It wasn't seemly to be seen hanging out with your son until he was about 9 to 12 years old or so in the U.S. in the 1950s by fathers. So, there was this very formal relationship often between fathers and sons expected. So, it was like your Dad was a King and even though if you were a boy you might be a Prince of your father and mother's realm you didn't usually bother your father much because he worked a lot and he worked hard.
So, from the time I was about 2 years old and realized how austere everything was in the culture then I didn't like it at all. But, I liked my mother and my Grandmother (even though she was afraid all the time like women who had been born in the 1880s (she was born in 1888) and had never worked outside the home a day in her life (my grandmother) so when he husband (my mother's father left when my mother was 18) my mother had to financially support her mother and herself from age 18 to 27 when she married my Dad.
So, my Dad had been Valedictorian of his High School Class in the Seattle Area in the mid 1930s and so I used to ride behind my father in our car that once had belonged to his brother Tommy which was a 1941 Century Buick with the biggest engine so my Dad used to race other people with it before his brother didn't come back during world war II.
When I saw it first I think it was blue but I think Dad had it painted because I saw pictures of it when I was a baby and it was sort of Cream colored before. But, by the time I was 3 or 4 Dad had it painted Blue Fender Skirts and it also had a Visor which was big then too. Here are some pictures of Fender skirts on Cars of that era that are the type I rode in then. I don't know if any are a buick below or not it didn't say.
Also, most cars had a 3 speed column shift so if you imagine your shifter is on your steering wheel to the right of the wheel but attached to it. and the shift pattern is like a capital H so first gear is down left, 2nd gear is up right and 3rd gear is down right and you have a clutch on the floor to your right.
The era I'm talking about above mostly and the following sentence is from 1950 to 1960.
However, if you were driving a truck it was more likely then that you could either have a column shifter or you could have a floor shifter.
For example, in College when I went to Palomar College in San Diego County around 1971 to 1973 I drove the largest truck you can drive with a regular car license in California and it was a 16 speed Floor shift diesel Truck then and I drove up to Los Angeles with my load most days during the week from San Marcos, California where the College is at around 4 or 5 pm and got back between 11 and midnight weekdays. so, I would go the college during the day until 3 and then drive this big diesel Truck to los Angeles and back by midnight then.
begin quotes:
.jpg)
.jpg)
