Family cars from the 70s-now (including race cars)

[Billy Kingsley]

Like I've said a few times, I've got LOTS of 1:1 car pictures. After this one, I will still have 13 albums to go through and post. That's alot! I may do some later, or press on and do them all now. I don't know.

This one is of family cars. These pictures are all new for most of you as I keep this album locked. There are some really old pictures in here, from before I was born, even!

Enjoy the ride through time...

This is our old Aerostar. My dad brought it home in 1996, and it was basically a pile of rust. Parts would fall off when going down the street. Once, we hit a particularly bad pothole on the Taconic and one of the headlights bounced out. It eventually just died. We parked it in August of 2003 at our trusted mechanic. It was just too much to keep fixing. I am SO thankfull that we did. John (our mecahnic and friend) was using it for storage on his lot, and one of his customers kept trying to buy it. Eventually John relented and the guy took it home. Luckily, he was driving on a back street and the van just stopped, and was totalled in the wreck. No people were hurt...BUT...If we did not park it, the very next day we were going to Lake George (actually for the 2003 Adirondack Nationals) and we would have been on the NYS Thruway doing 60(even though the speedlimit is 65, the van couldn't do that as it would start to shake apart, literally!) with 18 wheelers and crazy idiots doing 90. If we didn't bring it down to check first...Myself and my mom might not be here anymore.

Very scary thought. This is the only shot of it I have on the digital camera.

This is our 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. It replaced the van, and has been our steady companion ever since. When my mom becomes a teacher, she plans on buying a new car, probably a Suburban, and the Jeep will become my car. Even though I have had my Permit since 2000, I really don't drive often but when I do, it's in the Jeep. This is the only shot of it I can post, I have tons more, but there is a possibility that it may be in FSJ (Full Size Jeep) Magazine. (I just remembered when I was making this post that I never wrote anything up for them, oops!)

This was my brother's Cavalier. It's not a great picture, but it's the best one I have without him in it, and he wouldn't be happy if I posted it. He was the first owner of it, buying it as a lot car in February 1997 (it's a 1996 model) It's his third car, but the first one he picked. It was also the first car I ever drove, in 1998. It eventually just got to the point where it was more efficiant to buy a new one then to keep repairing this one and renting while it's getting fixed. The last straw was when the engine block cracked. So, he officially was no longer the owner of it on 12/24/05. Christmas eve.

This is what he replaced it with, a 2005 Chevy Cobalt. We all went over to get it on 12/26/05 and when he got it, there were only 12 miles on the odometer!! :shock: (He's already put about 5000 on it) It is a much better car then his Cavalier.

This is a shot I've posted a bunch of times, in several places. It shows two of our family vehicles. The 75 Torino Wagon was our family car for a while, and it was also my dad's car for a while too. I don't remember what happened to it, but I can remember being in it. Some of my earliest memorys are of being in it, I have two very faint bits of memory, one is of sitting in the front seat of Sheeba (The Torino's name) in the driveway, with it's brown vinyl interior, and the other is in the backseat of our 66 Chevelle 4 door that no known pictures exist of. I think we had them both around the same time.

This picture is around 1991, I know that as our Citation is in the picture. We got the Citation when the Chevelle rusted away, which was 1990. The Citation also has a hood ornament here, and that was stolen not long after we got it.

That is the car I have alot of memorys of, as it was our daily driver from 90-summer 96 when dad brought home the Aerostar. It had no radio, no AC, no headliner, the hatch didn't always stay open, didn't always have heat, it had leaks beaucoup, and many other problems. But, that's what happens when you won't pay more then $200 for a car. I also gave myself a concussion on this car more times then I could count. That's why the van came home (although, the van was unanounced, it just appeared in the driveway one day, but that's another story for another time) After the Van became our daily driver, the Citation was relegated to my dad's second car, it it was dragged to the junkyard when it's driveshaft broke. Dad got a 91 Suburu Legacy wagon to replace it, because it, too, was only $200. (That's all dad would pay for a car, ever)

Dad is driving the Torino in this picture, and I think I may be in the passenger seat. I know this is late in it's life as we have some other, yet to be scanned pictures with it with not as much rust, so I am guessing this was my last ride in it before it, too, became a cube.

(Dig the Willys mail truck in the background)

Here's an interesting picture...This is my dad drag racing a school bus at the US Diesel Truckin Nationals in Englishtown NJ in the 90s.

My dad drag raced a 55 Chevy in the 60s, and later in his life he drag raced this and other buses, and he even drag raced his Quantum at the same event after the Bus company no longer took part.

This is my uncle Skip's modified circa 1994 or so at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown NY. Skip still races, though now in a sprint car, and last year even won his division championship. He's pretty much the only non-immediate family member we talk to, as well, these days, but again, another story for another time. Skip is the man who, on 12/26/92, gave me a box of 1/64 NASCARs that got me involved in the sport...little did I know that was one of the most important days of my life.

This photo has never been posted online anywhere.

This is my mom's uncle Donnie's modified, in 1974 at Middletown. We havn't spoken to Donnie since 1994, but I am still working on arranging the decals so I can build this car. I have some detail pictures too.

This is another one of my mom's uncles, Reggie, at the same track as the last two, also mid 70s or 80s. I don't know for sure. My friend and fellow TNMCC member Herb Hoskins found this picture for me from his Modified friends.

Reggie has been the owner of a Garage in Peekskill NY (my family's hometown) since he was 18 years old. He's still the owner and worker, and he's now pushing, or already is, being a senior citizen (according to the state of NY, that's 62 years old)

This is a cool picure. On the far left is a trailer owned by my mom's parents. Next to it is a 69(?) Ford wagon, which pulled the camper and eventually, when they bought new, became ours. Next to THAT, is my parent's camper, which they sold in 1977 to have enough money to move into the house that we still live in. On the far right, is a 1974 Dodge Ram- The ONLY vehicle my family ever bought new! (as a family car, I guess you could count my brother's cars too) It's not a great picture of the Ram, but, it's the best I have. They had it for less then a year. Within a week of owning it, my dad tore off the California mirriors (there wasn't enough space between the trees he was driving through, another long story) and eventually, it was disposed of, according to his story (I don't know exactly how true it was, my dad had a tendancy of embellishing storys), he said, a senior citizen in a 55 Olds(remember this is 1975) pulled in front of him, running a red light and he t-boned it, flipping the Olds onto it's side and the Ram rode up onto it, bending the Ram's frame. Even though it was fixable, he didn't bother. And that was the end of that. I have only 3 pictures of it, that one, another one that shows just the nose, and one with my dad in his Fire Company Uniform and my brother standing behind it. I havn't scanned the other two yet, but since my brother is in them both, he'd prefer I not post them anyway.

This is my dad's VW Quantum. It was diesel powered, 5 shades of brown and was known at turning everything around it black and sooty. Especially snow. This is the only known picture of it, and since you've all seen me before, and dad surely doesn't care, here it is.

I do have more to scan. I found some pictures in the basement that show several of the wagons we've had (when other family members would get new, they would give them to us; we don't have alot of money now and even less back then) and I have a bag of old pictures from my dad's side of the family...really old. 1920s old! (!) The pictures are very dirty though, but, when you've been sitting in atticks and basements for 70 years, I imagine it's only to be expected that they will get dirty. So I don't want to really put them on my new scanner that I got for my birthday last year, at least until I can scan some more newer, less grimy stuff.

Thanks for looking, and letting me reminisce!