I made a point to put “Cohort” in this title to make sure nobody thought this was from the Niedermeyer photo files, despite the obvious resemblance of this ’63 Meteor to our black ’62 Fairlane. Nope, Pops wouldn’t have been caught in this pose for anything; that’s why he had a wife and kids! Nice Caddy; hope it’s not being replaced by the Meteor.
(image posted by coconv)
That car really needs a set of fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror.
that’s one cool car daddio!The 63 Fords and Mercurys were real lookers why these Mercurys never sold better is a mystery
This would not have happened in the Cavanaugh household either. The difference: instead of having the wife and kids wash the car, Dad would just run it through the carwash. He would usually trade it by the time it really needed waxing.
It looks like someone is behind the wheel.
This photo makes me miss whitewall tires. When the whitewalls were clean, the car really looked clean. Apply some Armor All to the rest of the tire, and your car really looked sharp. It was the finishing touch to a thorough car wash.
Definitely two kids in the front seat. One of them appears to be wearing a blue and white balaclava.
Nice little car. I always had a soft spot for these midsize Meteors. The new 221/260 V-8 matched to a three speed manual was a nice combination in them.
Cool picture 🙂 and on a off-topic sidenote, here a French-Canadian brochure of the 1956 Meteor line-up offered in Canada if you want more Meteors. 😉
http://oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/New-Brochures—January/1956-Meteor-Brochure-Cdn-Fr and you might like the 1957 Australian Ford brochure as well http://oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/New-Brochures—January/1957-Ford-Customline-Brochure-Aus the Aussie Ford soldiered with the 1955-56 body a bit longer.
I was about five years old in 1964. My dad would let me help him wash our cars and I learned all I needed about keeping a car sharp from the old man. That driveway scene could’ve been San Rafael, California and my pop taking Comet cleanser to the whitewalls. Come to think of it, in ’64 we had two Pontiacs. A ’55 white over green Pontiac Chieftain 870 and a white ’61 Pontiac Catalina Safari (6 passenger).
Dang, comet on the whitewalls, that brings back memories!
Back in the day, when they occasionally washed their cars, my parents would grab a bucket and a couple of rags and drive down the boat ramp near our cottage. The boat ramp ended on a large naturally-occurring flat rock pan that was covered in about 6 inches of lakewater. Apparently they weren’t concerned about anything suspended in the lakewater scratching the paint…. I wouldn’t wash my cars this way, though it would be neat to get a picture where the car appears to be floating in the lake. 🙂
This car reminds me of the 61 Comet that my buddy drove while in high school .
It was a low miles car that he was the second owner of . That Comet also black in color had what I believe to this day to have had one of the best factory paint jobs I have seen on a car.
FAINT. Why ordinary cars can’t be this stylish anymore I don’t understand.
Thanks for the picture depicting a noble enterprise. There is something that I find sybaritic about washing my car. I note that this gentleman seems to be cleaning his wheelwells. He is a man after my own heart. I must also asume that it did not matter to his family on their next trip. It may not have even payed up at trade in time. The next trip, however, he knew, he had one clean car.
To me, it looks like he is cleaning the whitewalls.
My dad washed our cars in street, until we moved near a Mobil gas station with Car Wash. Would run the wagon through wash with most fill ups, since there was a discount.
This could have been my dad ten years earlier than this picture. He would religiously wash the family car every Saturday, and he would do the wide whitewalls with nothing more than a Brillo pad, a galvanized bucket of water, and some pieces of old terry cloth towels. I would invariably help by holding the hose, a true childhood bonding moment with dear old Dad.
This Meteor was the little brother to our family’s ’63 Monterey Custom, same wheel covers, same front end look. A stylish design, indeed.
If that picture was a few decades more recent and the car was a Volvo, that would be me. I always hand-wash my cars, except during winter of course. I enjoy it, and it doesn’t hurt that I’m cheap 🙂
To my way of thinking, you don’t really know a car until you’ve washed it.