My Prehistoric Whizzer Days:

[Hal the Elder]

In 1951, I was a 15-year-old 10th-grader in high school.

My best friend had just bought a used 1949 Whizzer Motorbike, and during that summer, he would ride a few miles to my house where we would go joy riding.

George weighed about 140 pounds and I was about 160, so between us, we had about 300 pounds on his Whizzer. (61 years ago, teenagers weren't as heavy as they are today.)

As I recall, George's bike had plenty of torque to take us over the mild hills in the neighborhood, and was quite satisfying in its acceleration and 25-30 MPH speed with its double load.

It wasn't until 57 years later (2008) that I bought OSCAR, my first Whizzer!

The next year (1952) we both turned 16, got our Drivers Licenses and bought our first cars. George bought a 1937 Ford V-8 and I bought a 1934 Plymouth Six for $35!

Here's a shot of a 1934 Plymouth, just like the first car I bought: (I've owned 27 cars since 1952) The spare tire cover was not the original on this car. Those Fat whitewalls and wide Running Boards were Soooo Cool!

HAL

 

[jbcruisin]

Nice,very interesting Hal.

 

[Mike Notigan]

Nice looking car, Hal! 35 dollars bought a lot back in those days. Now we are lucky if we can fill our gas tanks half full on 35 bucks. We certainly have fallen very, very far between then and now. Wishing you and yours an early Happy Thanksgiving......and keep them stories coming. Certainly like to hear about your rides on Oscar!
Take Care,
Mike

 

[Hal the Elder]

HEY MIKE,

Yes, things were a lot less expensive in those days, but even at the comfortable working man's wage of $70 per week, you still had to work more weeks to buy a new car than you do today!

When I got my first driver's license on my 16th Birthday, (July 11, 1952), gas was selling at 20 cents per gallon, and when you pulled into stations like Union 76, Shell, Mobil, or Chevron,
2 or 3 attendants would come rushing out to clean your windows, check your oil, check your radiator, your battery, and the air in your tires while one pumped your gas.

Whenever an always broke teenager like me could round up a dollar, it would buy 5 gallons of gasoline, and my Dad's 4 bucks would fill the 20-gallon tank in our 1941 DeSoto!

Those were the good old (in a way) days!

Here's a car just like the one I learned to drive in at age 14... a 1938 Studebaker Commander Six! It had Overdrive and a Hill Holder!

Happy Turkey Day to your family too!