VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions First New Family Car

Regarding the slow traffic here on the Chatter.

I was thinking back to the first time I could remember of our family getting a brand new car. Actually, the very first one was a 1950 Nash Statesman (L head six) but I can't remember us getting it at all. I'm not sure us five kids were along,

I do remember that we were along when I dad traded the 50 in for a 1951 Nash Ambassador (overhead valve six) the following year. Big difference in the two engines. Much more horsepower in the latter one. Later on I raced it against a 98 Oldsmobile 98. Olds took a long, long time on a long stretch of road on US 17 for the Olds to get around that 1951 Nash with its overdrive transmission. We were side by side for a long time.

Anyway, I can still remember sitting in that 51 with my four sisters (yep, that's why I'm a little crazy today). We were sitting in the 51 in the show room and really enjoying the new car smell and hoping my dad would buy the car, which he did.

While it wasn't GM, but it was a good car nonetheless. The most vivid rememberance was that new car smell. What in the world did they put in there in those days that smelled so good? I think all new cars were doused with something that made them more desirable than any one's good sense could ignore. That is a lasting and fond memory, especially the smell.

Do any of you remember when, after the war, your family able to get a brand new car of any make? Please share what your remember about it. Do you remember that smell?

Charlie

My dad's first new family car was a 1940 Ford Deluxe. After the War he traded the 40 Ford and $150.00 for a 1941 Mercury that had been on blocks all thru the war. It was like new.

My first new car was a 1954 Ford Victoria.

Good to see you back Charlie. I missed you.

My father's first new car was a 1950 Austin Devon A40. I still own one of these today. I often like to open the doors and take a whiff and smell the leather interior. Takes me back in time. It shares a garage with a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook which was my grandfather's first new car. I went to kindergarten in it, drove it to high school in 1967 and 1968 and to my first job, which was my only job right to retirement. It was sold new to my grandfather by a relative who had a Chrysler dealership. When my dad turned in the Austin at the same dealership, it became the owner's wife's car, so we would see it from time to time for quite a few years. The Plymouth has it's own distinctive odor as well. Mohair I guess. Someone said to me that the new car smell now is undercoat. haha
I just purchased my first new car, 2014 Corolla LE Eco. I had new cars every year but they were company cars.
Neil in Canada

Been kinda quiet lately without you Charlie!

My Dad's first new car was a 48 Maroon Chevy woodie. The thing I remember best was the looks, sound as you closed the doors and my favorite was the sound of the rocks hitting the inner fenders as we drove down gravel roads. Used to lay my ear on those rear fender wells and just listen to the hum and rattle.
Used it as a truck on the farm hauling whatever. Mom absolutely loved the car, but Dad hated it. Traded it in for a new 51 Pontiac 8 cyl auto Chieftain 4 dr sedan. That started him on a long trek with Pontiacs.

Jim.

The first one I remember was a '55, 4 door, white over blue station wagon. We took that one on many a camping trip, Mountain drive, fishing or hunting trip and vacation. Dad kept really good care of it. I even, in hindsight got the honor, of driving it my first year in college. Even then it was in great shape with a near pristine body. That summer he sold it to a kid that totaled it within a short time. He had a '50 BelAir, 2 door before that, but I was too young to recall much about it, without aid of photos.

My Dad was a Mercury Man. He loved those late 40's through late 50's models for their grunt and great handling(apparently attributable to their extra weight). He like to buy them 2-3 years old with low mileage and drive them hard and fast, and as a mechanic, always had them running perfectly. The earliest memory for me is his '49 which he loved to drift into the sharp corners on the dirt road leading to our place, scaring my Mom half to death. That was followed by a '53, then a '56, and finally a '60 model. My favourite was the black 4 door '56. He always felt he could race anyone on the road in those days, Chev, Pontiac, Ford, Meteor, Olds, Buick, etc, even other and newer Mercurys. The good old days again! By the mid sixties (he would have been 55) he had downsized to smaller cars (Audi Fox), and I never saw that excitement in his eye much more after that.

My dad never had a new car, only the '34 Master I rebuilt. My mother did though, about five years after he died, she bought a 1961 Vauxhall Victor. That led to a 1966 Rambler Rebel.

I remember our first family car, it was a 1947 Buick Roadmaster, then two years later we got a 49 Buick Roadmaster that we drove back and forth to grandmas which was 125 miles away,but my first driving experience was on my uncles cotton farm with his 1948 Ford pickup that I gave myself whiplash trying to get that clutch to work. Our next new car was a 1954 Chevrolet BelAire automatic, then a 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88. My dad then bought a 1959 Chrysler New Yorker with those huge tail fins. It was a miracle that any of these cars ran as well as they did since dad never lifted the hood on any of them and only put in gasoline.

hoppy

From a 34 ford 3 wjndow coupe in 1949 to a Hudson Hornet..Quite a car,speed ,step down interior and no running boards. Dad traded the hudson for a New 1954 Belair Convert. That was my Highschool car. Great pickup...You figure that out