It seems to me Oldsmobile was the first to offer a Hydramatic in the late 1930's. Cadillac the following year. I remember when a lot of the late fourties and early fifties Cadillac commercial chassis cars were still manual shift. A hearse was little more than a truck in those days. Most of them lacked any creature comforts save a heater and I remember one that didn't even have that. If you had a Combination there was always a two-way radio. That was it.
In about 1953 we started to get Combinations with air conditioning. It was a great sales tool for the ambulance business but the old timers would yell at the attendants to keep the partition closed so only the customers could stay cool. If you were using it as a hearse you had to roll down the windows and suffer irregardless. Seems ridiculous now, but, the old timers remembered having to drive a horse-drawn hearse in all kinds of weather with just a top-coat and hat. They were bitter.
The 1956 Commercial cars were tanks. So large they would barely fit into the garage bays. I loved the sound of the engine/drive-train from a standing start. It would sound really fast in 1st gear and then drop down into 2nd gear with a slow and throaty, bass, bummmm,bummmm,bummmm sound. The hearse and Combination had the fuel door on the back behind a normal little lid. The Sixty-Special was under the left tail-light. You would mash the little reflector and the tail light would pop up. Cars had so much character back then. The a/c was ducted through the roof. Not sure how smart that was with a black car. In the oppressively hot and humid Atlanta summers, the vents would drip on people's heads. Nobody complained unless it put out their cigarette. The Power Brake Pedal was the size of my father's foot. A huge steering wheel as well.
I had a friend with a 1967 Buick Skylark GT. Burgundy with black top and interior. Wonderful and very powerful car. He was whacked on hash one night and drove it over a curb on Mt. Paran. Ripped the oil pan off. Parents took it away from him. Duh. They always blamed me for supplying the hash. Which wasn't true, but I did share a couple hits of Windowpane on another occasion.
I thought the old Chryslers with Fluid Drive were pretty cool. People would say " if it has a clutch it ain't an Automatic". Which was true, but, I thought it cool anyway. Relatives had a massive late Fourties New Yorker. What a tank. I loved it. They kept it well into the early Sixties and even then were loath to retire it.
I can still remember driving around Flatbush in that thing.
Fun to reminisce about these things. Helps keep the memories alive!
In about 1953 we started to get Combinations with air conditioning. It was a great sales tool for the ambulance business but the old timers would yell at the attendants to keep the partition closed so only the customers could stay cool. If you were using it as a hearse you had to roll down the windows and suffer irregardless. Seems ridiculous now, but, the old timers remembered having to drive a horse-drawn hearse in all kinds of weather with just a top-coat and hat. They were bitter.
The 1956 Commercial cars were tanks. So large they would barely fit into the garage bays. I loved the sound of the engine/drive-train from a standing start. It would sound really fast in 1st gear and then drop down into 2nd gear with a slow and throaty, bass, bummmm,bummmm,bummmm sound. The hearse and Combination had the fuel door on the back behind a normal little lid. The Sixty-Special was under the left tail-light. You would mash the little reflector and the tail light would pop up. Cars had so much character back then. The a/c was ducted through the roof. Not sure how smart that was with a black car. In the oppressively hot and humid Atlanta summers, the vents would drip on people's heads. Nobody complained unless it put out their cigarette. The Power Brake Pedal was the size of my father's foot. A huge steering wheel as well.
I had a friend with a 1967 Buick Skylark GT. Burgundy with black top and interior. Wonderful and very powerful car. He was whacked on hash one night and drove it over a curb on Mt. Paran. Ripped the oil pan off. Parents took it away from him. Duh. They always blamed me for supplying the hash. Which wasn't true, but I did share a couple hits of Windowpane on another occasion.
I thought the old Chryslers with Fluid Drive were pretty cool. People would say " if it has a clutch it ain't an Automatic". Which was true, but, I thought it cool anyway. Relatives had a massive late Fourties New Yorker. What a tank. I loved it. They kept it well into the early Sixties and even then were loath to retire it.
I can still remember driving around Flatbush in that thing.
Fun to reminisce about these things. Helps keep the memories alive!
