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My First Car

Started by Snake, April 15, 2012, 06:56:05 PM

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K1WI

#30
    Please don't laugh ... but my first  (and worst)  car I ever owned was a...
        1952 Sears Allstate
                           Yes a CAR not a scooter.
As seen on the back cover of the 1952 Sears catalog.  Mine was faded "smurf blue".
Andy F    K1WI

AE_Collector

So what is a Sears Allstate....really? :) (who made them and labelled some for Sears)?

Terry

DavePEI

Quote from: AE_collector on October 21, 2012, 12:15:38 AM
So what is a Sears Allstate....really? :) (who made them and labelled some for Sears)?

Terry

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allstate_%28automobile%29

Dave
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AE_Collector

Okay...Kaiser.

From Wiki:
The Allstate was the brainchild of Henry J. Kaiser, who saw Sears as another means to mass-market his slow-selling "Henry J" two-door sedan, introduced in 1950.

The Allstate was essentially a Henry J, but with a number of unique differences including Allstate badges on the hood and rear deck, a more upscale interior of Saran plaid or occasionally leather or smooth vinyl, special hubcaps/wheel covers, horn buttons and instrument bezels, a locking glove box and trunk lid, special engine color (blue), custom armrests and sunvisors, revised door locks and keys, and special parking[1] and taillamp assemblies. Most notably, the Allstate featured a unique two-bar grille and jet-plane hood ornament designed by Alex Tremulis, who had come to Kaiser-Frazer from the Tucker Corporation.


K1WI

    Those were "real" upgrades , some how a different color motor was not truly a reliability improver.  They still used SOFT lead babbitts for main bearings and connecting rod journals , a head gasket that traditionaly blew every year , along with a cylinder head that warped so bad that milling was always needed.  Then there was the driveshaft assembly that disintergrated every fall , and brakes that seemed to forget there purpose was to stop the car.   They used to say " It's a Henry J.... so get out off the way"!
    AH the good old days !!    I think they could have used a few pointers from MA BELL and the 500 set.
   I bought mine when I was sixteen , guess I didn't know any better. I remember the ladies at the DMV laughing at me when I told them it was a Sears coupe , they kept giving me the forms to register a motor scooter .  I had to come back a few days later with picures of the car and the owners manual , they wouldn't believe there was such a thing as an "Allststate"  , they joked that I was confusing my JC Higgins bicycle with a car.
Andy F    K1WI

K1WI

   DAVE PEI ,

     Thanks for the Wikipedia refference , brought back some real memories , not all fond.  The car I owned was in that the odd shade of blue shown on Wikipedia but didn't have those fancy chrome pieces on top of the front fenders and my grille opening was chrome pot metal . I seem to recall my  seats were a drab gray made out of some very weird shiney woven vinyl. I was suprised at the Horsepower shown , felt like it had less HP than an early VW beetle.   But when you're a kid it beats walking and was super on fuel.
   Some day I'll tell you about the next car I owned which was MUCH better than the Sears , but even (MUCH)   more unusual.
   Andy F   K1WI 
Andy F    K1WI

McHeath

I've seen the Allstate scooters (vespas renamed) but did not know they did a car as well.  Pretty cool methinks. 

Snake

#37
Quote from: AE_Collector on October 15, 2012, 09:38:43 PM
Looks as though Reptile_Master is enjoying the freedom of his first car AND he figured out where to get the money for gas. He hasn't been heard from here since June! Or I guess a snake might have him trapped in his vehicle, someone want to check?

I'm back!
No, I wasn't strangled by one of my snakes  :D :P. I've just been really busy, but I have time for phones again. I was enjoying the freedom of my driving my own car however!

Update on my car: Right after I started this thread, I got into an accident:








A lady hit me while stopped in traffic, she must have slammed on her gas behind me because the impact was tremendous! Glass from the back flew all the way to the dash! Luckily I wasn't hurt at all. The Insurance ended up totaling the car and giving us quite a bit of money, which we used to buy back my car and have it repaired like it never even happened. The majority of the insurance money was left over after the repairs. It actually worked out good for me, because that's the money I use for gas now...
(Not the way I saw it when it happened, but I was a little upset at the time!)
Other then that, I've been having a lot of fun running around putting several thousand miles on my car.

Also, thanks for the sticky AE_collector!

twocvbloke

Insurance co's are lazy when it comes to accident damage, that damage pictured is what would be referred to as a Class D write-off over here, meaning that it is cost-effective to repair (I.E. the repairs would cost less than the car's worth) and put back on the road, but because insurance co's can't be bothered to deal with getting quotes, arranging pickup & drop offs of the car to and from the repair shops, and of course actually paying for the repairs themselves, so they just say "Here's the money, go away", and they're done with you... :-\

Still, at least you bought the car back and have got it repaired, proving it's possible to repair a minor scratch... :D

AE_Collector

#39
Good to see you back Reptile_Master! I knew you would be back...

Yes I did some rearranging here in the Off topic area since we like to talk cars and communications here on the CRPF. Been stickying and merging some topics together into one big discussion though I can't decide if I should have put "My First Car" and "What are your Favorite Cars" together as they are usually THE SAME! Oh well, will leave them as is. Both topics have sprung back to life recently!

We had a 1984 Honda Accord for 22 years before we repalced it with a new one and sold it to a friend to restore and give to his daughter for a few more years of use. My wife was sideswipped in it when it was 11 or 12 years old and they wanted to write it off. We argues and carried on until they fianlly agreed to fix it rather than writing it off. I just can't stand the waste of writing off what was a good car whe nit could be fixed and i nthis case we got another 10 years use out of it. Some people would have driven 3 cars into the ground in the time we went through one car.

Nick in Manitou

This thread got me to looking for some old photos...I found some next to my draft card in an old wallet!  Others I dug out of a box marked with "EVACUATE" (it was labeled during the fires we had here in Colorado last summer).

My first car was a Model A Ford body with parts from here and there and the engine out of my brother's 1959 Corvette.  It had about 400 horsepower.

The next car was one I owned while going to college in England...it had 45 horsepower on its best day.

The contrast was dramatic!

flybynyte

#41
Okay, I might 'NOT' know much about phones but I can hold my own when it comes to cartalk ;D
First car was a 1961 MG-A 1600 Roadster, Black ext./Red int.  I had just begun my career but
couldn't resist going into debt in January 1962, to satisfy my automotive cravings.
The car was barely mechanically broken-in @ (13,000 miles) with an almost flawless body.
The MG hadn't been driven much since it's being traded-in at the dealership and combined with a sudden
drop in temps the day following the purchase, ("we are talking Manitoba early-January temp values here!")
my recently-conceived automobile love relationship sustained it's first trial.
I went outside my brother's apartment where the car had been parked during the night in order to start
and warm it up for my return to my home-base and workplace.  I had plugged-in the cooling system
engine heater as a necessary precaution and was entirely confident that the car's four little cylinders would
spring to life instantly when I pulled on the starter's dash cable.  Instead,....DISILLUSIONMENT!
Only a faintly audible, slow ticking  from the electric fuel pump.  Long story short,....batteries had almost frozen
during the night (twin six volt units) 12 volt system.  Not to worry though, stiff British upper lip and all that....
Lo and behold, what is that thoughtfully provided tool stowed with a few sundry others in the compartment under that curvaceous little boot lid?,.....a starting crank of course. The whole event merely delayed my departure by 15 minutes, starting was a simple procedure  I dealt with on my own---pull out choke---pull out throttle, one-quarter---turn on ignition---spin crank two turns--- Sweet, Sweet Recompense, joyful sounds breaking the frigid, still, clear, fresh 'Moody Manitoba Morning' air.
Here she is, as it was then, flaunting her sweet, black and glamorous little body.
  Oh yeah it's true,..... the first cut is the deepest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPygR80OOmM

Nick in Manitou

Good story, well told.  Nice looking vehicle too!

Nick

flybynyte

#43
Thank you for your complimentary response Nick, when I first saw your handle I thought we might be next-door neighbors!
The Manitou I'm familiar with is a small south-western Manitoba, Canada community situated approx. an hour's drive away from the tiny hamlet in which my post office is located.  Thanks again for acknowledging my post, best regards. 8)
*Saucy looking 'Lil Model A you had there.....
Bert

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Manitou,+MB+R0G/@49.2406661,-98.5411269,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x52c2efbf04c94393:0x99363ba0f75e61f8!6m1!1e1

Dennis Markham

I too enjoyed your memory.  Nice photo of the car too.  Do you still have it?

~Dennis