my first car

[low_delta]

1959 Edsel Ranger, two-door hardtop. This is the only surviving picture, as far as I know.

That car was a blast. It was big. Roomy inside. Swimming pool blue, with a brown/white/beige interior. It had a V8 (262 cid, maybe?) and a two-speed automatic transmission. I still have the owners manual. It shows all of the available options, and this car had five of them - side view mirror (driver's side), chrome wheel covers, sun visors, AM radio (tube style)... I forget the other one. I don't remember if it had seat belts. The windshield wipers were run by vacuum, so the faster the car went, the slower the wipers went.

It was in horrible shape. The entire bottom half of the body was Bondo. The frame was rusted out. The transmission leaked fluid. The engine wasn't quite right either.

I still have the grille.



This one doesn't look like a hardtop, and the color is different, but other than that, it's almost exactly right.

Comments

[mellary4.livejournal.com]

I loved this post! The picture reminds me of an old boyfriend's car. They sort of looked similar. His had a square-ish steering wheel! I used to tease him because it had an "I love bingo" bumper sticker on it. He bought it from an old lady. :)

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

That top photo is so cool, like something from the 19th century. Those older cars were such monsters. No wonder they didn't have seatbelts - you had a huge amount of force when you hit anything (not really).

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

That car would be half a century old, if it were still around.

The old cars were so solid, they were actually more dangerous to be in, when they hit something. New cars crush, and that absorbs a lot of energy. Your body goes from 60 to 0 mph in a longer period of time, now.

[northernsnokat.livejournal.com]

These would be worth lots of $$ now..more than when you had it!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Not this one. It was a piece of crap! :-)

[northernsnokat.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't believe what people pay for pieces of crap these days. :)

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

What year and model was it?
My first car was a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere with push button transmission.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I didn't say what it was! 1959 Edsel Ranger. Two-door hardtop.

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

I can see how much fun it would have been to be you, at that time and place, in that car!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It certainly got a lot of attention. Especially from the old-timers. They'd wave and even yell. "Hey, Edsel!"

Man they sure had a lot of advertisements!

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

This one's in color...made for the movies?

Re: Man they sure had a lot of advertisements!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Cool!

Those old ads are hilarious.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

And now he's driving a 1959 Cindy, with touch controls. Very dependable. Backfires occasionally...

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

*snort!*