CARS I REMEMBER
by Fred Nicholls

THAT I DIDN’T BUY. Probably the first antique car that I had the chance to buy occurred before 1950. I was employed by a Funeral Home in Homestead and a man who lived several homes away, had a 1930-31 Ford Roadster as his daily driver. A lady living in the next home drove a 1936 Dodge sedan as her daily driver. She bought a newer car and this man bought her car and he wanted to sell the Ford for $50. I certainly was not interested in an old cars I had a new 1948 Ford convertible. He couldn’t sell it so he drove it to his in-laws farm near Butler and let it sit, fate unknown.

During the sixties I was interested in old cars and a late 1920 Packard Roadster was for sale at Ewing’s Mills, located 9 miles East on Rt. 422 from Indiana. The motor had been overhauled, and the car was nice. It had a tan body with black fenders and a price of $1,250. I asked Charlie Bennett, the local old Packard owner about the car. He told me if it had side mounts buy it. Since it had no side mounts I passed it up. I think someone from the Kiski Valley area bought it.

Then Jimmy Altman told me about a 1949 or 50 Mercury convertible that was for sale near his home. I met Jim and we had the owner, who knew Jim, show us the car. It was light green, beautiful original condition and the price was $4,500 FIRM. We talked but he wouldn’t lower the price. No sale. That was a lot of money for a car in the late 1960’s. 

Probably my biggest mistake happened in the early 1970’s. I saw in the local paper an ad for a 1953 Buick Skylark convertible. So I called and learned the car was located in Homer City. Arriving at the house, I recognized the owner as a man who I had buried his mother. They had run into a problem at the local cemetery and I had helped them solve it. The car was very nice, originally from Latrobe, and then to Jack Rose in Blairsville where he had it.                    (continued on Page 9)

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