Quote:
Originally Posted by abaucom21
Question to old farts:
When did you experience your first auto experience as a car nut.
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The earliest I can even put a rough date or age to was getting a ride on a rainy day in the Studebaker that an aunt (my Mom's aunt, actually) owned. I was 6, maybe 7 at the time, which puts it 1954-ish. What still stands out in my mind was that car's vacuum operated windshield wipers - every time my aunt went to go any faster at all, they'd stop moving and if the rain was coming down hard enough at that instant you couldn't see much.
At various other times still before 1956 I can remember my Dad putting chains on and having to charge his car's battery. With a battery charger that used a huge vacuum tube. I know "before 1956" because that's the year he took a new job with a much longer commute and needed to have a car with greater reliability than what he could apparently live with in just around town use.
And then there was this episode somewhere in this same early to mid 1950's time frame where I asked my Dad if I could turn the key to start his car . . . which provided me with an object lesson in why you should step on the clutch when starting a manual transmission car. No starter interlock switches back then.
Norm