove it back the farm lane to where Dad was plowing. He couldn't believe it.

I guess Dad figured if I bruised enough knuckles, I'd lose interest in old cars. It hasn't worked out that way.

Jim

[victorialynn2]

That’s a great story @J.H.Boland! How terrific that you still have a picture of it. 

 

@Jeff Perkins / Mn nice cars!

 

@TTR, I didn’t want too many juicy tales. We can wait for the book. 😆

[JACK M]

[Michael-Resurrector]

Jeff Perkins, love your arrangement of tools, need to get around to doing that in my new garage when it is built.

[victorialynn2]

35 minutes ago, JACK M said:

Elaborate. (This will be good). 😅

Do you still have it?

Edited January 17, 2020 by victorialynn2 (see edit history)

[victorialynn2]

8 minutes ago, Michael-Restomod said:

Jeff Perkins, love your arrangement of tools, need to get around to doing that in my new garage when it is built.

I noticed that also. 👍

 

That’s a nice Porsche. What year is it? I take it you drive an 18 wheeler? So did my dad. He had a Peterbuilt. Is yours a KW? I can’t recognize the newer ones. 🤷‍♀️

[Michael-Resurrector]

Victoria, "That’s a nice Porsche." You have me mistaken for someone rich.  If you are talking about the black car that was a 2007 Cadillac STS. I bought it for $1400. It had a little boo boo on the front at the time,  That truck is a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia Automatic, I just love automatics (old timers hate them, not me).

 

 

 

If anyone cares I started a new thread in Restoration on my 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown:

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Michael-Restomod (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

In 1966 I was stastioned in Germany (Wiesbasden, U.  S. Air Force Headquarters)   I bought a 1951 Mercedes 170 V (Looked like a 1934 Ford)

Built by Mercedes after WWII with pre WWII jigs and molds.  The 4 cyl, car was actually a 1938 made in 1951.   I was happy with it until I read an

ad in the local paper for this 1957 Porsche Speedster for $700.   I responded and found out it was a recovered stolen car, now owned by a 

German police detective.  The car had been stolen from an American and recovered after he was shot downin Vietnam.  The Cop bought it from 

the insurance company.  Because the car was sold new in Texas and shipped to Germany by the USAF, the cop couldn't register for a german

license tag without paying the german road taxes from 1957 to 1966.  ( I would have paid the taxes)   

I bought it and put a  USA Armed Forces Europe tag on it.   I drove it two years in Germany and had Uncle Sam ship it back to the states for

me,  Free.   I drove it two more years to collage in Florida and sold it for $1400 and thought I was the salesman of the century!   It paid for my

junior year of collage in Heidelberg, Germany.

I've had a lot of cars since then, but this is the one I should have kept.

 I sold the Mercedes because the Air Force would only allow a single guy to have one car    The guy I sold it to left it in the parking lot without a

tag and went TDY to Vietnam.  Prettty soon a big fork lift came and stuck it's forks thru the windows and took it off to be crushed.   

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)

[victorialynn2]

@Michael-Restomod, I meant Jag. Sorry, I have a headache today that is affecting my brain. 

My dad loved standards not only on his big rig, but sports cars too. I remember the sound of him shifting all the gears. 

 

What part of Texas are you in? I still have dad’s property in Hill Country, close to Fredricksburg. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by victorialynn2 (see edit history)

[victorialynn2]

5 minutes ago, Paul Dobbin said:

In 1966 I was stastioned in Germany (Wiesbasden, U.  S. Air Force Headquarters)   I bought a 1951 Mercedes 170 V (Looked like a 1934 Ford)

Built by Mercedes after WWII with pre WWII jigs and molds.  The 4 cyl, car was actually a 1938 made in 1951.   I was happy with it until I read an

ad in the local paper for this 1957 Porsche Speedster for $700.   I responded and found out it was a recovered stolen car, now owned by a 

German police detective.  The car had been stolen from an American and recovered after he was shot downin Vietnam.  The Cop bought it from 

the insurance company.  Because the car was sold new in Texas and shipped to Germany by the USAF, the cop couldn't register for a german

license tag without paying the german road taxes from 1957 to 1966.  ( I would have paid the taxes)

I bought it and put a  USA Armed Forces Europe tag on it.   I drove it two years in Germany and had Uncle Sam ship it back to the states for

me,  Free.   I drove it two more years to collage in Florida and sold it for $1400 and thought I was the salesman of the century!   It paid for my

junior year of collage in Heidelberg, Germany.

I've had a lot of cars since then, but this is the one I should have kept.

 

Great story! I was born in Germany when my dad was in the AF in 1965. We were near Wurtzburg and we lived in a small village called Bütthard. He was transferred back to the states shortly after I was born, probably in 1966. He was a mechanic and I have some pics of cars he had there. 

 

First off, thank you for your service. I can see why your sorry to have sold that. How lucky you were as a young man to have it. Thank you for sharing your story. 

 

[60FlatTop]

Imagine someone from New York showing you their car from Medford, OR. Sold new right around the corner from you, traded in for a new one, and sent to me by way of a little dealer on the edge of Lake Ontario.

 

The love affair du jour:

 

[Terry Bond]

This can touch on a lot of subjects - from High-School sweethearts in the old 63 Stude, to my current spouse who still has permanent imprints on her from sitting on the console of my 66 Pontiac.  Then there was the time I had to pull out the back seat to find a missing ear-ring belonging to a former Miss Michigan.   It's a good thing cars can't talk

 

But-the most memorable car for me was the 1910 Cadillac that got me started into this whole thing.  It's a story I've told many times before, even during my speech in Philly back in 2010. 

 

I was a trumpet player in High School, and walked home nearly every day, just to follow a pretty girl who really wouldn't give me much attention at all.  She missed school one day, so I took the short-cut home, and less than two blocks away, I stopped in my tracks at the bottom of a long driveway.  It led up to an open carriage house  and sticking out of the open door was the back end of a 1910 Cadillac.  I just stood there for a long time looking in amazement, until the gentleman under the car crawled out and noticed me standing there.  He asked me if I liked old cars and motioned for me to come up.   Of course my reply was "YES."  At that moment, I could have cared less about that girl, and for a long time thereafter, took the short-cut home, and stopped as often as that door was open.  I heard tales of finding cars in the weeds around us in Southern Michigan.  I heard stories about cars, and people, like Barney Pollard. That's where I first learned of this magic place in Pennsylvania where each October the ground is covered with old cars and stuff, and smells like chocolate.  It was the start of something special.

 

Terry

[victorialynn2]

@Terry Bond, great stories. I love how cars, like music, bring back so many memories. 

[Michael-Resurrector]

Here is a picture of me driving that Freightliner through Miami Beach where I used to live, and I so should not have been driving anything nearly as big as an 18 wheeler. I almost got stuck. But I knew I probably would never get the chance to see where I used to live again, so I went for it.

 

 

[Xander Wildeisen]

Have always liked Hudson's. Just took the 49 out today for the first test drive. Will be a daily driver. Our roads are clear out here. No snow in the valley.

[Michael-Resurrector]

When I was working as a Parts Specialist I loved that lots of guys would bring in their old cars when they were buying parts. This is a Brother something maybe a Hudson?

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Michael-Restomod (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

I bought this 1941 Cadillac 60 Special Fleetwood in July 1979. at age of 14 and sold it in 2015ish - the mileage was roughly 17,500 on purchase and at the end of my ownership was 97,500.  And this Cadillac was AACA HPOF car and shown as original car in CCCA too (its ribbons are hanging about 5 feet from me at this second).  Photo was via pulling onto driveway from my last  drive.  A new great owner and hope he is truly enjoying it.  I moved on to Auburns. 

 

Notice the refection in paint - that is what is Nitrocellulose lacquer - you can see lines in your hand from 10 feet away

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

I sure like those LWB flathead Caddies.

[Billy Kingsley]

For me, it started with these two. As best as I can figure, I got them for Christmas 1985. I would have been 14 months old. My family remembers these being my first...they started a lifelong love of automobiles, which continues unabated to this day. 

They are 1/64 diecast, which is Hot Wheels size for anyone that doesn't know...although these are actually from a brand called Kidco. I would eventually build a 1/64 collection over 10,000 strong, including the largest known NASCAR collection ever assembled. Not to brag, but it was my passion. 

 

Unfortunately, I've had to give it up...not for lack of interest, but when the choice is pay for the medicine that keeps you alive, or pay for diecast, it wasn't much of a choice. I still pick up new additions from time to time, but not like I once did. 

 

I do have most of my collection photo documented on my website if anyone cares to look. https://public.fotki.com/ElCaminoBilly/diecast/

 

Funny thing is, to this date, it's the only Honda in my diecast collection...and I only have one in plastic model form, I think. Hard to believe someone's lifelong passion can be started with a Chevette, but there you go. 

[DJTurner]

It all started back in the early days of Waterloo, Indiana, Wally C Tatham moved to Waterloo when he was 6 months old in 1879. At one time he was the town Marshall for 8 years. After awhile he opened a motorcycle and bicycle shop on South Wayne Street. In 1919 he built the Tatham Garage and purchased a Ford contract in 1921. He was a subdealer for Ford four years previous. He owned an operated the first Ford Dealership in DeKalb County. On May 21, 1938, he married Mabel (Mabel is the original owner of my 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 Sedan). Wally Tatham died in 1960 and Mabel sold the Ford agency to Bob Miller in 1961.

Mabel Tatham purchased a new Ford Galaxie every year after she sold the dealership to Bob Miller Ford until her last Galaxie she purchased in November of 1965. Mabel and her sister Isabelle documented every time they filled one of the cars with fuel or did any repair work to them in a little brown notebook.

 

My parents purchased the house next to the Tatham house on North Washington Street. At the time Mabel’s sister Isabelle was living there as well. Mabel passed in the early 1970’s and as time went on Isabelle became more than the lady next door, she became “family”. Isabelle sold the 1966 Ford Galaxie to my parents in 1982 for $500.00. At that time the BMV in Auburn told my dad that he paid to much for it, however he was offered more than $500 from a local at a gas station.

In 1994, my parents sold the Galaxie to me for $1.00. Before 2011 there was a dent on the passenger side front fender cause by Mabel or Isabelle. A good friend of mine whom restores classic cars in Maine gave me a deal I couldn’t refused. After a few months, I had a beautiful partial restoration.

 

More photos of the Tathams and the car can be found on this website: http://redlinersmotorclub.com/2019/03/02/turners-1966-galaxie-500/

 

Taken about 1982/83.  That's me...... hoping to remake this photo someday with the 48 year old me.  Just need to find some similar shorts and socks......

 

 

Taken in Maine by my friend Ken Clark.  My car has traveled further out east than I have.

 

Taken almost across the street from the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.  This use to be a muffler shop.  Since the photo, parts of the building has fallen.

[Michael-Resurrector]

I am pretty handy with Photoshop (that is why my 65 Thunderbird is popping a wheelie, there was actually a stack of wood and two hydraulic jacks holding it up after a wheel fell off my tow dolly). So if you can pose just like when you were a boy, or as you have your arm around yourself, on a dark background with the same lighting I can stick you in there.

 

Oh I forgot I used to have a Ford like that but metallic blue.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Michael-Restomod (see edit history)

[apolo1100]

when i was 10yrs old .. my dad sold a piece of land to a Mercedes Benz trucks dealership right next door to my home.

every day after school i used to be under a brand new MB1926 truck , and spend long times looking at the engineering and mechanics , size of rear ends and transmissions construction on this Beast..!  the most newer and well prove reliable truck at the times were Scania and Volvo...so for me to be under this new breed of machinery was something else..!!

that's where i notice that i was more mechanically incline than anything else in life.

I became a car mechanic ..and my love for cars and bikes was no joke..! 

[Michael-Resurrector]

So after some time with someone that knows their way around Photoshop your picture went from this,

 

To this.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Michael-Restomod (see edit history)

[DJTurner]

14 hours ago, Michael-Restomod said:

To this.

 

Thanks Michael,  much appreciated.  All these years and I've never found time to fix it myself.

[Michael-Resurrector]

JDTurner, you're welcome. Like I said, if you have a picture of yourself and (brave enough to  ) post it here I can stick you in that picture.

 

This is a BBQ smoker, seems an expensive way to cook a hamburger. I saw it at the Decatur Swap Meet TX (which by the way it starts Feb. 21 this year).

 

 

I saw this 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 sitting in a field and I have been wanting 1958 Ford truck or car. So I went to talk to this old timer and he said it had been sitting just were it is since around 1967. I ask so would you sell it? He said no I can't, I sold it to a guy some 15 year ago for $100 and he hasn't come picked it up yet. I know I had to have had a strange look on my face and said, I think if he wanted it he would have come got it by now, I'll give you at least $200 for it. He said no I just can't. So it is still just sitting there, and will, at least until that old timer dies.

 

 

 

 

[DJTurner]

1 hour ago, Michael-Restomod said:

JDTurner, you're welcome. Like I said, if you have a picture of yourself and (brave enough to  ) post it here I can stick you in that picture.

 

 

Come summertime, I'll post the remake.  I live about 12 minutes from the home I grew up in an still know all the neighbors even though we moved away in 1993 +/- .  Hoping that the remake will also get me a tour of my old home. 😉 Then I'll go to the local elementary and pose with the car and my outfit by the ball diamonds since I do believe I had on my baseball shirt.  The house next to where the photo is taken (can't see the place) is the house where the car's original owner lived.

sorry about the 58 Ford.  BBQ me some food if you will and eat it for me.  I'm in Indiana and the high today was like 15 degrees. 

[Michael-Resurrector]

I got my truck license, CDL in Indiana. That is where the company trains new drivers. I was loaned $3000 for the training. All they taught me was by the numbers how to exactly do only what the state gave on the driving test. No more no less. And if you did it exactly as they said: pull up 5 feet, turn the wheel to the right stop, put it into reverse etc. you passed. Then they stuck me in a truck that the so called trainer had me only drive on the highway while he sat in the back talking on the cell phone. When it came time to back up, he would say get out of the seat I'll do it. So at the end of two weeks they stuck me in a truck alone and said have at it, your a driver, and handed me a black baseball cap that said Professional Driver. So of course the first stop I went to I was supposed to back into the dock to fill up. Now I have 53 feet of trailer I'm somehow supposed to get into a tight dock having not a clue how to do it. Needless to say it took me a half hour, and a lot of looks at me like, is this guy some kind of idiot or what. Some even yelled Don't you know how to drive! I yelled no they didn't teach me how to back. So some started waving their hands in some unknown sign language, and pointing this way that and circling their fingers to turn, which actually just made things worse. So Indiana does not hold fond memories for me. I try to go down I-90/I-80 just as fast as I can.

 

 

[Marty Roth]

I swapped 3 Citroen’s, 1972 SM, 1961 DS-21 Station Wagon, and 1964 2-CV TO David (trimacar). In exchange I got my 1927 Chevy Capitol AA Roadster and my 1917 Franklin 9-A Touring which many years later was swapped to Phil Myers for his 1912 Oakland Touring.

Here are the Chevy which is still with a local club member, and the Oakland which is now being offered by Mark Hyman.