John S. Rehberg, 8/31/1956 to 9/14/2022, Dad you may be gone but you're always with me...

[PlymCrazy]

A 1960 Impala is on dad’s list of cars he owned. Mom says it was more of a beige/tan color. I personally have no recollection of this car.

(c/o google)

I do remember at least (1) of the (2) 1961 Chevys dad had though. He had a ‘61 Impala and a ‘61 Bel Air. This is when I learned the difference in tail lights between the two. The Impala had the backup lights as part of the main rear lens layout giving it (6) as opposed the (4) of the Bel Air. At least one of those ‘61s were white.

(c/o google ‘61 Impala)

(c/o google ‘61 Bel Air)

 

[PlymCrazy]

The ‘62 Chevy dad had I recall pretty well. It had a straight 6, 235 in it. Automatic transmission. He would put our Honda ATC 70 3-wheeler in the trunk and take us kids to the train tracks in the winter to go riding along the side of the tracks. I remember dad having an issue with improper lubrication on the top end of the motor in that car and he made an “oil sprinkling system” out of some fittings and some rubber fuel hose. He drilled a few holes on top of the valve cover and inserted the fuel hose essentially oiling the valve train and eliminating the noise he was getting on the top end of the engine. I was around 8 years old I’d guess. Looking back now, I suspect he had some plugged oil passages he was trying to bypass without having to tear into the motor. That fancy plumbing held him over long enough to get another car in the driveway to replace it.

Here are some pics of that ‘62 Chevy:

That’s me.

My sister on the left. My brother on the right.

 

[PlymCrazy]

I apologize for the delay since my last post here but I was doing some picture hunting. Not as much luck finding as I’d hoped.

So I’m about to embark on a stretch of vehicles dad owned, quite a few, that I can’t find pictures for. If that changes and I can find some of the following at some point I will come back and edit the post, if possible. If not, I will try to at least add them to this thread. In the meantime I will compliment each post with a representative sample picture from the internet. Thus far I’ve been doing that when I don’t have an actual picture of the particular car dad had I’m describing.

 

[PlymCrazy]

I’ve been trying to do this all in order of model year, not necessarily in chronological order here. So next in the line of cars dad owned were a couple of Fords. No recollection of these at all.

1962 Ford Fairlaine (c/o google)

1963 Ford Galaxie 500 (c/o google)

 

[PlymCrazy]

Moving down the list...

He had a 1964 Chevy Impala. I have no memory of this one either.
(c/o google)

A 1964 Chevy Corvair Monza was in the list of ones dad owned. I remember this car clearly. It was blue, a bit darker than shown below. The air-cooled engine in the rear and the trunk up front. I recall a time in the early 80's when mom and dad packed us kids up in the Corvair to make the trip from our home in Greece, NY to Albany, NY. We were going to visit a friend of mom's that had moved there. We got about 5 minutes into the trip and the car quit, going up the first hill we encountered in the journey. We wound up sitting in a nearby yard until we were able to get a ride, as whatever happened to the Corvair that day was not repairable on the side of the road. We never did make another attempt at the Albany trip as a family that I recall. In fact, I don't recall that dad ever got that car running again before it wound up out of the picture.

Another story surrounding this car. As low as this car sat to the ground, our Belgian Shepard "Major" still managed to reach my orange kitten hiding under that Corvair one day. In a matter of seconds he snatched that kitten with his mouth and left it lifeless under that Corvair. Boy, the things that stick out in memory sometimes...

The Corvair? Neat looking car, but nothing impressive about it that stands out, to me anyway. Nice piece of history regardless.
(c/o google)

 

[HawkRod]

He had a 1964 Chevy Impala.

My neighbor has a 64 Impala SS that is white with a white and red interior. It is a cool car with lots of space - the trunk is HUGE!

 

[PlymCrazy]

My neighbor has a 64 Impala SS that is white with a white and red interior. It is a cool car with lots of space - the trunk is HUGE!

Sounds pretty sweet. They are beautiful cars. When I see the ‘64 Chevy in particular, I can’t get what the hip hop era did to them out of my head as I seen in the 90’s. Hydraulics, etc. I prefer the original look myself. Just sayin…

 

[PlymCrazy]

And to continue on down the list…

Dad had a 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury
(Finally a B-body on the list lol)
(c/o google)




And a 1964 Plymouth Valiant
(c/o google)

 

[PlymCrazy]

A 1965 Buick Skylark
(c/o google)




And a 1965 Chevy Malibu
(c/o google)

 

[PlymCrazy]

Ooh look, another B-body

A 1965 Coronet he had too. Figured the model car box was a good fit because dad enjoyed doing model cars with us too as kids.
(c/o google)

 

[HawkRod]

I jokingly say that my dad was a "bottom feeder" when it came to cars. He bought old, well used cars for cheap, ran them until they were no longer reasonably serviceable, and then sold them off and bought something else. With the large number and variety of cars, it seems your dad and mine were alike in that respect!

We have some fun stories about a number of our cars including our 70 Valiant ("The Green Machine") and our 71 or 72 Pinto ("The Pintomatsomatsoburra"). I won't clog your thread with them here, but your thread brings back fun memories of some of those!

 

[PlymCrazy]

I jokingly say that my dad was a "bottom feeder" when it came to cars. He bought old, well used cars for cheap, ran them until they were no longer reasonably serviceable, and then sold them off and bought something else. With the large number and variety of cars, it seems your dad and mine were alike in that respect!

We have some fun stories about a number of our cars including our 70 Valiant ("The Green Machine") and our 71 or 72 Pinto ("The Pintomatsomatsoburra"). I won't clog your thread with them here, but your thread brings back fun memories of some of those!

Our dads sound very similar indeed in regards to their car histories and stories that accompany. You are more than welcome to share on this thread whatever is inspired by it. In fact, I encourage it.

 

[HawkRod]

You are more than welcome to share on this thread whatever is inspired by it. In fact, I encourage it.

OK, here goes one then. In 1971 we had an early 60's black Saab 96. It looked like this, but was old, beat up and rusty.

The car had a two stroke engine with 3 speed on the column. I was 6 years old, but I clearly remember two key things about it. The first was that the starter didn't work, so my mom always had to park it on a hill, then push it so she could bump start it!
The second thing I remember about it was the black electricians tape. The car had a couple of rust holes, including one that I remember very well on the driver side rear fender, near the gas cap. My dad used black electricians tape to cover up the holes so they weren't so noticeable!
We had the car about a year, but then got rid of it when we moved.

 

[PlymCrazy]

OK, here goes one then. In 1971 we had an early 60's black Saab 96. It looked like this, but was old, beat up and rusty.
View attachment 1365733

View attachment 1365738

The car had a two stroke engine with 3 speed on the column. I was 6 years old, but I clearly remember two key things about it. The first was that the starter didn't work, so my mom always had to park it on a hill, then push it so she could bump start it!
The second thing I remember about it was the black electricians tape. The car had a couple of rust holes, including one that I remember very well on the driver side rear fender, near the gas cap. My dad used black electricians tape to cover up the holes so they weren't so noticeable!
We had the car about a year, but then got rid of it when we moved.

I love it! Go mom with the bump start and the 3-speed column shift! Awesome lady right there! And 2-stroke? That’s a first for me hearing that in any car.

Dad with the black electrical tape covering the holes? Good ole days right there. I’m digging it for sure!

 

[HawkRod]

And 2-stroke? That’s a first for me hearing that in any car.

Even stranger, it was a three cylinder two stroke engine. It had a sound like no other!

 

[PlymCrazy]

Even stranger, it was a three cylinder two stroke engine. It had a sound like no other!

I’d love to have heard that. Maybe someone posted one on YouTube I can find!

Pops had a 3-cylinder 1990 Metro. But that’s coming in a later post

 

[PlymCrazy]

Even stranger, it was a three cylinder two stroke engine. It had a sound like no other!

Just listened to a Saab 96 on Youtube. Man, you weren't kidding! Sounds like a dirtbike's under the hood. Did it start to scream when you got into the power band?

I looked up specs on the 96 in the 60's. Looks like it came with anything from 38 to a whopping 52HP! The 3-cylinder Geo Metro had 55HP, but that 2-stroke in the 96 sounds pretty intimidating in comparison. lol

 

[HawkRod]

Just listened to a Saab 96 on Youtube. Man, you weren't kidding! Sounds like a dirtbike's under the hood. Did it start to scream when you got into the power band?

I looked up specs on the 96 in the 60's. Looks like it came with anything from 38 to a whopping 52HP! The 3-cylinder Geo Metro had 55HP, but that 2-stroke in the 96 sounds pretty intimidating in comparison. lol

We had another two stroke Saab 96 in 1975 when I was 10 (it was cream colored). It was actually a pretty peppy little car; probably the two stroke helped create good torque. Mind you, it wasn't any kind of performance car, but it worked really well driving around. The drivetrain was also essentially bullet proof. I just watched a couple of videos and I don't remember the sound being quite as "sharp" sounding. Maybe the cars in the videos have more of a performance muffler?

Fun fact: The Saab 93/ 96 models were extremely successful in early rally car racing. One famous driver rolled his onto the roof during the race, then got out and rolled it back on it's wheels - it's shape helped make that easy. At the time, it was a very aerodynamic car so it's shape made it easy to get it back on its wheels.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Fun fact: The Saab 93/ 96 models were extremely successful in early rally car racing. One famous driver rolled his onto the roof during the race, then got out and rolled it back on it's wheels - it's shape helped make that easy. At the time, it was a very aerodynamic car so it's shape made it easy to get it back on its wheels.

Thanks for sharing that. Totally forgot we had nicknamed the Metro due to it's rounded shape. It was a white hatchback. Nicknamed 'the egg".

 

[RemCharger]

One of those needs a Thundercat 1000 triple!