February 23, 2011
Pap looking back in time wishing he’d kept the one he had years ago. Is there a car you wish you’d kept? For me it’s a light grey Honda Civic 5 speed-I loved that car-but somehow The Deer Hunter convinced me to trade it in because it didn’t have 4 wheel drive-cause with our drive way that’s a necessity.
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
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I had a royal blue Chevy Nova with white stripes down the hood, top and trunk lid. It was jacked up in the rear end with wide mag wheels. Loved that car.
Back in ’61 and ’62 I had a used MG sports car my brother and I bought together. It was such fun to drive! I had the use of it for a year or so and then he got it.
I used to have a dark green 70 Chevrolet Monte Carlo back when I was sixteen. That car was probably the reason why I succeeded with getting a date with the most beautiful curly haired blonde girl that I had ever seen. I sure do miss her!
I also often wonder about what ever became of that blonde girl too!
John Pallister
http://www.pointlesspicks.com
Twitter @PointlessPicks
When we got married he had just traded for a used 1964 Mustang. After a few years we bought a brand new 1968 Chevy Malibu. Remember it felt so good to have a new car.Now I wish I still owened both those cars.
You bet! My first car (I didn’t get my license till I was in my 30’s) was a blue ’87 Mustang. I LOVED that car! I could handle it as easily as I could navigate in my own body. She took me through countless blizzards and all sorts of nasty road conditons with no trouble at all. The bigger, heavier car I have now is like an out of control ice skate.
Her name was Stella – like in Streetcar Named Desire.
When the frame started rotting away, she had to go, and I was heartbroken. I have never loved – or named – a car since!
My grandpaw had a 1946 black Caddy that was his pride and joy. When we went to town I always pretended I was a princess going to the ball. Imagine my disappointment when we pulled up in front of the A&P! My uncle is in the process of restoring it & I can’t wait to go for a ride!
Ours was a ’69 bright red Road Runner … our pride and joy. My husband still says, with a tear in his eye, that he wishes we could have kept it, but nowadays he’s tickled with his Jeep Rubicon.
Tipper,
Sent to Eva Nell, so glad your brother is on his way home from Afghanistan!
I am sure he is looking forward to the mountains of Appalachia…
and tell him “THANKS FOR HIS SERVICE” from all of us here…
Thanks Tipper,
Nope, never had a car I wanted to keep, but I’ve seen plenty of pics of grandpa’s cars I wish HE had kept!
🙂
I wish I had kept the ’38 Plymouth Coupe I had in high school. But, when it came time to replace the second transmission in as many years, I let a local auto buff talk me into a trade. I traded for a ’54 Chrysler with the Hydro-matic (an automatic with a clutch). It was a good car, but…….
Tipper,
My older brothers had the ’55,’56
Chevys and they sure were snazzy.
When I got old enough and was living in Atlanta I bought a ’68
Mustang, dark metalic green. That
thing would outrun anything on the
road but a gas station and I sure
wish I still had it. An old car
fixed up still catches my eye and
brings back wonderful memories of
the ‘good ole days.’ …Ken
For me it would have been the 68 Chevy Pickup but, sadly it needed a lot of work and I could not afford to fix it up the way it deserved to be fixed.
Whitetail Woodsâ„¢
Whitetail Woods Blog / Deer Hunting and Blackpowder Shooting at it’s best.
Tipper,
My husband and I bought a ’55 Chevy a month before we got married in the 60’s. It had a 327 engine and bored. It could’ve run “moonshine” but of course we didn’t! I cried when we sold that car. Reason..baby on the way! When you ‘revved the engine it sounded like thunder..I loved to pull up to a red-light and watch my husband look over to the other car and reve it up! We would let’em take off and we’d just ‘mosey’ along, especially if we knew the hiding place of the cops! “Mean”, I know!
The regret with me was my ’56 MGA Sports Roadster, worked and paid every penny for that old sports car. I was single, my friend in Kentucky had one and I had to have one too..It was red and a convertible..It was a simple four on the floor little sports car. Fun to drive, shifting gears, cheap on gas but not a worry back then..When I met my husband he hated it and convinced me to sell it before (it fell apart) and we got married!
Sorry about this long post..Cars are a favorite memory here..got old pick-up truck stories too…
Oh no! LOL
Thanks Tipper
I miss my 78 Camero–body by Belinetta, and teal green. I was already in my early 40’s and kid was grown when I got that car. I named her Maggie Mae, after the Rod Stewart song that was popular when I was in high school. She was a love and could fly like the wind. Only once did I have her up full speed. We had to go to a funeral somewhere southeast of Atlanta about 100 miles. A guy in a Jag did me the honor of challenging me to a little race. I was thrilled! Outclassed, of course. But it was such fun.
Maggie Mae had a sad, bizarre end: we lived on a road in Atlanta that was locally called Thrill Hill. It was as hilly as a roll-a-coaster. Lots of wrecks happened on that street, and if I ever parked on the street, I always chocked my wheels with a piece of rock. One day a contractor parked at a house up the hill from us a little. He left the truck parked on the steep hill, without the emergency brake on. The truck popped outta gear. It came rumbling, down the hill, through my neighbors front yard, knocking off a piece of concrete from her front steps. It flattened my chain link fence, and landed right on top of poor Maggie Mae parked ‘safely’ beside the house in the driveway. It was only luck and Maggie Mae that stopped it from coming through the wall. And that was the end of Maggie Mae.
GrannyPam (and Tipper, too, of course), I’ll just bet your car was a 1968 Cougar (Mercury = Ford). Why? Because that’s the car I wish I’d never parted with. It was a 1968 Cougar GT with a 390, 425 horses, Mediterranean Blue, White “leather” interior and fast as all get out!!! I can’t tell you how many drag (oh, that’s right – drag racing was illegal) races I won in that car. It could cruise at 75 without even breathing hard. I’d give just about anything to get that car back today. It was a beauty with synchronized turn signals and hideaway headlights. SIGH!!!
My mid-life crisis car was a 2001 BMW M-Roadster. Top speed was computer-limited to 155 mph. 0-60 mph under 5 seconds. Quarter mile times reported as 13.9 seconds in magazines, but I never dragged it. I did drive it up to 145 before shifting to 5th and backing off. CRAZY car, but I behaved like a 16-year-old when I drove it. Still miss it, but it is good that I settled down at age 59 and sold it.
Seems you’ve struck a chord with your readers, Tipper.
I had an ’81 silver Camaro that I really wish I had kept. It was so fun to drive — a real head turner! I think I traded it in for a Volkswagen beetle. What was I thinking?
i would love to have my 68 camaro that i truly loved. my hubby wants every old car he ever had and that was many, he loves anything that was made before 1957 and wishes he had them all.
Lordy Tipper: What next? Talking of cars brings sad memories for me. We kept Joey’s Camero (1963) for 18 years sitting of the driveway – rusting away. Finally I convinced Jim to sell it – Joey had been gone 18 years! He died at age 17 and I felt I had been faithful to his memories! The young fellow who got it said, “I’ll have the chrome off by dark!” I just turned and walked away! I didn’t want him to see my tears!
On a more cheerful note, I just skyped my brother in Afghanistan. They are PACKED and prepared to fly out of their base ASAP! I just sent him a note regarding the upcoming Sesquicentennial Souvenir Edition of the “Clay County Progress.” We will HOPEFULLY submit an article/pictures for the Edition!
Keep up the heart-warming posts!
Sincerely,
Eva Nell
OH yeah…My husbands 68 fastback mustang. He bought it brand new but we had to sell it when he lost his job. I think it was under $3000, but that was a boat load of money then…..Oh if we had only known.
Tipper, I had a grey honda too and I loved that car. I seem to get attached to all the cars I own. I think somehow our ego’s and identities get tied up with our cars.LOL!
Yup, when we were first married we had a 1968 Ford something or another, it was a 2 door, but what you really need to know is it had a 390 engine. I remember looking down at the speedometer once, when we were driving between Michigan and Georgia, to find I was going 120! It got great mileage, too.
When I was a young punk, I had a 55′ “shaker” (chevy). It was a Bel Air, two tone black and white, hard top, two door coupe, v-8 four barrel carb, deluxe ,bumpers, straight shift, twin pipes. It had been a “one owner”. An executive had owned it which explains why it was loaded. I also might add, it would out run the word of God! I’ll still have people talk about it. Man, those were the days!
If you think that I wish I still had it….you’re right.
Bradley
Nope – never had a “good” car, but if I had a dollar for every time hubz said he wishes he had kept: 1. the camaro he bought when he got back from Vietnam in 68, 2. the chevelle he traded it for in 70 (when I met him and that thing could FLY), 3. the 55 that he traded around for and we just didn’t have the money to fix it up after we were married — well, I surely wouldn’t lie awake at night worrying about our retirement funds, or lack thereof, for sure. He still wistfully looks at the old cars and you can bet your bottom dollar that if I could, I would get him one. He deserves it . For me, as long as a car is air-conditioned and gets me there and back, I’m good — of course a cd player is a nice bonus ….:)