OK.... Here we go....

I'll continue to add these as they come in.  If you're not here yet, please join us.

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Jim Stevenson: "My CHS driver was a weathered-white 1953 Plymouth Cambridge 4-door with a flathead six and three on the column. It was the family car that became my brother's (John, CHS '63), then my sister's (Roberta, CHS '65), and then mine when I reached age 16 in 1968. My sister, (pictured below with me) who I recently nominated for the CHS Foundation Hall of Fame for her career achievements in agriculture, was an enthusiastic UA student at the time. Not visible in the picture are red and blue racing stripes she had applied front-to-back over the driver's side.

Here's another shot of that model, showing those classic lines so common in "Pre-fin" cars of the 1950's:

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Debbi Jones Miranda is looking for a picture of her 1954 MG which her brother still has and drives.  In the meantime, this classic black convertible shows all the style one car could possibly have.

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Diana Carson's father worked for Studebaker.  She remembers, "On my 16th birthday I got my first, a yellow and white 1955 Studebaker Commander coupe.  I asked my mom if I could go pick up Ruthie Kyle (5 houses away) and go for a drive, so mom sent us to Food Giant in London Town shopping center for a tub of margarine. I had a lot of fun cruising up and down Speedway with friends!"

 

Stuart Hancock: "My car for my Senior year of high school was a well-worn blue 1955 Chevy 4 door with a 6-cylinder engine and automatic transmission. It was heavy, slow to go, comfortable and drove like a boat.  I remember class being interrupted while I was told that this car was in the parking lot, locked with the keys in it and with the engine running.  Fortunately, one of the rear doors was unlocked.  Fast forward to my current car also running with the doors locked.  Fortunately, it won’t lock with the keys in it and unfortunately, with pressure on the key fob while it is in my pocket, the car will start remotely. ...... 

.....My sister loaned me her Triumph for our Senior Prom.  It looked something like the photo below though not as shiny and clean.  It was hard to shift and not as smooth riding as the 1955 Chevy."

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Joni Bennedum McLeod:  "I drove the family hand-me-down 56 Ford station wagon.  It was originally white, but we painted it a bright blue!!  We called it the "Beast." I had to sit on a cushion and have one behind me to reach the clutch and brake pedals!  She was not a pretty sight, but driving The Beast was better than walking."  Here's a blue AND white one, Joni.  Oh those two tones!

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Mary Fordyce Anderson says about the yellow 1956 Nash Rambler Station wagon, "It was fun to drive, but no windshield wipers and water pump was kaput, so I always had water in old bleach bottles along. It took one bottle per bridge at Sabino. I fixed it up for basic maintenance while working at Western Auto; it finally died in the 1970s when the rear axle could not be replaced.

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HiIl Jordan tells that he inherited a baby blue 1958 Austin Mini with a 985 cc engine from his brother Barry (CHS ‘69). "My recollection is that he bought the car from Truly Nolan’s son. The car had no radio, working instruments or safety features other than a seat belt for the driver. The car was so small and light that pranksters at CHS regularly picked it up and turned it sideways so that I could not go home until one of the cars on either side of mine left the parking lot!"  Pictured below is one from that era.

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John Barry:  “We had some fun cars back in the day. My father drove a light green 1959 Chevrolet 1/2 ton pickup, 6 cylinder with 3 on the tree. I was 1 of 5, so I rarely got to drive it but was very happy when I did.”  Don’t know if John’s pickup was this shade of green or this “cherry,” but they don’t make them like this anymore, that’s for sure! 

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Jim Franks says, "When Dad would let me, which wasn’t often, I “got” to drive this column stick shift 1959 Rambler; it was the cheapest model.  I totaled this car in August of 1970 a month before I left for NAU.  A guy ran a stop sign at Palo Verde and Pima and broadsided me. We got $500 from the insurance company, and Dad let me have half of it for college. It paid for my year’s meal ticket. My family then bought a 1971 Chevrolet, which to me looked like a Cadillac from the front.

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Diana Naugle Carson remembers, "I came home from school one day and my dad told me to clean out my car, he had sold it to a Studebaker collector, I was not very happy and bummed that I’d have to ride with my sister to school, I’m sure she was not happy either. Well it wasn’t long and I got my second Studebaker, a white 1960 Lark sedan with blue interior; I loved that car!  That’s when I started dating Terry Carson and he didn’t have a car so I was driving everyone everywhere, good thing there was a gas war and I paid .19 a gallon for gas at the Pima street Supreme X gas station!"

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John Francis' red 1960 Pontiac Bonneville had 4 doors. "George Bertram and I called it the Beast. The starter had an issue so every once in while I had to start it by touching a piece of wire to an area under the hood. If the gears were in drive or reverse, it would take off."  This had to be one of the longest cars ever produced!

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Terry Carson remembers his first, "The summer of our sophomore year, my parents bought this 1960 Mercury Monterrey for me.  It was a boat.  You had to really pull up on the saggy padded dash to open the glove box!  We made a lot of trips to Reddington Pass for overnight boonies at 'water hole number 3.'  Ah, the good old days!"  Pictured below are the front and back, with a faint whisper of a 1950's fin which by 1960 were headed out of style.

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Jim Marr:  "My parents passed down the family car to me - I think for their convenience! OK by me. It was a 1961 Chevrolet Impala 4-door, and tan/metallic color. There was an edge from the roof that extended beyond the rear window. I liked that. I smile at the aftermarket luxuries that my parents had added. Seat belts that were rarely used, but expensive to install. And then the air conditioner, sitting on the hump in front. Oohh...that was something with turning knobs and 5 adjustable vents. I always smile a bit when I wonder how any of us survived with zero safety features. Good days and memories."

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David Klanderman: "The photo of the Land Cruiser (with my mom attached) was my first personal beast of burden. It was a 1961 and ALL parts had to be ordered from the factory. You had to tip the front seat to put water in the battery and a new battery meant disassembling the steering wheel. Stiil, it was great fun to park it in the parking lot by Levy's in El Con.

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By the summer before our senior year, Terry Carson had saved enough of his own money to by this  1963 Chevrolet Impala.  He says he wishes he still had this beautiful car.  It had such classic lines and sleek styling as was one of the best selling cars of that time.

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Harold Brown:  "I had 2 autos when attending Catalina, one was a 1964 Rambler that burned more oil than gas.  It could go about 4 blocks before needing three more quarts! The other was a silver 1959 Dodge long bed truck body on a '57 Cadillac frame. In order to keep it in place at a stoplight, the brakes had to be mashed to the floor or the transmission kept in neutral.  (The one below the Rambler sold for $41,000 in 2015!)

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David Klanderman:  "i learned how to drive, and drag race, in my mom's 1964 1/2, 260-v-8 Mustang, the fifth sold in Tucson. I learned my limitations and only raced against stuff I could beat. did pretty well except for a black 240Z at speedway and Campbell. Not too surprising -- it Mustang) was an automatic tranny and the Z did a job on me."

 

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This gorgeous automobile pictured below was Diana Carson's final high school car.  "In the spring of my senior year, Dad told me to clean out the Lark.  What was I going to drive? - I’m a senior and I needed a car to get from school to work!  Dad had a big surprise for me!  My new ride was his very special 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertible.  The folklore is that it was the pace car at the Daytona 500; I never got the “ truth” from Dad. It was a great car especially driving my friends around our senior year in a convertible!

What great memories !

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Kurt Bahti:  "My first vehicle was a 1965 VW bus. I can't believe the places it took me in the backcountry. It also took Mike Jones and me across the US to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to my grandparents'. I learned to shift with my foot so I could hold my girlfriend's hand while driving.  Safe practice? no,.... but hormones do that to you when you are young!"

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Michael Bartz: "I did luck out when my dad must have had his mid-life crisis and bought a brand new 1965 Austin Healy Mark III sports car from Jack Rowe/ Precision Toyota in the very early days of Rowe’s fledgling dealership on Speedway.   It was a 6 cylinder, 3 carb British import convertible;   4 speed manual with overdrive, wire spoked wheels with a knock - off center spindles,  it was neck and neck with the Jaguar XKE. I got to drive it my last two years in high school on weekends but it was always borrowed, never mine - no matter how many times I washed and polished that car!  My main ride was a 10 speed bike."

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Peggy Snodderly Armentrout sent in this photo of her 1966 International Scout II and mentioned that the top was completely removable.  She said this was what she and Glenn dated in. So cool!  Pictured below is a fire-engine red one from that same era.

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Kathy Peters:  "I finally was able to afford a car while attending the U of A in 1972. It was a 1967 VW beetle  named Spunky! Powder blue with a wooden dash and wooden gear shift. Yes, it has a wooden dash - basically a thin veneer or wood. It liked to take adventures - it was stolen twice! And found twice. I loved that car. My parents wouldn't let me drive their car. Actually, I didn't learn how to drive until I bought Spunky for $750."

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Steve Thomas remembers his family car as being a white 1967 FORD CUSTOM 300. This one is a beauty!

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Bob TemarantzI drove a ‘68 AMC Javelin to school. "Dad got tired of driving me to school every day. Once I got it, at times people would yell, HEY JAVVVVVLINNN!, imitating the two girls in the Javelin car TV commercial. Very embarrassing. It was a six cylinder, two door and gold in color. It was an automatic but the console shifter was, you might say, in the way as it was situated in between the bucket seats. Was fun to drive."

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Nancy Elkins responded, “I laughed when I saw (a page on cars) because I was so terrified of driving, I didn’t learn to drive until I was 18 and didn’t have my own car until I was 20!  My dad finally bribed me to drive by buying me a Hertz used Ford Maverick.  😁  I”m not sure of the year, Nancy, but here’s a 1970 Ford Maverick, the first year they were produced.  This one is in an unforgettable sea foam color.  You sure don’t see many of these on the road today!

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Not everyone was fortunate enough to drive to school, most of us walked our rode our bikes.  Lyle Deo remembers his "wheels" as a late 60's Schwinn Collegiate bicycle.  Pictured below is the model, and althought it came in various colors, Lyle's was silver.  He recalls "charging at high speed down a hill on north Craycroft, wheels shaking,  and thinking; I should really be wearing one of those helmets."  Ah, the memories of those crazy days of youth!

 

 

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Send in some more and I"ll add them!