My first car was 1929 Model A Ford, 4 door with cute little roll-up window shades on the rear passemger windows. My dad had a 1928 2 door sedan Model A.

I bought mine in 1953 while working after school at a filling/service station. Paid $108 and cylinder no. 4 was misfiring. A friendly mechanic help me fix that - replaced an exhaust valve. He took one from an engine laying behind his shop. He Had several laying around for parts. Total cost was $5 for a head gasket.

After I got the car home, I noticed the spare tire. Cast into the sidewall was "U.S. Post Office". I presume that the car had belonged to rural postal carrier. I wonder how many cluthes it had gone though?

I don't know what happened to that car. I left home in late 1954 and my family drove the car into oblivion, maybe trading it in for their new 1955 Ford.

Was it a great car - No. It was basic transportaion, something that I could afford and fix, and it worked on the poor country roads, some very muddy. Brakes were always an issue with these cars. The 'parking brake' was called an 'emergency brake' by the locals and for good cause, too. You learned double clutching to gear down to help slow the car. The steering gear was a worm gear on an arc, and the center teeth would become worn, while the teeth at the extremes of right or left lock were like new. There was an adjustment for 'play' but it wasn't effective when the center wore down. Removing center play made it too tight at the ends of travel, thus one adjusted for best overall result and accepted center play. Now, steering a Model A with worn steering gear down a gravel road where mounds of gravel lay between the tracks required a level of expertice not seen to day. Things went ok until one spied an oncomming vehicle and it was time to move out of the center of the road for passing. You had to plan ahead for such events, so a driver kept an eye out for traffic as far as he could see. You became aware that hills were an hazard. The drill was to move over to the right before topping a hill. Those who forgot to do this on gravel roads became accidents.

I wonder why I survived.

LOL! Great story! There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that folks back then were better drivers than today... they had to be.

I think some of the crazy features of vehicles today can put drivers into a loll and false state of security. People don't even bother to learn simple driving skills like how to parallel park since their vehicle does it automatically for them.

1975 Pontiac Trans Am, 400 small block.

1964 Plymouth Valiant...Super (?) 225 engine, with push button on the dash automatic transmission....boring...unlike the others listed above.

Sue

1964 Ford Galaxy 500, a behemoth but it did have AC.

a 1959 v.w. beetle, reliable, but very cold in the winter. traded it on a 63 falcon convertable a few yrs later, with a 289 v8 and 4 spd in it from a 66 mustang. fun car but not practical for ohio winters.

a 1980 gold and black Dodge Colt. A neighbor gave it to me when it threw a rod so I immediately started working two jobs to save up money for a new motor. 3 months and $700 later, I was on the road with my first very own rod. That modest mouse of a car was my pride and joy. It was front-wheel drive which in my teenage mentality meant 4WD(not really, but I did take that thing off-road quite a few times, crammed with passengers inside, on the hood, and on the rear bumper). It was also a manual xmission which I learned to use on the way back from the mechanic who installed the engine. That was the first car I got dirty with as I learned the ins and outs of tune-ups and component maintenance. I sold it for $400 before entering the Navy. I used that car to the max. I have no regrets. God bless wherever it may be now.