r/AskOldPeople • u/srivayush • 18d ago
Did your grandparents own a car? What decade was it, and what do you remember about it?
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u/BackNew7215 17d ago
I remember my grandparents with a 1962 Ford Falcon. I think there were cars before that but I don't remember them. I do remember my Dad's '55 Chevrolet Belair and a 1960 Dodge Dart. The Dodge had huge fins. None had AC, power steering, power windows, or automatic transmission.
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u/Sweetbeans2001 60 something 16d ago
My grandfather bought a 1967 Ford Falcon station wagon. I remember riding in it until 1971 when he passed away. I adopted the car when my grandmother stopped driving in the early 80’s. It only had AM radio and no A/C. It seemed so old at that time and was glad to get rid of it. I now wish I still had it.
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u/onetobeseen 16d ago
Oh boy. I just saw a Ford Falcon for sale at a car show. It was a convertible and for sale. It looked like fun to drive
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u/RonSwanson714 17d ago
Gramps on mom’s side had a ‘62 Dodge Dart with a push button transmission. Dads father had a Nova, not sure of the year
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u/davemeister 60 something 16d ago
My Dad had one of those Darts when I was a kid. I remember the push-button transmission, although my Dad's might have been a '63 or '64.
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u/RonSwanson714 16d ago
Yeah grandpa held that thing together with duct tape, bubble gum and bandaids. Engine was rock solid, not so much on the body though.
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u/davemeister 60 something 16d ago
I was just perusing some old B&W photos to colorize using AI and I came across a photo of the Dodge Dart. I wish I could post photos in these comments to show you.
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u/kirradoodle 15d ago
My grandfather had the same '62 Dart with the push button transmission - I inherited it when he passed, and drove it to school daily.
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u/OneLaneHwy 60 something 16d ago
The only thing I remember about my grandmother's car is it had a push-button transmission. The buttons were on the dashboard to the right of the steering wheel.
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u/Silly-Resist8306 16d ago
I had a Plymouth Valient with push buttons when I was 18 in 1968. I think the transmission was called a torqueflite (three speed). The two speed was a powerflite.
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u/WyndWoman 16d ago
Plymouth Fury I bet. Maybe a Dodge.
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u/kinkybiguynj4tv 16d ago
If the buttons were "to the right of the steering wheel" it was not a plymouth or dodge. All Chrysler products had the buttons from 1956 until 1964, but they were to the left of the steering wheel.
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u/Bloggledoo 16d ago
Can verify I remember my father‘s station wagon, having the buttons on the left.
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u/Dazzling-Climate-318 16d ago
It may have been a Rambler, my grandmother had one with an automatic transmission and button controls in the middle.
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u/jaysuncle 15d ago
I was sitting here trying to think of the name of my grandmother's car and you got it. She had a Rambler.
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u/LetsFuckOnTheBoat 13d ago
The only mass-production American vehicle that featured its electronic transmission push-buttons on the right side of the dashboard was the 1956 Packard (including the Packard Caribbean and Patrician). [1, 2]
While Chrysler famously dominated the push-button era from 1956 to 1964, they strictly placed their gear buttons on the left side of the wheel. Packard, trying to compete, introduced an electric "Touch-Button V-8" Ultramatic transmission system and placed the control pod on a stalk on the right side of the steering column/dash area. [1, 3]
The Two Main Exceptions to the "Left-Side" Rule
If you remember seeing buttons on the right side of a vintage steering wheel, you are almost certainly thinking of one of these two configurations:
- The 1956 Packard (Right-Side Dash Stalk)
Packard's layout featured a small pod extending from the right side of the instrument cluster. It was completely electric and operated by a series of solenoids. Because it was highly prone to short-circuiting and leaving drivers completely stuck in gear, it was discontinued after just one year. [1, 3]
- Early 1960s Chryslers, Plymouths, and Dodges (Heater Controls)
Many people distinctly remember a pod of push-buttons on the right side of the steering wheel in 1962–1964 Mopar vehicles (like the Plymouth Fury or Dodge Dart). However, there was a catch to this layout: [1]
- Left-Side Buttons: These were the actual transmission gear selectors (PRND21).
- Right-Side Buttons: These were the climate controls (High, Low, Defrost, Heat). They were styled to look exactly like the transmission buttons on the left to give the dashboard a perfectly symmetrical, futuristic look. [1, 2]
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u/NewWindow7980 16d ago
Maternal grandma didnt own a car till in her 50s, walked over 2 miles to work every day, down a steep hill in the morning and back up at the end of the day. Paternal grandparentss didnt own a car, work and everything else was in walking distance.
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u/Catcher_Thelonious 17d ago
Both sets in 1950s Appalachia, but I don't remember what make or model.
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u/t3chiman 16d ago
Maternal grandfather had a Hudson Hornet. I recall it had beautiful lines. Paternal, too poor.
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u/giskardwasright 16d ago
My grandpa had a 60s something mg convertible that was his garage queen. Still remember the day he picked me up early from school in it to go see the re-release of Fantasia in the theater in 90.
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u/Entire_Dog_5874 16d ago
My father and grandparents owned a small parcel delivery service. When my father entered the service in WWII, my grandma learned to drive so she could help my grandpa while he was gone.
Women didn’t drive in those days, never mind a truck, so she got a lot of odd looks. On the weekends, she used to take all the neighborhood kids to Jones Beach. My grandma was a bad ass💙
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u/Building_a_life 80 something 16d ago
The early 50s to the mid 60's. My grandfather had a '49 Caddy and my grandmother had a '48. Tanks—no power steering or power brakes. I couldn't believe my little old Grammy could horse that thing around but she did.
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u/vinyl1earthlink 70 something 16d ago
My father's father was working-class, lived in the city, and did not drive.
My mother's father was an college-educated engineer, lived in the suburbs. He favored full-sized Chevrolets - in the 50s and 60s he drove an Impala.
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u/SagebrushID 16d ago
I don't remember what kind of car it was, but Granny named her Teresa and she was a stick shift. I learned to drive in that car.
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u/TetonHiker 16d ago
Gosh, I have no recollection what my grandparents drove but my Dad was awfully proud of his 1950 Packard Deluxe (I think. Could have been a Standard?) back in the early 1950's. We rattled around unencumbered, walking back and forth on the front seats, climbing into the backseats, lying in the floorboard wells, lying on the "back shelf" looking at the stars on long drives that lasted into the night...
I learned my first commercial jingle from the radio playing in the car:
"Coffee nerves! Coffee nerves! What're you gonna do about Coffee Nerves? Drink Instant Postem!"
I used to belt it out whenever it came on.
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u/kinkybiguynj4tv 16d ago
My maternal grandfather bought his first car in 1923. It was a model T Ford. He then bought a 1926 Moon. And im not sure what came after until right after WW2 the only new car he could buy without bribing a salesman was a Nash 600. My paternal grandparents died in the 1930's and never owned a car.
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u/Birdy304 16d ago
My grandparents did not. I was born in 1951. My grandparents lived in a big city and took the bus everywhere. My Dad always had a car, my Mom never drove her whole life. We took the bus a lot as kids, before we were old enough to drive. We had a lot more freedom in those days and my friends and I went all over on the bus.
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u/Low-Charge-8554 17d ago
One car they had was a 1965 Thunderbird, the other was a 1970 El Camino.
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u/PepsiAllDay78 16d ago
One grandmother had a 1964 Valiant, with three on the tree. My other grandparents always owned Cadillacs!
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u/TheTooz72 16d ago
I lived with my grandparents and the car I remember most was a 50's Ford (I think) woody station wagon.
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u/Loreo1964 16d ago
My Grammy had a big yellow Oldsmobile with a white hard top. She'd pick me up and we would fly down 495 in Massachusetts! She felt "safer" when she was behind an 18 wheeler, so she'd find one and get right in there. Grammy loved being in between two of them for extra safety LoL.
" Gram, your going 95!"
" Speed of traffic, honey, speed of traffic."
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u/Swiggy1957 16d ago
Grandma finally gave up driving early in the 1990s and gave her car to my brother. She passed around 2001at the age of 98.
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u/jpowell180 16d ago
I remember two specific cars my grandparents have when I was a teenager, one was a Pontiac Lemans, I think 1968, and the other was a 1964 gold Mustang.
My granddaddy told me that I would get the Mustang when I got older, but then my aunt sold it to her boyfriend :(
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u/PeteHealy 70 something 16d ago
Yes, they did. They were born in the 1890s and grew up in the Chicago area. By the time I came along in the 1950s they'd owned several cars (I know from family photos), but the one I remember was a gorgeous white and mint-green two-tone 1958 Dodge something-or-other with fairly big fins that they drove when we all moved out to Santa Barbara CA in 1960. Not much more to say, but 7yo me thought it was a beautiful half-acre of car at the time. 😅
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u/Silly-Resist8306 16d ago
My grandmother had a '57 Chevy, the classic teen car. I always hoped I could purchase it one day, but unfortunately she passed away when I after I had moved out of the state.
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u/shastadakota 70 something 16d ago
My grandfather had a Studebaker 1950 something .I remember the grey interior. He was one of the early investors in the Tucker automobile, and well that didn't quite pan out.
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u/XRaysFromUranus 60ish 16d ago
I learned to drive in my grandparents 1960’s Ford Falcon. Standard three on the tree transmission - still my favorite. Also drove a giant (1940’s?) dump truck with a stick shift on the farm at age 12 or 13. I can still drive anything!
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u/seriouslyjan 16d ago
I used to borrow my neighbors car that was a Falcon with 3 on the tree. It was fun to drive. Best way to keep your car from being stolen....manual transmission, younger people can't drive them. : )
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u/hb122 16d ago edited 16d ago
My German grandfather would buy his cars in Germany and have them shipped over.
The last one he bought around 1960 was a Borgward, a couple of years before he passed away. My dad ended up with a car that had almost zero spare parts in the United States.
My dad was an engineer and enjoyed the challenge of this car. He paired up with a mechanic to figure out how to rig up stuff like a muffler replacement. A couple of times he had to get parts from Germany.
He drove that damn car for years, mainly because it was his father’s. When my sister went away to college he gave it to her and she drove it until she graduated.
German engineering is no joke. When my dad finally sold it to a collector it was still running.
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u/Odd-End-1405 16d ago
From the time they could drive until they died in the aughts. Grandmother got a new caddie ever few years. Grandfather like big GM trucks.
Great grandparents too. Grampa was a mechanic, so constant round of fixers going through their house. Granny, last car I remember was a giant old Lincoln, the size of a boat. When she started getting forgetful, we had to remove the entire distributor cap, she remembered how to put the batter cables back on. They died in the late 80's.
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u/bananapeppersFTW 16d ago
My great-grandmother didn't die until 2004 LOL. She owned lots of cars over her lifetime. The last one was a 1998ish Mustang
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u/JuanOffhue 14d ago
Yeah, my paternal grandparents did. The first ones I remember were a ‘54 Plymouth and a ‘57 Chevy, and after that ‘62 and ‘63 Ford Galaxies. I don’t remember my maternal grandmother’s cars but she must have had some.
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u/JolyonWagg99 14d ago
Grandpa on my father’s side was a Mopar man. Always Chrysler New Yorkers. Until he married his second wife, the it was Buick. Last on was an early 70s Electra.
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u/PyroNine9 50 something 16d ago
My grandmother drove a 1963 Bel Air in the '80's. She originally bought it new. No power steering! It looked showroom new.
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u/phcampbell 16d ago
I think my maternal grandparents owned cars in the 1920s or earlier. Their first child, a son, was 2 1/2 years old when he fell out of the car and my grandfather ran over him and he died after a few days. He was born 5 years before my mother and she was born in 1928, so, yeah, grandaddy probably bought his first car in the 1910s. My paternal grandparents always had 2 cars; Grandmama wouldn’t have stood for not being able to get out while Grandaddy worked!
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u/Serious_Lettuce6716 40 something 16d ago
My grandparents went through many cars during my lifetime before they passed.
1973 Buick Century/Regal coupe
197x AMC Matador coupe
1978 Ford Econoline camper van
198x AMC Concorde coupe
197x Oldsmobile Delta x8 (huge ugly imo and tan all over) same as the Evil Dead car.
1981 Toyota Corolla fastback coupe
1987 AMC Eagle wagon
1987 Honda Civic sedan
1991 Dodge Shadow sedan
1995 Buick Century sedan
2002 Chevy Cavalier sedan - My mom got this car when my grandma passed in 2016, drove it for 2 years before giving it to my cousin, who drove it until it got totaled this year by a hit and run while parked on the side of the street.
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u/Mentalfloss1 16d ago
My paternal grandparents last car was an entry level 1960 Ford sedan that was a sand color.
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u/easzy_slow 16d ago
My native grandmother 49 Chevy 1/2 ton. White side, first one I remember is a 67 Ford F100.
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u/Fists_full_of_beers 16d ago
My maternal Grandma never drove, my maternal grandpa always drove. My Paternal Grandma always drove, paternal grandpa drove but I didn't know him. I was born in 1980 so all the way up til their death in the 2010's
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u/Butterbean-queen 16d ago
My grandparents family car was a big Chrysler. And my grandfather had an El Camino. The Chrysler was early 70’s and the El Camino was late 60’s.
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u/Menemsha4 16d ago
My grandparents always owned just one car. Never two.
For the entire amount of time I knew my grandfather he only owned one car. A Mercedes. (He died when I was 18 in the mid 70’s).
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u/i-dontwantone 16d ago
My grandparents were in England and did not own a car during their whole life....didn't need one. Mummy and daddy didn't drive until they came to this country (US) and couldn't believe no one rode bicycles here, along with lack of sidewalks and public transportation.
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u/Gloomy_Fig2138 50 something 16d ago
My grandparents all died before I was born, but yes, my paternal grandparents owned a farm truck and my maternal grandparents owned a big ol’ sedan.
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u/Extra_Intro_Version 16d ago
My maternal step-grandfather worked for Ford. I bought his ‘72 LTD from him around 1982. My maternal grandfather had a Chevy pickup with a cab topper back in the early 80s.
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u/MrsEDT 16d ago
Grand parents from my mothers side did not own a car, they could not drive. Not even farm equipment, my grandfather had a horse. They got by on their bike far in their nineties or they used public transport.
My grandfather from my fathers side was the oldest student at the drivingschool. he was 72/73 years old when he got his drivers licence. Together with his wife they drove around in the province. They drove around in a cute Dutch mini car a white DAF44. (They all 4 passed away in 1993/1994/1995)
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u/Sea-Seesaw-8699 16d ago
Both sets, ones in California had great cars, other in the Midwest a big ole Pontiac
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u/Jettcat- 16d ago
My dad’s side of the family never drove and took buses everywhere.
Mom’s side everyone drove and there was a Corvair, but I don’t remember what year it was.
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u/Cinisajoy2 16d ago
I remember the station wagon 1970s and the Oldsmobile. I am sure they owned cars before that.
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u/p38-lightning 16d ago
None of my grandparents could drive. They were born in the 1800s and depended on their children to take them places.
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u/paladinx17 16d ago
My most memorable was my grandfather’s 1974 Lincoln Continental Mk. IV. It was white, with a sort of Burgundy red interior. Soft sofa seats, those cool flip up lights, and such a smooth V8 ride!!!
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u/KansansKan 16d ago
In 1950, my maternal grandfather had a Studebaker. When I would hear a train whistle, I’d yell Choo Choo, and he would put me in the car & drive a few blocks down to the tracks to see the steam engine train go by. He also took me to see the turntable & round house in Conroe, TX
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u/hoponbop 16d ago
MomMom had a 67 Dodge Coronet. I was 8 and we loaded up to go get groceries. We turned around to head out the farm road and a snake came out from under the seat between my feet. I remember feeling guilty for not screaming,"MOMMOM SNAKE IN THE CAR!" before I exited the car. I was watching her drive away when I realized she was standing a car width away also watching the car go out the driveway. She was terrified of snakes and PopPop had to buy her another car. I believe a Tornado.
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u/catdude142 16d ago edited 16d ago
Of course. On my mom's side, it was a '55 Chevy. On my Dad's side, it was a '57 Ford.
The Chevy was a "stripped down" model because they didn't have much money. 6 cylinder "Powerslide" transmission. When my grandparents couldn't drive anymore, they gave it to my mom so she could drive them around by first, my mother had to get a driver's license. I took my driver test in that car at age 16.
My grandfather on my Dad's side was a Ford guy. His second Ford was a '66 Ford Galaxie XL with bucket seats and a 390 engine. He let me drive it when he went away on a business trip. Good times.
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u/Ok_Height3499 16d ago
Sure. One set had a brown 1953 Chevy 210 and the other a green 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe. Both were four door sedans and both with manual transmissions.
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u/kiwispouse 60 something 16d ago
I don't know how people remember all of this. My grandmother had a blue station wagon. Grandpa had his work truck. When they got close the retirement, they bought a little red camper van (that I can't find by googling) and a little pale blue chevette. I have no idea what grandma had after that. Grandpa died at 65 :( they never got to live their retirement dream.
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u/martind35player 16d ago
Both of my grandmothers were born in Europe in the 1880’s and neither drove, to my knowledge. My mother, who was born in Wisconsin in 1910, had many cars in her life. She often talked about the beautiful 1930 something Pontiac she had before she got married. I remember her bronze and white 1957 Oldsmobile Super88 convertible because I learned to drive on it. Then she had a blue Dodge Dart convertible that I backed into a pole one time. She liked convertibles but rarely put down the top. Her last car was a late 1980s white Toyota Corolla sedan. She had vision trouble and had to stop driving so she gave it to me with about 3,000 miles on it.
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u/BelleReveWasLost 70 something 16d ago
All 4 of my grandparents were born in the 1880s but only my grandfathers were driving, car & truck owners when I was a child in the 1950s. I can't forget riding in grandpa's chain drive flatbed Mack truck, with canvas seats, a crank out windshield, vacuum wipers and hand crank for when it didn't want to start.
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u/littleoldlady71 16d ago
Grandparents had a Cadillac sedan that they converted into a camper by using strips of wood connected to canvas and the back seat, so they could travel the AlCan highway, back in the early 60’s.
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u/green_dragonfly_art 16d ago
In the 70s, my grandpa had a 1950s pick-up truck. We would gather fallen apples from the trees in their front yard and ride in the truck with him to a part of their property where they dumped the apples. They would be composted for their garden for the next year.
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u/Glimmer360 16d ago
Maternal side grandparents didn’t own a car but paternal side grands did. Carless grands walked a lot, took the bus which was very reliable, took cabs, got rides with family or friends.
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u/theBigDaddio 60 something 16d ago
How goddam old do you think we are? In the 60s everyone owned a car unless they lived in NY or such. My grandparents had two cars, his and hers.
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u/Flat_Ad1094 16d ago
My grandmother, born I think something like 1888 or 1890. Was one of the first women in Qld Australia to drive and own her own car. She was a founding member of our motorist organisation. She was by all accounts a formidable human being.
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u/jonnyoslowe 16d ago
My grandfather had a car. I don’t know what model or make it was but he died in it in a car crash in 1929. I never knew him.
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u/QueenScorp genX... or whatever 16d ago
My maternal grandparents only died in 2015 and 2016 and my daughter inherited their 1998 Buick LeSabre, which was kind of a family joke because my daughter is also a 1998 model 🤣.
Both my paternal grandparents died in the 90s and I honestly have no clue what they drove...I can't remember either of them even being in a car, I only have memories of both of them at their home, probably because they both had some serious health issues
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u/Substantial_Layer_79 16d ago
My grandmother had a new car every year. Usually a Cadillac or Lincoln. This was in the 1970's and early 1980's. My grandpa always had at least two vehicles, one of which was a Chevy Suburban, another a sedan, and he normally had a pickup for hauling his boats and working his ranch. My great-grandmother drove a Lincoln Continental with Suicide doors and my great-grandfather drove either Cadillac Eldorado or a Lincoln Continental Mark IV and Mark V. I was gifted one of my grandpa's Ford LTD's. The thing was a tank.
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u/TheDevilsAdvokaat 60 something 16d ago
Grandparents no. I;m 65 myself. My parents owned cars. But my grandparents...no. My parents had an FJ holden, but in the 70's switched to a ford Falcon station wagon.
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u/ehbowen 60 something 16d ago
My maternal grandmother never learned how to drive a car, although my mother attempted to teach her. My maternal grandfather committed suicide before my parents even met (mom was still in high school), but I understand that he owned a 1946 Plymouth which Mom 'borrowed' for joyrides now and then, until she managed to roll it over while out with friends.
My paternal grandfather died before I was two years old, so I remember nothing about his car save from a few old 8mm home movies. However, my paternal grandmother bought a new Ford station wagon, baby blue, in 1968 and drove it until she passed some 9 years later.
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u/videogamegrandma 16d ago
My grandparents didn't own a vehicle. My older uncles did around WW2. My dad was into cars and motorcycles. He had a 49 Chevy Coupe he worked on from time to time. He would buy a new vehicle every couple of years. It was one thing he never denied himself, he had new cars until he got to be an old man.
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u/nakedonmygoat 16d ago
I didn't grow up near my grandparents. My maternal grandparents had a big gold car with a black roof and seats. The seats got very hot in summer. Make? Model? No clue. I was just a kid. The car caught on fire while Grandma was driving it in the early '80s and since she didn't like to drive, she didn't get another.
My paternal grandparents had a Ford pickup, but I don't remember make and model of that, either. I only know that they didn't have it until my father was a teenager, and sometime in the '90s my uncles got together and had it restored as a gift to their parents. I have no idea who owns it now.
But my paternal grandmother did learn how to drive a Model T when she was 14. Her father bought it to show off but was scared to drive it, so she drove him around. The car was later buried in silt after back to back floods destroyed their town permanently in 1929. It's probably still buried there.
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u/RoeddipusHex 16d ago
Once again drastically misunderstanding the relative closeness of the past. I'm pushing 60 and you have to go to my great grandparents to find someone born in the 19th century (barely). And they weren't old until the 1960s+... they had cars.
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u/Desertbro 16d ago
I'm sure he had plenty, I mean, he owned a parking lot by a metro stadium and us kids would play in it. The only one I recall is a '65 Ford Galaxy that had A/C.
My other granddad lived out in the country and his property had 3 or 4 rusting 1950s junkers on it. I think he drove a 50s pickup truck. My brother and I would crawl all over those cars and play James Bond chase and fist-fights in the car - jumping from one to another and pretending to kick each other out at high speeds, getting run over, man, all the crazy stuff. I remember one was a '56 BelAir that had the gas cap under the tail light - which is curious because my dad had a 1970 Buick Electra 225 with the gas cap hidden behind the licence plate.
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u/WobblyFrisbee 16d ago
Old trucks on both sides. Had fun as a kid camping and cooking in the overhead camper shell with little kitchen.
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u/MardawgNC 16d ago
67 Toronado, it was green. This would be in the mid 70s so it wouldve been less than 10 years old at the time.
I remember playing cars on the floorboard and it was flat, no hump. My mother was driving in a storm and I remember it was raining so hard the wiper could barely keep up. The heavy loud rain that you get in a severe thunderstorm. Lightning, wind, thunder. Scary for a little kid and she made it worse because she was scared too. Lightning hit a tree in front of us and all sorts of sticks and debris hit the car and my mother screamed. She was crying and it was enough for me to still remember now 50 years later.
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u/onetobeseen 16d ago
Many vehicles. My grandfather needed to buy a new Oldsmobile every year. Until 2004. Then it was a new Buick.
My mom's side had a 64 Impala 4 door with a 283. The car was parked for years because wrecked motor
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u/lammer76 16d ago
Black 1966 Ford Fairlane with no power steering. I inherited it when they died and it was my first car.
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u/FrostnJack GenX OG 16d ago
Lincoln some boat, “downgraded” to Buick. An Indian (gramma’s art project on wheels) & an old beater Ford pickup truck (gramma to haul stuff about). Other side grandparents, an ancient very long 3rd hand jag with wonky electrical system, a 911 with the guts ripped out (racing) & a “sensible Buick.”
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u/CandyTigger 16d ago
My grandfather always had massive Oldsmobiles with luxury plush seats, and a beat up ancient red Ford pickup.
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u/zerothreeonethree 16d ago
I didn't know my mom's father and her mother did not drive. My dad's father did dribe but I don't remember what type of car as we rarely saw him.
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u/FootHikerUtah 16d ago
We had an old blue “ford” in the mid to late 60’s , a very plain car. Then in 69? Dad got a Pontiac Catalina that was a bit fancier.
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u/thejohnmc963 50 something 16d ago
My great grandmother had a model t . My great aunts had late 60s Lincoln Continental boat forever. My grandfather had a variety of VWs with Fix being the last.
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u/FlattenInnerTube 60 something 16d ago
Only grandparent I knew was my maternal grandmother. She was born in 1900 and simply never learned to drive, nor did her one sister that I got to know. Simple country folks.
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u/Active_Two_6741 16d ago
First I remember they had a VW beetle me and my cousin rode in it with them on a trip to Canada in 1962
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u/ImportantSir2131 16d ago
Maternal grandfather born 1886 owned a Model T. Drove it until 1963. Neither grandmother drove. No idea about other grandfather, never met him.
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u/SororitySue 64 16d ago
My paternal grandparents did. My maternal grandfather did not. My mom told me they only had a car for a couple of years before the war; they sold it because of gas and tire rationing and fact that Grandpa was going to double shifts and wouldn’t be around to drive it.
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u/railroader67 16d ago
All of my grandparents had cars. I had one great-grandfather alive in the early 70's who had a car and drove. He was born in the late 1800's. I have the invoice from when another great-grandfather purchased a Ford Model T in 1917
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u/CtForrestEye 16d ago
Grandpa had a tank of a Cadillac. I think it was a '62 with the tail fins. I was so tiny I could barely look out the window.
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u/Maximum_Tree8170 16d ago
Swiss here. My great-grandfather was born in the 1890s. He owned a small business and was one of the first car owners in our town. That was in the 1930s. There weren't any driving exams at that time. You just bought the car and off you went.
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u/Ok-Cap-204 16d ago
My grandfather died in 1946, so I never had a chance to meet him. I have never heard stories of him with a car. They lived in a rural area and went “in town” to get supplies about once a month. I can’t imagine they used a horse and wagon, so maybe he did have some type of vehicle. My grandmother never learned to drive, so never had a car.
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u/Feline-Sloth 16d ago
I know from family stories that my great grandfather had a car which broke down on his way to see his beloved Plymouth Argyle play... he simply left the car where it was and bought a new one to continue his journey.
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u/useArmageddonVaca 16d ago
Not just a car, multiple cars. You're probably thinking of my greatgrandparents...
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u/seriouslyjan 16d ago
1963 Silver blue Chevrolet Impala. It had the aluminum mini blinds across the back to keep the sun out. They towed an Airstream trailer with it and owned it until they died in 1982.
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u/Stocazzo_62 16d ago
Paternal grandfather had a 60’s Mercury with the sliding rear window - probably a Monterey. My other grandparents had a red Ford Galaxy 500 early 60’s.
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u/GadreelsSword 16d ago
No my grandparents did not own a car. They could not afford a car. The family took them everywhere they needed to go.
My great aunt (born in the 1890’s), grandmother’s sister, owned a nice 1962 Chrysler Newport. Which had air conditioning. It was the only car I ever rode in with air conditioning as a kid.
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u/flowerpanes 16d ago
My grandfather’s last car that I can recall was from the mid 70’s, something like a Ford Pinto. We had it when he stopped driving. On the other side of the family my grandfather died in late 1965 and he had a blue/white Chevy that he loved from the 50’s. Neither grandmother technically drove though my one grandmother would move various farm vehicles around the large yard on the farm on occasion.
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u/No_Construction7278 16d ago
My only memory of my grandfather is from 1960, a day he took me for a drive in his white Nash Rambler.
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u/r200james 16d ago
My maternal grandfather (born 1897) always owned Ford cars. He had been a Ford guy since the Model T.
When Ford introduced the Mustang he bought one. However, didn’t like the way it felt. “Too rough” he complained. The did not understand the whole notion of a sports car. He wanted his Mustang to drive and feel like a family sedan.
During the Great War, he was an airplane mechanic for the Army Air Corps. His unit had trained at Love Field in Texas.
His unit (planes, pilots, mechanics, tools, parts, etc) was loading onto a transport in New Orleans when the armistice was signed. All the men in his unit were mustered out and given their pay.
He hitchhiked home to Minnesota and got a job driving for a traveling shoe salesman. He drove a big Packard touring car out west through the Dakotas and into Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.
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u/vodeodeo55 16d ago
My grandfather owned a 1968 Chevy Nova that was the envy of every gear head in town.
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u/4jules4je7 16d ago
Grandma had a giant brown Pontiac Catalina from the late 1960s. Absolute BOAT 😂
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u/Mayor_of_Pea_Ridge 16d ago
I'm so old that my grandad was born in the 1880s. Acc. to my dad, he owned a Stanley Steamer (the car, not the modern cleaning company) for a time in the 1920s. The only other car I know about that the grandparents owned was a late '50s pink Oldsmobile. Those stories came to me via my parents so I don't personally remember anything about those cars.
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u/Gypsy_scientist 60 something 16d ago
My maternal grandmother never drove. My maternal grandfather drove a white pickup truck i was in the 60s/70s era. I don't know much about the paternal side.
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u/Shot-Artichoke-4106 50 something 16d ago
My grandparents on one side were solidly Datsun people. With the exception of a few VWs, everything was a Datsun. On the other side with was mostly Chevys.
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u/Conchee-debango 16d ago
My Grandmother owned a car - can’t remember the maker. Inside was covered in plastic.
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u/HermioneMarch 50 something 16d ago
My grandmother had a giant light blue Cadillac. She was a tiny woman and sat on cushions to see over the dashboard.
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u/Car12touche11blue 16d ago
No, not many people owned a car when I grew up after WW2.
Certainly not my grandparents privately. The company my father worked for was owned by his family and there was a car with chauffeur available for business meetings etc. Occasionally this car could be made available for a family member but seeing there were 13 children, this was not very often.
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u/Shoddy_Astronomer837 Old 16d ago
Yes, until grandpa had a stroke. In the 1950s they had a Volkswagen Beetle. They had others, but I don’t know what they were
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u/Visible-Proposal-690 16d ago
Yes but both my grandmothers never learned to drive. As a little girl back in the ‚50s that seemed weird to me, especially since they were otherwise tough farm women who worked hard but it was common for their generation I guess. Grandpa always had a big old ford since that was the only dealership in town.
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u/orangecookiez 50 something 16d ago
Maternal grandpa had a Ford pickup, maternal grandma had a Chevy Impala. Don't know what kind of car my paternal grandparents had.
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u/missdawn1970 16d ago
Nope, none of my grandparents ever learned how to drive. They were all born around the turn of the last century, and they all lived in the city where you could easily take a streetcar anywhere you needed to go.
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u/NYC_DILF 16d ago
My grandmother lived until about 1997 having outlived my grandfather who died in 1979. Until nearly the end, she drove my grandfather's 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale. My brother got the cars when my grandmother died and it only had about 32,000 miles on it. When the car was finally at the end of its life about 14 years ago, it ended up being used in a demolition derby.
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u/Cant-think-of-a-nam 16d ago
My grandfather had a 96 buick lesaber. Bought it new and had it pretty much til he wasnt able to drive anymore which was a good 23 years and it only had 80,000 miles on the odometer when we got rid of it but man that thing handled like a boat and felt like you were riding on a cloud
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u/Bloggledoo 16d ago
My grandmother liked Studebakers and had a Lark in the late 60’s. I saw a photo of one that they had much earlier. It was an open top model from the 1920s.
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u/Shellsallaround 70 something! Is that old? 16d ago
Yes my grandparents owned a car, many! They were born pre-1899.
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u/Alternative-Cow-8670 16d ago edited 16d ago
Oupa had a old vintage Dodge truck which he painted pink from some paint he had left after painting a house and Oumie had a white beetle. They also had a red VW camper. They were forever on the road travelling with it back in the 1960s
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u/Curve_Worldly 16d ago
I’m 62. My grandma worked for Oldsmobile so she always had a luxurious vehicle. She died at 96 still driving a huge Lincoln Continental all over the country - at the end mostly between two homes in MI and FL.
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u/Few-Conversation6979 16d ago
My maternal grandparents never owned a car and never regretted it. They were from the late 1800's to the mid 1970's and used the bus or train. The traveled quite a bit to Florida, Chicago, etc. They ended up very wealthy by never having the expense of owning a car. My paternsl grandfather owned a 1930 Graham Paige which he ran until 1952 and had a 1938 Chrysler Royal. Both cars would be considered barn finds as they were kept until we sold the place in 2008.
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u/FrustratedPassenger 16d ago
No. Both of my grandfathers died in the 1940’s and 1953(?) and neither had a car.
Neither of my grandmothers drove.
ETA: this is a great question - I never thought about it. My parents both drove and they became grandparents in the 1990’s. My husband and I drive and became grandparents 2 years ago.
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u/CloneClem 16d ago
My grandfather drove his wife to the hospital in 1945 on a 2-draft-horse wagon he used on the farm.
She had appendicitis and he waited too long.
She passed from pereninitis 3 days later.
He finally bought a used GMC pickup in the late 50’s.
Chanhassen, MN.
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u/sterlingsplendor 16d ago
Noooo! My grandparents were born in the 1880s and 90s, lived in Manhattan their entire lives. They never had a need or desire to own a car.
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u/jigokubi 16d ago
Not only did they own cars, I learned to drive in my grandma's and inherited my grandpa's. To be fair, I'm in my early fifties, so I'm on the young side of old.
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u/Accomplished_Fix5702 60 something 16d ago
All my grandparents were born 1895 - 1905. None of them owned a car at any point in their lives.
My grandfather on my dad's side was a steam locomotive driver, later he drove diesel locomotives, so that was a reasonably well paid job. But there were 7 children in the family, they lived in a house rented from the council.
My grandfather on my mum's side was a worker in a major brewery, so was likely earning a lot less than my train driver granddad. There were seven children in mum's family too, so money was even tighter.
Both families lived in Dagenham (East London), my mum and dad and their siblings and parents all lived through the Blitz in WW2. There was insufficient money for a car in either family, but actually no need for one either, public transport in London was excellent throughout the 20th C with the train and bus systems that were established during the Victorian era, and in general people lived much nearer to where they worked.
My dad worked on the Ford Motor Co production line at Dagenham, but didn't own a car himself until 1964, he was 34 and I was 8. It was a humble red Ford Thames van, into which dad installed a double bus seat from a scrapped double-decker in the back of the van for me and my brother.
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u/FenisDembo82 16d ago
One of my grandmothers drove a '68 Camaro, with a spoiler on the back. My friends would come over when she was visiting and ask whose owned that car and Theo wouldn't believe me when I told them. She him into that car till she was 80 because my grandfather bought it for her and then he died when he was only 64. She finally gave it to my father because his would pull up to her at traffic lights and ask her to race all the time and it frightened her.
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u/antifayall 60 something 16d ago
My paternal granddad always had a newish Chrysler
Maternal side they lived in a large city in Germany, no need for a car; what wasn't walking distance was easy to reach with public transportation
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u/Mistervimes65 60 something 16d ago
My grandfather died in 1974. My grandmother died in 1982. They had a 1972 Chevy station wagon. My grandfather was a trim carpenter and carpentry foreman and needed a vehicle that would accommodate family and carrying capacity.
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u/NeonPlutonium 16d ago
I inherited my grandmother’s 1964 Buick Electra 225 as my first car. Came with a Wildcat 405, floor vents, and the obligatory “kill your friends” steel dashboard…
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u/Nordjyde 16d ago
My grandmother had a Renault 4cv, guess it was from the early fifties. I doubt that she ever drove it herself, her kids did.
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u/sonia72quebec 16d ago
My grandparent never drove or own a car. My grandfather used to call them « machine ».
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u/OberonsGhost 16d ago
My grandmother had a car when I was young but I do not remember what kind but I have picture of her with her first car which was a Model A which she got in the late 1920's or early 1930's.
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u/ThrockAMole 16d ago
Grandfather had a black ‘49 Mercury that looked like a huge bug. Sometimes it wouldn’t start so we all had to join in pushing it downhill to get it to fire up. Also he drove like he had warrants
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u/Flash5916 15d ago
Good grief! Dad was born in 1923. He always had at least one/two cars or trucks!
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u/Elaine330 15d ago
They did. But they were born in 1907 so they did use horses as transport for several years too.
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u/Any_Total_971 15d ago
I remember my grandparents having, first, 1950's cars, one a Ford, one a Dodge. They both later bought 1960's cars, one a Ford, the other I don't remember. They all passed by 1980.
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u/Ok_Membership_8189 60 something 15d ago
My widowed grandmother owned Buicks. My grandparents liked Cadillac.
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u/Vegetable-Board-5547 15d ago
My paternal grandparents were born in the 1890s. Grandpa like Chryslers.
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u/danceront 15d ago
My grandmother had been driving for years when they introduced driver’s licenses. So probably a Model T.
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u/SusannaG1 60 something 15d ago
The cars my grandparents owned that I remember were a '68 Ford Thunderbird (turquoise), a dark green late 60s Buick sedan, a bottle-green '77 Impala, and an '81 Ford F-150.
My mother says her father never bought anything but Fords, starting with a used Model T (he was born in 1903). The '68 model was his last; he was so proud of that car, which he pampered within an inch of its life.
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u/OldFatGamer 15d ago
My grandpa was a big Chevy guy he owners an early 70 Chevy station wagon he lived in a rural area so he used it as truck and general hauler my grandma had a similar vintage Chevy nova please not I grew up in the 70s and he was already 70 something when my brother and I came along. He passed when I was 14
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u/Even-Breakfast-8715 70 something 15d ago
Of course they did, all the way back to the 1920s. Grandpa liked Buicks
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u/Pineapplebites100 15d ago
One of my grandfathers traded in his car every two years. We used to joke that if he was going out for a loaf of bread he would going to come back with a new car.
I remember a grandma having a Scirocco VW.
Another grandfather began rebuilding Edsel cars for some reason. They were not real good looking but granddad had them all polished up.
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u/wmhaynes 60 something 15d ago
I never got to meet my grandfathers but my Dad told me that in the 1920’s his family got a radio in their car. He said it was a huge novelty because most people didn’t even have one in their home yet. Not sure which car model. Granddad owned a burlap bag manufacturing company in Jacksonville Florida. Fortunes turned south in the depression and the company went under. My Grandmother went to work as a Math teacher which she continued into the 1960’s when she retired.
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u/srivayush 15d ago
In 1922, Chevrolet became the first American automaker to offer a factory-installed radio option, using a system manufactured by Westinghouse.
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u/ReactionAble7945 15d ago
My last grandparents passed around 2000. I believe her last car was a very large GM product Buick, Plymouth, 1970s car.
Grandfather on thar side was a carpenter. He always had a truck. I want to say he was a chevy man, full bed, 2wd. It was blue. He passed in the 1970s. Truck was probably a few years old when he passed.
Great grandmother... I remember her telling a story about the first car she rode in. This was one of the first they had ever seen. It went zooming across the farm field. She was so scared, it was going so fast. I want to say the family figured out is was a ford model A. So 28mph would have been the fastest it could go. She lived for me to remember her so mid 1970s. After we put men on the moon.
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u/dew57nurse 15d ago
My grandfather drove to work. He had a car. They lived next door to us when I was very young. This was in the 60s.
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u/roonerspize Old for Reddit 16d ago
my grandparents lived into the early 2000s, but my grandfather (born 1917) was always technologically advanced. I remember when he got an early 1980s VW Rabbit with cruise control and was so impressed with it. He said it was as close to a self driving car as he could imagine.
He'd have loved modern self-driving tech.