The sixties/55 chevy wagon

We are going to the Moon

The car is not a 55 wagon but a 57, the former is not available at this time. You must agree that this 57 is a nice looking vehicle with the tell tale fins of the 57s.                   We moved to the Sacramento area in 1960 when at the time the area was booming because of Aerojet  General building rockets to go to the moon, and they succeeded  in 1969.

    It was a new life for us, with all the interesting places to see and visit like Folsom prison, all the gold country like Sutters Mill, Empire mine in Grass(picture of owners home on the site above) Valley, Malakoff diggins, the largest hydrolic mine in CA. the interesting things in San Francisco,Beautiful Lake Tahoe and all the small mining towns on hyw 49, even went to see a 49er football game. We went water skiing on Folsom Lake and skiing and fishing on the Sacramento river. Never a dull moment. We also had friends that we went deer hunting with in the Sierras, never got any deer but had great times camping.

                                                                 

1948 chrysler windsor convertible

It was 1958 when I bought this 1948 chrysler. I bought because it was clean and in almost perfect condition and a good price $300.00. It had a strait six engine and four forward speeds. The shifting lever was on the column, the  first speed was up where second gear usually is and when accelerated to about 20 mph it shifts into 2nd gear when the gas pedal is let up. Then the lever is pulled down to where high gear is in other cars. More acceleration to about 35 mph and another let up of the gas pedal and it shifts into the last and fourth gear. The car gave a comfortable ride with ample power.

      We went on a boating trip in this car with some friends to Bear Lake in Utah and Idaho. We left late in the evening, sang songs all the way and slept under the stars on the beach. Early the next morning the lake was crystal clear and we were excited about skiing on such a smooth surface; but then after skiing for about a half an hour tragedy,  the lower unit went out on the boat motor. There was nothing we could do to fix it.

   On the way home nobody sang but we still had a great time.

Things that happened in 1958
North America space agency is formed
14 yr old Bobby Fischer wins the united states chess championship
Toyota and Datsun cars go on sale in US
Average cost of homes $12,750
Rent $92.0
AV wages $4,600.00
Cost of a gallon of gas 25 cents
US unemployment reaches 5.2 million
Packard cars end production
Great Chinese famine starts ends in 61 , 30 million die
Elvis is inducted into army
Hula hoop is introduced, 100 million is sold