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In 1958, I purchased, for $25, a 1935 Ford Coupe (called a 5-window coupe) from a long-retired farmer. He had kept it garaged for years, up on blocks, and had faithfully turned the engine over daily, using the hand crank. My father gave me an old battery, we put it in, and the little beauty started and ran! What a great car it was. I drove it from the farm to classes at the U. of Iowa for a while, then sold it... for $200. Note: I seem to have no photos of my '35 Ford. Those shown are compliments of The Guild of Automotive Restorers website. |
| 1955 Studebaker: Another car that has become a classic; originally designed by Raymond Loewy in 1953, Studebaker hadn't cobbed it up much in 3 years of production. I drove it for years... until I was bored with it and wondered how to justify getting rid of it while it still ran so faithfully. I used to joke about entering it in the Mexican Road Race to see if that would kill it. It had one feature I wish cars still had... called a hill-holder... pressing the brake firmly would hold the car in place, and you could safely remove your foot from the pedal. In 1964, while driving alone on the new I80 from Des Moines to Iowa City, I was involved in an accident with a dead car that had hit a deer. I hit the other car hard, shattered the windshield with my head, and crawled out into the ditch with glass in my face. I was taken to the Newton hospital, and never saw my now-totalled Studebaker again. | |
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| Corvairs! I became enchanted with Corvairs as soon as they were released. I had never been a fan of General Motors, but Chevrolet showed great courage and innovation in producing a rear-engine (say WHAT?) air-cooled (say WHAT?) small, sporty car at a time when BIG, POWERFUL, GAS HOGS were the norm. In 1963, I bought a used 1960 Corvair (the first year of issue) and had considerable trouble with it. I also owned a 1962 model for a time. |  
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| In 1965, the redesigned Corvair was released, and I ordered a new one from the Iowa City dealer... a 4-door in beige. I drove that car until 1972, and found it to be remarkable. It got better gas mileage than almost anything else on the road, was great in snow, and performed almost flawlessly except for occasionally breaking a clutch cable. Once I began carrying a spare clutch cable with me, it never broke again. Ralph Nader's self-serving attack on the Corvair, with "Unsafe at Any Speed" was a horrible injustice (and in fact knowingly faked). Despite selling 10 times as many Corvairs as Corvettes, Chevy dropped the line in 1969. | 
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1972 Porshce 914 - In 1972, in a fit of extravagance, I purchased a new Porsche 914 for $4600, at Carousel Porsche-Audi. I chose a gorgeous dark green color (the best color I've ever seen on a 914) with a beige interior, and deliberately chose not to have the vinyl on the roof upright. I don't know how one could enjoy a car more than I did the 914, and in so many different ways. With it's mid-engine allowing trunks on both ends, plenty of legroom, great seats, and 30+ gas mileage, it was a fabulous trip car. The removeable top section stored under the rear trunk lid, where it took virtually no space. I got involved in autocrossing, specifically in what were called gymkhanas... solo timed racing on tight courses, usually laid out in large parking lots. Participating in those races each summer weekend taught me a LOT about driving, and my 914 and I were quite competitive, often beating big Corvettes, and occasionally even "real" Porsches. The photos were taken at Elko Speedway, an unusual location for a gymkhana. Driving hard with a concrete wall surrounding you was nervewracking. I had gotten used to taking tight corners with the back end "loose", which means that I was often very close to a spin-out. On the highway, I've driven it over 100 mph. In 5th gear, it was loafing at that speed, and very stable. The 914 was a marvelous car - only those who have driven one to it's limits can understand just how marvelous. |
 
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