Top Ten Old Car Memories

By Joe Whitaker

I’ve always heard that as you get older memories of the many good things that have happened so far in your lifetime are the most precious. Funny how true it is that the good things rise to the top in your mind and the bad things somehow just disappear. I suppose that’s the only way some of us have kept our sanity over the years! Now, being a car guy like many of you, in addition to fond memories of family, friends and holidays, some of my fondest memories involve old cars. And these were not necessarily shiny, fully restored cars. The cars that I have had the most fun with were usually those that I had very little or no money invested in. It seems as though the more time and money we invest in a vehicle, the level of responsibility and seriousness go way up and it becomes a little less fun. Here are some of my fondest memories:

1) In the mid-1980s, a local man lost his farm due to financial troubles and thus all of his property and many of his possessions were auctioned off one Saturday afternoon. I had known him and knew he had several old Chevys stashed in his barns. I managed to arrive at the auction site just as the auction ended and the auctioneer was closing the gates to the farm. I was sure I had missed my chance to buy the cars and almost turned around and went home. Instead, I asked the auctioneer about the cars that were still there. He just looked at me and said, “Oh, that junk?, the fellow that bought the property told me to have it hauled off right away.” Barely able to contain my excitement, I volunteered to haul away the “junk”. Later that night, I came back and carted off a complete Sierra Gold and beige 1956 2-door hardtop, a 1955 cameo truck and a whole pile of related parts…free for the taking!

2) Being an easterner (southerner), I have always enjoyed my frequent trips out west and particularly to California for western conventions. Several years ago, just before the Western National in Santa Rosa, CA, I flew out a day early to visit with my friend Dave Fletcher. We needed to haul some parts I had purchased from him from Concord to Santa Rosa. Dave had an old ‘72 Chevy pickup truck, no A/C, wires hanging down, painted three different colors…that was my ride to get to the convention site. It was about a 1-hour ride on a beautiful California day with bright sun and 60s tunes playing on the radio while we drove an old Chevy truck through the wine country of northern California.

3) I bought (with dad’s help) my first ’57 when I was 14 or 15 years old. That car, along with a very rusty ’62 Chevy II 4-door sedan, were the cars I drove during high school. Picture a kid 17 years old riding with his buddies in the little town of Saugerties, NY in a jacked up, red primer no carpet ’57 Chevy beater….that was me!

4) When I lived in upstate NY, my dad and I stumbled across a junkyard about 15 miles from home that had hundreds of (and probably still does) ‘55-‘57 Chevy’s and many other old makes. The owner frowned on folks wandering about this abandoned yard, but we got to know him and eventually purchased a ’57 hardtop from him. This gave us unlimited access; so many times we would go there and wander around for hours. This yard included several convertibles, many hardtops and sedans, a few wagons and one Nomad. Most of the cars were very rusty and many were old wrecks, but most were complete with no parts missing. It was the ultimate junkyard experience.

5) In the late 1980s, I worked for a classic car parts place in Lexington, KY, while in college. Across the street was an old gas station that did general mechanical work. I noticed a black Chevelle had been sitting beside the station for many months. One day I walked over to take a look. The shop owner told me the owner of the Chevelle owed him money for some repairs he had done and could not pay. I contacted the owner of the Chevelle and I bought the car for $900. It turned out to be a numbers matching 1970 SS396 complete with the optional console package, correct engine and a 4-speed. I worked on the car for about two months and began to use it as my driver (back when gas was under $1 a gallon).

6) My ex-boss Jim and I realized the value of attending local shows because this gave us a real opportunity to meet, talk to and get to know the real car folks in the hobby and industry. We decided to attend the Gambler River Run back in the early 1990’s and we decided to drive a low mileage 1957 210 2-door sedan (6-cylinder Powerglide) from Florida to Nevada. That cross-country trip in an all-original ’57 is something I will never forget!

7) The 50th Anniversary of the 1957 Chevy held in Detroit last year. Need I say more?

8) My uncle John and I used to spend many weekends together, working on cars or scouring the junkyards all over Kentucky when I lived there. On one of our trips, we located a used car lot/junkyard in Campbellsville, KY, that had an entire front row of ’57 Chevy’s. This junkyard also had a ’69 Camaro pace car convertible, a Yenko Nova and four ’57 convertibles.

9) On my grandparent’s old homestead in Wartrace, TN, there were many things to enjoy; searching for arrowheads, catching fireflies and an old rusty Dodge hulk buried in the weeds. No, it wasn’t a Chevy, but that old rusty Dodge sure had character and if it could only talk…

10) My dad and I always enjoyed the outdoors when I lived at home. Many weekends were spent hiking, camping, canoeing and skiing no matter where we lived. One weekend trip to the Red River in eastern KY revealed riverbanks that had been built out of old cars! I remember 1955 Chevy sedans, a hardtop and a 1960 Biscayne. The Biscayne grille and front bumper were still entirely intact and new looking and overhung the river by a few feet. I still have the grille emblem out of that car…..  

Do you have some old car memories you are particularly fond of? Share them (and your pictures) with us at joe.whitaker@ecklers.net.