New Years is always a time to reflect. Went through a bunch of old photos and came up with this one. Sorry about the quality, had to blow it up from a small snapshot. My mother wouldn't let it in the driveway at first, someone had painted a swastika on the drivers door. She relented after I promised to get rid of another carcass in the driveway (41 Merc coupe) and painted over that sign. Drove this home. Almost made it but lost the brakes about 2/3 the way. Bought from a friend who got it off the streets of Philadelphia. Blew up the tires, put in a battery and it fired right up. It's really a lot nicer than it looks as that was just surface rust and a feeble attempt by my friend to get it ready for a paint job. Ran it all through high school as my driver car just as you see it except for a hot Merc flathead, a 39 floor shift trans, and the wide whites off my 41 Ford Convertible which was always "almost done". Even made our yearbook after some of the humorous incidents with it at the high school. Put a Chev 283 in it, then ran out of time to go to college. painted it all grey primer (with a brush no less) and sold it to a collector who went nuts over the low 20k mileage on it. He didn't want the Chev engine and trans, so I got $100 for it. What would this be worth now?
I put a set of Fury dual quads on my mother's 59 Fury Convertible while they were in Hawaii. Didn't ask me to go! The Plymouth had one of the cast iron, 2 speed powerFlytes in it and about a 2.73 or so gear. Paid 10$ for the carbs and manifold. Buddy of mine had a '36 Vicky Sedan with a 276 inch Merc. The 6 volt starter wouldn't spin it hot, you had to push it to get it started. We lined up, (after I helped push the Vic), The Ford ate that Fury a new rectum. Began to learn about gearing that night.:Smarty: Had to take the quads off and return the car to a 2bbl when my parents got back. :spank: The old man did not like the smell of gas, from the leaks, the oil on the driveway or the mileage. I was never allowed to drive that car, or any other of my mothers cars again.o No:
I had a decent 1955 Plymouth I bought in 1967 for $25. It used a lot of oil, but I drove it for 2 years.....:TU:
A good friend of mine bought a late 40s Indian Chief Motorcycle around that time for 25.00 and for a extra 10 bucks the guy threw in a spare motor and gearbox,and yes he still has it sitting in the shed to this day.........Will not sell it me and I even offered to double his money...........He also bought a British Vincent Black Shadow,if you know what they are, from a mail order magazine in the sixties too.He paid 600.00 for it and like 250.00 to have it shipped over here and today its worth around 30 to 40 thousand,more if he had not let it sit in the shed all these years.........
In 1961 gold was $35 an ounce. Now its close to $900. Gas was 17 to 21 cents a gallon for the cheap stuff. What is it now, $3.00?? Can't remember all the $35.00 53-54 Chevys I had. Oh, and they were drivers, not scrap heap cars. See what your moneys worth then / now .
About 2 weeks working 2 hours a day after school (10 hours/week). $.50 per hour and glad to have it. Not many jobs available for part time H.S. people.
I was making about $80.00 PER MONTH working for uncle Sam in '62. Then i got a 63.00 per month raise called "Hazard Duty pay" for submarine duty. that's 24/7 for $143.00. :laugh:
Or....... 560 1941 Merc Coupes the year before at $1.00 each.....Which is what I paid for this one and drove it home. Car was almost mint, previous owner took off the bumpers and sheet metal to see how a car came apart. Then lost interest in it. He also bought it for $1.00. Had no title, Pa. State police scared us off with the procedure that would be required to get one since it was from out of state, so I bought it and used the engine and rear end in my 41 Ford convertible. Rest went to the junkyard. Engine then went into the 40 after a few "enhancements", and I put a 54 Olds 324 in the 41 convertible. (from a $25 car). The Merc was in a barn in Maine for many years, and another guy bought it to drive home from college (to Philadelphia) with a plate he slapped on it just for the trip. Blew up the tires, bought a new battery for it and it took right off.
AND about 9 gallons of gas to get them home! Kinda hard to drive or work on them in the North Atlantic though.:laugh:
$10 in 1961? By the mid-1970's inflation had driven that price to least $100. I owned a succession of cars that I didn't pay over $100 for. These were my winter beaters so I could keep my custom 1975 Nova SS (don't ask) in the garage from October to April. It was an "honor" thing as I refused to spend more than the $100 for a beater. "Hundred Dollar Honey". *1966 Buick LaSabre 340-2bbl *1968 Mercury Cougar 302-2bbl (traded for the next car) *1968 Plymouth GTX 440-4bbl 4 speed Dana 60 Track Pack s/s Springs (traded for a set of Cragers S/S rims and Formula One tires for the Nova) *1970 4 dr Plymouth Valiant 225-1bbl *1970 Mustang coupe 302-2bbl (green on green with a green houndstooth vinyl top and no rear floor pan)
We, too drove old winter "beaters" until I could afford to get on the new car every year at Olds (1971). Actually had 2 new ones in 1972 and 1973, then left Olds, went back to school, and end of new cars until 1976, when oujr heads came above water financially. Beater cars are cool, especially back then since the cars themselves were so neat. My 421 HO Catalina Conv was driven home for $150. Few dents, serious rustout in the outer 1/4 panels, jumped out of 2nd gear in a coast down and a little smoky, but really fast. Still had all the factory stuff inderhood like the vacuum controlled tripower and the big air cleaner. Both of which went to the dump along with the factory shifter and the original tricolor interior. I parted out a very nice 64 Catalina conv ($30 car) to get the mint interior, top, and doors. REst was pretty much junk. This was 1970. Wierdest one was a very nice 60 Impala 2 dr HT I bought for $10. Very nice car, low mileage, but the RF corner was a little bent up from grandpa hitting something the last time they let him drive. Friend bought it, put a bunch of money into it to drive through the winter including a new Die Hard battery, but didn't get his antifreeze in it in time and cracked the block. I drove it home (not too far, pretty hot when I got there with no coolant) and stuffed it in the barn with a bunch of others. Picked up a 61 Bel Air 4 door rust bucket with a 283 and an overdrive for $50, so for $60, had a really nice car. The Diehard (which is why I boughtthe 60 in the first place)went into the 421 since I was driving that everyday to work, and needed a battery. Weren't too many cars that could beat that 421 including my friend Tom's brand new 427 69 Vette. I ate him up, then jumped over in his lane and backed off spraying oil all over the front of his car. Old street racing trick, usually not done to a friend. :laugh: :laugh: BTW, that's the same friend, Tom, that helped me race the Ramrod in Pure Stock for a coupla years. He now has a 2007 Vette, so who's laughing now?
Let's go forward to my generation - graduated HS in 1985. The thing that kills me is that even when you adjust for inflation, EVERYTHING is so much more expensive now. Almost everyone I work with is younger than me, and even with good jobs in a big metro area like Chicago - it's expensive to live! If they're trying to save for a house, it is such a mountain with houses going for $300k and up! If you adjust that $.50/hr to the $7.50/hr today - a HS kid would make $150 in 2 weeks - what drivable car can one buy for $150?!? A few months ago I bought a 2nd 9C1 cop car off of a buddy for $2k, really for the parts..... I guess this is why I am so anti-tax - because taxes never come down, and new taxes never go away! (I know I'm sort of rambling here - you guys had it GOOD!!!) I bought the 68 Hurst for $11,500 in 1993 - that was the price of entry. I bought a 72 GP with a 1970 455 and 4spd for $6750 in 1990 - the car was a no. 2 car, though. I had a buddy who bought a 73 Grand Lemans sedan for $70 in the mid-80s - now THAT was a good buy then. He drove it for 2 years and if the frame hadn't cracked he was going to cut the roof off of it - a 4 door roadster! I guess outside of cop cars bought at auction I haven't had many beaters. I bought a 68 Cutlass S in 1992 for $2900 - my parents actually thought it was a good deal. It was - I sold it for about the same.
