Tag Archives: cars

My First Car

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corvair 300x1851 My First CarMy first car was a Corvair, purchased in 1967 when I was stationed at Fort Shafter Hawaii during the Viet Nam War. The purchase was a big decision on my part, the first major purchase of my adult life. My parents were very protective and normally intervened with whatever I proposed to do (and to be fair, I was a willing protectee). Getting drafted out of graduate school lifted me out of my dependent lifestyle and left me on my own, 3,000 miles away from my support system. In Hawaii, I had money of my own (not much to be sure but enough to buy a car) and so I decided that I needed a car to provide mobility. I even got a job at the base library to provide more funds. (The picture is not my car and we never saw snow in Honolulu.)

I did not know very much about cars and had no one to advise me so I went to Aloha Chevrolet to see what I could afford. What I could afford turned out to be a blue four door Corvair which freed me from the limits of the base and opened the entire island of Oahu for exploration.

I loved that car right up to the time it was totaled as I returned late one summer night in 1968 from a movie at Hickham AFB. It was a four way stop on Nimitz Highway.

There was no traffic except for Betty T who plowed into me as I attempted to get through the intersection. Neither she, nor I was seriously injured but it was the end of my Corvair. Nearing the end of my tour, I didn’t replace it and had to abandon my plans to buy stereo gear with the proceeds of selling it since the insurance companies considered it only fair to screw a short time soldier. I had to retain a lawyer and return several years later to get any settlement through the legal process.

The Corvair has received a bad rap. I always thought it was a classy looking set of wheels (for a subcompact). It was using oil by the time I got it but that’s not a major problem when you don’t drive much.  My Corvair served me well for the year that I had it and I will always remember it fondly.

Rot in hell, Ralph Nader.

The picture is the only one I could find of a four door corvair although mine never saw any snow.  And for some other reminiscences about Carlson cars past go here.

Originally posted 2009-04-08 17:24:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

60′s Nostalgia – The Studebaker Lark

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4933395339 59495d22af m 60s Nostalgia The Studebaker Lark
Image by dave_7 via Flickr

Ahead of it’s time.

Studebaker created a winner in the Lark .The Lark was a practical sized, no-nonsense car which appeared before it’s time. Americans still wanted flash. Although the Lark sold better than any recent Studebaker model in the end it couldn’t prevent Studebaker from closing down in the late 60′s. The Lark went on sale in 1959 and lasted until 1966 when Studebaker closed its doors. Continue reading →

Buick Roadmaster – 1954 Classic

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4403582590 7423198c01 m Buick Roadmaster 1954 Classic
Image by aldenjewell via Flickr

This Buick Roadmaster was my father’s choice in 1954. Ours was a rich metallic red with a white top. I think the color of ours sets the car off better than white and our two-door hardtop was classier than this sedan.  It was a stop down from the Cadillac my father wanted but still a pretty upscale car with exotic power windows. In 1954 GM brought out the wrap-around windshields which it had been using in its show cars. To me this was the point when cars broke away from the utilitarian designs left over from the depression and war times and began to point to a new future. Chevy and Pontiac followed Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac in 1955 along with Ford with their own versions. Chrysler was slow to wrap their windshields and only went partway. They made up for it with tailfins leaving GM and Ford to play catchup. To a 13 year old boy, this car was a class act even if it was still a coupe like our Chevy and only a little roomier for three boys in the back seat. We still had this car when I turned 16 and took my drivers test. I practised long hours learning to parallel park in the pasture. By this time it had nearly 100,000 miles on it and my father was ready to trade and he surprised us all.

Buick Roadmaster 1954 Classic

50′s Nostalgia – Chrysler Motor’s Forward Look

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2826043408 4a247a5d57 m 50s Nostalgia Chrysler Motors Forward Look
Image by bsabarnowl via Flickr

As the 50′s started Chrysler Motors was the stodgiest of the big-three American automakers. Mid-decade they did a major catchup which left them only 5 years behind the competition but in 1957 Chrysler stopped playing catchup and created some cars that brought something new to the equation.  All the Chrysler makes (Plymouth,Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial) sported a wedge shape, hyped in this commercial as ‘Flight Sweep’.  This is just a tease before the cars were released.

The big news was the fins.  Chrysler had added fins to their old syling but the forward look incorpoated the much bigger fins into lower, longer bodies and where the Ford and GM cars wrapped the windshields around to vertical pillers, Chrysler kept the pillers slanted in a way that complemented the motion theme in the cars. The series of commercials show the features and the dramatic new look of the cars.  When I was a kid, the best time of the year was fall when the new car models came out.  Every year had to mark a substantial change and you can see how the commercials hype the new models.  Until I went to college, I could tell you the make, year and model of every American car on the street.  By the time I got out of the Army, the yearly model changes were trivial as American cars went into a death spiral of mindless regulation.

50s Nostalgia Chrysler Motors Forward Look

Ford Skyliner Retractable Hardtop from the 50′s

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Ford Skyliner Retractable Hardtop from the 50s
Image via Wikipedia

One more example of the exuberance of the 50′s automobile manufacturers is the Ford Skyliner available from 1957 to 1959.  It was a wonder to see the hardop retract and fold into the trunk.  This commercial with Lucy and Ricky captures something about the feel of the 50′s.  You just naturally expected Lucy and Ricky to be dressed up.  Today they would probably wear ratty sweats.  You can see what is coming as well with the banter as Lucy takes charge.  Women are serious and men are silly even though that wasn’t the theme in ‘I Love Lucy‘ where Lucy was always doing silly things. Continue reading →

Carlson Cars Past – 1950 Chevy Pickup Truck

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If you enjoy nostalgia about 50′s cars and lifestyle, look around and follow the trail to some of the other posts about the 50′s. One place to start is with the 53 Studebaker and follow the 50′s nostalgia.   If you were around during the 50′s then you may enjoy other parts of this blog where I explore how to create a stimulating and rewarding retirement lifestyle as you age. The trails  page will lead you through the posts by category and interest and , by the way, leave a comment while you are at it.  Enjoy!1950 Chevy 3100 Blue4 Carlson Cars Past 1950 Chevy Pickup Truck

We moved to our own farm in 1955 or so.  We had owned it for a while but my grandparents lived there while we still lived on the farm my father managed for his boss from his day job in the city.  Somewhere along the way we acquired a pickup truck, useful for hauling our Shetland ponies around as well as the ocassional pig or lamb.  It was a stick so I had to learn how to drive it although I don’t remember ever driving it on the road,  just around the farm.  It was several years old when we got it and it definitely wasn’t cool.  Ours was green, pretty close to the classic Jaguar green but without the cache.

I never gave much thought to how we grew up but clearly we were living some fantasy of my father.  He used to talk about someday getting a ‘spread’ by which he meant a lot of grazing land to run cattle.  He would sometimes talk about it mostly during road trips or driving vacations.  When I think back on my childhood, thanks to my father, I had some remarkable experiences which my kids never got in the ritzy neighborhood we chose for them to grow up in.  My older son drives a pickup now but you would never get him to haul a hog in it.

Life is a trip and you never know when you are in the moment what might really matter in the end. Follow the trail in the sidebar to other car nostalgia posts.

Growing Up – 1968 Chevy II

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ChevyII16 Growing Up 1968 Chevy II

Mine was blue

(If you like nostalgia you might like some of the other content here at RalphCarlsonBlog.  Those were the good old days but there is more to life than nostalgia.  Retirement isn’t for wimps.  I explore some ideas about making the most of those golden years.  Click here for a sample.)

My first new car was bought for me by my father, the week I got out of the Army.  It was not the car I wanted.  And certainly not the one I deserved.  But it did serve me well through graduate school and well into my professional career.  There was a sporty version of the Chevy II with a big engine.  Mine was a servicable 6 cylinder (it’s amazing that a six cylinder engine used to be considered small) not the big V-8.  It did have a stick shift on the floor (my first and last).  And it was exactly the color of the one in the photo.

I was a different person after nearly two years in the Army.  Not exactly the trained killer the hippies considered me but more independent and with some income of my own from the GI Bill.  I never regarded my parents home as mine after the Army and so my Chevy II represented my independence as I began to make my own life.  I remember driving back to Connecticut listening to the ‘new’ Bob Dylan singing Lay Lady Lay, feeling  like a grownup (and don’t you think that at 27, it was about time).

I survived the Black Panther takedown in New Haven, finished my degree, met and dated my wife using my trusty Chevy II and it brought me to California once school was finished.  I finally sold it in 75.  Looking back, my father was right.  That Chevy II was the right car for me at that time in my life.