Mae's Real Stories

This is my father in front of his Chevrolet. He bought it in around 1950. At that time, Arny was just learning to talk, and he always said "green car." But the car we got was black. It was the simplest and one of the least expensive cars. We thought it was a wonderful car. We took trips and rides in the country, and my father did the grocery shopping. My mother didn't have to carry bags of groceries while pushing a baby carriage or stroller, or rely on her sisters to sometimes do some of the shopping for her.

In the 1950s, a lot of people bought a new car every year, or at least every 2 or 3 years. The car companies would change the look of cars so that everyone would want to get a new car all the time. My father thought that was really stupid. He kept our Chevrolet for around ten years.

Everyone thought that was amazing, if not a little strange. Finally, he had to buy another car. He chose a Rambler, which was considered to be a very practical car. Soon after that, we took another very long trip.

In the picture, you can see that he's unloading the groceries. My mother never did learn to drive a car at all, so he always went to the grocery store with a list of the things she needed in order to make our breakfast, pack our school lunches, make dinner, and make the pies that Elaine talked about.

My father kept the Rambler for almost ten years too. By the end of that time, a lot of people began to agree with him, and thought it was stupid to buy a car every year.