I am a bit behind schedule but as promised here are a couple photos offered as evidence that my affliction for driving vintage vehicles is a lengthy one. In an on line discussion with an acquaintance that is organizing a Route 66 cruise next September p://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/203904/ the topic of old cars once owned and how long we had been fascinated with came up.

Here are two photos taken in the mid 1980s. One is of a 1956 Ford Fairlane and the second is of the 1949 Chevy panel truck that was acquired by trading the Ford.

To give you an idea how little value vehicles such as this had twenty years ago consider this – I paid $500 for the all original, including paint, Ford because it needed a regulator. This V8, 3 speed, and overdrive equipped car was driven for awhile and then traded for the panel truck.

This truck was equipped with the rare chrome fender trim, chrome bumpers, grill, and stainless trim around the windows.

It gets worse. At the used car lot where I worked at the time, this was about 1985, we had a number of great old cars that were trade ins from the parent Chrysler dealership. Among these was a pristine 1955 Dodge two door hardtop that needed a timing chain, a one owner 1955 DeSoto Firedome sedan, a Kaiser Manhattan with less than 60,000 original, garage kept miles, a 1947 Pontiac sedan, a couple of Corvairs, a nice 1950 Ford p.u., a 1957 Plymouth sedan, and the Ford Fairlane.

The owner was desperate to get rid of the “old junk”. He said I could pick any four for $1,000 or one for $500. As I was beyond broke we settled for the Ford Fairlane.

As the years passed, vintage cars as a trade in became more and more scarce. Still, I managed to pick up a rust free, straight as an arrow 1954 Dodge truck with seized engine for $50, and an equally clean, one owner, all original 1950 Chevy p.u. that ran like a watch for $1000.

When time allows I will dig up some photos of other notable drivers (a 1969 Cadillac convertible) and a few that turned up on the car lot including a rust bucket 1976 Pontiac Grand Am sedan with V8 and 5 speed (the window sticker showing the trans as original was in the glove box) and a 1964 Chrysler Newport sedan with what appeared to be a factory 4 speed.

I hope each of you had a delightful Christmas.