Whats the oldest car you've ridden in?

[MaxxVolume]

Back in the `60s, my friend`s uncle was a top-level machinist (yet another trade that doesn`t exist any more in this country), he had a `29 Model A roadster with a 270 cubic inch (!) 4-cylinder twin-cam Offenhauser engine (they were used mainly in Indy cars back in the day), running Hilborn injection, also had a Halibrand quick-change rear in it. He often drove it with open headers "just to scare people", as he put it....and that was no exaggeration....man, that sumbitch was LOUD. He loved driving it under bridges and through tunnels, and cracking the throttle WFO to get that killer sound.
He sold it sometime while I was away in the military, I was quite disappointed to hear that, I had been looking forward to another ride or two after I got home....

 

[No Money]

Back in the `60s, my friend`s uncle was a top-level machinist (yet another trade that doesn`t exist any more in this country), he had a `29 Model A roadster with a 270 cubic inch (!) 4-cylinder twin-cam Offenhauser engine (they were used mainly in Indy cars back in the day), running Hilborn injection, also had a Halibrand quick-change rear in it. He often drove it with open headers "just to scare people", as he put it....and that was no exaggeration....man, that sumbitch was LOUD. He loved driving it under bridges and through tunnels, and cracking the throttle WFO to get that killer sound.
He sold it sometime while I was away in the military, I was quite disappointed to hear that, I had been looking forward to another ride or two after I got home....

That sounds .... amazing.

 

[Pio1980]

Back in the `60s, my friend`s uncle was a top-level machinist (yet another trade that doesn`t exist any more in this country), he had a `29 Model A roadster with a 270 cubic inch (!) 4-cylinder twin-cam Offenhauser engine (they were used mainly in Indy cars back in the day), running Hilborn injection, also had a Halibrand quick-change rear in it. He often drove it with open headers "just to scare people", as he put it....and that was no exaggeration....man, that sumbitch was LOUD. He loved driving it under bridges and through tunnels, and cracking the throttle WFO to get that killer sound.
He sold it sometime while I was away in the military, I was quite disappointed to hear that, I had been looking forward to another ride or two after I got home....

Miller/Offenhauser were the American Bugatti track cars, I kid you not. Too bad you don't have it.

 

[Pio1980]

BTW, of course high grade machining is still done here.

 

[Pio1980]

I recall that I did get to drive a big mid-1920s-ish Pierce Arrow Roadster for a day. What a privelege that was.

 

[MaxxVolume]

I recall that I did get to drive a big mid-1920s-ish Pierce Arrow Roadster for a day. What a privelege that was.

Wow, that IS cool ! Those big Pierce Arrows, along with the Duesenberg J and SJ models, and the Cord/Auburn Boattail Speedsters, were at the top of the heap in American motoring !
For those who had the dough to afford one, that was Grand Touring at it`s finest !

While many folks have heard the phrase, most think it`s something like "That`s a DOOZIE !"
Most don`t realize that the saying refers to the Duesenberg automobile....

 

[Mark W.]

As far as I can remember sitting here it would have been my 1940 Dodge B13 5 window business coupe I bought for $850 drove home and then drove for about two years before trading it off. All stock drive train. OH wait I do remember bouncing across a Strawberry field in a 37 Chevy Pickup while Randy Steffin streered and I pushed on the gas pedal we were about 8 I think.

 

[Wildcat]

Model T, during a brief ride at Greenfield Village during one of their holiday thingies. Not sure which model year it was though.

Other than that, whatever cars my family owned. My uncle's '62 Electra was probably the oldest, as he would buy my aunt a well-maintained older car since she did not drive much. We had a four-door Chevy when I was a toddler (I barely remember the car, although I do remember them selling it), and then that '65 Wildcat came along. My favorite of all of them, actually.

 

[Johnno_Oz]

Would have been a 1934 or so Model A pickup (ute as we say down here) which we had on the farm.

Ford is claimed to be the first company to produce an Australian "ute".[12] This was the result of a 1932 letter from the unnamed wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia asking for “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays”.[12] In response, Ford designer Lew Bandt developed the ute and the model called a "coupe utility" at the time was released in 1934

 

[Pio1980]

Would have been a 1934 or so Model A pickup (ute as we say down here) which we had on the farm.

Ford is claimed to be the first company to produce an Australian "ute".[12] This was the result of a 1932 letter from the unnamed wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia asking for “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays”.[12] In response, Ford designer Lew Bandt developed the ute and the model called a "coupe utility" at the time was released in 1934

View attachment 1310374

This looks like a 1930 Model A Ford touring car cutoff conversion. It was common on farms to maintain the utility value of anything useful as long as needed. Once done as motor vehicles, engines might go to pumping, sawing, etc. Frame and wheels for utility tow trailers called "hay racks". I've seen engine cooling fans as weather vanes and the seats as porch furniture from 1920s cars.
There used to be a cut-off 1920s Cunningham sedan parked next to a house in SLC, rather heartbreaking as Cunningham was comparable to Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. Of course at one time it was just another big old car with high fuel consumption in spite of being something special. Many similarly big powerful cars got converted to utility haulers, like tow truck service. Upkeep as general private passenger vehicles made them burdensome white elephants.

 

[Johnno_Oz]

This looks like a 1930 Model A Ford touring car cutoff conversion. It was common on farms to maintain the utility value of anything useful as long as needed. Engines might go to pumping, sawing, etc. Frame and wheels for utility tow trailers called "hay racks". I've seen engine cooling fans as weather games and the seats as porch furniture from 1920s cars.
There used to be a cut-off Cunningham sedan parked next to a house in SLC, rather heartbreaking as Cunningham was comparable to Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. Of course at one time it was just another big old car with high fuel consumption in spite of being something special. Many similarly big powerful cars got converted to utility haulers, like tow truck service.
Otherwise, upkeep made them white elephants.

Yep you're right. Dad's was like the first picture....so it would make it about 1930. It was painted bright yellow.

The actual solid body ute made by Ford looked like this.

 

[Old Ears too]

Back when my younger brother was going to grad school at UC Berkeley he got bored and decided he wanted to restore a Model T since the East Bay had quite the swap meet happenings at that time. So, he rented a garage next door to the apartment building we were living in and set about assembling a T. Started out with a TT truck chassis with running gear. When he realized that was BIG for the small garage, he horse traded for a car chassis, but adapted all the TT running gear to it. It finally ended up a car chassis with a fully rebuilt engine, the trans which was three speed if I recall, a two speed over/under behind it all hooked up to a Ruckstall (sp?) 2-speed rear end. The wheels were TT front and rear so it looked like it was running staggereds front to rear. Never did put much of a body on it, but it had a cowl to hold the steering column and he built a wood 'box' to put over the gas tank to sit on. It went a lot faster than I'd want to travel in/on one now, but as kids we didn't worry much about safety back then. Can't find a picture of it at the moment, dang it.

 

[MaxxVolume]

Would have been a 1934 or so Model A pickup (ute as we say down here) which we had on the farm.

Ford is claimed to be the first company to produce an Australian "ute".[12] This was the result of a 1932 letter from the unnamed wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia asking for “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays”.[12] In response, Ford designer Lew Bandt developed the ute and the model called a "coupe utility" at the time was released in 1934

View attachment 1310374

Here in US and A, that would have been a Model A, probably around `30. The (now incredibly popular) 1932 Ford was dubbed the "Model B", and, in a higher trim level, introduced the 221 cubic inch flathead V8 engine (all 65 HP of it ! to the world.
All the gangsters of the day wanted those V8 models, as it made it easier to outrun the police....

 

[Old Ears too]

Dad had a Model B when we lived back east. We called it the Boodle Buggy. He'd put a Mercury flathead V-8 in it. Mom wouldn't let him bring it west with us when we moved back in the mid-50's as it only had mechanical brakes.
When we got older, my brother and I would always kid him about giving away a '32 Ford.

 

[Nautiker]

Wow, some great old cars and pictures... I believe the earliest car I ever rode in was my grandmother's 1956 Ford Fairlane... And my father owned a 1957 Chevrolet sedan and a 1958 Chevrolet Apache Fleetside truck - which was the first vehicle I ever drove... Wish I had a picture of it...

 

[Mystic]

Well, excluding (highly modified "T-bucket" hot rods, albeit "builds" that used genuine circa 20s Ford steel bodies, a couple of mid-1930s Packards, both of which I not only rode in but actually drove, in/around portions of the Los Angeles area in the late 1990s. Beyond those Packards, I drove a late 30s Cadillac and a '41 Willys G.P. (Jeep). From there, far too many 50s, 60s, and 70s cars to list.

 

[Pio1980]

Strictly speaking, fully oem is the true age of the vehicle. What year was the Johnny Cash Cadillac, f.I.?

 

[illinoisteve]

When I was a kid, my mom's dad had a 1940s something sedan, might have even been from the very late 30s. Neither my older brother nor I can remember what make it was, but I know it had outside fenders and running boards, and the rear doors opened the opposite way from the front doors. I rode in it a few to several times, until Grandpa got his "new" car some time in the early '60s, which I believe was a 1956 Chevy. I've ridden in several 1955 cars. My dad owned a 55 Pontiac when I was a kid. My brother owned a 55 Ford, when he was in college. I owned a 55 Plymouth Savoy in the 1980s (and it had a flathead motor that Plymouth first started using in 1938). The oldest car I've ever saw driven around regularly was the Model A Ford two old ladies used in the tiny village where we lived when I was a preschooler in the early and mid 1950s. Unfortunately, I don't recall ever getting to ride in it.

 

[Poinzy]

I think it was my sister's '57 Chevy.

 

[BrocLuno]

Model T