1951 Mercury - Flathead V8 - 3 on the floor. Started out 3 on the column - Got to learn some
things by installing the floor shift (with some assistance). Shaved the trunk. Was a
decent car in the early 1960's. The sucide doors were novel. It was solid and was running great
until I got T-Boned by a car that ran that ran a red light at a blind intersection. Bent the
frame - had to reluctently scrap it.
1955 Chevy Convertable - 327 - 300hp - 4 speed - 4.11 Rear End. I was the 25th Owner.
It started out as a 283 Automatic. Put a lot of miles on this one between 1963 and 1969.
The only pictues I seem to have are from the day I buried it. (Was flipping it over to
remove the custom heavy duty rear springs that I had installed). The engine and transmission
went into the 1962 Chevy II Nova (see below).
1955 Chevy Nomad - 327 - 350hp - 4 speed - [many] 4.56 Rear Ends. Street & Strip.
Flat towed the '55 Nomad to the local Drag Race Strips with the '55 Convertable. Was
never really competetive, but was fun. Body and interior was actually pretty good and all chrome
was there. But I never bothered to get it painted. After keeping it in a rented garage for about
10 years without racing it, I finally sold it in running condition to someone in
New Alexander, PA for $800. (Would be worth a whole lot more today).
Second 1955 Chevy Nomad - 283 - 3 on the floor. Intent was to make this the tow car
so I could flat tow a Nomad with a Nomad. But concluded that this one had too much rust and
it was missing a lot of the chrome trim. Interior was just so-so. More project than I was
interested in at the time. Sold it rather cheaply to a Pitt Football player (and kept looking
over my shoulder for a while)
1962 Chevy II Nova. - 327 - 4 speed. Daily Street Transportation for a couple of years.
Was fun to drive, but was light and squirrely. Let off of the gas in a lower gear and the back
end would break loose. Was not a great Winter vehicle at all. Ended up putting a tame 283 engine in
it. That helped some. Sold it to a neighbor, cautioning him about it being light and
squirrely. He ended up losing control and wrecking it.
1962 VW Bug and 1962 VW Bus. The VW Bug was Pam's Daily Driver. The VW Bus was my Daily Driver.
(Hey, they were 'cool' back then). The VW Bus was a big step down from the '62 Chevy II. But it was
a better Daily Driver. Ran these VWs for quite a few years. Learned how to draft trucks on the highway.
Learned a lot about VWs. Like always keep a small scraper handy to scrape the ice off of the inside of
the windshield in the Winter. Found out that strapping six Christmas Trees onto the roof of the VW Bus
while having eight people inside made it a real struggle to get back home from Indiana PA. Had
to put an engine and a later a transaxle in the VW Bus.
1967 VW Bug - Was a replacement for the 1962 Bug. Bought this nice looking just-painted VW from a body
shop. Ran good. More power. But it turned out to be a bad investment because a lot of rust had gotten glazed
over and painted. Wasn't very long before the painted over rust showed through. But as-is means as-is. Applying
the greater fool therory, I took it to a body shop where it got re-glazed and re-painted. Then sold it.
1974 Honda Civic and 1971 Dodge Maxi-Wagon. With the 1962 Chevy II still in the lineup. Had a size for every
mood. The Honda Civic was a new vehicle, purchased from Yenko Chevy. 1200cc - 4 Speed. Pam's Daily Driver. Was a step
up from the VWs (it had a heater). Small 4 cylinder engine, but it performed well. Easy to park. The Dodge Maxi-Wagon
was a used school bus. 6 cylinder - automatic. Used as a Daily Driver. A little harder to park. Converted it to to a
camping van and took it on a three week tour of the country. Hauled dirt bikes in it. Ran it for quite a few years.
