When I was a child, my uncle owned an antique car, something along the lines of a 1940’s or '50’s Plymouth sedan. It was one of those heavy vehicles that could probably stop a modern-day bus in its tracks. I rode in it once. It was like floating on a cloud – literally. Smoother than an airplane ride on a “windless” day (or maybe a glider with wind – no vibrating engine – only I’ve never been in one). The cars in that era were so heavy, they absorbed a lot the road rubble and bumps. The shocks really must have been something!
Other than that antique sedan, none of the cars we owned made a huge mark on my memory banks, except that we almost always had big station wagons (ten kids – who wouldn’t back in the 60’s & 70’s?). I remember different times in those wagons rather than the cars themselves. Like when I got sick while riding in the backend of one of them on swerving roads and having to stop to get out. I wonder if anyone resented me thereafter as we seldom took that scenic route again – at least when I was in the car. I also have great memories of being stretched out in the backend, watching a movie at the local drive-intheatre. Mom would lay the seat down and we’d have a “bed”, so we could fall asleep if we got tired. The first time I saw “The Sound of Music” was in the backend of a station wagon.
Fortunately, station wagons in those days were big enough to cram ten kids and a parent in, and (fortunately again as we all survived) it was before wearing seatbelts became a law. Mom would never have been able to buckle all ten kids in until we got the wagon with side fold-up backend seats – they had seatbelts. The other bonus was that I don’t think I got as sick sittings sideways as I did sitting backwards. The downside (or upside, depending on how you saw it) of being one of the younger half of ten children was that you usually had to sit in the backend – or the wayback as we called it – where four or five of us little ones could fit.
Speaking of station wagons, did you know that the title “station wagon” came from the horse and carriage era? Before 1890, early four-wheeled, covered vehicles were known as depot wagons. They were often used to pick up passengers and their baggage from railroad stations. Station wagons. Automotive companies picked up on it and kept the labels for their first "carting" vehicles.
My last car memory I'll share is of my cousin taking me for a ride in her parents' new electric car. I was maybe twelve or thirteen, and it was the first car with electric windows and gadgets I’d ever been in. Unfortunately, it may also have been one of the first times my cousin had driven an electric car. I was a tiny bit nervous as my cousin, as she was driving, was looking to turn something on (likely the lights) and kept turning on everything but what she was looking for. It was when she turned the wipers on (not a cloud in the sky) and couldn’t get them off for several minutes that she gave up and just kept driving (it was day, so the lights did not have to be on). Still, it was an exciting thing to experience.
The magic of childhood turns into perspectives of adulthood and now as “been-around-a-while” adults, we may get excited or amazed over new progress (A car that drives itself!! Who is going to test it??? Not me!), but otherwise it is just a car to most of us. A mode of travel and independence. (Unless you own a fancy race car, are extremely fond of cars in general, or are a collector – we all have our “thing”.)
Not my uncle's car, but one of the pre-station wagon cars that was big and bulky.
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