Cars Owned Prior to '69 GTO (1963-1969)

Although this blog is mainly about my '69 GTO,  just for my own benefit I will eventually be reviewing all the cars I have owned.  (It will be nice seeing them all in one place here in my blog!)

I will start with the cars owned before the GTO.

 I plan to post photos of them, but first I'll have to find them and get them uploaded into my computer.

1963 Blue Corvair Monza*  $2400
 (navy blue, matching vinyl interior)  ordered in Sept. 1962

1964 White Pontiac Tempest  $2400
(white, burgundy interior)  purchased Feb. 1964/showroom

1967 Red Pontiac 326 Tempest*  $3000
(red, black interior and black vinyl top)  ordered  Sept. '66

(*) specifc order)

The 1963 Corvair - Our first car!
As a young man graduatiang from high school in 1960, naturally I looked forward to buying my first car.  As it turned out, my fiancee (now wife) and I would purchase 'my' (and her) first car.  We met as young teenagers - 16 and 17 years of age in 1960, right after I graduated, and before she started her senior year (at another school from mine). 

We dated for two years (borrowing our respective families' cars)  and in 1962 finally got clerical jobs. working in the 'big city' of Pittsburgh, PA    Prices of cars and the wages we were making in 1962 are amusing now!  Together we made $5,000/year; and cars cost around $2,000 - $3,000.  The Corvair cost $2,400.  (By the way, Corvettes cost about $4,000 - out of our price range!)    Our monthly payments were $142 for 18 months.  Our plan was to have the car fully paid for before we got married sometime in 1964.  (As you will see below, it didn't quite work out that way). 

Naturally, we were anxious to buy 'our own' car so that we would not have to borrow our parents' cars anymore.  We planned to get engaged in 1963 (and did), and bought the ring in 1962, just about the same time that the '63 car models were appearing at the dealerships. 

In September of 1962, we ordered a red Corvair Monza with black interior (with all the options I wanted, including 4-speed transmission, bucket seats)  , and were told it would take 8 weeks to come in.  That seemed like a long time back then, in our youth!   We kept checking with the dealer, and he kept saying it wasn't in yet.  Finally after week 10 (by now it was November)  he said "Well, the red one you ordered hasn't come in yet, but we have a nice dark blue one that has most of your options." 

Opinion:  Someone saw 'our' red Corvair when it arrived (on time) and insisted on buying it.  Inasmuch as we were youngsters, the dealer thought he could make a switcheroo without our complaining.   Indeed (although we suspected the above - we weren't stupid), we took the blue car because it WAS pretty, and we WAITED LONG ENOUGH!  

*  *  *

It was my goal to trade a car every few years in order to keep the warranties current.   It was accepted that one would always have a car payment, but you'd have a new car every few years.  Car manufacturers, of course, promoted this idea! 

*  *  *