1962
1962:
We really were getting tired of moving—we moved once during this year, from the apartment to a house we bought in Garland. Dad worked night and day for a while to “paint for down payment” as the ad said. He got it painted, and we moved in. It was a nice house, we enjoyed it, and we made a change that affected our lives for many years. We went to Wylie to church. Christmas was like several before and after—lots of homemade stuff, mainly made after bedtime and during naps. By now I had the Singer sewing machine I used for many years, and I made a lot of stuff. I guess we went to Waco. We bought a new green Rambler Station Wagon which turned out to be a lemon, so we sent it back. There was a Renault, and a Lloyd that year, too.
We really were getting tired of moving—we moved once during this year, from the apartment to a house we bought in Garland. Dad worked night and day for a while to “paint for down payment” as the ad said. He got it painted, and we moved in. It was a nice house, we enjoyed it, and we made a change that affected our lives for many years. We went to Wylie to church. Christmas was like several before and after—lots of homemade stuff, mainly made after bedtime and during naps. By now I had the Singer sewing machine I used for many years, and I made a lot of stuff. I guess we went to Waco. We bought a new green Rambler Station Wagon which turned out to be a lemon, so we sent it back. There was a Renault, and a Lloyd that year, too.
posted by Anonymous at
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
2 Comments:
I thought cars made back then were supposed to last forever, why did y'all go through so many?
Cars didn't last as long then as they do now. Engineering and car products have actually improved their lifespan, at least in our experience. That, however, is not the reason we had so many. Faulty reasoning, not enough available cash to have repairs done, the glitter of something new (that was not me--car payments always competed with necessities in the budget).
The ten year old Plymouth we had when we got married was nowhere near the quality of the twelve-year old car we drive now, or the eleven year old pickup we also drive. There used to be a belief that a car would fall apart at 100,000 miles. That was before Toyotas.
Cars were also clear status symbols in the years before so many looked alike. They still are, but it wasn't just everybody who could get cars. Also, that new Chevrolet Delray in 1958 cost $1800, or $60.00 per month. We probably got rid of it because I complained about it using up the milk money. So the DeSoto or Chrysler or whatever it was that replaced it came along. Then the Fiat (a tiny little car) was brand new, also. It replaced the broken Chrysler or DeSoto.
So, in answer to your question, there were many and varied quasi-reasons, but cars did not last longer then.
In this writing, one of my subtitles someday will be "Cars We Have Owned". I have thought of making Poppy a Christmas album of that title.
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