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Monday, June 27, 2011

Stauffer Family Car Show


When I first learned to know Leroy in 1961 he drove a white 1953 Chevy. Check those fender skirts and wide whitewall tires!



When we started dating he drove a black 1964 Corvair which his dad bought brand new for him. I liked that cute little car.

The year before we were married he bought a brand new1966 Chevelle. That was the last brand new car he ever owned. Eventually one of our sons bought it and its back in our garage waiting to be restored.

In 1978 Leroy bought a 1967 Chevelle with about 30,000 miles on it. Another son bought this car when we were finished with it and restored it. There it is in all its glory at the head of the line at his wedding. He is very sentimental about that car because he came home from the hospital, got engaged, and took his first ride as a married man in it. Now they are expecting their first child and I'm not surprised if  he brings his newborn home from the hospital in it.

With a family of six children in 1990 we could not afford anything fancy when it was time to replace the 1967 Chevelle. So we bought a 19-year old car on a public auction. This 1971 Olds also had about 30,000 miles on it which was the selling point. It was purchased new in 1971 and driven by an old lady who went to a nursing home in 1990. She proudly told us she ordered that color and it is called "Bittersweet." This was the ugly duckling of our cars. Our children were embarrassed to be seen in an orange car and called it "the pumpkin." But it was as solid as a rock and served us well.

No one wanted the pumpkin when we replaced it in 1998 with a 1995 Pontiac which was a more acceptable dark green color. It had 47,000 miles on it and we put another 200,000 on it. We did go on some trips in it but the majority of the miles were put on just running around in little circles to school, the grocery store, church, etc. It still runs but has some aging problems that would cost more to fix than the car is worth. After 13 years, we decided it is time to turn it out to pasture and get something newer.

On Saturday Leroy took the plunge and bought a gray 2007 Buick Lucerne CX. It has 26,000 miles on it. This is an old man's car, built for comfort and a smooth ride. I think we will like it.
So there you have it. The Stauffer Family Car Show. We had four cars in the 44 years of our married life and drove them for an average of eleven years. I'm not going to tell you how old Leroy will be in eleven years from now. It's a number too fierce to mention.


4 comments:

Twila Henry said...

Oh, I remember the "pumpkin" :)
The older I get, the more I realize that a cars dependability matters most. And it is much nicer not to have car payments!
I like your new car! Hope it lasts you awhile!! Maybe more than 11 years! :)

Scribbler said...

Exactly! We never financed a car in our lives but bought whatever we could afford to pay cash. But the prices these days! A used car now is as much as our mortgage was when we built our house in 1968.

GKStauffer said...

The pumpking replaced the '67, not the '66.
The old pumpkin had lots of nicknames.... The Battleship, Cinderella's Coach, The Juicer.... and the keys had a tag with the inscription, "Keys to the Klunker"

Scribbler said...

You're right. Correction made.