We've had plenty of feedback from readers in response to our call for photos and stories of beloved cars from years gone by. Here are this week's entries, but it's not too late to tell us about your favourite - just send us up to 250 words and a (preferably) high-res image to [email protected]
1955 FORD CROWN VICTORIA
I am retired now, and always fondly remember my 1955 Ford Crown Victoria, which I purchased from a dealer in Victoria. A fellow had traded it in for a Corvette. When I saw this beautiful red-and-white car, I wanted it badly and ended up buying it. It was only two or three years old and like new. I moved up-Island to Parksville and needed the money, so I sold it. What a pity. The car ended up back in Victoria and apparently it was totalled.
Some 45 years later I found an ad in the Classic Car Trader for this 1956 Crown Victoria, peacock blue and white, pictured here, and purchased it. It needed a lot of work to get it in the shape that you see here, but I enjoyed seeing it come back to its original beauty. My wife and I enjoy entering various car shows on the island and have won several trophies. The car has a real "wow" factor. I still think in these two years Ford had the nicest-looking cars on the road. Those were the days you could tell the different makes of cars instantly.
Herman Vanderbyl Parksville
1948 CHEVROLET FLEETLINE
Here is my Mum and a neighbour posing beside our 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline. I believe Dad ordered this vehicle in the fall of 1947. He had to wait nearly six months to take delivery because the economy was still in transition from the aftermath of the Second World War. What a day that was when the Kelowna GM dealer phoned and said that our car was ready to be picked up. A friend drove Dad to the GM garage. Mum, my sister, brother and I waited with much anticipation to see our new car. Time seemed to drag on, but eventually Dad drove up the driveway with this beautiful two-tone green, two-door sedan. What a treat it was to have a ride in our shiny new vehicle, especially after having to wait so long to get it. Mum named her Lilly-belle.
During the next fourteen years, Lilly-belle proved to be a very reliable car: routine maintenance was all that was ever required to keep her running properly. During one particularly cold winter in the Okanagan, 1949-1950, many cars had trouble starting. Not Lilly-belle: The only assist she had against the cold was being under cover (an open garage) and a blanket wrapped over her hood. My brother and I both learned to drive in this car. Our family had a number of cars throughout the years, but no car endeared itself to us like our faithful Chevrolet Fleetline.
Daryl Bissell Comox
1951 METEOR CONVERTIBLE It was 1954, and I was 18 at the time.
One night after work, an old pal of mine, Harold Hagg, was waiting for me outside the old Chemainus planer-mill gate. He asked me if I'd like a beer. It was 1: 30 a.m. I had nothing better to do and said yes. After the third beer, Harold asked me if I would like to buy his 1951 Meteor convertible. Would I - it was the coolest car in town. The deal was, I would give him my car, a 1948 Ford Coupe, and take over his car payments. Later on, Harold apologetically told me I had paid too much for the car. Maybe I did. It didn't really matter.
The classy convertible more than paid for itself with warm, everlasting memories.
Doug Poole Courtenay
1954 MONARCH SUN VALLEY
This 1954 Monarch Sun Valley is my retirement gift to myself. I actually owned one like this back in the late 1960s. A guy had offered me a 1954 Monarch Sun Valley as an even trade for my 1951 Morris Minor I owned at the time. Of course, I jumped at it - "what a deal." I then found out shortly after why the deal: the guy was hot on the cops' radar list for very bad driving infractions. Consequently, I started getting pulled over for minor infractions and amassed nine tickets in less than a month.
So I dumped the car a couple of months later, not appreciating what a car I had. There were only 415 of these 1954 Monarch Sun Valleys made, and only for the Canadian market.
I started looking for one five years ago, and I finally found this one online down in Texas, of all places. I've had some restoration done and I'm currently enjoying driving the car around Victoria from time to time. I've noticed, however, the cops are still looking as I drive by, but that's probably because they've never seen one before, ha ha.
Dave Paul Victoria
