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Topic starter
19/01/2023 3:44 pm
SOMETHING TO PONDER...The Cars you Owned.
Sipping my coffee at McDonald's this morning, I enjoyed the car conversation taking place at the table across from me. The table seats 10 people comfortably, but usually there are at least 6 to 8 older guys who are there. I often think it would be fun to join them, but then I decide that I rather enjoy just listening to their morning banter from afar. The different opinions and comments shared are intriguing. Especially this morning.
Being that there are 6 or so of them, usually there are more than one conversation going on amongst them. This morning they were bantering about the question of why "they" or "others" bought a car back in the day. I found it interesting.
One guy said, "My Dad was a Buick man. He loved those big Roadmaster's". Another guy chimed in with, "Our neighbor was a doctor, and he always drove Chrysler's. I just thought when I was a kid that if I saw a Chrysler, the owner must have been a doctor". A guy on the end of the table shared that he remembered when, "Chevy's, Ford's, and Plymouth's were 'bread and butter' cars", to which the guy across from him questioned him, "Why'd he call them bread and butter cars?". The answer given was that, "The low-priced three from the Big Three, were for those that couldn't afford the Cadillac's and Lincoln's". There seemed to be a consensus that the guy asking what bread and butter cars were, had learned something new and he'd never heard that before.
Immediately a guy in the middle of the table blurted out, "Well only the rich could afford a Cadillac". Another of the guys said as he laughed out his comment, "The Cadillac owners thought they were better than anyone else". The man who made the "only the rich could afford a Cadillac" comment said, "I never knew my Dad was better than anyone else. He never owned a new Cadillac, but he did own two or three old models".
Well by now I'd finished my coffee and had to make a couple of stops, so I got up and left. As I did leave though, I was amused at the discussion and it got me to thinking. Why did people back in the day (or still today for that matter), buy certain cars? I thought about my own father when I was kid, and the cars that he'd owned, and he pretty much ran the gamut with cars he owned, as he virtually eventually owned just about all of them from the Big Three back in the day.
So fellow Lounge Forum buddies, what about you guys, why did you or people you know buy certain cars? Were you or they loyal to one or just a couple brands, or did you play the field? GO!
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
Ed Davis reacted
19/01/2023 4:20 pm
I LOVE this question, George, and have thought about it many times myself over the years.
Before there was such a proliferation of models of varying sizes (compact, mid-size, full-size), there was much less overlap among the MAKE of car. A Buick was "better" than a Pontiac. But once the line-ups started expanding...was a Buick Skylark better than a Pontiac Bonneville? No!
My Dad was a Buick man. I remember us getting a brand new '63 LeSabre right around the same time a neighbor got a new Pontiac Catalina. For sure, ours was the "better" car. Had the neighbor gotten a Chrysler Newport, that would have been a level playing field.
That all ended once the product lines started to expand.
Barry Levittan
Long Island, NY
George Schire and Ed Davis reacted
19/01/2023 4:31 pm
Somewhere in the cosmos, Alfred P. Sloan is smiling.
John Kuvakas
Warrenton, VA
19/01/2023 5:01 pm
Back in 1969 at end of third year in college I bought my first year car, a 1967 Mustang. I only liked 2 door sporty looking hard tops, I liked the smaller size, and I could afford it. One other reason was the name. I built many model airplanes back then, and favorite was the Mustang. Today, over 50 years later, I still only like sporty looking hard tops.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
Topic starter
19/01/2023 6:06 pm
This discussion about my morning McDonald's visit, set off another memory regarding cars. I've shared it in, yet another, COFFEE TALK, this one #63. Check it out here in the Lounge.
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
19/01/2023 6:18 pm
After a couple early to mid 50s Fords, a 58 Chevy, and a 59 Plymouth Wagon for a short period, my father, a schoolteacher, bought a 64 Tempest as his first new car. My uncle was in the tire business so there may have been a connection with the Pontiac dealer and thus the brand choice. Four years later he bought a 68 Tempest. In 71 he went with the Chrysler Newport (4 door) after a rear end collision of the Tempest. in 76 he purchased a Volare which looked nice but did not hold up very well. At some point he had a nice 84? Caprice and of course his last car was a 90s Mercury Marquis.
In 72 I paid to repair the Tempest and it became my first car. After the 68 Tempest was totaled while parked I acquired the same 64 Tempest short term which my uncle had kept around. I bought a 68 Charger (a trade in model I think from the Chrysler dealer my father had) because it was so cool and the right price at the time. After that was wrecked by a rear ender I bought a 73 Cougar from a dealer my dad new from his club and although I wanted the Grand Prix on the same lot, was talked out of it by the salesman and my dad (good call). That was traded for a brand new 78 F250 that I used on my days off duty when I first joined the Coast Guard. …
Frank Reed
Chesapeake, VA
John Kuvakas reacted
Topic starter
19/01/2023 6:28 pm
@frank Nice story Frank. Thanks for sharing.
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
Frank Reed reacted