My First Cars

1959 Hillman Minx like the one I had

Driving

I was interested in cars from a very young age. Before seat belts were invented I used to stand up in the back behind my Dad and watch everything that he did. I knew what every knob and lever was for and I wanted to drive so bad that I could hardly wait. Dad would let me sit on his lap and steer the car. Then when I was 14 and we were out on a pheasant hunting trip together he let me drive for the first time. After that he would let me take the car out of the garage which was in the back alley and drive it around to the front when we were ready to go to church or something. The first time that I drove the car in the city was when Dad and I were working at the Church (building the crescent road chapel) He remembered that Mom needed the car to go get her hair done. He didn’t want to leave what he was doing so he said here David . . . take the key and drive the car home so your mother can use it. I think that was the best day of my life, to that point.

My first car

I was looking at cars all the time but nothing had been discussed in our home about buying another car (that I can remember) Certainly Dad and I had never looked at cars before this. One night I told him that there was a car for sale advertised in the paper for $450.00. To my amazement he said OK lets go look at it. By the time we got to the place in south Calgary it was almost dark but we looked at the car and within a few minutes I heard my dad say to the owner “Will you take $400.00 for it?” The owner said yes and that was it. We had a second car. Technically it was a 2^nd car for the family, but it had a standard transmission and my Mother never drove it once. I can’t remember my Dad ever driving it either.

The car was a 1959 Hillman Minx with a 4 cylinder 1.5 liter engine and 54 horsepower. It had a standard transmission with a four speed gear shift on the column. All gears were synchromesh except first. The shift pattern was very different from any American or German cars. I think 1^st was back and up, 2^nd back and down, 3^rd forward and up and 4^th forward and down. I had so much fun in that car. Mostly I guess it was the freedom to explore all over Calgary and beyond. I used to use the car to go pick up my papers from the shack. I would bring the papers home, roll them with an elastic band and then deliver them on my bike. In those days we would ride along on the sidewalk and throw the newspaper onto the porch. A perfect throw would be to hit the door and drop on the mat in front. In those days we had to collect payment once per month from each of our customers by knocking on their door and receiving cash. If we didn’t get paid that was our problem, but I don’t remember not being paid, what I remember is that everyone gave a tip to the paper boy at Christmas and it was great.

When I had this car my Dad employer (Imperial Oil) had a competition to see how many credit cards they go get signed up in a certain time period. I guess the pressure was on Dad so he signed me up for an ESSO credit card and made it clear that I was the one to pay the bill. This was great. None of my friends had credit cards and I can remember it would cost $3.50 - $4.00 to fill up the car and the bill at the end of the month would be $12.00.

My next car was a huge 1955 Dodge Custom Royal with a big engine and no power steering. We bought from Frank Pitcher who was our Stake patriarch. It was three-tone yellow, white and green. Notice the push button gear selector to the left side of the wheel. You pushed a button to select drive or reverse etc. I had this car when I was attending William Aberhart high school and I can remember sitting in my last class before lunch looking out at my car parked along the road wishing I could start it remotely so it could be warmed up when I got in it to drive home for lunch. This car was great for dates and driving friends around but the cost for gas was much higher than the Hillman and we didn’t have it long before we got my next car.

1955 Dodge Custom Royal (mine was yellow, green and white . . . just like the picture)