I heard them on radio too...never saw them on TV.
I wouldn't say 62 is "young" but I do think that in today's world it is more like middle age than old. When I was say 20 years old 62 year old were nothing like as active and vibrant as 62 year old people are today.
Sharon and I were not what we referred to as "upper crust" folks. He dad worked the oil fields, my dad was a one handed house painter (he had only a thumb and 2/3 of the pinkie on his left hand).I learned to drive (after I got out of the Navy in 1959/60 because we had no car when I was 16) in a 9 year old 1950 Studebaker Champion and my first car (bought after the 62's came out in 1961) was a 1957 Chevy Bel-air two door hardtop Sport Coupe.This is one of those rare but great classic threads that we need more often. :biggrin: There have been many great posts.
Reading Sharon and Leroy's posts reminds me of Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw comparing scars in Jaws:biggrin:
Hell, I'm only 21 (
After March of 1960 I had a good job and have not been poor since. Not rich by most standards but pretty well off. But between the depression still being on when I was born followed by WWII there weren't a lot of "luxuries" at our house.
I remember also - Ration books, gas rationing stickers, taking .10 a week to school to buy a stamp, that went into a stamp book and when the book was full it was traded for a War bond. We also picked milkweed pods, saved all tin foil and other things to turn in for the war effort.
My mother had some of those but I think one of my nieces absconded with them before I could ask for them. I remember the gas stickers only because a lot of cars still had them on the windshield after the war --- they were on the right side and some people never bothered to remove them and right after the war my dad bought a 1936 Chevy pick-up truck that still had an A sticker which I think was good for 3 gallons of gas a week.Sharon and I were not what we referred to as "upper crust" folks. He dad worked the oil fields, my dad was a one handed house painter (he had only a thumb and 2/3 of the pinkie on his left hand).I learned to drive (after I got out of the Navy in 1959/60 because we had no car when I was 16) in a 9 year old 1950 Studebaker Champion and my first car (bought after the 62's came out in 1961) was a 1957 Chevy Bel-air two door hardtop Sport Coupe.This is one of those rare but great classic threads that we need more often. :biggrin: There have been many great posts.
Reading Sharon and Leroy's posts reminds me of Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw comparing scars in Jaws
Hell, I'm only 21 (
After March of 1960 I had a good job and have not been poor since. Not rich by most standards but pretty well off. But between the depression still being on when I was born followed by WWII there weren't a lot of "luxuries" at our house.
I remember also - Ration books, gas rationing stickers, taking .10 a week to school to buy a stamp, that went into a stamp book and when the book was full it was traded for a War bond. We also picked milkweed pods, saved all tin foil and other things to turn in for the war effort.
Smitty,
I'm about 4 years behind you... got out of the Navy in '64... my first car was a 1959 Chevy Impala.. two door sedan with an Okie rake (rear end dropped about 2-4 inches ) with fender skirts... It had a Herscht conversion kit converting from an automatic to a 3 speed on the floor... I bought it in 1963 while I was still in the Navy and stationed in SF on the USS Finch.... I had been home on leave for my brother's funeral and got off the bus in Chandler AZ to visit my mother who was living there and had gone home ahead of me from the funeral... Great car, BUT that '57 sport coupe was probably one of the best cars Chevrolet ever built... I think they're still hot today.
I learned to drive at 18 from a 70 year old woman (she was my land lady) in her 1956 Plymouth Savoy. I didn't learn until then because my dad was a lousy teacher and really didn't have the patience to teach me... he drove a 1951 Ford - not sure of the model - that had a sticky accelerator and bent shift lever... if you stopped and parked in high gear, you had to bang on the lever to get it out of gear so you could go back to low... I think he finally changed the transmission and shifting mechanism about 1962... I was home on leave and he picked up a friend mechanic and they changed the transmission in the parking lot of a roadside park.
I still have some of the ration books that my folks had during the war... one for sugar, one for shoes for me, and several others I don't remember right now. Don't remember the gas ration stickers... we didn't have a car until after the war... any travel we did was by wagon behind a pair of mules.
My mother had some of those but I think one of my nieces absconded with them before I could ask for them. I remember the gas stickers only because a lot of cars still had them on the windshield after the war --- they were on the right side and some people never bothered to remove them and right after the war my dad bought a 1936 Chevy pick-up truck that still had an A sticker which I think was good for 3 gallons of gas a week.Sharon and I were not what we referred to as "upper crust" folks. He dad worked the oil fields, my dad was a one handed house painter (he had only a thumb and 2/3 of the pinkie on his left hand).I learned to drive (after I got out of the Navy in 1959/60 because we had no car when I was 16) in a 9 year old 1950 Studebaker Champion and my first car (bought after the 62's came out in 1961) was a 1957 Chevy Bel-air two door hardtop Sport Coupe.This is one of those rare but great classic threads that we need more often. :biggrin: There have been many great posts.
Reading Sharon and Leroy's posts reminds me of Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw comparing scars in Jaws
Hell, I'm only 21 (
After March of 1960 I had a good job and have not been poor since. Not rich by most standards but pretty well off. But between the depression still being on when I was born followed by WWII there weren't a lot of "luxuries" at our house.
I remember also - Ration books, gas rationing stickers, taking .10 a week to school to buy a stamp, that went into a stamp book and when the book was full it was traded for a War bond. We also picked milkweed pods, saved all tin foil and other things to turn in for the war effort.
Smitty,
I'm about 4 years behind you... got out of the Navy in '64... my first car was a 1959 Chevy Impala.. two door sedan with an Okie rake (rear end dropped about 2-4 inches ) with fender skirts... It had a Herscht conversion kit converting from an automatic to a 3 speed on the floor... I bought it in 1963 while I was still in the Navy and stationed in SF on the USS Finch.... I had been home on leave for my brother's funeral and got off the bus in Chandler AZ to visit my mother who was living there and had gone home ahead of me from the funeral... Great car, BUT that '57 sport coupe was probably one of the best cars Chevrolet ever built... I think they're still hot today.
I learned to drive at 18 from a 70 year old woman (she was my land lady) in her 1956 Plymouth Savoy. I didn't learn until then because my dad was a lousy teacher and really didn't have the patience to teach me... he drove a 1951 Ford - not sure of the model - that had a sticky accelerator and bent shift lever... if you stopped and parked in high gear, you had to bang on the lever to get it out of gear so you could go back to low... I think he finally changed the transmission and shifting mechanism about 1962... I was home on leave and he picked up a friend mechanic and they changed the transmission in the parking lot of a roadside park.
I still have some of the ration books that my folks had during the war... one for sugar, one for shoes for me, and several others I don't remember right now. Don't remember the gas ration stickers... we didn't have a car until after the war... any travel we did was by wagon behind a pair of mules.
I nearly bought a 1959 Chevy Impala myself - offered a hell of a deal while on a Med Cruise but with no driver's license and having to pick it up in Boston and try to get it home from there I passed on it. A couple of guys on the ship did buy them though.
My '57 was equipped with what they called power pack (which was a quad carb and dual exhaust) and a Turboglide transmission. I don't remember the Horse Power but I think it was about 220 or so. It would get out of it's own way though I'll tell you that. I only kept it 6 months then traded it for a 62 Impala. It had about the same horse power but was a little heavier and didn't have quite as much moxie. My dad worked off his local head tax (our only township tax at the time) by working driving a horse on the township road .... our township was so small that in the early 2000's it had only 3 1/2 miles of township roads ... in the 40's it was only about 2 miles half dirt and half paved. He also drove horse at time is the lumber woods and plowed our garden with a horse drawn plow. He was born in 1988 so used horses all of his early life. I believe he got a car for the first time in the late 1920s.
:laugh traded it for a Volkswagen... I married a woman with a 6 year old daughter and no place for her to ride in the 'vette.My 62 Chevy had a 327 (62 was the 1st year for that configuration) with a quad (holly I think) carb and dual exhausts. Like I said it had about the same horsepower as the 57 but because I got it with power glide it wasn't quite as quick off the dime. I never really knew what any of my cars would do as top speed because the speedometers would peg at about 110 and they'd all go faster than that. --- here's another little tid bit. My grandfather on my mother's side died in 1945 at 80 years of age. My grand father on my fathers side was born in 1842 and died in 1920 - my dad was the youngest of his seven children. If he were living he'd have been 96 when I was born also the youngest of seven children.My mother had some of those but I think one of my nieces absconded with them before I could ask for them. I remember the gas stickers only because a lot of cars still had them on the windshield after the war --- they were on the right side and some people never bothered to remove them and right after the war my dad bought a 1936 Chevy pick-up truck that still had an A sticker which I think was good for 3 gallons of gas a week.Sharon and I were not what we referred to as "upper crust" folks. He dad worked the oil fields, my dad was a one handed house painter (he had only a thumb and 2/3 of the pinkie on his left hand).I learned to drive (after I got out of the Navy in 1959/60 because we had no car when I was 16) in a 9 year old 1950 Studebaker Champion and my first car (bought after the 62's came out in 1961) was a 1957 Chevy Bel-air two door hardtop Sport Coupe.This is one of those rare but great classic threads that we need more often. :biggrin: There have been many great posts.
Reading Sharon and Leroy's posts reminds me of Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw comparing scars in Jaws
Hell, I'm only 21 (
After March of 1960 I had a good job and have not been poor since. Not rich by most standards but pretty well off. But between the depression still being on when I was born followed by WWII there weren't a lot of "luxuries" at our house.
I remember also - Ration books, gas rationing stickers, taking .10 a week to school to buy a stamp, that went into a stamp book and when the book was full it was traded for a War bond. We also picked milkweed pods, saved all tin foil and other things to turn in for the war effort.
Smitty,
I'm about 4 years behind you... got out of the Navy in '64... my first car was a 1959 Chevy Impala.. two door sedan with an Okie rake (rear end dropped about 2-4 inches ) with fender skirts... It had a Herscht conversion kit converting from an automatic to a 3 speed on the floor... I bought it in 1963 while I was still in the Navy and stationed in SF on the USS Finch.... I had been home on leave for my brother's funeral and got off the bus in Chandler AZ to visit my mother who was living there and had gone home ahead of me from the funeral... Great car, BUT that '57 sport coupe was probably one of the best cars Chevrolet ever built... I think they're still hot today.
I learned to drive at 18 from a 70 year old woman (she was my land lady) in her 1956 Plymouth Savoy. I didn't learn until then because my dad was a lousy teacher and really didn't have the patience to teach me... he drove a 1951 Ford - not sure of the model - that had a sticky accelerator and bent shift lever... if you stopped and parked in high gear, you had to bang on the lever to get it out of gear so you could go back to low... I think he finally changed the transmission and shifting mechanism about 1962... I was home on leave and he picked up a friend mechanic and they changed the transmission in the parking lot of a roadside park.
I still have some of the ration books that my folks had during the war... one for sugar, one for shoes for me, and several others I don't remember right now. Don't remember the gas ration stickers... we didn't have a car until after the war... any travel we did was by wagon behind a pair of mules.
I nearly bought a 1959 Chevy Impala myself - offered a hell of a deal while on a Med Cruise but with no driver's license and having to pick it up in Boston and try to get it home from there I passed on it. A couple of guys on the ship did buy them though.
My '57 was equipped with what they called power pack (which was a quad carb and dual exhaust) and a Turboglide transmission. I don't remember the Horse Power but I think it was about 220 or so. It would get out of it's own way though I'll tell you that. I only kept it 6 months then traded it for a 62 Impala. It had about the same horse power but was a little heavier and didn't have quite as much moxie. My dad worked off his local head tax (our only township tax at the time) by working driving a horse on the township road .... our township was so small that in the early 2000's it had only 3 1/2 miles of township roads ... in the 40's it was only about 2 miles half dirt and half paved. He also drove horse at time is the lumber woods and plowed our garden with a horse drawn plow. He was born in 1988 so used horses all of his early life. I believe he got a car for the first time in the late 1920s.
Your dad was the same age as my Grandmother on dad's side of family... she was also born in 1888. I guess it helped being from the rural north part of the country... living in the rural south we were a little behind in development... Grand father died in 1945 and never owned a car. My dad got his first car in about 1947...
I still see a '57 on the road occasionally... never owned one, but it's definitely a sweet automobile.....I kept my Impala about 3 years... traded it in 1965 for a 1964 hard topped convertible Corvette that had a 365 horse powered 327 engine, it came with a Holley AFB carb and I'm pretty sure a race cam... it didn't idle well, kinda loped, but I tested it on the 405 south out of Los Angeles one day and at 125 mph, I was still accelerating, the front end was lifting and I still had accelerator pedal left... shut it down and never tried that again, although I punched once coming out of a service stations, swapped ends and headed right back into the station straight for the pumps... not sure who got the biggest surprise, me or the station attendant.
When the '64 vette was stolen insurance paid off and I got a '65 with a rag top... drove it for about 3 years until I got married and being a practical man (???
You nailed it Sharon - we didn't see life as hard - and like you, I had a happy childhood, when I look back on it, I don't remember ever being unhappy because I didn't have a lot of things. Maybe because even being poor, we knew people who were poorer than we were.
You nailed that one.
I say "1843". Over half the time they don't catch it. Not great listening skills.