Our Cars

Some of these we've owned personally,
others belonged to family members.

1949 Cadillac

1949 Cadillac
I believe this belonged to my Grandfather.
(my Dad took the picture)

1952 Volkswagen

1952 Volkswagen Beetle
My Father always claimed he owned the first VW Beetle in St. Louis.
Now I'm not sure if that's true or not but he did have pictures of it.
These were taken in 1956; funny how they didn't change
all that much
over the years.

1971 Buick Skylark Convertible
"Precious"
I loved this car. I had it in High School.
Probably the biggest car I've ever owned even though it was originally marketed as
'midsize'.  It had a 350 V8 engine with a 4bl carb; totally sucked gas but very
powerful.  The speedometer went up over 200mph but I never got it up that fast.
I did get it up to around 120 out on Gumbo Flats once.
That's my friend, Brenda, riding shotgun.

1971 Volkswagen 411
"Nemorth"
A much maligned and misunderstood vehicle.  Frequently mistaken for it's uglier, more
sluggish successor - the 412.  Introduced to the American market well after the astounding
success of the Bug, VW couldn't sell this much more expensive car to Americans who
equated the Volkswagen name with "cheap" cars. 
Never mind the Porsche engine and body design - $10,000 in 1982 wasn't gonna fly.  So they replaced the engine with something less spectacular (and less reliable), re-sculpted the
exterior and lowered the price to produce the 412.

Too bad; the 411 was a good car with nice lines and a kick-ass engine. 
I enjoyed my "undercover" Porsche a lot.

1979 Datsun Wagon
"Baby"
That's my nephew, Tim.  He's all grown up now.

Bruce's 1983 Toyota Tercel Wagon
"Sophie"
One of the best cars I ever owned, 
after my '65 Mustang.

Bruce's 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass
Lots of surface rust, but nice interior and lots of options.  Only kept it a year.

Bruce's 1985 Escort
Could've been a good car, but was doomed because it had engine valve problems (my second in a row)

Our Cars, part 2