Buying Cars

When buying cars, we bought mostly American cars from Ford, GM and Chrysler. My grandfather always had a Ford. My parents bought a 1946 Plymouth. My wife’s family always bought Chevys. My first car was the 1946 Plymouth I bought from my mom for $100 when I was 16 in 1959.  My wife’s first car was a 1955 Chevy she bought from her Uncle for $100 when she was 18 in 1961. When my Plymouth died in 1962, I bought a 1956 Chevy for $750. Gasoline was cheap at 20 cents a gallon in the early 1960s and used cars were affordable, but were designed to die at 100,000 miles.

We got married in 1964 and moved to a 4 Bedroom Ranch on an acre the exurbs with our 1955 and 1956 Chevys. My wife was a stay at home mom after 1965 and she used her car to grocery shop and run errands.

Our US car complaints began in 1965. I bought a 1965 Buick V6 in 1965 and its engine died in 1968. Then I bought a 1968 Oldsmobile V8 and drove it until 1978.

Gasoline prices were climbing to $1 per gallon in 1974, so I bought a 1974 Triumph Spitfire 2 seat convertible that got 30 miles per gallon to commute to work. I drove that Spitfire until 1979. My wife’s 1955 Chevy was past its prime in 1974, so she took the Oldsmobile.

From the 1960s to the 1970s, our cars were all GM, we bought Chevy, Buick and Oldsmobile and got 10 to 12 miles per gallon and gas prices ranged from 20 cents/gallon to 80 cents/gallon.

In the 1970s, the US auto manufacturers failed to design cars with better gas mileage despite the fact that gas prices continued to climb over $1 per gallon. 

In 1974, I bought a Triumph Spitfire that got 30 mpg as my commuter car and kept the Oldsmobile.

In 1975, we packed up the 6 kids, moved to a large home in Salina Kansas and bought a large open-bow boat. We bought a Chevy Station Wagon to pull the boat for weekend camping trips to the lake. In 1979, I sold the Spitfire to get a Chrysler Station Wagon.

In 1983, we packed up the 6 kids, sold the boat and the Chevy Station Wagon and moved to a large home in the Dunwoody suburbs of Atlanta Georgia. My wife entered Dental Hygiene school in 1983; she graduated in 1986 and went to work 3 days a week.

We tried to limit our car payments to 2 years and ran all the cars past 100,000 miles.

I bought a 1979 Cadillac in 1984 and my wife drove the Chrysler Station Wagon. In 1988 I bought a 1984 Cadillac Brougham and gave the 1979 Cadillac to my son. In 2002, I bought two matching 2000 Cadillacs.

In 2005, I bought two 2005 Toyota Prius cars and replaced on of them in 2012 with a 2012 Prius. I don’t see ever needing another car. We both finally retired in 2017.

By 2000, US cars finally stopped using bad paint. They adopted automation to fix poor quality and changed designs and materials to reduce rust.  They began to get over 100,000 miles, but never caught up with the Japanese and now they’re distracted with electric and self-driving cars. The big market for cars in the US is cheaper cars with great mileage that last over 300,000 miles.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader