SouthernBoy

Ok, this thread is just for fun.. to see what we come up with when remembering cars of years (decades?) past. So throw in some of your own memories and let's just see what comes up.

I remember:

• My dad's 1948 Buick, at least I think that was the year. It had the split front window and the antenna in the front center of the roof which could be rotated right or left with a knob under it on the inside of the. It was a 3-speed column shift manual.
• Continental kits.
• Fender skirts.
• Dice hung on the rear view mirror.
• Clutch and brake pedals connected to curved rods which passed through the bottom of the firewall.
• AM tube radios.
• Wing-wing widows which were crank operated, triangular in shape, and between the front side widow and the windshield.
• Oil filters which were contained within steel canisters bolted through the center to the pickup.
• Putting beer in front of the radiator, and behind the grill, in the winter to get it cold quickly.
• The 1960 Dodge with the rectangular shaped steering wheel.
• The AmphiCar. I saw one actually turn off of a highway and drive into the Potomac river.
• Tube tires.
• Wipers which ran off of manifold vacuum. They would slow and even stop when you accelerated.
• Gas filler caps hidden behind one of the taillights on 55-57 Chevys.
• The early Corvairs with the IRS rear suspension and its single leaf spring that ran under the axles and connected with a bold and castle nut on each end. That bolt and nut combination had a nasty habit of breaking from time to time.
• The retractable hardtop convertible 1957 Ford Fairlane.
• The Dodge Red Ram in the early 50's with an engine that became legend; the hemi.
• Chrysler's super ads during the 60's for their hi-performance cars.

I could go on and on, but you folks get the picture. Add as much of whatever you wish.

Stapler

I remember in the late 80's when my parents were looking for a car.

• Every car I cared about had a LCD speedometer. The ford Taurus wagon was obviously a the fastest car ever.
  
• Automatic seatbelts - the most terrifying thing ever
  
• His brand new eighty eight's steel seat belt buckles in the Arizona sun.

About the wing wing windows. I remember my 70's 2002 having them crank operated, but any truck I have ever been in you just unlock them and stick them where you want. Are those the same thing? I think ford f-150's still had them into the 90's.

Aman

None of this stuff will obviously compare to what some of you guys might might remember, but my dad had a 1986 Pontiac 6000 LE. It actually wasn't that bad. Paid $1600 for it in '95. Crank windows, bench seats front and rear, and lap belts for everybody in back. Used to give me so many stomach aches. Cleaning puke off of cloth seats is NOT a task for a 5-year-old. I thought the LE stood for "leopard" and would always call it that

I would trade my Accord straight up for our old 6000. If I ever need a beater, that's what I'm getting.

Costco

• My dad's 1990 Maxima with a blue interior and velour seats to this day I still oddly like that generation
  
  
• My sister's 80's Celica with pop-up lights. I really liked it, remember coming out of the front door to see the lights turn off and flip out of sight. Always thought they were really cool, first time I ever saw them was on a red Sting Ray (2G Corvette) outside of the liquor store by our house. The Vette was bad ass, it was loud as hell and the mechanical whirring of the hideaway motors is something I remember....
  
  
• My mom's blue turbo Volvo 740 or 760. Nice car, but reliability-wise it was a POS, and has made my mom swear off of Volvos and all turbocharged cars, even 20 years later
  
  
• My mom's poop brown 90's Accord complete with poop brown interior. Since this car, my mom has only purchased Hondas/Acuras, and she still regrets selling it. Was a great beater, somewhat scary though in the hills of San Francisco.... if she didn't use the parking brake from a stop, the car would gradually slide backwards down a steep grade. My mom wasn't paying attention once, and I wasn't wearing my seat belt for some reason, so I went flying forward and hit my face on the dash when we got into a very mild accident. I have a crooked front tooth to this day as a result
  
  
• 2-3 years old, being picked up in a patrol car near the same liquor store by our old house. It was so cool, I sat in the front seat and it had a computer/laptop with a black/green display. Ancient and a joke now, but I had never seen anything like it before
  
  
• My dad driving a manual transmission MKIII Supra Turbo while his car was in the shop. This car ended up being my very first car in the original Gran Turismo game
  
  
• My dad also borrowed this gen Cougar. I remember it being a POS also, either that or he complained about the car a lot while driving it
  
  
  
  
• I also remember really wanting to drive, for as long as I could remember. My dad would sometimes let me sit in his lap and steer for a little bit, though I think in hindsight he was still holding onto the wheel and I just didn't notice
  
  
• My brother's MR2 Turbo which he still has to this day. I remember getting picked up a few times in middle school and all my friends were jealous
  
  
• Those old Enterprise commercials with the slogan "We'll pick you up".... I'd always wonder how the fug they could drive a car when it was wrapped up like a UPS package
  
  
• Can't remember the movie but there was a Trans-Am in it that was possessed by a demon or something, and it would secretly come to life and kill people by pushing them off of the top of a parking garage or run them over or something. Despite how much I liked cars this movie somewhat traumatized me and I was leery of parked cars for a while
  
  
• A white 4th gen LT1 Camaro doing a burnout in front of my elementary school. All I saw was my brother yelling, pointing to me to look. All I saw was a big ass cloud of smoke and the Camaro thundering away. In hindsight, stupid also being it was a residential but still cool. I've liked that gen for as long as I can remember, if it weren't obvious

Aman

You got to ride shotgun in a patrol car? I'm eternally jealous of you for that.

TS_eXpeed

This doesn't hold a candle to most of y'alls stuff, but I remember my mom having a pontiac fiero a long time ago.

mrmako

I remember:

- My dad's 1967 (or near there) Olds Vista Cruiser wagon. Wood stickers running down the side. And the rear had little "skylight" windows along the roof rails. I used to lay down in the far back and watch the stars go by.

- The replacement to the above, a 1973 Impala 4 door. The color was German taxi yellow, or baby puke tan, whichever. That damn thing was a land barge.

- A 1976 Caprice Classic wagon I learned to drive on. It had a 350 small block, and I threw a rod in it. AM and FM radio, an upgrade from the previous two cars.

- 1978 Chrysler Cordoba, my first car. It had a T-roof, crushed velour seating, and a personally installed tape deck and a Realistic EQ/AMP. Remember those days of going to Radio Shack and buying stuff?

- 1984 Olds Cutlass Supreme was my dad's main ride for a few years. I always loved those bodies, but this car lost its life hitting a deer. 400 lb to be exact (they grow them big in upstate NY).

Ahh, the memories.

black label

I remember sitting next to my sister in the small luggage shelf space behind the seats of my dad's 68 MGB as we drove to the an ice cream shop in the next town. If we were to do this today we most likely would be taken away by child services.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

I remember:

-My parents conversion van. I cant remember what brand or model it was, I just remember the captains chairs in the second row. We also had a little black and white TV that mounted to the roof. This was when I was 2-3 years old.

-My moms Chevy Malibu. It was an 80s model, red. I vaguely remember leaving my grandmothers house and the car lost its brakes. We t-boned a Volvo at relatively low speeds. Totaled both cars though. That led to....

-My moms 78 BMW 320i. My grandfather gave it to her around 1993-94 with around 200k miles on it. She needed a car and he said hes not sure how much longer it would last. It ran until 300k miles. It wasnt the best condition, and it was really small for a single mom and 4 kids, but it did the job - barely. Whenever you hit the brakes the stereo would go out. A big issue with those cars was the rear strut towers. Ours rusted so bad both sides collapsed. Thats when my mom had to get the Camry. I cried the day the wrecker picked up the Bimmer. And I mean that literally. The car was in our driveway and the truck parked in the street. The truck had a crane on it and the operator tossed a chain through the windows and lifted it onto the bed. Then instead of chaining it down, he pushed it to the edge of the bed, wheels hanging off, and put the boom of the crane straight through the windshield. It was like watching someone murder a loved one right in front of you.

-My moms 90 Camry. She got this in 95-96. It was a V6, white with blue leather. I loved that car for some reason. Not as much as she did, but I still loved it.

-My brothers 1990 CR-X. That was the car that got me into modding. I loved everything about it. I was devastated when he sold it to buy my moms Camry off her when she got a Mazda.

-My moms 04 Accord V6. It was the first car I legally drove - and I drove it alot. I didnt really miss it when she traded it in, but as time wore on I began to miss it more and more. It was more fun to drive then her 08 Accord. Most new cars feel soul-less though

speedemon90

Our first car I can remember was a 93 nissan maxima, moved to the states when I was 3. It was a good car, haha. Dont have much to say about it though. Its just the run of the mill car. Lasted us till 2003 I believe.
Yea I really havent been alive like you guys so I really dont have much in the decades old section.

Fireguy0826

-My grand parents had a 1992 conversion van, that had a 10inch tv in it, captains chairs in the middle and a big ass bench seat in the back, we took a cross country trip in 93, my sister and i had a blast in that thing!

-Sitting on the floor board of my parents 86 dodge mini van, while they were parked under an overpass in GA during a tornado when i was 8

-My grand parents 70s jeep wangoneer (i think) it was a big ass pile of dog shit, and it was blue, we called it old blue growing up. My grand parents lived in North GA in the blue ridge mountains and my dad would take my sister and i off roading in it!

- My first car a 1966 chevy impala 4 door candy apple green, with a 350. Miss that car

-My second car a 4th gen Trans Am WS-6 T-tops,
-My 3rd car a 99 dodge dakota R/T 5.9, 5% tint all the way around, blacked out..The one car i wish i'd never sold. Sold it in 05 with 50k and the guy totaled it two weeks later....

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Corvair heater explosions
'57 Chevy FI
Dual quads and tripower
Engines with cam overlap and high lift to give that rumble and exhaust spurts
BMW Isetta
Letter series Chrysler 300 esp '57 300C
Floor mounted high beam switch
Fresh air vents in the kick panels
GM diesels converted from Olds V-8 engine
Cadillac with the 4-6-8 engines
$.299/gallon gasoline

dallison

lol, i bought an 84 6000le coupe for $1600 in 1993. It was my first car and i beat the piss out of it and it broke. I broke the auto trans and the axles.







My gram had a 64 buick electra, i remember it having a buzzer on it that you set to a certain speed. When you hit that speed it had this annoying buzzing. My gram didn't slow down to make it stop.

TheMirror

I remember.....

Logging good miles in a Cadillac 4-6-8
The outrage when gas hit $1.00 a gallon.
Filling my Camaro with 2/3 unleaded and 1/3 leaded gas to save the valve guides and seals.
4-wheel non-power assisted drum brakes.
Our V-8 Jeep CJ-7 with a 3-speed manual.
The Jeep 3-speed manual that was just as easy to shift without using the clutch as with it.
When the 1982 Mustang GT got a power bump to 157hp, it was cause for celebration.
When top speed actually meant something.
Waiting for Hot Rod magazine to come out to see the preview of the new 1982 Camaro.
When everybody suddenly got CB radios.
Telling my friends that my dad's 1971 Firebird went 160mph because that's what the speedo said.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

Watch "Big Trouble." You'll thank me.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

In my life:

My parents only bought used vehicles, so the ones that I can remember were:

-Ford Taurus wagon. Learned to drive on this thing. It's always a fun game to guess you're speed when the digital speedo goes out.

-Early, early 80's Ford F-150. Bench seats up front, lime green color. Ugliest SOB truck I have ever seen. I remember listening to Beach Boys songs in the cab of this truck, and whenever we went anywhere as a family, sitting in the back (the bed). Always fun in winter when it's 10 degrees out (of course having blankets and other various methods of warmth).

-First car was an '83 Plymouth Reliant. Poop brown color too. Learn a little bit of body work on this car. Heck, on the passenger-side quarter panel, it was all rusted out, and I put about 15 pounds of body filler in there and sanded it smooth. No one ever could tell. Also learned about impedance and electrical work too, because I put in my own ghetto system in that car.

-Second car was an '89 Corolla, white. Blue interior.

-Third car was '04 Honda Accord, which I still own and use as a daily driver. Excellent condition, and will drive it until it reaches 500K miles.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

My mom e-mailed me this link a few weeks ago and I've found it pretty fun. You can search through the brand and specific model brochures that were out during that time. The only downside is that it's only for domestic vehicles, but still pretty fun. Here's the link:

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html

Terry you mentioned a 1948 Buick, here's just a few of what they have:







There's plenty more on the website. Check it out!

myron

iTrader: (4)

^ haha the world at your fingertips BUICK RADIO lol

Stapler

Hang on, Peter Faulk and Alan Arkin?
God I hope it's as good as "the inlaws"

SouthernBoy

The 1948 Buick? That was me, not Terry.

stogie1020

Standing INSIDE the engine compartment of my dad's 67 Chevy Impala helping him change a hose or belt or something...

5 (or six can't remember) mechanical push button station memory AM car radios

Floor mounted high beam toggle switches

Hell, column shifters

Sitting three across on the front seat because you could

Wing windows on our 66 Dodge Dart being perfect for smoking while driving as a teen

Aman

Those seats look so comfortable. I wish some cars had the living-room feel of the older road boats

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Oops, my apologies.

Anyways, did you check out the link? Pretty cool stuff!

MaxMike93

You could always get a ride in my friend's 06 Crown Vic Police Interceptor . At least its got a full interior and none of that vinyl crap lol

HondaProtegeX2.3

i remember our first new car was a 95 corrolla we owned it for like 10 years to the point where the headliner started to sag, and the window handles broke

apnorm

iTrader: (3)

I remember...

- Driving a Le Car
- My buddy doing neutral drops in his Plymouth Horizon
- Goofing around with my sister in the back of our station wagon on road trips. Seatbelts? Baby seats? yeah, right!
- Buying my first car (Ford Escort EXP) before I had my license. A friend and I changed the fluids, replaced wipers etc. and I was so excited...only to crash it less than a week of having my license because I was being a dumbass!

CanopyFlyer

Having 10 people in my 1970 Chevy Impala. Who needs a van?

The first time I was literally pinned back in the seat. The car was a 1970 Buick GSX Stage 1. I got to drive it too.

Driving a non-synchro'd transmission for the first time. By the It was a Willy's Overland, don't remember the year. It took me till about the third time driving it where I could shift it with my fingertips.

StreetKA

iTrader: (8)

i remember my dads Mercedes 1981 W123 240D yes it was 4 speed 4 cyl 72hp 2.4 diesel my dad bought it in 93 with 200k km(125k miles) from a doctor car right now has about 1 milion km (625k miles) and its still running when i left my country it had 720k km(450 k miles) it was great car it never failed on him...i mean he had few small repairs but never died on the road

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Here are a couple of the old cars we had growing up....

1970's Toyota Corolla. This was the car my parent owned when I was born. My dad kept it until I was about 10. The last time I went back to Trinidad I actually saw it. The guy that bought it has kept it in spectacular shape. I know it is the same car because in Trinidad the plates stay with the car through different owners.



Had one of this in white. Awesome wagon. Early 80's I think. We kept it for about 5 years.