Our 1955 Dodge

[billroper]

Over dinner after rehearsal, the conversation turned briefly to my family's first car, a 1955 Dodge, probably the Coronet model, and definitely with a less snazzy paint job than you'll see at the link. Our car was white. And white. And more white.

We drove that car from before I was born until we were ready to come back from Guam in 1964, when my dad sold it to an airman who was looking for what was turning into a bit of a beater by that point. But that's what the ravages of three kids and a dog can do to a car.

There was the time when we lived in Kansas and were crossing the Arkansas River. Now this was long before kids had to be strapped into car seats, so my sister and I were in the back seat and my baby brother was safely tucked between my dad and my mom in front. This would have been just fine, except that the shift lever for the automatic transmission was horizontally mounted in the middle of the dash. This put it in perfect range for baby brother Mitch to kick the car into reverse gear.

Fortunately, my dad was paying attention as the car lurched backwards and shifted us back into drive before we could either get hit by traffic or find the edge of the bridge. I do suspect that was the last time that Mitch rode in the center front seat of that car.

My father was a man of interesting theories. (Stop laughing, daisy_knotwise!) One such theory said that if you're making a trip from Kansas to Illinois with three kids and an Irish Setter, the place to put the Irish Setter is in the trunk of the car. Well, it was a big trunk.

I'm sure that Scott the Irish Setter wasn't thrilled by this. I mean, the people were all up there, while he was in this black hole.

Did you know that an Irish Setter can push his head through the cardboard behind the backseat so that it's sitting in the rear window like a little bobblehead? Of course, the kids were delighted to be able to pet the dog. The dog was delighted to be able to see what was going on.

My dad, maybe not so much.

Comments

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

BWAH-HA-HA-HA!! Thanks for the funny reminiscences, Bill. Puts me in mind of my own family's first car (the first one I remember, anyhow), a Buick sedan from sometime in the late 1950s (this would have been about 1965 or so, and I was two or three) with high walls and a big, comfy back seat where I often ended up curling up and sleeping on the way home from evenings out with the folks and older brother.

Also reminds me of a funny filksong I heard years back that I can't seem to find on the Net as yet, a parody of Leslie Fish's musical setting of Rudyard Kipling's "Rimini": the chorus mentions something about a "rust-covered '82 Dodge" and a "bimbo in a bikini." Recognize it? Anyone?

[billroper]

That's Frank Hayes' "Spring Break". It's on Frank Hayes Live.

[gorgeousgary]

I used to sing that regularly, after first encountering it at the infamous Musicon 5 Sled Dog Party. I have a copy of the lyrics I can e-mail you.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Please do, and thanks. And if you think you're getting outta Conterpoint next month without singing it for (or with) me and the open filk room, you're barmy! :-) (Shoulda known it'd be one of Frank's old musical atrocities...or Jordin's.)

[catalana.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Well, at least the trunk wasn't so dark then...

[maiac.livejournal.com]

The first family car I remember was a 1949 Hudson. I don't remember any adventures in it, though.

After the Hudson, my dad took a liking to Cadillacs. Used Cadillacs, of course. The first was a 1955, originally beige but faded to a sort of sickly pink. My favorite was his cars was a 1960 model that we kids dubbed The Ratmobile because it looked just like the TV show's Batmobile, only white. I learned to drive that car, a feat that still amazes me considering the power steering broke down beyond repair and it took a stevedore's strength to turn the wheel.

Those were the days when gas was cheap enough that we could afford cars that got GPM (not a typo: gallons per mile).

[gorgeousgary]

So this means I'm safe for Balticon, right? 8-)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Sadly, yes. The two cons being so close together (and each siphoning mucho buckos from this poor, unemployed Cajun's dwindling bank account), plus BaltiCon coming right at the time Mary leaves the US for good, combine to make BC problematic for me...so I am waiting for Conterpoint for many reasons, chief among which being Steve & Crystal's wedding therein.

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

The first was a 1955, originally beige but faded to a sort of sickly pink.

My grandmother had a car of that faded-beige shade of pink when I was small, in the late '50s or early 60's. We went to the parking lot to get it after shopping downtown, and the attendant yelled to his coworker: "Hey Phil! Can you get the titty-pink Buick?" I was small enough that I did not find the parking lot attendant's words exceptional until I saw my grandmother's reaction. :)