Family albums ‘n four-speeds – early evidence of our love of old cars

If we needed any proof that old cars are in our blood, we sure have it now. When we put out the call for your family album photos with old cars in ‘em the other day, we got plenty of responses and some great stories. The first one to come in, above, was from Ron Peters, who writes:

This is my favorite family car photo.  It is my Uncle Paul Stucki (behind the wheel) and his friend Ownie (Owen). It was a purpose built race car called a Hisso (based on the Hispano Suiza motor). I think my uncle was the mechanic and not the full time driver. I believe it was taken probably sometime in the 1940’s in the Portland OR area but don’t know for sure. We’ve tried getting more history on the car but haven’t had much luck. I’d love to know if this car still exists somewhere and get more/corrected info.

Next, Jeff Reeves provided a photo definitively explaining his affliction with AMCs.

Here’s an early photo of me immersed in AMC-dom more or less. I was probably about 2 years old or so in this photo. The silver Javelin is a 1968 model equipped with a 290/automatic. My aunt and uncle bought this car new. They also were the original owners of the 1972 Gremlin X, a 258/3-speed car. The Gremlin was only about a year old in this photo. The 62 Dodge station wagon in the garage was also owned by my aunt and uncle, albeit briefly.

The gold 1968 Ambassador SST was purchased new by my grandparents. It was a 343/automatic car. It also became one of my very first cars circa 1984 or thereabouts. Unfortunately circumstances led to this car being given away and it eventually ended up in a junkyard. I wish I’d never let it go.
The green 1970 LeMans belonged to my parents, the original owners. It was a 350/auto car and while it wasn’t a high option car, it did have AC, power steering and brakes, and I think it had an AM/FM radio, but I’m fuzzy on that detail–I was only about 6 or 7 when we got rid of it.

As you can see, I had no choice but to be an AMCer as I was immersed in them from an early age. I really wish I could locate that Gremlin as it had lots of memories for me, but I haven’t seen that car since the early 90s and have no idea where it is now.

Andre Roy shared this gem:

Me! 1955, summer, near Cobalt, Ontario. The car is …. dark coloured … I remember my father talking about an Oldsmobile, but I don’t know.

Timothy Wade took advantage of the My Hemmings section to upload several photos of his family’s cars, including the Olds Rallye 350 above. He writes:

The F250 my parents bought brand new in 1978, and it was our daily ride for many years, and we traveled all over the country with it. It has a 400M and a four-speed, no AC or cruise, and while it can run 80mph with two tons worth of camper on the back…of course it manages to only return 8-10mpg, but hey, what style!

The Olds Ralley 350 was a hardtop, Cutlass S, with black leather interior…I still remember the small crank handles to the rear quarter windows, and sitting on my father’s lap steering it down the driveway. It’s unfortunate that the rough upstate New York winters ate it to oblivion years ago.

My father drove tractor trailer for several companies in the late 1970’s – early 1980’s, and he also delivered fire-trucks for Ward LaFrance all across the country. I’ve got a few more pictures somewhere of me sitting in a wide variety of trucks, including his favorite R-model Mack’s. I wasn’t around when he was driving his all-time favorite, a 1971 Brockway Model 360 that he drove hauling propane for AG Gundry in upstate New York.

Finally, Flickr member skistz added a couple photos to the Hemmings Nation Flickr pool of his uncle’s SOHC-powered Mustang, called the Jersey Rattler.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. It’s my uncle’s old A/FX altered wheel base Mustang. I’m not sure exactly when this picture was taken, I’d estimate between 1967 and 1970. It was one of approximately 10 built by Holman-Moody. Under the hood is the super-rare and exotic SOHC 427. According to my dad, the car had a Chrysler clutch-flite transmission which was an automatic with a clutch in place of a torque converter. Anyone know what became of this car?

Check out the full-size versions of these photos below. We have more to show you next week, but keep those family album photos coming in – we might just be able to make a regular feature out of this.

By the way, for those of you looking for the weekly Hemmings Six Degrees of Automotive Separation Challenge, we’re just taking a break here for the holiday. We’ll be back with the challenge next Friday morning.