Muscle versus economy cars

This weekend, there will be lots of vintage cars and trucks appearing on our streets, during Bushwhacker Days. Some of the most sought after vehicles on display will be those from the era of the late 50s through the early 70s that are commonly called "Muscle Cars." I was once a devotee and owner of such a car, but I have for years now, longed for the economy car I passed over. It was my Grandfather's 1962, 4 door sedan, Nash Rambler.

Growing up in the baby boomer years, I was like most boys my age, quite enamored with powerful cars. We lived south of town on DD Highway, about 3 miles north of Sheldon.

My mother was a teacher, so we made daily trips to Nevada, plus we almost always came to town as a family on Saturdays. Highway 71 in those days was a narrow two-lane roadway. Even so, it carried a huge amount of traffic.

The Tommy Dahmer farm family lived only a few miles north of us, just east of Milo. Their two oldest sons, Larry and Gerald, were several years older than me. They both drove what we called in slang terms back then, "hot rods."

One of my greatest pleasures in life, was seeing them race by us on the highway. Their tailpipes were fitted in a manner that made them sound really loud and powerful. I dreamed of owning a car like that myself someday, and driving as fast as I could.

Automobiles in that era had a couple of unique and patriotic connections. Each year, the auto companies would unveil new and very distinctive car designs that were significantly different from the preceding year.

The new cars came out in late summer or early fall, and we could hardly wait to go to the local dealers to see the latest versions. Every kid my age could tell you exactly what year, make, and model, each car on the highway was, as it passed.

Today as I travel down the road, it is almost impossible for me to even guess what the different cars are by make, much less their year or model! That leads to the patriotic portion of the car story from back then.

I have no proof other than my own memories, but I suspect that I have lots of witnesses out there who will back me up on my premise. I believe that fully 90 percent + of all cars on the road around Vernon County when I was growing up, were American made.

That's not to say there weren't a few exceptions. The Volkswagen (Bug) had become somewhat famous during that time. We even had a dealership open here in the early 70s.

Once in a while you would see a Jaguar or some other sports car, but by and large, the vehicles around here were all domestic. That does not mean, that they were all the traditional American gas-guzzlers.

My Grandfather drove three cars that I remember. The first one he had was an early 50s era Nash. It was maroon and was shaped in a very air streamed design.

His second car was a '57 Ford Fairlane. It was much more powerful than the Nash, but he drove it much to slow for my youthful taste for speed.

In the next decade before his health began to decline, he purchased the '62 Nash. It was surprisingly roomy, and one of the delightful innovations that it possessed, was push button drive.

For those of you youngsters out there who have a puzzled look on your face regarding that term, let me explain. Above and to the left of the steering wheel on the dash, there were several buttons. One of these was marked R for reverse, while the others were numbered 1, 2, and 3, which were the three automatic speeds available for forward drive. I can't remember right now, but there must have been a button with a P on it, for when you were stopped and wanted the car to be in park.

When I graduated, I got my first used car. It was a 1965 4-door Chevrolet Bel Air. It was a very simple car. It had a 283 cubic inch V8 engine. It had four doors, a heater, an air conditioner, and an AM radio (no FM). It was no muscle car, but it did run well.

My Grandfather's health and the health of my car both declined at about the same time. My Grandparents kindly offered to give me the Nash. As you might suspect, I politely refused their very generous offer.

I was a child of the 60s. Who would want a 4-door family Nash? It made no difference to me that it was free, nor did it matter that it had low mileage on the odometer. Tragically, at the time it held no significance for me, that it got mre than 30 miles to a gallon of gas.

No, I was determined to be cool and have a muscle car. I was able to obtain my dream car eventually, a '69 Mustang with a powerful muscle engine. I only kept it a few months. The insurance was outrageous, and it averaged less than 10 miles to the gallon of ethyl (does that date some of you)?

Many a time over the next few years, I had a serious case of buyer's remorse. I began to think of all the things I could have bought, if I had taken that Nash. How much I would have saved in car payments, insurance, and fuel costs.

Yes, I, like many of you, I grew up in the muscle car era. They're still beautiful and alluring to me, but now I realize there were also some great economy cars. Wonder what that Nash fully restored would be worth now?