Saturday, December 21, 2019

Smith Family Cars of the Past

To my dear children--Angela, Trisha and Michael, here are the cars that we had in the family until Michael moved out of the home and made us empty-nesters.  May this blogpost bring back good memories in your childhood!

1959 Chevy - My first car... I called it my bat mobile!  A co-worker sold me this car when I worked at Marshall Army Airfield on Fort Riley.  I'm ashamed to say that I don't recall ever giving it a tuneup the whole time I had it for a few years.  It was a miracle that it lasted until shortly after I married Ron.  It was after this car bit the dust that we were without a car for a while and had to catch rides to church and work.

Yellow Maverick (year unknown) - All of the images are not the actual cars we owned, but similar in make, model and color.  This Maverick looks a lot nicer than the one we had! It was pretty raggedy! 

While pregnant with Trisha, I drove the Maverick to the hospital after my water broke and dropping Angela off at the babysitters.  I delivered her soon after arriving at the hospital.

I recall while my husband drove me to the hospital to deliver my 10-pound boy and teasing my husband that I knew it was a girl.  He wanted a boy real bad, and so did I!  The car shimmied all the way to the hospital!

1953 International Truck - This truck hauled a LOT of firewood!  Wish we had it now even if we didn't drive it!


1974 Gremlin - We traded the '53 International in for the Gremlin since it was so much better on gas for when my husband drove to work.

74 Nova 2-door hatchback - Wish I had a picture of the wood contraption (to store luggage) my husband built for the top of the car when we made our first trip to Baltimore.  It was pretty hilarious to look at!  Got chuckles from other drivers while on Interstate 70.

We decided to get rid of the car soon after an incident that scared the daylights out of me.  While going back to work on I-70 with a friend in the car, the hood flew up obstructing my driving view!  Thank God nothing serious happened and I was able to pull off the road and shut the hood.

1985 Dodge Omni - Our first brand new car!!!  It was so nice going from a clunker to a brand new car even though it was a compact car and accommodated our family of five!

1987 Dodge Dakota Pickup - Angela learned to drive a stick in this truck. We didn't have this truck long though.  After returning from a trip from Baltimore, that "new car" spirit got a hold of my husband and he traded the Dakota in for a 1988 Dodge Ram Pickup.

1987 Chrysler New Yorker - This was a new car demo.  I felt really uptown driving our first brand new luxury car!!!  Michael learned to drive in this car along with the red Dodge Pickup.

1988 Dodge Ram D100 Truck - Angela, Trisha and Michael all learned to drive in this truck.  I'm sure Angela has plenty of memories about this truck.  It was such a nice looking truck!  Better looking than the image shown below!

1996 Honda Civic LX - Last but not least, this car got passed around in the family, from Angela to Michael and then back to us.  The car got totaled when Ron got hit from behind going to Topeka on the icy road.