The other day, I was spending a little bit of my retirement time reading a magazine which had decided to use most of its pages to a eulogy about the car known as Cadillac. If they had asked me, I would have told them about one that one of my high school friends back in Stoneboro, Pa. had purchased. Things get a little hazy after so many years, but as I recall it was a very used 1936 Cadillac. It was a huge car. It was so big that it had pull up seats between the front and back seats. Obviously, it then became a six passenger minimum. Of course, back in those days, you could sit three in the front seats and three in the back, so my friend, Jim could pack them in if he desired.
Normally, he did not pack the car. It was his baby, and I was one of the few to go with him on drives around the area. The back also had roll-down curtains so you could practically live in it. My friend enjoyed it for about a year, and decided that while he loved the car, he couldn’t afford it. It got about 5 miles to the gallon and even though you could get five plus gallons for a dollar, costs added up. Any repairs were also a problem as were tires etc. Thus, he reluctantly sold it. I wonder every once in a while if someone has it stored someplace.
Now, that Cadillac was not the oldest car I ever rode in. Way back when I was in the sixth grade and lived outside of Harrisville, PA, there was a high school girl who lived up the road. Her boyfriend had a genuine 1913 Hupmobile. You certainly don’t see many of them around anymore. In fact, even when I was in the sixth grade you didn’t see many – and I haven’t seen one since. In any case, the car had a rumble seat, and the girl’s friend would let me and another friend ride in the rumble seat occasionally. In case anyone is unclear about what a rumble seat is, it was located on the outside back of the car where the trunk now resides with the difference being that the door opened upward. The rumble seat was not very big. You reached it by climbing up the back of the car and shoe horning yourself in. When the car took off – not that it was all that fast, you got very windy conditions. You also rumbled around a lot, which may explain the name given to the seat.
By the time, I met The Blonde in the House, I had moved on from such ancient vehicles. Yep, I had a gently used 1948 Ford. It worked well and I never had to worry about it. That is until one day I was heading back to Westerville, OH from the Blonde’s home in Pittsburgh. It was winter and it was dark and snowy. I went over a hill on a two lane highway and there in front of me was a semi coming up on my side. I couldn’t stop. I slid into it and pushed in my front grill. I pulled over and the semi driver took off never to be seen again. The car was still drivable, and since I had no funds, I drove it that way. Everything was fine until another day I was headed back to Westerville and crossed the famous “Y” bridge in Zanesville, Ohio. The car in front of me was headed for the right leg of the Y, when the driver decided that he would rather take the left leg and did so right in front of me. I did not hit him hard, but since the front was already weakened it crunched the radiator. I ended up selling the car to a Ford dealer in Zanesville who wanted the engine.
I replaced the fine 1948 Ford with a used 1951 Ford. The latter was purchased from a relative of The Blonde’s who assured me that it was in great shape. We never discuss that car anymore!
Barry Evans is a columnist for Villages-News.com.
