Hobo Jungle

[MurphOnMillerAve]

These photos Wayne provided remind me that Packards were considered "showboats", big and flashy (not that such a reputation was rare in that decade). They look nice and heavy and strong , don't they. Can you imagine the results if one of them had a head-on collision with a contemporary car? I think we all know which car would be the worse off, huh. Plastic scattered everywhere - AND NOT FROM THE PACKARD!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

What I remember about the Edsel is that it was NOT a bad car, it was just another car that was not needed.
The people that I knew that had them liked them. I'm sure there were exceptions....

Yes, I can recall the Edsel had almost a cult-like following. As a boy, I liked them a whole lot, esp. that grill, called by some a "horse collar." However...
I can recall clearly the day my mother and I went to an Edsel showroom, with an eye toward buying an Edsel, that first year they came out. She wanted a convertible.
As we stood in the showroom looking out the front window at the choices of them in the front lot, a salesman came up to us, excited, and announced that a customer had just taken delivery of one and was about to exit the front driveway. And sure enough, there he came, past the window and headed for the street. Just as he hit the surface of the roadway, alighting from the lot, and exited, the right rear taillight trim dislodged, wiggled, and quickly fell to the ground.

My mother turned on her heel, and we left, headed for Lincoln. Murph

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I always thought Cadillac was the better looking of the two, esp. when one looked at the '55 and '56, or even the Cadillacs of the 60's.
Murph

How about a '58 Cadillac Convertible, Murph? White with white top, boot, and white leather interior. Or the light Baby Blue ones with white top and interior. Remember the "Bullet" tail lights that everybody bought and put on their '60 and '61 Chevy Impalas. The 58 was a gorgeous car. Bumpers alone probably weighed 350lbs. .....

Oh man, the 1958 Cadillac! I was given one my senior year in high school, and yes, a convertible, no less, almost exactly as you described, but mine had a bronze-color leather interior. I had a rule about that car - I never went out in it without at least 6-9 friends along for the thrill, top down, no matter heat, cold, or snow. 3 in front, 6+ in the rear seat. Can you imagine the effect such a car had on me and my friends, pulling up to the school in that over-the-top, top-down land-yacht? However, since all our parents and everybody else in our little mill-town knew each other, and knew where we were supposed to be that time of day, we tried very hard to discipline ourselves to arriving at school on time and cruising after 4pm.

And it felt heavy and a protection when we were in it, and, yes, those bumpers had the image that if they hit another car, the Caddy would be unfazed, but the other car would have been the worse off. At 25cents/gal. for gas, we pitched-in and always had enough gas for a whole day's touring, yelling, singing, smooching, and being idiots, sort of.

I had to give the car back when I prepared to go away to college, since its use during my senior year in high school taught me how beguiling that Cadillac could be, so having it in college would have destroyed the future me.

It was my favorite car, ever, until I got my 2004 BMW.

P.S. The bullet taillights were on the '59 Caddy. That car was even bigger, it seemed, than my '58. And solid. But then, the 1960's models seemed to get more refined and even cooler.

[healey36]

I'm told the best feature of those 1950's era Caddy's was the back seat...

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I'm told the best feature of those 1950's era Caddy's was the back seat...

Absolutely correct. They were wide enough that you could stretch-out almost full-length. (But not with the customary full-contingency of 6-9 friends aboard, that "trip".)

[HONDO74]

Oh man, the 1958 Cadillac! I was given one my senior year in high school, and yes, a convertible, no less,

WOW, you had a Caddy when in high school. I don't think I new any teenagers that had Caddys. Most were lucky if they had 50 ford, merc or chevy.

[HONDO74]

I'm told the best feature of those 1950's era Caddy's was the back seat...

Absolutely correct. They were wide enough that you could stretch-out almost full-length. (But not with the customary full-contingency of 6-9 friends aboard, that "trip".)

Lets see if I have this correct. 1 male, the driver, Frank and 8 females. Yep, sounds about right.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Oh man, the 1958 Cadillac! I was given one my senior year in high school, and yes, a convertible, no less,

WOW, you had a Caddy when in high school. I don't think I new any teenagers that had Caddys. Most were lucky if they had 50 ford, merc or chevy.

I didn't have a car at all in high school..............

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I'm told the best feature of those 1950's era Caddy's was the back seat...

Absolutely correct. They were wide enough that you could stretch-out almost full-length. (But not with the customary full-contingency of 6-9 friends aboard, that "trip".)

Lets see if I have this correct. 1 male, the driver, Frank and 8 females. Yep, sounds about right.

Nice imagination and very pleasant conclusion, Hondo, but, no, we always went as a mixed-gender group, which we called our "clique." Some of those backseat "monitors" later got married (the girl, second from right and the boy hanging farthest out of the trunk). You can see them hanging out on and in my mother's '54 Merc, which I also had use of (I'm the driver). It was all heaven.

The adult was the district truancy officer, here pretending we were all "caught" on a return from one of our excursions from classes. Actually, every single person in the photo was a Class officer and very responsible, but we sure liked to party when not on duty!

P.S. See those smiling faces? None of us were "high" on anything but our excellent lives and our promising futures. We were, simply, happy kids and never did booze (except for the occasional beer, )never anything hard, etc. And drugs weren't even known in those days; at least, not to us. I never even hear of them, frankly.

[webenda]

Oh man, the 1958 Cadillac! I was given one my senior year in high school, and yes, a convertible, no less, almost exactly as you described, but mine had a bronze-color leather interior.

And it felt heavy and a protection when we were in it, and, yes, those bumpers had the image that if they hit another car, the Caddy would be unfazed, but the other car would have been the worse off.

P.S. The bullet taillights were on the '59 Caddy. That car was even bigger, it seemed, than my '58. And solid

IMG_8620_edited-4.jpg (250.5 KiB) Viewed 2465 times

The 1958 and 1959 Cadillac convertibles both had a curb weight of 5030 to 5060 pounds (depending on the model.)

The 1974–1976 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 sedans weighed 5,500–6,100 lb (depending on model) but there were no convertibles.

The above Cadillac weights from the internet may not be accurate. I had a 1969 Ford LTD wagon with Lincoln 460 cu in engine and transmission that has an internet reported weight of 4277 lbs but when I drove it across a California Highway Patrol truck scale they reported 3,000 lbs front axle, 3,000 lbs rear axle weight.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Nice scene. Nice '59 Caddy.
(You're playful in the nicest of ways, Wayne. )

[Rufus T. Firefly]

See those smiling faces?

Cult members out on a criminal enterprise exercise,

[Wolf]

And it felt heavy and a protection when we were in it, and, yes, those bumpers had the image that if they hit another car, the Caddy would be unfazed, but the other car would have been the worse off. At 25cents/gal. for gas, we pitched-in and always had enough gas for a whole day's touring, yelling, singing, smooching, and being idiots, sort of.

My family had a '48 Buick Roadmaster in the early Sixties that felt like you were riding in a tank. We were stopped at
a left-turn signal when a nearly-new 1964 Falcon misjudged and rearended us. His front end was caved it, his radiator was
gushing steam and fluids...the car was a real, total mess and had to be towed away.

Our damages? The glass lense for the turn signal was cracked and broken. The policeman's comment?
"They sure don't make then like this anymore!".....

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.........that felt like you were riding in a tank.

That was the same feeling we got in my later 70's German model 450 SE.

I was rear-ended twice in that car while stopped with nary a scratch resulting. Totaled both of the other cars. Insurance company made me bring it on for a check the 2nd time - they simply did not believe that my car was undamaged.

[HONDO74]

Oh man, the 1958 Cadillac! I was given one my senior year in high school, and yes, a convertible, no less,

WOW, you had a Caddy when in high school. I don't think I new any teenagers that had Caddys. Most were lucky if they had 50 ford, merc or chevy.

I didn't have a car at all in high school..............

I didn't have one in high school either. I lived 8 half blocks from school so I walked the whole time along with some friends. I got to use my dads work car (a 51 Nash, the upside down bathtub) sometimes for a Friday night football game or if I had a date for a movie during my senior year.

No school buses in those days and public transportation didn't exist in So California.