What kind of a guy was your dad?

[Dave Wells]

I've often wondered if the car(s) one's father purchased had much influence over the type (body style, price range, power train, color) that their children eventually purchased later. 

For example, in my neighborhood in the '50's, one family drove a base Ford 2-door sedan. The son followed suit with his own, stock 2-door, albeit a 15 year later vintage. Another family had a new Buick convertible, the teen age kid built and drove a deuce coupe.  A third family bought a series of brightly painted hardtops. The son painted his street coupe fluorescent blue.   

In my case, my dad only purchased 4-door Buick or Cadillac sedans from the 30's through the '60's, in subtle blues or grays. My first choice in high school was a bright green Ford 2-door, followed by a pickup truck, a gold colored convertible, an AMX, and a red VW beetle. Later in life, I've gravitated to Buicks as collector cars, but no 4-doors! Daily driver is a Jeep.

Have you followed the "traditions" set by your father, either in your choice of a daily driver or the car(s) you collect? It might be interesting to see.

 

 

 

 

 

[marcapra]

yes and no.  My earliest memories of driving with my dad must have been 1953 and later.  His dad died in 53 and my dad inherited his 50 Dodge club coupe.  He always drove us to work on Saturdays so our mom could have some free time.  The only thing that I can remember him saying is "Uh Oh!  there's a frog in the road!"  Maybe you can guess what happened after that!  That Dodge might have influenced me since my first car was a 50 Chrysler club coupe.  In 1957 my dad sold the Dodge and bought a brand new Ford Fairlane convertible.  Then he sold it to a sailor in San Diego in 1964 and bought a new Mustang coupe.  In 1966, he traded it in on a 66 Mustang convertible.  So I guess you could say he was really a Ford guy, but not really a car enthusiast.  My mom traded her 50 Pontiac convertible and got a 53 Mercury station wagon, which she kept until she traded it in for a 61 Buick wagon.  AFter that she got a 65 Chevrolet station wagon.  All of her later cars were Oldsmobiles or Buicks, except for the 73 Lincoln which she got used from her sister.  I own a 48 DeSoto, so I don't think my parents influenced me much, or I would be restoring a Mustang.  

[Oz Dodge 4]

TO RIGHT IT INFLUENCED US !

Dad had three Fords when we were growing up (we are in Australia), A MK 1 Ford Zephyr sedan, a Ford Thames trader truck (both English designs) and an Australian XT Ford Falcon ute, and the one thing they had in common was that they were all piles of unreliable rubbish. Neither my two brothers or I have ever purchased a Ford product, and I intend to keep that record intact !

[8E45E]

First off, my dad was NOT a 'car guy'.   While raising a family, he was limited to generally unexciting company cars, from when I was born, until the mid-1970's.  The 1964 Plymouth wagon with the pushbutton automatic was probably his nicest company car.   Not until the later 1970's was he able to afford anything considered a luxury car, and then it was a Buick Electra 225, then a Lincoln Town Coupe, and downsized Cadillacs after that, which by then were plastic wood malaise cars.  

 

The only car that left an impression on me was my mom's 1950 Studebaker Champion she owned in the early 1960's, which heightened my awareness of the marque and got me interested in them from a very early age, and still own a few examples of them to this day.  

 

Craig

[alsancle]

I think we have this thread somewhere from a few years ago.   

 

Anyways,  I won the dad lottery.  He was a lawyer by trade, but had a full garage at home and could do almost anything (if not as well as a professional).    He was also very supportive of my brothers and I driving his cars.   As a 17 year old I was tooling around in his Cord or my mom's XK140.    I also followed in his footsteps with my appreciation for big prewar Classics.   Somewhere around 20 years ago (he passed last year at 97) I started to know more than him (according to me) and that sparked some interesting arguments.   He was from the "paint it bright and put whitewalls on it " generation of collectors from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

 

 

[dship]

First car my father I remember having was a '48 Dodge Club Coupe'.  We drove across country in 1951 because my dad was transferring from the US Navy Atlantic fleet to the Pacific fleet to participate in the Korean conflict.  Five years later and forever more he purchased Fords.  I never really followed in his car purchasing preference.  I bought whatever was I could afford; from Mercuries to Chevies to Buicks to Cadillacs and some Fords in between.  Oh, and a couple of VWs and one Triumph Spitfire. 

Edited March 8 by dship (see edit history)

[alsancle]

The other thing about my dad was that when I bought my REO basically called me an idiot because it was a closed car and those were parts cars to him.  The fact that it was a one off Dietrich bodied car on a 148" wheelbase with a 74" long hood made no difference to him.

[8E45E]

9 minutes ago, alsancle said:

The other thing about my dad was that when I bought my REO basically called me an idiot because it was a closed car and those were parts cars to him.  The fact that it was a one off Dietrich bodied car on a 148" wheelbase with a 74" long hood made no difference to him.

I bet you still felt good being 'rebellious' like that!

 

Craig

[Lee H]

My dad was rarely around, but he did have a big influence on my automotive life. He had very little money, and was driving a clapped-out Mercury on one of his rare visits, when I was about 15. 
 

As he was about to leave, the Mercury refused to start. He called a cab, and just as he was about to go, he threw me the keys, and said “It’s all yours!”

 

I was thrilled! And highly motivated. It only took me a few days to figure out the points were bad, and how to file and gap them with a matchbook. Pretty soon I was driving (illegally, of course). Yes, things kept breaking, but I kept reading, and figuring it out as I went along. And soon I had enough  experience to talk a local parts store into taking me on for my first real job. I’ve been a gearhead ever since.

[JV Puleo]

No influence at all. My father had absolutely no interest in cars beyond getting to work and back. He tended to buy big, used luxury cars because, as he reasoned, you got a lot more for your money and, since he didn't drive any more than he had to, the cost of gas was irrelevant. His parents never had a car so he did not grow up around them. He did have some memories though and, since he was born in 1916 these often were of late 20s cars. I'd never seen the "headlight in the fender" but he knew it was Pierce Arrow...

 

I have to give him credit though. He never made any effort to stop me in my pursuit of old cars, old books and old guns & swords even though he thought it was a stupid waste of time and money.

[pkhammer]

  My Dad was not a car guy but I grew up with friends, many that had Dad's that were gearheads. A couple of them were even involved in local street racing. My best friend Joe, his Dad had a '57 Chevy 2 door hardtop with a 427 that he was always wrenching on. I loved going over to Joe's house. His Dad didn't even have a garage, just did all his wrenching in the yard. Dad neve really understood my addiction to cars I don't think.

[STEVE POLLARD]

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

think we have this thread somewhere from a few years ago. 

Did your Father influence the type of classic antiques that you own today ?

[alsancle]

13 minutes ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

Did your Father influence the type of classic antiques that you own today ?

100%. In my 20s and 30s I had muscle cars. They are all gone now. Everything I have is pre-war.

[Andy J]

To my daddy,a car was a tool that you had to have,like a hammer or screwdriver. It was a way to get him to work or anywhere we needed to go.If it broke he got it fixed or got another one.Always used cars until 1965,when he bought a new '65 Plymouth wagon for my mother.He bought a '46 Ford p/u to get around in. He had no interest in cars at all.

[Matt Harwood]

My father and I essentially joined the hobby at the same time. In 1973, we were driving to the hardware store to get something or other when we spotted a big tent in the town square. We went in and it was a car auction. A 1934 Ford sedan rolled onto the block and for reasons he still can't really explain, my father put his hand in the air and bought it. We joined the hobby together at that moment.

 

Literally moments after the purchase

of the '34 Ford.

 

My father posing proudly with it shortly

thereafter. I'm in the front seat (red hat).

 

Did my father influence what I own? Well, kinda. We did a lot of club events and many of them were with the VMCCA, which allowed all sorts of cars. The ones that spoke to me loudest were the big Full Classics. I yearned to own something with a big engine and wide whitewalls and sidemounts, but alas, my father seemed to like quantity over quality. We owned something like 12 cars at one time, but they were all mediocre. 1925 Buick, 1930 Model A, the 1934 Ford, two 1941 Buick Supers, a 1966 Cadillac convertible. But never a Full Classic like I really wanted.

 

So when it was time to buy something for myself, I bought a 1941 Buick Century, which, of course, is still in pieces because life keeps getting in the way. I knew the '41 Buicks were reliable, well-made cars because my father drove his '41 Super coupe to work daily in the 1980s. Winter, summer, whatever, he drove that car as a regular car for YEARS. When I wanted an old car, that's where I started.

 

Eventually, though, I wanted something to use and that's where I started to move away from my father. By the time I bought my 1929 Cadillac, he had liquidated his entire collection and looked back at his time with old cars with a mixture of weariness and contempt. Being stranded was SOP with our old cars, and I think it made him bitter. He understood the way things worked, but his practical abilities were often lacking and the cars were never reliable (except that '41 Buick, which he had serviced like a modern car by a professional shop in downtown Cleveland--is there a lesson to be learned there?).

 

I think all those times we were stranded and I watched my father lose his mind made me realize that I had to do better. I have a reputation for owning cars that just work, and I'm very proud of that. I don't want to get stranded ever again. I only wish I had the talents back then that I have now so I could have improved my father's cars to the point where he could enjoy them without worries.

 

Anyway, I finally got the 12-cylinder Full Classic that I always wanted and it looks very much like that first '34 Ford sedan that he bought 50 years ago. I'm glad to be able to share it with him, even though he's not able to drive any longer. He still thinks I'm a fool for driving it long distances without a back-up or a trailer, but I also think he's proud of the results. I hope we can enjoy my cars together for some time (he's 86) and I make the effort to see him often. Melanie just lost her dad, and I can't imagine what I'll do when that day comes for me.

 

 

 

And if anyone has a 1934 Ford Deluxe sedan, preferably in maroon, I'd kind of like to have one...

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, 8E45E said:

I bet you still felt good being 'rebellious' like that!

 

Craig

An unlimited amount of time and money later I figured out he was right, if for the wrong reasons...

[28 Chrysler]

My father was more into scraping the big heavy prewar cars. Most of the GM cars had to much wood and would that  a lot of time to burn them out.

He and my Grand father drove mid to late 30s Chryslers until the late 50s when the went to 10 year old Dodges and International trucks.

I do have a soft spot for the old Binders and Chrysler products.

[jp1gt]

I would say he did influence me a little. I normally am attracted to fast cars but a classic was in my bucket list. Father had 52 classic and brass cars at different times but unfortunately he was not a good father 

[Walt G]

My Dad was not "into " cars of any era- they were used as daily transportation and well cared for ( weekly washing and waxing polishing when needed at least 3 or 4 times a year) but we never really went to look at cars/car shows until I became interested in "old cars" ( which in the early 1960s meant most anything with running boards and somewhat perpendicular styling) I never really liked the music that was current of my youth so jazz music was what make me realize that the cars of the same 1920s/30s era were what visually I liked. Family cars were a 1949 Pontiac station wagon and then a 1960 Plymouth station wagon.

My hobby of old cars became my folks hobby as well as they had to drive me to car shows - the most influential show was the HCCA annual car show in Sept. at Ridgefield , Ct. It was pre WWII, at first 1935 was the cut off date to be able to put a car on the grass field. I lived for that show - people there were "real". My folks eventually drove the two cars I had on the road - 1931 Plymouth sedan and 1941 Packard 120 station wagon. they developed their friends in the car clubs, if I went to a car show in one of my cars and they were not along or were not driving the other of the two cars, all my friends immediately asked " where is Val and Jack' hoping they were alright. For decades our house became a meeting place for the local members of the Plymouth 4 Cylinder Owners Club in the tri state NY Metro area.  Dad would help me work on the cars although he was not a mechanic.  Cars became a family affair - my listening to jazz music of the 1920s-30s on TV programs like The Roaring 20s and the Untouchables was what really got me started as did the movie "Some like it Hot " - no not because of Marilyn Monroe but because of the cars!! 🙃

It got worse for me and my Dad after we met Austin Clark and were invited over to his house in Glen Cove, NY ( in 1967) and besides the cars I saw his library! Car History became important and still is - is that a surprise to anyone?

Edited March 8 by Walt G (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

What kind of a guy was your dad?

 

A very good family man.

A naturalist

 

A product of the depression, having to quit school in the 9th grade to help support the family. Walking the streets of downtown L.A. with his brothers with their sling shots hunting Pidgeon for my grandmother to cook for dinner.

A self-educated man always learning.

A self-employed business owner (35years) Expert photo engraver, offset printing, etcher, printer and cameraman working up until the day he died. Lived to be 60 and considered himself very lucky to be alive and to have a successful marriage, raise two kids and see them out the door and see his grandkids. Health meant everything to him, almost dying at the age of 12 from juvenile type1 diabetes he strove to always be in shape and to eat correctly. If he had contracted diabetes the year before he would have died because insulin was only released to the public the year he came down with it.

A Surfer and all-round waterman from 1927-1971.

A body builder, when the surf was flat, and we weren't going to the hot spots like Malibu, Dana Point, or San Onofre etc. for big waves we would be at Muscle beach, not Venice, but the original Muscle beach on the south side of the Santa Monica Pier.  

A passionate gardener, an eye for landscapes.

A car guy, our cars were always pristine, a drag racer/street racer. After his 34 Chevy he would always be a Pontiac and VW man.

Edited March 8 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[zepher]

As for his influence with cars, the Rickenbacker I own was his but he was a die hard Ford guy.  His first car was a 1953 Ford that was sold not long after he got married to buy a 1964 Malibu SS hardtop.

He eventually ended up buying another '53 Ford and restored it, driving it all over the place.

At one time he had 3 1964 Galaxies, the '53 Ford Customline and his Rickenbacker.

I was never a big Ford fan and I attribute that to helping him wrench on all his Fords. Fords never seemed to make much sense to me the way they were engineered so I became a GM fan.

Around 1963 my Dad and my uncles talked my Grandfather into buying the Pierce Arrow I now own.  They all had antique cars and they wanted him to have one, too.

I was lucky enough to grow up around prewar cars and learned a lot about them helping to keep them going and driving the heck out of them.

 

My Dad was a teacher for most of his adult life.

He never intended to be a teacher since he often skipped school and did not have very good grades, in general.

Unlike most kids, when he skipped school he didn't go out causing trouble, he snuck into the public library and read books.

He was a voracious reader until he last days.

Then, in high school, he had a teacher that changed his direction and inspired him to be a better, more productive student.

Dad had every intention of taking over the family farm and he was a horticulture major in college but my grandfather never wanted to hire any other workers and never wanted to invest in modernizing the way they were doing business.

That led to the farm closing since it was no longer profitable to keep it running.

After that, my Dad dropped out of college, got married and started working as a parts counter guy for mostly GM dealerships.

He was working at a Chevy dealer when the Corvairs were new and even on his death bed he could still tell you the part number for a Corvair oil sending unit.  He said they sold them like popcorn.  He could also rattle off group numbers for various parts.

He was never really happy being in the parts business so he decided to go back to college and get his teacher credential.

After getting his degree he started teaching but continued in college and ended up with a masters in psychology and a masters in education.

Dad was the guy everyone went to for advice, family and friends alike.

He even did a short stint as a therapist but disliked it so he quickly went back to the classroom.

Throughout his teaching career he taught mainly 4th through 6th grades as he felt that was the last chance to make a real difference in a child's life.

He soon gained a reputation for being able to handle the 'difficult' kids, the kids that other teachers did not want in their classrooms.  He was also a very strict teacher and gave lots of homework, which upset many parents along the way.

Despite him being a very strict teacher, he always had former students come back to visit him.  Telling him that junior high was much easier than his class and that they learned more in his class than they were learning in junior high or high school.

He also had former students go back and visit as they went through college, marriage and having kids.

He would often attend sporting events that his students participated in so me and my siblings got dragged to countless baseball, football and soccer games to watch his 'kids' play.

Often we were the only ones there to see that kid play and cheer them on.

When Dad passed there were dozens of former students at his funeral with ages ranging from their 30's to their teens.

Dad was an amazing parent, confidant and friend.

I miss him every day.

 

 

Edited March 8 by zepher (see edit history)

[M1842]

My Dad was an MD and cars were just a means to get around, he mostly bought Chevy coupes for himself and Oldsmobile 4 door sedans for Mom.  He did buy a few fun cars, he loved his 63 Buick Skylark convertible.  He had a 62 VW Beatle convertible, too.  The VW did not do well in the Iowa winters.  He did not like Ford, Chrysler,  or AMC products.

 

As a result I have tended towards GM cars of the 50s.

[Peter Gariepy]

Dad's first car was a 1946 Ford Convertible right after WWII.  Mom was fond of it.  

 

After the kids started rolling out my father went through a succession of random used cars.  Studebaker Coupe, Studebaker Hawk, 1965 Ford Thunderbird, 1971 Pontiac Firebird, 1973 Corvette, 1977 Chrysler Cordoba, 1978ish Buick Regal, 1980ish Buick Riviera. His last before we took his driver's license away was a Chrysler Sebring Convertible.

 

He did some SCCA racing in northern Ohio and southern Michigan with the Firebird.  I can attribute my love for cars not to the SCCA racing, but to the cars in the parking lot.  (I wasn't allowed in the pits, I was too young).

 

I got my first car at 15 at my dad's prompting. A 1948 Chrysler New Yorker Club Coupe.  It was sitting in the backyard of one of his clients.  I dragged it home and drove it all through high school. I wanted a muscle car but my dad rightly talked me out of it. 

All along station wagons for Mom.   Mostly Buick and Oldsmobile.  Her last car was of her choice, a Madza 323.  

[JamesR]

11 hours ago, 8E45E said:

First off, my dad was NOT a 'car guy'. 

 

Same here, Craig. My Dad thought cars and young people didn't mix. In his opinion, getting a car in high school was only slightly better than becoming a drug addict. I.e. if you got a car when you were 16, you'd never go to college (and maybe not even graduate from high school.) But if you DIDN'T get a car in high school, your chances of becoming president of the United States were pretty good.

 

OK, that wasn't his actual opinion, but not far off. 😄

Edited March 9 by JamesR (see edit history)

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, Peter Gariepy said:

Dad's first car was a 1946 Ford Convertible right after WWII.  Mom was fond of it.  

 

After the kids started rolling out my father went through a succession of random used cars.  Studebaker Coupe, Studebaker Hawk, 1965 Ford Thunderbird, 1971 Pontiac Firebird, 1973 Corvette, 1977 Chrysler Cordoba, 1978ish Buick Regal, 1980ish Buick Riviera. His last before we took his driver's license away was a Chrysler Sebring Convertible.

 

He did some SCCA racing in northern Ohio and southern Michigan with the Firebird.  I can attribute my love for cars not to the SCCA racing, but to the cars in the parking lot.  (I wasn't allowed in the pits, I was too young).

 

I got my first car at 15 at my dad's prompting. A 1948 Chrysler New Yorker Club Coupe.  It was sitting in the backyard of one of his clients.  I dragged it home and drove it all through high school. I wanted a muscle car but my dad rightly talked me out of it. 

All along station wagons for Mom.   Mostly Buick and Oldsmobile.  Her last car was of her choice, a Madza 323.  

 

I assume that club coupe was a straight eight?   That would be pretty cool.

[Peter Gariepy]

Just now, alsancle said:

 

I assume that club coupe was a straight eight?   That would be pretty cool.

YUP!  With a fluid drive transmission.

[Crusty Trucker]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

 My Dad thought cars and young people people didn't mix. In his opinion, getting a car in high school was only slightly better than becoming a drug addict. I.e. if you got a car when you were 16, you'd never go to college (and maybe not even graduate from high school.) But if you DIDN'T get a car in high school, your chances of becoming president of the United States were pretty good.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Peter Gariepy said:

I got my first car at 15 at my dad's prompting. A 1948 Chrysler New Yorker Club Coupe.  It was sitting in the backyard of one of his clients.  I dragged it home and drove it all through high school. I wanted a muscle car but my dad rightly talked me out of it. 

 

55 minutes ago, alsancle said:

I assume that club coupe was a straight eight?  

 

54 minutes ago, Peter Gariepy said:

YUP!  With a fluid drive transmission.

 

 

Well, here's a good example of how some of us excelled in life, and others of us became hot rodders.     

To paraphrase a popular song of the past, "Don't let your children grow up to be street racers!".

[Paul Dobbin]

I remember my father telling the story of his first car, a 1917 Model T Ford an all the fun he and his friends had with it.

He also loved telling of the 31 Model A Roadster that he courted my mother in.  (Pictured)   Other than that his car were

functional ones like the 54 Metropolitan I learned to drive in and a series of station wagons that we used for family trips

and Boy Scout outings.   Then he bought a lightly used 53 Cadillac Fleetwood which lit the fire for string of Cadillacs from

a 47 Conv. a 48 Conv, a 56 Coupe Deville and a 58 Eldorado Biaritz Conv.

By that time my brother and I had a few cars too, but well used ones.   He switched to newer cars, then new cars.

When I came home from Germany with my 57 Porsche Speedster and my brother brought back a 63 Super 90 Cabriolet. 

My brother, with a new baby was assigned to Washington and traded the Porsche for the Biaritz.   

A few years passed and I bought my first 34 Ford,  which my father enjoyed with me, after I restored it.   He died at 64 and

missed all the cars I restored after that, including my 15 Model T.   He influenced me on the T and a few of my Model A's.

 

P. S.  Car were always part of my life, by age 5, my brother and I had 81 cars & trucks.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9 by Paul Dobbin
Added a P. S. (see edit history)

[Rivguy]

My Dad was never a car guy as such. He bought a few cars that he liked, a new '59 Impala coupe and a '75 Chevy Stepside. He bought many used cars and kept them running. He realized that he could save money by NOT buying new cars, and that's the choice that he made. He was cool though. and we used to go to look at used car lots when I was a kid.  He never agreed with my interest in motorcycles, though he bought a Honda 50 that I learned to ride on! I think that he vicariously enjoyed all the hobby cars that I owned over the years. He was a very hands on fix it guy and passed that DNA to me. I do miss him, since he passed away over 15 years ago. 

[Lee H]

13 hours ago, JamesR said:

My Dad thought cars and young people didn't mix. In his opinion, getting a car in high school was only slightly better than becoming a drug addict. I.e. if you got a car when you were 16, you'd never go to college (and maybe not even graduate from high school.)

He was a wise man. That was very true for many of my generation. But really, I think getting your first car in high school is more a symptom of an independent spirit, all too anxious to get out into the adult world, rather than the cause.

[Dandy Dave]

We won't go there! Nuf said. Dandy Dave!

[John Bloom]

This thread leans heavily to our dad's and our old car experience, but the original topic is "what kind of a guy was your dad".  My dad was without question my hero.  I am a little hesitant to talk about this on a public forum because lots of people didn't have a great father in their life.  Those bad memories and scars can run deep.  In some way, maybe I feel guilty for how lucky I was.  And I was lucky.  

 

My dad was one of 8 kids, his dad worked on the assembly line making tires in Akron ohio.  They had a two bedroom house.  Grandma and Grandpa in one room, six girls in another, and my dad and his brother slept on the enclosed porch.  He was a phenomenal athlete and it was that competitiveness and sports that provided a ticket out of some pretty dire stuff.  His success with sports in college allowed him to get a degree and become a teacher and coach.  After that he began working on his masters degree and PHD at night and became a principal.  One year later when a scandal hit the school system, The Board fired the Superintendent and named my dad the "interim Superintendent".  He was 29 years old.   The youngest Superintendent in the state of Indiana.  He was 12 months removed from being a History teacher and coach.  He had the good sense when taking over to rely on the Superintendent's office's long time secretary.  She was old enough to be his mother and had been in her role for 30 years.  She loved my dad and made sure to keep everything going well while he figured out what he'd gotten himself into.   Dad gave her praise till the day he died.  He told us that the first day he took over she told him "everything will be fine, she would make sure of it".  From my dad's stories, she was really running the school system for a couple of years while he learned his role on the fly.

 

He was the hardest worker I ever met.  He had memories of poverty so he always kept safety margins in his life financially.   He was determined to make sure he took care of his family and he did it very well.  We weren't wealthy but had everything we needed.  Once that "saver" DNA is in you, it doesn't change.  Later in life when he had the means to do whatever he wanted, but he was still frugal and saving.....The only cracks in his financial world view were when grandchildren entered his life.....suddenly he was free flowing with cash like my sister and I had never witnessed before in our lives.  We teased him about that relentlessly and he just smiled.  

 

Cars.......  My dad's frugal nature was well represented when it came to cars.  They were a tool.  The best, cheapest deal he could find.  As a 50 year old Superintendent....first year teachers had cooler cars than him.  And I let him know it.  At one stretch his car was a Chevy Chevette.  He drove that for 6 years.......Impressive to me now because they were terrible cars that often looked clapped out after 2-3 years.  

 

My dad passed away two years ago.  My appreciation for him grows as I get older.  in my younger years when I was car crazy, he laughed about it, but never criticized how I spent my money.  As he got older, he became more interested in what I was doing on the car front.......

 

His influence on me was profound.  I will spend my lifetime trying to be half the man he was.  

 

 

Edited March 9 by John Bloom (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

My dad made an early exit in our lives, he seemed to like Pontiac and Olds.

 

My older brother and uncles were the car guys and they were mostly into Mopar.

Everything from GTX, Coronets, Chargers, 68 Cuda Fastback, and a  63 Chevy Split Window (all great cars) .

 

Personally wasn't influenced by any of them regardinging pre-war vehicles though.

My influence came from watching gangster movies as a kid and hours of looking through old family photos.

I had one uncle (a sign painter by trade) that loved the gangster movies equally and seen Humphry Bogart and Jimmy Cagney as mini gods (I can still smell those Lucky Strikes, butane and paint thinner to this day lol).

 

Spending hours building pre-war model cars at a very early age played a role I'm sure.

My dad wasn't a car guy.

 

 

Edited March 9 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[Curti]

My Dad was a Chrysler Plymouth salesman.  He had me sitting on his lap driving a new Chrysler back in the early 50's.  He haught me how to drive an automatic trans.  In the late 50's , when I was 13 - 14 I was behind the wheel of our Chrysler driving around a parking lot learning how to parallel park.  I got my permit in Minnesota the day I turned 15.  30 days later I got my license.  Dad got me my first car , a 49 Plymouth.  All the cars I had while living at home were Chryslers and Plymouths.  The last was a 57 Chrysler. which I proceeded to hop up and customize.  Dad was NOT pleased.  I just wantedd to go fast and win stoplight drag races.  I never did loose my license, but came close.  Now I am 80 yeras young, and Dad is long gone. I still miss him.  

[Peter Gariepy]

3 hours ago, John Bloom said:

"what kind of a guy was your dad". 

Good point.

 

Eugene Gariepy - Grew up in downtown Detroit.

 

His father (my grandfather) was a Canadian and a Ford employee until he got caught smoking.  Worked the rest of his life for the city of Detroit collecting trash. His passion was baseball and he pitched in the Canadian Professional League until his 40s.  Able to own a home and raise 11 children. Amazing. My father's awe and love of his father never wavered.

 

My father was a proud Catholic and Alter boy (with some very bad experiences), a high school dropout, in the army at the end of WWII in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.  Learned how to drive in an army truck - by himself. Married his high school sweetheart, but it ended badly a year later.  A story that will be lost to history.  Worked in a grocery store, then a bakery, became a bread truck driver, and then had his own delivery route and truck. Hit by a semi in his truck in 1957, and that was the end of his first career. Spend the rest of his life suffering from back pain. Didnt complain much but it was obvious. Became an insurance salesman and retired from that when he was in his late 50s. 

 

Dated my mother in the late 1940s. Their relationship was frowned upon because he was a divorcee.  They got married in a civil ceremony in Chicago.  Lived in my uncle's attic for the first 3 years of marriage and the first 2 kids.  Eventually 9. 

 

Enjoyed family and travel. Worked and smoked way too much. Never remember seeing much of him as a kid.  But we were never wanting for a place to live, food, clothes, Christmas presents.  Fondly recall weekend drives in the station wagon to give Mom a break. Remember stealing a wagon wheel from an abandoned farm.  Mom was not happy about that. 

 

Moved us to Arizona to help reduce my mother's arthritis issues. (it worked).  Worked for me when I opened my first retail store. Funny. Intelligent. Loved interacting with people. Sometimes I wonder who the boss was.

 

A bit weary of life and his experiences with Catholicism, Divorce, the Army, being an Alter Boy, suffering from chronic back pain, and providing for a large family. But not a complainer.

 

Enjoyed travel, and didn't skimp on his auto toys. Though his real hobby was being a provider.

 

He lost my mother at 75 and it took the wind out of him. But he was a dedicated grandfather and soon embraced the life of a single man.  At least until he remarried at 80 to a wonderful woman.  Lost her 6 years later.  He spent much of the rest of his life living quietly. Died peacefully in a nursing home.  

 

We talked more in his later years than ever. Self-aware, insightful, full of humor and joy. A full and complex life truly made him wise.  I regret not getting to know him until he got old.  

 

Not enough photos of him. He always seemed to be behind the camera. 

 

Miss him.

 

[philip roitman]

My Dad was a great guy. Not into cars at all. Buicks were his choice of cars until the X Car Skylark he bought for going to work in Manhattan from Brooklyn. It was a POS as was my Moms 1978 Lincoln Mark IV. Went to Mercedes after that. I have a few Buicks and a couple of Mercedes now. I am a Buick and a Mercedes guy now it seems. (Love all cars though) Go figure. LOL. He always told me he had a Horch in Berlin after the war when he was in a DP camp before coming here. (Holocaust survivor) He didn't know or remember what model the Horch was except it was a big 2 door mid 30's one. He used it to go sector to sector in Berlin selling cigarettes, etc. Like I said not a real car guy. He absolutely hated my SCCA/IMSA road racing and said I was crazy and should concentrate on my work and family. He couldn't understand my love of cars and racing since I was a little kid. Miss him a lot.

Edited March 9 by philip roitman (see edit history)

[alsancle]

3 hours ago, Curti said:

My Dad was a Chrysler Plymouth salesman.  He had me sitting on his lap driving a new Chrysler back in the early 50's.  He haught me how to drive an automatic trans.  In the late 50's , when I was 13 - 14 I was behind the wheel of our Chrysler driving around a parking lot learning how to parallel park.  I got my permit in Minnesota the day I turned 15.  30 days later I got my license.  Dad got me my first car , a 49 Plymouth.  All the cars I had while living at home were Chryslers and Plymouths.  The last was a 57 Chrysler. which I proceeded to hop up and customize.  Dad was NOT pleased.  I just wantedd to go fast and win stoplight drag races.  I never did loose my license, but came close.  Now I am 80 yeras young, and Dad is long gone. I still miss him.  

Curt,  I see your dad talked to my dad about the 49 Plymouth thing.   Good lesson as I had to work my ass off to come up with the money for a GTO.   Funny thing about that Plymouth was my buddies would bust by b*lls about it but all the parents thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

 

Also, I can't believe you are 80,  I always thought you were close my age.

Edited March 9 by alsancle (see edit history)

[nsbrassnut]

I can't say that my dad was a real "car guy" type. But he (and mom) were supportive and tolerant when I got into old cars in my mid teens.

 

Did did lean towards Ford products. He bought a '58 Ford convertible  and courted mom with that car. A few years later it was sold when I came along. Mom felt that a convertible was too drafty when carrying an infant. Somewhere the convertible bit did rub off though, most of my current hobby cars are open cars.

 

I remember his '64 Meteor sedan with the plywood platform added to turn the back seat into a playpen size space for me and my younger first brother for longer trips. Try that one today. 🤫Later came the second hand '68 Ford Meteor Rideau 500 station wagon that we used for family trips and towing the camper trailers. That one was the 8 passenger version with the opposed facing folding extra seats in the back section. By then there were 6 of us in the family and we needed the extra space. That old Ford stayed in the family for several years and was car that I got my first driving lessons on and my first attempts at body work to fill in the rust holes on the back doors. It got sold after one of the brake lines failed in the parking lot when mom was driving. She put down her foot (pun intended) after that it was time for it to go.☹️

 

He did get a Mini Minor as a second family car for a while in the early '70s that we had fun riding in. It sounded and felt like you were going 60 mph around town when actually barely doing 30.😆

 

When I developed my interest in old cars as a teenager in the late '70s he recommended getting an early 60's Mustang. But I considered them too "new" and really wanted something with a side folding hood and running boards. Maybe that was his hidden interest in never having one. The family agreement growing up was if I got a part time job and saved enough to pay university tuition, I could spend anything over that on whatever I wanted. I started seriously saving up after that.

 

He did come with me to look at a '36 Packard 120 and later went with me when I purchased it a few months later. The Packard was stored in a rented garage downtown and they let me borrow mom's car to go down and work on it. One problem, I learned to drive on automatics, the Packard was a standard. Well when I finally got the Packard running, guess who had to drive it home. I think he enjoyed that trip as much as I did. The Packard is still in the garage and driven in the summer.

 

I was working on the long term restoration of a '05 Cadillac in the early 2000's that was dragged home in bits and stored around the house when I was still in university in 1980's. It drove my parents crazy, but they still let me keep the bits around and listened to my dreams about restoring it. I had it ready for the first engine run at the end of the summer in 2010 and was looking forward to inviting dad over to hear it start.  Unfortunately, just a few days before that could happen, he passed away in his sleep after coming home from his cottage.😔

[mrspeedyt]

My dad was pretty much a Heinz 57 person. he mostly bought late model used usa cars back in the 30s and the 40s and even the early 50s. he did buy a few new foreign cars in the mid 50s but wound up going back to buying mostly late model used American cars in the '60s.

 

The only NEW American cars he drove were company cars...  Chevrolet sedans in the mid and late 60s. 

[JV Puleo]

I think the most interesting part of this thread is that it appears that the majority of the participants had fathers that regarded their cars as appliances. What does this say about the endless din of "getting younger people interested"? Practically no one here comes from an old car collecting background. My own feeling is that, like everything else, collecting interests change with time and that we have absolutely no way of predicting exactly what they will be down the road. I just gave my great-nephew (he's about 10 now) four books I found I had duplicates of. All are on pre-war, mostly brass era cars. I've no idea if they will strike a cord with him now or in the future but I would not be surprised if it did.