Family albums ‘n four-speeds – Corvairs, Volkswagens, Pops and more

Published by Mike on December 22, 2009

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We’ve got a whole mess of great family album car photos for you this week. Starting with our friend Hugo90, frequent commenter here and contributor to the Hemmings Nation Flickr pool, where he shared the above photo.

My brother Jim, on the left, was a new engineer at GM Milford Proving Grounds then. The old Corvair guys showed him all the stuff they had done to Corvairs that never got close to being sold. It was one beastly good handling car. That’s a ‘60 Mercury behind it. The grille peeks through.

This is Christmas 1969 in Longmeadow, Mass, at our parents’ home. That’s me in the middle and Tom on the right.

Next up, DougD, of Dundas, Ontario, Canada, shares this photo of himself amid a yardful of interesting cars.

My Dad gave me this print of an old slide from a Sunday afternoon at Grandpa’s in 1970. A pretty diverse bunch of cars.

That’s me at 3 years old getting some early VW experience in my Uncle’s contraption, which he actually drove on the street. Also in the back row L to R is Uncle’s 1961 Rambler, Grandpa’s 1965 Valiant and Dad’s 1960 Pontiac. Mom later knew I was going to be a car guy when I stood at the window, bawling and waving to the Pontiac as it was towed off to the scrapyard. The red car is a real oddity, 1967 Isuzu Bellet. I’ve never seen one since.

Over on the My Hemmings pages, weswon shared not only a vintage pic of his father’s 1967 4-4-2, but also the story of how he bought it back, still in unrestored condition.

When I saw the car, he told me that it has passed through 3 different hands since my dad sold it. I nearly dropped to my knees when I saw it. The car was in its original unrestored condition with the exception of an engine rebuild. The car had all of the original equipment with the exception of an upgraded stereo. There was surface rust on the car and all the minor dings and minor dents from when my dad sold it was still there. No new dents, just oxidation and rust. The car was pretty straight and the interior was still original with no tears or rips.

John Robins, perhaps our most frequent commenter from the U.K., had plenty of great photos to share.

Firstly me at 17 in 1965 sitting on the front mudguard of my very first car, a 1954 Ford Popular bought for £55 and used for about two years and several breakdowns, and secondly my daughter, wearing her best shell suit and standing proudly by something a bit more important.

The photo with the RR was taken on a Bentley Drivers Club “drivers day” when RR would bring several demonstrators and those in attendance were given the chance to drive about the lanes surrounding Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire, which was the previous location of the BDC HQ, before their move to Banbury. The date would be about 1988. I have been a member of the BDC for 25 years, and include as a last picture, my Bentley, with me, a bit older, balder and fatter than I was with the Ford, sitting in the engine compartment.

I attach another view of the car at Silverstone in 1992, after a 150 mile run in the Norwich Union classic which was on the day of my 44th birthday. My twin brother is out of shot in the back, and you can see my daughter Julia, and just make out Rosemary, my wife behind me.

Marc Tyler shared a couple shots with a backstory:

This is the ‘68 Satellite I drove during most of college. It belonged to Dad, of course, and I managed not to crack it up despite the fact it was perenially shod with retreads or surplus Hertz spares painted with yellow stripes that were as hard and slippery as an 8 ball. Friends Anita and Cleve are inside while an amateur film shoot was taking place in a field.

And finally, Tony O’Neill with a shot of the family Ford:

This is my Mom and my sister near my Dad’s 1968 Ford. It was red with a black vinyl interior and had the 302 engine in it. Check out the dent in the left fender. Can’t remember what Dad did there. This was taken, I believe, in 1973 as we were moving in to our new house in Unionville, Ontario. The car is long gone. Someone rear ended Dad and the car was junked around 1975 or 1976. Good times we had in that car.

If you’d like to share the car photos you see while going through your family album later this week, feel free to submit them either at the Hemmings Nation Flickr pool, at My Hemmings, or directly to us. Let us know who’s in the picture and what you remember of the cars.