What cars did your parents schlep you around in as a kid?

[SatinSilver]

1974 Matador - light brown coupe. No real problems with it.

1980 Olds Omega coupe, light blue, no ac, am radio, but had upgraded interior, half vinyl roof, brougham trim level, dad ordered it from factory.

1983 Olds Toronado - had all the options and was already on the lot. Light taupe color with darker half vinyl roof.

1986 Buick Riviera - teal green. had the touch screen for the various controls back then.

1992 Toyota Camry SE V6 - light taupe color. Had a very firm suspension compared to the other models. First sedan we had.

1989 Dodge Shadow - black cherry in color.

1996 Saturn Sl1 - white in color.

1983 Olds Cutlass Supreme - blue

No real problems with any of the above. All bought new except the Cutlass which was inherited from Grandpa with 20k miles.

 

[CT Rob]

1972 Chevy Monte Carlo,82 Cutlass,86 Grand Marquis

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted by ernied

when you turned on the radio you had to wait until it warmed up.


I miss the old tube radio days.... the audio would start in faint, and build as the tubes warmed.

I loved to listen to Paul Harvey with my grandpa & his "warm up to listen" tube radio

 

[A_Harman]

Great subject for a thread!
'58 Chevy Impala (2 of them; one two-tone green, and one gold)
'63 Chevy Bel-Air station wagon
'70 Chevy Impala station wagon (my brother spun that one in the rain one day when he was misbehaving on a back road; don't tell mom and dad)
'73 Chevy Vega that dad traded one of the '58's on. I spent 5 years crammed into the backseat of that one before I learned to drive. I learned to drive a stick-shift in it.
'71 Chevy Vega that dad, my brother, and I swapped a '65 Buick 225 V6 / Super Turbine 300 transmission into. Nice little car. Then dad sold it just as I got my license. (Smart.)

Then there was the succession of pickup trucks that dad had for hauling the family camper for summer vacations:
'61 Chevy half-ton
'67 Chevy half-ton
'69 Chevy 3/4-ton that he kept for 38 years, then gave to my brother. He still has it in original condition.

And a '41 Chevy that he wanted to restore, but sold to get cash for the '73 Vega.

 

[ls1mike]

Cars I remember
1978 White Regal with T-Tops
1976 Chevy Impala 4 door
1984 Chevette
1985 Malibu Wagon
1985 Horizon
2 1989 Ford Tempos I was in my teens when got these.

 

[John_K]

We had old Dodges. My parents were UAW so the idea of anything other than GM,, Ford, Chrysler wouldn't even be considered. My first car was a used Chevette I bought at a Toyota dealer. My Dad put electrical tape over TOYOTA on the dealer sticker on the back because he couldn't stand the word Toyota in his driveway!

 

[tahoe_hybrid]

Ford Taurus 1995 sedan 160k
Ford Taurus 1995 wagon with CD player 285k miles
Nissan Quest 1997
1988 ford tempo 250,000 miles
2000 Chevy impala 160k miles
2006 Nissan Sentra 210k miles(bought a 5 miles)

 

[Rat407]

1972 VW Squareback. Use to sleep in the very back going back and forth to my grandparents house which was a 40 minute ride away.

 

[addyguy]

Dad only actually had 2 cars while I was growing up:

1978 Chev Malibu Wagon
1989 Toyota Tercel (car I partially learned to drive on)

Parents split when I was 9; and my mom and new step-dad had a lot more cars:

1981 Pontiac Acadian 4-door (gas crisis buy)
1975 Duster 2-door
1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Wagon
1985 Plymouth Reliant 4-door (car I got my license on)
1994 Ford Tempo 4-door (one of the last ones)
2002 Suzuki Aerio 4-door sedan (neat car)
2011(?) Suzuki SX-4 (great car, got rid of bc Suzuki pulled out of NA market)
2015(?) Mitsubishi Lancer 4-door sedan

Mom split from step-dad and now has a 2012(?) Hyundai Getz (Australian Accent)

 

[MrMoody]

1963? Corvair 4-dr sedan
1972 LTD Country Squire 460 4-bbl, 8 mpg, the only new car
1961 VW bug
1970 Volvo 145 wagon 4-on-the-floor

They were all my mom's cars. My dad had other stuff including a 65 Bug (w/ US flag paint job) , a 72 Chev K10 pickup (307) and 66? Rambler wagon I6 (both w/ 3 on the tree), but he didn't drive us kids around much. I learned to drive in the Volvo, and drove the K10 a few times too.

 

[csandste]

50 Chevy. Learned to drive in it too... 8 or 9 years old and had to look under the steering wheel.

 

[andyd]

OP, Great topic!'49 and '54 Chevy Suburbans. Then a '62 followed by a '65 VW bus that I took my license on. When the train stopped running in '57, Dad bought a '53 Bug to commute in . AC? most of these cars didn't have a radio. Our 'goonmobile' was a series of Grand Wagoneers. 528es and a XJ6

 

[fcjeep]

1957 Chrysler New Yorker, might've been a Hemi but not sure. Push button transmission. You pressed neutral button to start it. Didn't like to start after it rained though.

1957 Dodge panel truck, V8. Nothing but trouble for my dad from the day he picked it up brand new from dealer. Crankshaft finally snapped at 15,000 miles I was told. He swore off Chrysler products after that.

1962 GMC Suburban, extended length, 305 V6, 4 speed. Learned to drive a clutch on this. Gave it to his tire guy, at approx. 120,000 miles in 1978, who drove it for several more years.

1963 Buick Wildcat, 401 nailhead, dual exhaust, A/C, black on red-sharp looking car. Took my road test in this. Got totaled but mom walked out without a scratch. Wish I had that car today.

The GMC and Buick were the first cars I started to do mechanical work on. Rebuilt the carbs on both before I had my driver's license.

1973 Pontiac Catalina Safari wagon, 400V8. Was like sitting on your couch and riding on a cloud. Drove it for a short while in early college until I got my own car.

All were bought brand new with the intention of keeping them a long time, but the Chrysler and Dodge refused to follow the plan.

After those I was old enough to schlep myself around in my own cars.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Here's what my parents drove. My dad had the Impala (his job gave him a new company car,an Impala every year) and my mom had the Delta 88.

 

[BSeward]

This really dates me, I guess. When I was about 3 years old (1953), I fell off the right running board of my dads 1936 Packard. From then we went to Studebakers. My dad always wanted a Golden Hawk, but never got one..

 

[MParr]

1963 Plymouth Belvedere 318
1968 Pontiac Executive 400
1974 Pontiac Catalina 400: This thing was a smog pump piece of junk that couldn't get out of the way of it's shadow.

 

[Dave9]

'72 Monte Carlo. I would have been given that car to drive when I turned 16, but alas someone rammed into it while parked in front of the house and totaled it. She said there was a BEE in her car. Grrrr, always park in your driveway if you can help it.

 

[SteveG4]

60's AMC Rambler Classic
'68 Pontiac Catalina (Stationwagon) -- it was a BOAT and I loved that cavern as a kid. Pontiac 400 HO, I believe. It was a flying boat...
'77 AMC Hornet (wagon)
'82 GMC High Sierra Truck

That was enough for me...

 

[Hall]

My parents immigrated to the US in '69. Their first car here was a mid-60s Mustang convertible. Of course back then, it was just a 4-5 year old used car.... Convertibles weren't common in their home country so I think that was a big appeal to them for getting it, not realizing it might not be the best idea come wintertime in OH.

 

[caprice_2nv]

1984 Plymouth reliant (a major lemon - always broken down) when I was 2 years old to around 11 years old. Lots of memories of that car dying on the road or not starting, head gasket blew.

1990 Ford Taurus - very reliable car. Mom drove it 45 minutes to work on the highway every day for a number of years. It only had around 140k miles when it got smashed up in an accident. But only repairs were an alternator and blower motor. Biggest problem was it didn't like to start it cold weather.

1977 Toyota Corolla. Basically a gift from my parents friends. Mom drove it to work for a year and then got the Taurus. Dad drove it to work for another year until the spring shackles came through the rusted out trunk. It was not a great car for reliability but other than the fact that the under body disintegrated nothing major failed. A couple alternators, carburetor problems, also couldn't start in really cold weather.

It got replaced by a 77 Chevy Impala station wagon with a 305 2 barrel, rear facing seat. My sister and I loved riding in it. It cost $800 safetied on a car lot in town. Lasted 6 years for my dad. Basically always started no matter how cold it was. It needed one alternator, a flex hose on the front brakes, one used car carburetor and a set of tires in six years. In the end the carburetor was messing up again but it has been driven with a flat camshaft lobe for the past few years which probably messed up the carbs (popping through the carb under load). In the end it still ran and I got to use it as a field car. It didn't use any oil despite the bad camshaft and running on 7 cylinders for years.

1993 Mercury sable - lots of small problems. They got rid of it after a couple years before the engine or transmission failed (normal for them - it was a 3.8L)

1995 Ford Windstar - not a problem until 90k miles when the head gasket blew and then the transmission shortly after.

1998 Plymouth breeze - some minor issues but nothing major. It got in an accident at 90k miles and was replaced with a 99 Alero when I was about 18.

1983 Pontiac Grand Prix - bought for $1800 from my mom's co-worker she found out later was a bit of a crook. The car was good other than the frame and trunk rusted out after a few years. It was given to me when I was 17 so the car was 17 years old also. It was reliable for me but they made me buy another car for college because it wasn't really safe anymore.