When They Were Real Steel…..Part IV

Almost halfway through the "album" now, we'll start this "installment" with number 31........Just back from 3 years in England, and getting used to driving on the CORRECT side of the road again, back at Mountain Home for the THIRD time.......it just felt normal to look for an old pickup truck......and I found a DANDY up in Boise for $650.00.  It was now August of 1982.

# 31

This old 1950 Dodge pickup had a trusty old "230" flathead in-line "6", with "3 on the tree", and while it wouldn't cruise at 75 on the interstate, it WOULD take you wherever you wanted to go.  A reliable old truck, and fun to drive ,if ya grew up around stuff like this. (and I was right at home!)

# 32

I'd always wanted a Packard, but the great pompous 30's & 40's models are "upper 5-digit" cars and sometimes SIX!  I would settle for this 1953 4-door Clipper, with a huge flathead 327 cubic inch straight-8 with "Ultramatic" transmission.  One of the SMALLER Packards, it weighed 5,315 lbs----Engine & tranny together weighed 1,010, it averaged SEVEN mpg, and was just a big hunk of "rolling sculpture."

Packards were the "White House chariots" all the way up through the FDR years and they built aircraft and PT boat engines in World War II.  They were considered the finest car ever mass produced in the states, but their production numbers couldn't keep up with Cadillac or Lincoln, and they had to merge with Studebaker in 1955 to stay afloat, and finally disappeared altogether after 1958.  A real shame, but I've been lucky enough in life to have at least OWNED one.

# 33

This '63 Ford Falcon 2-door Sprint is still around town, but in tan primer with a "351 Windsor in it."  When I had it, it had the little stock "260" V-8 w/C-4 tranny.  I've always liked Falcons and this one was a neat little ride.

# 34

After I came home from a year remote assignment in Suwon, Korea, I bought this '73 Ford F-100 near the end of 1984.  "360" V-8, 4-speed and dual fuel tanks...........Lotsa huntin' trips!

#35

But if you're an old codger like me, sometimes an old truck just ain't old ENOUGH, so I got rid of the 73 & bought this FIFTY-three.  F-100, with the old "239" flathead V-8, 4-speed......now THIS was the way to get around town!

# 36

Another venture into the "Slant-Six" world, was this '79 Dodge Aspen Wagon.  I wasn't really looking for one but the price was right.  Made a good commute car, and the little "225" was reliable and fuel-efficient, as you'd expect from a Slant-6.

# 37

This '73 Ford Galaxie 500 was cosmetically really ugly inside & out, but I bought it for that "351 Cleveland" V-8 it had under the hood.  Nobody paid any attention to it and it certainly didn't look like anything worth stealing......but it would RUN!

# 38

I'd retired from active duty in 1988, and had been commuting back & forth to Boise after I'd gone to work for the BLM.  In 1989, things were starting to get "stupid" at the gas pumps again, so I bought this little '71 Mazda for 200 bucks, and darned near drove the wheels off of it for the next couple of fire seasons.  It had a 109 cubic inch OHV 4 cylinder in it with a 4-speed,  about 36 mpg, so it took less than 3 gallons a day, round-trip!  200 dollars well-spent!

# 39

I also replaced the "ugly" Galaxie with this '76 Ford Granada.  It was a nicer car all-around, and performance was still good with its "351 Windsor" V-8.

# 40

By 1990, I was making pretty good money with the BLM, so I figured..........why not?  I was into Ford Products pretty well by this time.....I'd owned Ford pickups and a Mercury.......only thing left was a LINCOLN..........I found this very pretty '77 Continental.  (Hey.......every now & then ya need to "indulge", whether it makes any sense of not).

TODAY, Donna & I have a "few" cars around here, but in the economy we have NOW........I do most of my running around in one of the old "slug bugs"...........but I don't regret one BIT, having a LINCOLN back when it was still affordable to FEED one.  Even with the big "460" V-8, it was still capable of 12-14 mpg on long trips (if you drove it like a baby carriage).  At a curb weight of 6,461.......it was very smooth & comfortable.

.............well............at 40 cars now, we're just about 2/3 of the way there...............stay tuned for part V.......