It seems after graduating high school a quarter century ago, some elements of that time in my life remain quite vivid despite my willingness to forget them. Perhaps that is the only explanation on why this question popped into my head and how I am able to so clearly remember what was parked where I went to school.
Going to school in a rural area, I knew nearly everyone there. With less than 800 students from kindergarten through twelfth grade all under the same roof, with 43 of them in my graduating class, it isn’t like there is a whole lot to remember. So let’s see what was parked at Egyptian High School around 1990. While many of us drove to school (12 miles in my case) to avoid the zoo that was the school bus, I’m sticking with cars belonging to faculty and staff.
Mr. Russell had been the high school principle but was promoted to superintendent by 1988. His car was a 1976 to 1978 Cadillac Eldorado in this shade of green. One night Mr. Russell stopped by the house (my father was president of the school board) and he casually mentioned having purchased the Cadillac new and it having 175,000 miles on it. At the time, it didn’t look vastly different than the one in this picture.
Mr. Biggerstaff was the high school physical education teacher. He drove a white 1976 Plymouth Volare sedan. While it didn’t seem to jive with a gym teacher in his early to mid-30s, it later made sense when I learned he was working on his Ph.D. He later became principal at another, much larger school.
My fourth and fifth grade teacher was Mr. Naeger. He is also my second cousin by marriage, as his mother-in-law Thelma is my grandmother’s younger sister. For a while, Mr. Naeger had a red 1980 Ford LTD.
Incidentally, my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson, had an LTD nearly identical to the one shown here.
Mr. Naeger’s red LTD was soon accompanied by Thelma’s old 1971 Ford LTD in this same shade of green.
The 1980 LTD would go away for a two-tone blue Dodge Ramcharger. At 6’4″ and with three tall kids, Mr. Naeger had no use for anything diminutive.
English for the junior high students was taught by Mr. Robinson. He had an early 1980s Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight. So did Mrs. Adams, the secretary to the superintendent.
Passing away unexpectedly, Mr. Robinson was replaced with Mrs. Honey – who somehow wound up teaching me 12th grade English. A good woman with no ability to enforce any sort of discipline, the only real thing I learned in her class was metal blade ceiling fans do a bang-up job of chopping celery, carrots, and peanut butter sandwiches plus they make excellent launchers for sling-shoting coins into metal cabinets. Mrs. Honey drove a brown G-body Pontiac Bonneville.
My other high school English teacher was Mrs. Bonifield. A high-school classmate of my father (rumor has it they even once went on a date), Mrs. Bonifield drove a silver 1977 Lincoln Continental. Egyptian High School is in a very rural location, sitting on a road having a 55 mph speed limit – and prevailing speeds much higher. It was routine for Mrs. Bonifield to run late to school in the mornings; somebody in the back of the school bus would often yell “Here comes Mrs. Bonifield!” and we could periodically hear the secondaries kicking in on her Lincoln’s 460 cubic inch (7.5 liter) V8.
Mr. and Mrs. Reid were one of several married couples working at the school. Mr. Reid had an insatiable appetite for cars. At one point they drove a 1985 or 1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe,
two different Mercedes W123’s,
and at least two Cadillac Broughams. The order of this runs counter to what you might think – he dumped each Mercedes for a Cadillac.
The Wendling’s were another couple working there. He was the high school math and chemistry teacher. Mr. Wendling had a 1982 or 1983 Ford F-100 with the 3.8 liter V6. I only knew this because his son was in my class.
Mrs. Wendling drove their Fox body Mercury Marquis.
My mother had been the school nurse for a while, but quit as a result of her participation in the pregnancy craze of 1972. This craze even included some of the girls on the high school basketball team as they would later forfeit the season. From what I recall, Mrs. Moses replaced my mother as school nurse. She always kept her dark blue Chrysler Fifth Avenue parked as near the door as she could.
Not all the cars in the parking lot were American cars, or Mercedes that would be kicked out of the stable in favor of a Cadillac.
The band instructor, Mr. Winchester, had a Nissan Stanza wagon.
Velma, the school secretary whose father was my Grandpa Albert’s older brother, discarded her burgundy Oldsmobile Delta 88 Diesel
For a red Nissan Maxima.
Mrs. Davis, the art teacher, had a gray Honda Accord.
In contrast, the other Mrs. Davis, who would later become superintendent, was in her mid-30s and drove a very nice 1985 Lincoln Town Car. She later swapped it off for a 1988 Lincoln Town Car.
Other than the origins of the Nissan and Honda, the only real outlier in the parking lot was Miss LuAnn’s Rambler and that was only due to age. I covered it here.
At that time, the 1980 Dodge Aspen (Plymouth Volare shown) belonging to my grandmother – who was supervisor in the cafeteria – had the second J-body in the parking lot. The third belonged to the driver’s education teacher and a fourth to the junior high math teacher. Three of the four were dark green.
The junior high math teacher with one of the J-bodies, Mr. Tapley, also had a 1978ish Oldsmobile Delta 88.
Yes, 1990 was a different time and things have certainly changed. My aunt is now the school secretary, another cousin is the school nurse, and a different Shafer is on the school board.
So my question is: What was parked in the school parking lot the year you graduated from school?
Chevy trucks ford trucks dodge trucks and some jeeps. I live(d) out in the boonies.
This got me thinking a little more though… A janitor had one of those ford half van half truck things. Front end of an Econoline with a dually f350 bed, ridiculous paint stripes, that thing was crazy. Guidance counselor had an old vw bus complete with hippy stickers all over it and a peace sign spare tire cover. Gym teacher bought a new dodge truck and creamed it on the curb flying into work one day, popping two tires. Health teacher had some wierd Subaru coupe thing. The xt?
Catholic high school parking lot in senior year 1971:
Lay teachers low salary so that should tell you no new cars and there weren’t any. Nuns had none. Cars ranged from 1955-1970. The 1970 was a Charger 440 RT owned by Father Byrnes and how he managed it I have no idea. Next newest car was my 1968 Cougar. Downward from there was mostly American iron with a few older British cars thrown in and one of those tiny 3 cylinder Hondas. Best friend drove his parent’s hand me down 1963 Buick Electra and not their 68 Mustang. Oh, and not one truck.
Catholic high school here as well.
Graduated in 1990
Headmaster…Monsignor Kelly: 1986 Olds Cutlass Supreme Sedan
Mr. Shepard…Phys Ed. 1988 GMC Jimmy (S10 not full sized)
Mr. Butler…Guidance 1980 Buick Regal coupe
Fr. Wortmann…German…1983 Buick LeSabre coupe
Fr. Foran…Math…1988 Buick Century Sedan
Mr. Comer…English 1987 Chrysler New Yorker Turbo
Fr. Figurelli…Math 1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo
Ms. Gorda…Math…1987 Olds Calais
Ms. DeGeorge…Math..1986 Toyota Tercel
Ms. Constantino…Math..1985 Nissan Sentra
Mr. Binkowski…English..1979 Chrysler LeBaron
Mr. Scaine…Science…1978 Volvo 240
Mr. O’Rourke…History..1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
Mr. Metelsky..Science…1987 Dodge Aries
Doc Egan..History..1987 Toyota Camry
Mr. McCormick..Religion..1981 Toyota Tercel
Ms. Moretti..Spanish..1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera station wagon
Mr. Itri..Math..1985 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport
Mrs. Itri…Bookstore…1980 Honda Civic
Fr. Melillo..Religion..1985 Buick Century
Mr. Lupica..Italian 1980? BMW 7 series
Mr. Fischer..History 1980’s Nissan pickup
Mr. Morris…Spanish..1985 Cutlass Supreme coupe
Mr. Socha..Biology..1980’s Chevy Van
Mrs. Safranek..English..1984 Honda Civic
Fr. Bradley–Religion–1984 Buick Skyhawk
3 more:
Sr. Apollonia..Italian..1982 Ford Granada
Mr. Esposito..History..1983 Mitsubishi Tredia
Mr. Murtha..Latin 1986 Cadillac Sedan de Ville
Great thread…I was surprised at what I remembered…I haven’t thought about this in years!
I graduated 1978 from R. Nelson Snider High School in Fort Wayne. The principal, Mr. Petrie, drove a Rambler much like your Miss Luann. It was a big public school, so there are too many cars to cover. Mr. Gurnell the gym teacher had a 1975 or 76 Olds 98 coupe. Mr. Franzman the history teacher had a copper 69 Newport convertible. The band director had a 74 or 75 Audi Fox and the choir director had the most rusted, battered, worn out red 65 Mustang I had ever seen up to that time. There was also a female english teacher who had a pretty sad 65 Biscayne.
Most students drove 60s stuff, some beat and some quite nice.There wasn’t much older than 1963 nor much newer than 1968 for we kids. Though there was a kid about 2 years ahead of me who used to do burnouts in a black 62 Imperial.
Great QOTD! I attended high school from fall 2007-spring 2011, so admittedly, I could probably name the entire faculty’s fleet, which would easily be over 100 cars. I’ll just name the first couple that come to mind:
Superintendent Gormley – W211 Mercedes E350
Mrs. Marinilli, Main Office Secretary – 3rd gen Lexus RX
Mr. Fitzgerald, my Sophomore English teacher – 3rd gen Ford Explorer
Mrs. Masciarelli, my Algebra and Calculus teacher – 1st gen Toyota Highlander, later a 2011 Subaru Outback
Mme Menard, my French teacher – 2nd gen Honda CR-V
Mr. Tart, a very fascinating ex-hippie English teacher who commuted from over an hour away in Rhode Island – 9th gen Impala SS (daily driver) and late-‘90s Saab 900 convertible in the warm weather
Mr. Aubert – Director of Guidance Counseling – E60 5-Series (is it a coincidence that he was prosecuted for appropriating $ students paid for AP exams fees)
Mr. LoPresti – my teacher for various computer courses and the varsity basketball coach (2009 State Champions!) – 1994 Mercury Cougar
Mr. Midura – history teacher – BMW Z3 and 2nd gen Acura MDX
Mr. Snyder – my Chemistry teacher and my XC coach all 4 years – 1992 or 1993 Chrysler Town & Country woodie, replaced by a 4th generation Grand Caravan
Wow…I can only recall a couple…but that may have to do with it having been 42 years.
My journalism teacher, Mrs. Martinson, had a 1972 Buick Skylark sedan, tomato soup red/orange with a white vinyl roof.
My drama teacher, Mr. Benson, had a 1960 Corvette, also tomato soup red/orange with a white interior.
The student parking was where the action was…’57 Bel Air coupe, ’65 Falcon 2-door post with a 289 hi-po under the hood, ’67 Cyclone (also with a 289)….
I love this question. During highschool (graduated in 2001), I drove a 1984 MK1 Jetta. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it got the job done and I was plenty satisfied with it.
I now have a strong sense of nostalgia and incredible fondness for that car. Within the last five years I’ve ran into two people from high school who I remember were into cars; both of them asked me “do you still have that MK1 Jetta?”
My highschool parking lot had many newer Japanese economy cars and hand me down luxury cars and SUVs. A good friend of mine whose father was into cars drove a 64 1/2 Mustang or his dad’s Audi v8, and later A8. I remember being VERY jealous of my friends 1994 Integra. Two friends drove first gen Acura Legends; then would take out their respective dad’s XJ Jaguar and first gen Q45 whenever they could. I remember one girl with a brand new yellow VW Beetle who would very obviously lean against her car to show off (this was right after the first retro return). There was a super popular jock bro who had females literally hanging off the side of his Expedition. Two different people with mk1 rabbit cabrios – a surfer bro and a cheerleader chick. There was one redhead I had a crush on with an FJ62 (back before they were collectors items). I remember the drug dealer who went through the whole Fast and Furious cycle with his new late 90s civic- first the stereo, then the undercarriage lights, and then ruining it with a bright green paint job. Another drug dealer who drove a Thunderbird Supercoupe (last gen before the retro version), who would regularly light up the tires exiting the parking lot. Another kid with an older Thunderbird (I think the generation before the other one), and a kid with a gold 300zx with t-tops (maybe early 80s, unfortunately non turbo). I remember the Indian kid with wealthy parents who had the Lexus ES300 with a competition winning stereo. One friend with a mechanic dad drove a 944. A couple 240 Volvos in there as well, an early 90s F-150, a couple Celicas, an Infiniti J30, and a Ford Probe that I remember. All in all, probably much more interesting than today’s parking lot.
I don’t much remember the teachers cars (they had a separate parking lot away from the students). I do remember my spanish teacher, an older woman, who drove a Z3. That was a hot car back then. She claimed that it ended up being just as affordable as the Miata she also looked into. I remember an especially effeminate male history teach who drove a classic Beetle in bright red. Oh, and the very butch lady PE teacher who drove either a Firebird or Camaro (the wedge one before the retro redesign).
I also graduated from a Catholic high school, in 1969. The ten or so monks assigned to the school managed just fine with two four door sedans, a Chevy Biscayne and a Plymouth Fury I, both ’66 models. The lay teachers drove, among other things, a Corvair Monza coupe, a Pontiac LeMans convertible and a VW Beetle. The school was in the heart of town, so many students walked to and from, as I did for my first three years. Those that drove had an interesting assortment of cars. One friend had an old Opel, I think it was a Rekord, a funny looking beast. Another had a ’49 Plymouth, and one had a beautiful new ’67 Mustang in aquamarine. Good people, good times…
Class of ’81. One guy had a ’73+/- Satellite wagon painted black and white cop car style. Roof rack, dual CB antennas, maybe white spoke wheels, and shields on the doors that read FUZZ 54
The only teacher car I remember was my 8th grade (1976) science teacher, who had a ’64 or so Corvette. He was fun as a teacher – he’d occasionally make smoke bombs and surreptitiously leave them in the class room next door. (IIRC he was eventually fired for being, um, innapropriate with a student.)
In high school (class of 80), my two best friends had Pintos, another friend drove his dad’s ’74 Ford pickup, and at that time of course there were Bugs. But the most common cool cars were all ’68-’72 Chevelles. There was one newish TransAm too, owned by the meekest kid, not a gear head at all. This annoyed the rest of the class who felt that the car deserved to be really driven (or at least used to do smoky burnouts on the speed bumps in the parking lot).
My ‘car’ was a Grand Prix (a Raleigh though, not a Pontiac), which had its back wheel taken out by one of the Bugs on my way to work, about 2 days after the driver got her license. (I drove my parent’s Impala wagon to work for the restvof the summer…)
I attended two high schools in the late 1970s (we moved the summer before my Senior year). The first HS was in Winder, GA and had maybe 1400-1600 students. I really wasn’t into cars at this point, and my brothers and I rode to school with my Dad in his (later to become mine) ’71 Vega. Dad ran the VocEd wing of the HS, so he worked there. I do remember a Bricklin showing up one afternoon that elicited much oohing and aahing at the window. There were a couple of 280Zs I remember as well.
The second HS was in Inman, SC (about 800 students), where my Dad was hired to run a standalone VocEd school and is where I got the Vega as “my” car. My best friend had a ’65 Mustang ‘boxtop,’ and I remember another friend who had a ’66 Galaxie 500 that I always thought was clean-looking. Another classmate had a second-gen Malibu SS (the real deal). We really dissed the Mustang II that showed up in the parking lot that year, too!
Our Science teacher (whom we addressed as ‘Professor Miller’) drove an F-150 double cab / longbed. He wore out front tires pretty quickly with that rig – it hung out of the normal parking spot by a couple extra feet. There was also a guy with Young Life that came once a week who drove a Corolla – it got moved all over the parking lot by a handful of willing and strong backs – the guy never knew where it would be when he left!
After I got the Vega, my younger brother either drove my Dad’s F-100, or the ’71 Catalina four-door that my grandparents gave us around that time. It was a real dog, despite having the 400 engine. Dad had bought a second Vega (’73 Kammback for which he immediately had the engine sleeved), but it got in an accident that required replacement of a lot of the front sheet metal so it was sidelined for a number of months. My Vega was burning (dripping, really) oil badly, so Dad gave me the keys to the ’73 and to the VocEd auto shop and I swapped engines over Christmas break. He eventually rebuilt my old engine for the ’73 and got it back on the road, by which time a third Vega (’72 kammback) had joined the fleet for my next-youngest brother to drive.
OMG this has me thinking I can remember some of the teaching staff’s car though not the teachers names, school finished with me in 74 so some of the cars in use are only known thru this site but the principal drove a 3litre Austin, the deputy a Holden Kingswood HG, there were 3 MK1 Ford Escorts and 3 Vauxhall Vivas 1 Austin Mini van (converted to hand controls and automatic) 1 Morris Minor pickup and the same person also drove a Wolseley 6/110 manual overdrive, the tech drawing teacher drove an Austin Tasman most days or he walked when it wouldnt run, there were NO Japanese cars anywhere to be seen by then and the only one I can recall belonged to a house master in the boarding school who traded it for a Hillman Hunter due to the Datsun Bluebirds unreliability we used to laugh at him trying to start this piece of junk, One of the kitchen ladies at the boarding establishment drove a Dodge Pioneer and a Hillman Imp the boarding manager drove a MK2 3.4 Jag ( I was in that car when he topped 120 mph indicated quite a thrill), one of the science masters had MK7 MK8 Jags and a prewar Fiat Toppolino he talked several other of the teaching staff into Jaguars because he could fix them should they have problems, (very few of them did) One teacher and two house masters had VWs one which I got to drive quite a lot was a oval 54 with 1100cc motor gutlessness personified, another had a MK2 Ford Zodiac later traded for a MK3 Zephyr and another had a hotted HA Vauxhall Viva I also used to drive,licence at 15 in those days and I had one.
Early 80s in Scarsdale New York so we had all kinds of stuff. I knew people who drove a Renault 15 until it self-immolated in an electrical fire, a VW Thing, an MG midget and Triumph Spitfire. I also had friends with VW Beetles, hand me down Oldsmobiles and a stripper Escort. Other students had Camaros a Citroen Mehari !! and one kid occasionally drove his father’s Rolls Royce. The teacher’s lot was less interesting, lostly sensible Hondas, Toyotas, Chevys etc. with one notable outlier in the form of rusty 2 wheel drive Blazer.
I went to a rural high school that only had 110 students the year I graduated, and that hasn’t changed much even today. My teachers drove mostly foreign cars: dark blue ’74 Corolla wagon, ’75 or so brown Corolla sedan, a ’74 white Corolla sedan, an early ’70s white Fiat 124 sedan. From American manufacturers: a ’75 Dodge Crestwood wagon, a ’73 LTD wagon (bit of a rarity!), a ’74 Pinto, a ’64 Chevy pickup. ’73 Ford F-100, Chevy C-10 short bed, and the best of all, my history teacher and my English teacher were married and would drive a LOADED brown ’70 Country Squire. It was, by far, my favorite of the bunch.
For a while, our driver’s ed car was an aqua/parchment ’67 Fairlane sedan.
And I was driving my red/black/black ’67 Cougar.
This article fascinates me in all kinds of ways.
I finished high school in 1999, and have very little recollection of the teachers’ cars. The whole idea of a students’ parking lot still makes me laugh out loud, it just doesn’t compute.
I can remember small, cheap Fiat Puntos and Peugeot 206s, maybe the odd Mondeo. The only vaguely interesting thing was a last of the line Renault 25. I tell a lie, one “techy” teacher had a Type 2 camper.
The headteacher had a company car from his other job (!) which was an Audi 90 when I started in 1993 but I can’t remember what he had in 1999.
The only other thing that sticks out was an older spinster (are you allowed to say that?) teacher who dithered but finally bought a Vauxhall Tigra when they first came out. They seemed very boldly styled at the time, and a very bold choice for her.
Where I went there was only one lot and everyone co-mingled with pArking. Of course I had to wal through the parking lot twice daily – riding the bus was subjecting oneself to torture by way of various activities and a preponderance of perjoratives against others. No thanks.
Looking back the students cars were about the same composition of iron as was the teachers cars.
Just had a flashback! One teacher had a Fiat Panda 750L – quite rare as the 903 or 999cc versions hardly cost any more and probably used less fuel as you weren’t caning them all the time.
And one geography teacher had a “Euro-Brougham”. A Granada Ghia wagon in gold, with the same wheels as the Mercury Marquis above.
Ok, what’s really weird is that while I remember cars from all over my neighborhood, I can remember very few cars of teacher’s. And actually, I don’t think I can remember one single car from high school (maybe the lot just wasn’t that visible on my daily routine), but I do remember a few from Middle School – but only the very few that stood out. Most were just ordinary cars, probably mid-size American or small Japanese cars.
But I did always notice these, which were all newish, in the late ’70s: TR7 owned by the “goodlooking single guy” (who later married my social studies teacher…right after her divorce), which he then replaced with a new Mercedes 300CD. Who knows where the money came from for that. And then there was the music teacher, a young man who drove a new 450SL, by far the most noticeable car in the lot!
I graduated from Newfield High in Newfield, NY in 2008. Most of the vehicles were from the late 1990s and newer. The Superintendent drove a last generation Dakota because buying a Lincoln would be too flashy he said. There was one 1st gen Prius and a couple of 2nd gen Priuses as well as a Baja and a 1986 Skylark that was replaced by a Prius. I would say 3/5 to 2/3rds domestic vehicles.
I drove a 1987 Caprice Estate usually and a classmate drive a 1997 Sable with 50K was a piece of junk because no work had ever been done it, but they totalled it before it died. A Junior had an 1984 Corvette that sounded like Marbles in a blender and it burned down in the parking lot of Pyramid Mall. Other classmates of mine had a circa 2000 Passat, circa 2003 Camry, circa 1998 F-150, and a hoopty 1987 Corsica that fit Corsica stereotypes. A classmate of mine could not drive well and every week or so “his” circa 1995 Camry got shittier and shittier. Then there was a circa 2004 Grand Am and a 1968 Impala that another classmate drive until the snow came. They then drove a circa 1995 Suburban or Lumina APV.
Mr Hawes (PE teacher) had a green Renault 12. Mr Dawes (Music) had an MG Midget, and someone had a blue Ford Escort Mexico. Don’t recall any others, but it was a long time ago.
Honestly, I did not know and could care less what the teachers at my school drove. I am surprised anyone would care, but I like the story.
Taft High School, Woodland Hills, CA, 1984-1987, I only distinctly remember two teachers’ cars beyond the fact that the teacher’s lot was much less impressive than the students lot. The scene in “Straight Outta Compton” where they show the parking lot is not accurate as far as the physical lot itself goes but very accurate for the types of machinery the students were driving…
1. Mrs. SomethingOrOther that I despised when I had her for English drove a blue Peugeot 504 sedan when I started and a powder blue 1982 BMW 320i when I left. Paul would have had more to talk to her about than I ever did. At least she had style…
2. Mr. Gershbein, my Graphic Arts Teacher and employer when I worked for the printing program after school hours started with a full size 1980’s Oldsmobile Wagon (like Robert Kim’s but brown) and also had a 1983 Toyota Supra. The Olds made way for a Bronco II Eddie Bauer, and then after his divorce (after I graduated but we kept in touch) his hair style changed drastically and a bright red 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo graced the space in front of the shop…
High School parking lot cars were largely forgettable except for French teacher Helen Kelley’s tan ’64 Buick Electra 225 four-window hardtop and Guidance Counselor Ivan Warren’s dark blue ’69 Ambassador sedan that his English teacher wife referred to as “a gold-plated monstrosity”.
The grade school parking lot was more memorable:
Onalee Holmes’ white ’59 Thunderbird convertible.
Betty Craft’s ’56 Pontiac Chieftain two door sedan with winter tires all around.
Evan Rickett’s ’60 and ’65 Plymouth Furys two door hardtops.
Ron Biondolillo’s ’63 Rambler American convertible traded for a ’65 GTO convertible.
Edna Mott’s ’58 Ford 300 two door sedan.
Kindergarten teacher Edith Chasey’s string of good, sensible Chevy Bel Air sedans.
Principals who drove a ’59 Buick Invicta and ’63 Rambler Ambassador.
Shop teacher’s ’63 Mercury Comet convertible.
Bus mechanic’s ’58 Cadillac 62 and Pontiac Star Chief four door hardtops.
Dental Hygienist ’58 Plymouth Belviedere two door hardtop.
Elementary teacher’s ’60 Rambler Ambassador four door hardtop, pink and white!
School Nurse’s ’62 & ’66 Pontiac Star Chief and Executive four door hardtops.
I’ll add others as I think of them.
The High School I attended in the late ’70s had a separate parking area for students well away from the teacher’s lot. No one from the faculty ever went near the student lot, and parking in the teacher’s lot was rumoured to be instant expulsion. The interesting cars and other events were all in the student lot anyway. You could even smoke there.
If you were to picture the cars in Paul’s Cheviac post from a few days ago, and add 10 or 15 years of very hard use you’d be close. Lots of battered VWs, smoky Vegas, old Datsun 510s and Japanese pickups as well. Beat Celicas from the early ’70s were popular too.
There were a few new cars, including a bright blue Z-28 but in those days most parents didn’t hand out new cars to teenagers. My faded, rusty ’65 Impala fit right in.
Sadly, 2 of the vehicles we saw every day in the lot were involved in fatal accidents before we graduated. A not-so-fun part of High School back then.
I hope my high school friends Cindy and Bernadette won’t mind me posting this picture, taken in our high school parking lot in, I think, 1978. Some interesting CC’s here, including the c. ’68 Valiant I rode to school in most days, driven by my friend Rick.
On the right is a Datsun B210 Honeybee, a car so stripped down it made the Chevette Scooter seem like a Brougham package.
A whole heap of pickups and a few old cars thrown in. The cars were usually hot rods that looked every bit like they belonged in the scrap heap, but they were pretty fast for the day.The trucks were mostly farm trucks.
I graduated HS in 1992, in a small town in West TN.
None of the staff/faculty really had anything interesting as I remember. But among the other students, the parking lot was pretty representative of the times:
–Lowered minitrucks. Mostly S-10s, Mazdas and Nissans but a few others in there too.
–Fox Mustangs and 3rd gen GM F bodies were prevalent. A few spoiled kids even got V8s.
–’73-’87 Chevy/GMC C/K pickups. LOTS of these, a few 4x4s and a few 2wd. Some even lowered.
–All sorts of fwd GM rabble. J cars, H bodies, A bodies N bodies, Berettas… You name it, those were all represented in high numbers.
–There were some standouts of course.
One guy a few years older than me had a ’67 Camaro painted in a magenta. Not too many cars can pull off pink, even few men can pull off a pink car. But Andy liked to get noticed, that’s for sure!
A girl I graduated with at first had a really clean Dodge 600 convertible, and then later a Daytona ES in cobalt blue. REALLY sharp car.
A sophomore restored a ’55 Chevy pickup with his dad, and was it ever SHARP. Of course, within a month some jackass keyed it. Wasn’t even my truck and it made me sick to hear of it.
One guy (also named Andy) was kind of a mix of spoiled brat and redneck. Within 3 years he had a Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am, a triple black ’79 K-10, and a ’74 CJ-5.
I had my dads ’84 Power Ram at first and then later my ’78 Jeep CJ-7…which currently has a COAL entry I have to finish up….
I went to high school in Australia. You had to be 18 to get a (non-learner’s) license and cars were more expensive than in the US, so only 4-5 seniors had vehicles. You needed special permission to park your car at school in the small student lot.
My friend had a 15 year-old Corolla. Another guy had an old truck to haul his drum kit as he was in a moderately successful local band.
I graduated high school in ’93. I was one of maybe sixty true metal heads left in the school and for probably twenty or so of them that had licenses, including myself, we all drove muscle cars. We occupied the back row of the school parking lot and you would be brave if you parked a four cylinder car, or god help you, a foreign car back there with our beats. Among our cars in metal head land, nothing was post ’81. I had my ’73 Buick Apollo for half the year then a ’79 Regal for the second half. My buddies had Cutlasses mainly and nothing post ’79 on those, my Regal fit in well with that lot.
The rich kids whose parents worked at IBM mainly drove Volvo’s, Saab’s and Honda’s. The average joe kids drove Ford Escorts, some VW’s from what I recall. Sure there was plenty of $300 cars littered around the lot.
My profile photo was taken January 1992, me posing on my Regal in the back of our school lot.
Yes, what happened to all those metal heads in school in the early 1990’s? When I started high school in 1991-1992 the school was full of them and then when I came back my sophomore year of 92-93, they were all gone and replaced by folks that liked the Seattle Sound(Grunge).
Hey Jason, my h.s. class had 43 students – same as yours. The small town school closed when I graduated in Spring 1968 and was incorporated into a regional high school the following year. Sample of teachers’ cars in Spring 1968: 1963 Chevy Impala four-door hardtop, 1965 Karmann Ghia coupe, 1967 Dodge Dart two-door hardtop, two 1967 Oldsmobile sedans. Sample of students’ cars: 1956 VW convertible, 1957 Chevy convertible, 1962 Oldsmobile sedan, 1963 VW sedan (mine), 1963 Corvette convertible, 1966 Ford Falcon Futura coupe, 1967 Olds 442 convertible. Most exotic car from farther back: my third grade teacher’s MG Magnette sedan, circa 1957.
There is more irony. Where I went to school was a consolidation of four others – and it consolidated in 1968.
1974 graduate, I pulled out my yearbook, and there was only one picture showing any cars. A late sixties Dart or Valiant, and a boat-tail Riviera. The school is in a small town in upstate New York (Olean) and has no parking lot per se. A few of my buddies had cars, a 66 Chevy sedan, a 70 Dodge Challenger RT SE, a 63 Galaxie convertible and a few 65,66 and 67 Mustangs. I rode a 74 Kawasaki 250. The Drivers Ed cars were a couple of 73 Plymouth Satellite sedans.
I graduated 2 years later, in 1976, but attended 2 different high schools, vastly different locations. Back when my father was still working it was kind of a tradition in my family that you we would move during the summer after one’s junior year, so you would be a stranger in your senior year….happened to all but my youngest sister; we moved from Manassas Virginia where I spend 3 years at the old Osbourn high school (built in the 1950’s, no air conditioning). to a “consolidated” high school in Vermont (back then 5 towns shared 1 high school and still had barely 600 attendees, though I no longer live near there, I’m sure it is much bigger now…I graduated from Champlain Valley Union High School. I don’t remember much about the cars at that school much even though i attended it later, I’m sure it was fairly typical mix even though just getting to school in winter time was a challenge many days. Still most were “typical” high school cars, like hand-me-down Impalas, LTDs and Torinos, with a sprinkling of Mopar and American Motors cars. There were a few smaller cars, Vegas, Pintos, Novas and Mavericks driven by students. Four wheel drive and front wheel drive was almost unheard of back then, Subaru had front wheel drive but no 4 wheel drive back then (certainly most Vermonters likely didn’t know what a Subaru was back then; my Dad bought one later in 1976 but it was front wheel drive (his first car with this drive feature).
Even in Virginia, I only remember some of my instructors cars, remember the cars I actually drove better (many 2 door colonnade cars like ’73 Malibu coupe).
My chemistry instructor drove one of 2 cars, he had a ’73 Corvette and a ’71 Grand Prix. My English instructor drove a 1972 Saab Sonnet (remember it since it was unusual car even back then, with V4 motor). My industrial arts instructor (he taught electronics, back then we learned TV repair since these were the days before inexpensive computers) drove a ’72 Celica. Back then my father himself drove uncommon cars, he had a ’86 Renault R10 (which he traded for another uncommon car, a ’74 Datsun 710).
Mr Morgan Vanden Plas 3 litre (headmaster)
Mr Richardson Ford Escort then Granada( the Dagenham one) (deputy headmaster
Miss Hall Austin or Morris 11/1300 (deputy headmistress)
Miss Banks Austin A30 or A35 (French)
Mrs Phillips Morris Marina in pea soup green (Domestic science)
Mr Robertson Cortina Mk2 then Mk3 (Maths)
Miss Turner VW Karman Ghia then a Singer Chamois (or one of the other sporty Imp relations) Art
Mrs Grey Vauxhall Viva (in grey) (Religious education,history,geography,art)
Mr Watkins Wolsley 1500 then a Holbay Hillman Hunter (music)
Mr Bolton Wolsley 16/60 (Chemistry,Religious education)
Mr Allen Triumph Spitfire (Geography and physical education)
What I can remember from teachers cars between 1969 and 1976
I graduated in 1966.
The school president (it was a privately-owned school, he owned it, and named himself president) got a new Pontiac every year. 1963 was a Catalina, 1964 a Bonneville. I forget what the newer ones were but he had a family, so there was never going to be a Grand Prix.
The principal had a Pontiac, too..a 1962 Tempest four-door. He thought it had a six-cylinder engine (Tempests never had a Six).
The history teacher had yet another Pontiac, a 1961 Tempest 4-door sedan. He knew it had a Four. We liked it better than the 1962 because of its split grille. His Tempest had an amateur radio callsign license plate.
I liked the Tempests for their six-window sedan styling.
Somebody had a Ford Galaxie 500 2-door hardtop but I can’t remember who. I think it was a 1963 but it was not the fastback.
The math teacher had a Volkswagen Beetle but since he drove a school bus, he never brought it to school. The school bus was garaged near his home and was his “ride.”
The French teacher had…appropriately…a Renault Caravelle. It broke down a lot, so she often had a loaner car from the repair shop.
The Latin teacher had a Nash Rambler…the upside-down bathtub style that later became the first-generation Rambler American. We put it in the want ads in the newspaper, the hot rod section. We said it had a Chevy 327, mags and “pipe.” That last word, “pipe” was the only truth in the ad…like every stock Rambler, it had one exhaust pipe. We put the school’s phone number in the ad, along with “Ask for Mr. Covell.” A grand time was had by all, as he kept being called to the office all day to take phone calls. The next day, the ad was pulled from the newspaper.
Clarification, as a reply to my own post…I said “Tempests never had a Six” when I should have written, “1962 Tempests never had a Six.”
Never let it be said that your French teacher lacked dedication to the language! I always thought it would have been appropriate for our German teacher to drive a Mercedes, BMW, or even a Volkswagen, but alas. She drove a 1st-gen Explorer.
1966…. Most kids didn’t drive to school. Parents drove them, or they walked. Only two cars stand out 50 years later. The electronics teacher Mr. Ohm (yes, really) had a new Beetle, which I got to drive once. (Fun, especially getting into reverse.) And Mrs. Tullis had an NSU Prinz.
I graduated from HS way back in ’65, the only cars I remember the faculty driving were a ’57 Chevy convertible and the principle who drove a ’65 Olds. Most of the kids who had cars drove beaters, I remember one kid who on turning 16 was presented with a new ’63 Chevy convertible by his mother but that was definitely an exception. There were a few GTOs in the parking lot, I assumed they belonged to their parents. I remember one classmate who had a job after school selling shoes, he managed to talk his mother into co-signing the loan on a ’65 Impala SS with a 300/327 and 4-speed. I remember him mentioning his mother told him if he ever missed a payment she would be driving his car. He really ran the hell out of that car, after graduation I only saw him one time-I believe he got drafted, I never saw him again.
Well, I only graduated high school in 2014, so this is likely going to be vastly different than most other people’s, but from what I remember….
The Civics and AP Government teacher, Mr. Zimmerman, as well as football coach, had an enormous black crew-cab F-150 King Ranch Edition.
The Gifted program teacher, as well as the adviser for the school paper, Mrs. Jones, had a white late model Mercedes coupe that she often bragged about.
The Calculus teacher and NHS advisor, Mrs. Cinicola, had an early 2000’s Mercury Sable, that she actually bothered to enter in the NHS car show/fundraiser.
The American History teacher and soccer coach, Mr. Bickleman, drove some sort of Harley, laden down with saddlebags and a windshield and the works, every day, even in winter.
The 9th and 11th grade English teacher, whose name escapes me, had a Volvo station wagon.
The female gym teacher had a Subaru Forester, which was a constant source of fodder as to theories of her being a lesbian.
The janitor, Mr. Rutt, had a teal extended cab fullsize Chevy pickup, early 1990s.
The engineering teacher, Mr. Hurst, had a 2006 Jetta with aftermarket rims; but crashed it one year and was forced to commute to school (while it was being fixed) in a tan early 80s Dodge Diplomat, apparently borrowed from his father.
And my favorite teacher, Mrs. Schenck, who had taught latin at the school since the early 1980s but was made to retire the year I graduated, had a mint 1977 Thunderbird that she bought new, white with a red interior and vinyl top.
2005, the Netherlands. Mostly the same grey and black boringness you’d find anywhere else. Two cars stood out though: one Trabant (Ostalgie just broke out) and a Lexus SC which wasn’t officially sold here, and on which I spent many a boring class trying to figure out what it was.
A school teacher at my school in the 1980s had a Rolls Corniche that she’s always park up front top down, it was nice eye candy for the school. Her husband was a race car driver. I grew up in Los Angeles in a fairly middle/upper middle class neighborhood. There were probably less than 10 RR’s in our zip code so it was no competitor to 90210.
This is really neat! Enjoyed the original post and all the responses!
Not many stand out for me, despite my whole preception of life being car-centered. But some specifics:
7Th grade home room teacher (Mrs. Williams) drove a 1983 or 84 Olds Omega sedan, blue with dark blue vinyl top and interior. This was in the early 2000s. Excellent condition.
8Th grade WV History teacher (Mr. Gary Gray) rode a crew cab 96-ish F350 diesel, and had a small collection of restored Studebakers, including a spotless 61 or so pickup with the Lark front clip in seafoam green. He teased me endlessly about how all new cars looked the same (I read car magazines constantly and cut Car and Driver apart to glue pictures of cars to my books). Awesome guy, big heart equalled only by his gut. Died of cancer in about 2003. He is still missed.
9Th grade home room teacher and 12th grade English teacher was a terse woman with short-cropped curly hair and masculine demeanor that drove a silver first gen Forester.
Football coach (Mr. Lahoda) drove a dark green late 90s Taurus. Also taught driver ed out of a fleet of late 90s Tauruses.
HS band leader drove a 2wd long bed regular cab burgundy 87 S10 p/u with typical GM 80s paint fade and over 200k. 2.8 V6 (thanks to the tailgate callout) and an automatic. Later fired for inappropriate relations with a female student. Magnificent guy, though. Very inspiring and caring.
11Th grade science teacher (Mrs. Hamilton) who was demanding, condescending, and overall surly, but also 5’1″ or so and lived in a tiny but neat house 3 blocks from mine and who had gargoyles on her 4’x4′ front stoop, drove a black 97 Monte Carlo LS.
The married couple who taught 12th grade science (him) and home-ec (her), the Huffmans, drove twin dark blue third gen Caravans with the vanity plates “HUFF-1” and “HUFF-2.” He was effiminate and she was an Anjelica Huston-esque, masculine, burly lady that seemingly had lifted weights previously in life.
Most of my friends borrowed parents cars or had hand me downs. The ones I remember are a 98 Park Avenue, 2002 Corolla, 2003 Ranger Edge, my 1998 Maxima, a burgundy 95 Corsica (with daytime running lights), a black 96 RAV4 L, which replaced a green 95 Avalon XLS (that I would buy from her dad in 2012), a Sebring convertible, a first gen CR-V LX, a red Focus sedan, a black base 97 Cavalier coupe, a 98 Passat GLS 1.8t (which constantly broke), a mid 90s Camry LE in boring Toyota beige, my step brother’s horribly rusty and leak-prone 87 Integra LS (a $100 field car that we got semi running again), and a white hand me down 94 Volvo 940 Turbo (the ‘Vo) which sacrificed 3 corner lights and the decency of its black plastic bumpers to go cart pushing at Walmart and Target many times.
Graduated school in 2004.
I graduated in 1988 so I remember a lot of similar cars. Mr. Taylor, my wood shop teacher, drove a late 70’s white Aspen. Mrs. Weeks, one of my history teachers, drove a new Cimmarron. Mr. Deaton, the principal, drove an early 80’s Cutlass Brougham G body sedan, silver with a black roof and black velour. I remember thinking it looked very refined. Mrs. Glance, another history teacher, traded a lot….she had a 1982 Coupe DeVille, then a 1985 EEK New Yorker Turbo, then a 1988 Seville. I remember them well because I washed and waxed them for her for some walking around money…her husband had a W116 S Class I worked on too. Mrs. Walker, an English teacher, was married to a doctor and therefore had a new S Class every couple of years. Mrs. Still, the typing teacher, had an early 60’s Electra pillarless sedan in stunning condition. My parents graduated from the same school about the time she bought that Electra new! It was dark nonmetallic burgundy with a black vinyl top. She had the paint and top redone multiple times I’m sure, it looked that new. Mrs. Poarchey, a math teacher, had one of the last rear drive Electras. It stood out as NOT having a vinyl top at all…..navy paint, navy velour. It was sharp looking. Another math teacher whose name escapes me had a lime green Chevette Scooter! Mrs. Francis, a guidance counselor, had a new woodie Electra B body wagon. Mr. Mock, the head of the guidance dept., had a great early 80’s Riviera which he traded for one of the overshrunk Eldorados….one of my english teachers also had an ’86 or so Eldorado. Mrs. Dunning, my senior english teacher, had a W123 240D. Another guidance counselor had a (rare even then) R body New Yorker I really liked…..it was triple soft yellow, you just don’t see that anymore! Kind of the color of banana pudding. A teacher I never had, who was also the soccer coach, had a dark grey 944. The football coach had a W123 nonturbo 300D. My ninth grade english teacher had a new Accord. I don’t recall ANY Toyotas, oddly enough…..it certainly was an American oriented crowd. My best friend had a new Omni and I recall a lot of used Mustangs and Camaros in the student lot, naturally. I had an early 320i. But I guess the cars I remember were pretty typical for 1984-1988 Anytown USA.
Spring 1980, just before graduation: My best friend a 1959 Fiat 600, next best friend a 1965 Mustang, neighbor kid from a click down the road who was a junior, a 1967 Mustang, others I knew, a 1974 (I think) Capri, 1969 Lemans, 1969 Camaro, 1964 Scout, 1957 Belvedere, and one spoiled kid a 1980 Toronado. I myself drove a 1972 Mercury Marquis parental hand-me-down.
Class of 1991
My football coach had a 73 Grand Prix SJ white with a red top and interior
my lacrosse coach had an 87 Trans Am
Shop teacher had a beige 71 Chevelle wagon
Math teacher had a lite blue 73 Dart
Art teacher had a red and black mid 80s Suburban
5th grade teacher had a new black Thunderbird (85?)
4th grade teacher had a white 81 Delta 88 sedan
3rd grade teacher had a white with a blue top 78/79 Volare Premeir sedan
2nd grade teacher had a grey Granada
Others were boring enough that I cant remember
For students, in the late 80s/early 90s, GM G-and F-bodies ruled, including my own 77 Grand Prix followed by an 80 Trans Am and we all played Van Halen and Motley Crue cassettes really loud. A few Jeeps and pickups here and there, along with some used econoboxes, but a Cutlass/Monte Carlo/Camaro/Firebird was the cool ride ticket.
I only remember a few from my junior high school years of 1982-85; in high school I was too busy ingesting various herbs to pay any attention to the staff lot. The art teacher, a card-carrying Communist named Miss Joyce, had a 1964 Chevy Biscayne four door that was festooned with leftist bumper stickers. Her arch-nemesis, the senior science teacher and Conservative candidate Mr. Tyson, drove a c.1980 Chrysler LeBaron. Highlight of the year was when the Biscayne’s bald bias ply tires lost grip in the icy parking lot and piled into the LeBaron. Their mutual hostility lead to a ideological shouting match in the parking lot while we all gawked from the adjacent sports field.
Mr. Gillette the other science teacher drove a Renault LeCar resplendent in bright orange. The band teacher (name escapes me) was fresh from university and she drove reddish VW bug. The senior math teacher, Mr. Tarrabain, was the largest man I’ve ever seen, well over 400 lbs, and in the summer drove what appeared to be a Yamaha dirt bike. That poor bike was so overloaded that even the smallest bump would scrub the back tire against the fender. The Vice Principal, Mr. Molineaux, drove a fuselage style Chrysler (I’d guess a 1970-71) in avocado green. The computer teacher (early 30s Italian studmuffin who’d just left his wife, name unrecalled) drove a boogie van complete with mural and star window. Outdoor Ed teacher Mr. Google had a Suzuki Samurai with poacher lights on top.
That’s the best I can recall for now…
I am class of 1984. Only two really stand out among the sea of (yawn) Chevelles and Camaros . My friend Ken Southerland’s ’68 Mustang GTA, with a built to the nuts 428FE that probably had more NASCAR 427 parts in it than 428 parts. If you rode in that car, you kissed the ground when you got out and stopped shaking. Second was my auto shop teacher, Rex Kaufmann’s mid ’70s Ford F-250 4X4. Dude was a hard core Ford guy. Personally knows Robert Yates, a name that meant nothing to me in 1982. His truck also had a built 428 in it, and could smoke 85% of the cars in the parking lot, even with it’s farm tractor NP435 granny low trans in it.
I might add that Mr.Kaufmann’s built 428 truck engine had the complete factory dual Holley 4bbl and aluminum intake manifold off a Medium Riser 427. This was pre internet days (’82) and I was 16 years old. I had never seen one before. Not something you expect to see under the hood of a F-250 4X4 for sure. I was in lust… But a lot of this factory Ford performance gear was still readily available in the mid to late 70s, and fairly inexpensive at swap meets
I kid you not, the principal at my high school drove a 1953 Chevy Bel-Air four door sedan, maroon with white trim. This was during my years there, 1980-1983.
The student side was a variety pack, but the GM A body was very common. Older pre downsize full-size cars in mint condition, handed down from parents and grandparents were some of the standouts. Kids driving loaded hardtop Bonnevilles and Caprices had some serious heavy metal rides.
Same era as op and the preponderance of comments; class of ’92, South Burlington High School, Vermont. One science teacher had genuinely old cars, a ’62 Falcon four-door replaced by a ’64ish Chevy wagon; oldest student car was a ’76 or ’77 Buick Century sedan driven by a girl whose Florida snowbird grandmother had owned it previously. Most of the student cars were early ’80s (including my ’81 Omni), anything older having dissolved by then; a friend had a Citation, another a firstgen Tercel, one girl had a Yugo that got rustier every time you’d see it. Some kid had a new Fox Mustang GT, iirc he was on the football team. A girl in our neighborhood had use of her mom’s E90 Corolla coupe. The principals of both our and a rival school both drove Cressidas which struck me as an odd coincidence since they werent huge sellers.
Wow. I’m drawing a blank on a single faculty or staff vehicle from my high school. Maybe that is because the faculty and staff all parked in back of the building while the student parking lot was in front and a bit off to one side. So we didin’t really see what the teachers were driving as much.
Our student parking lot in 1975-76 was kinda interesting though:
Two Mavericks (one of them mine)
’58 Ford Fairlane sedan
’51 DeSoto sedan
’75 Pontiac Sunbird coupe
’63 Valiant coupe (really basic with three on the tree)
’63 Dart sedan (a girl I dated occasionally)
’71 Pontiac Catalina coupe
’67 Mustang fastback
’75 Camaro Rally Sport
’76 Corvette (Dad owned a successful chain of stores)
Probably also a whole bunch of miscellaneous mid to late 60’s stuff I am just not remembering.
Over here in Victoria, Australia, the legal age for driving was 18 and over hence no student rides, although I do remember a student who had been kept back to repeat his final year having a MkI Capri.
Teachers’ rides were mostly unmemorable except for one who drove a VC Valiant (with – as he would remind us – a truck engine which was actually the 225 /6 also used in some International/Dodge trucks over here) and another teacher who had an Austin 1100 ute.
We had a few ‘mature age’ students who drove. One thirty-something had a Morris Major – those things lasted forever!
Morris Major! A worthy entry in the ‘what cars that used to be everywhere have now disappeared?’ list. Caught this ‘Elite’ model recently.
The few student who drove their own cars to my school had to park on the street no student cars permitted on the premises unless you were a boarder then your car was parked unused until you signed out and left for home on leave,
Graduated from high school in 1969. I went to a small (600 students) public school in Kentucky. At that time teachers were paid a pitifully small salary so the vast majority of their cars were bare bones editions from the big three, with the occasional AMC to provide some variety. The only specific car I can remember is the ’68 Camaro that belonged to Ms. Ledford, who taught American history. Rumor had it that this car was some sort of graduation present from her grandfather, if she was making payments on it she would likely have had to live in it.
The cars driven by the students ran the gamut from the clapped out beaters that I and most of my friends drove, to the brand new vehicles driven by a select few. One of my classmates (father was a physician) had a 1968 GTO, a very nice car indeed. Another classmate was the daughter of the local Chevrolet dealer; Cynthia had a collection of Malibu “demonstrators”, replaced every couple of months or so. These were outliers, most of the student cars were well used. A classic example would be my friend Wes’s 1957 Plymouth that he drove for several months without a functioning reverse gear. As he said, all it took was good planning and some younger brothers to push when necessary.
I attended two different Catholic high schools and graduated in 1973. I really don’t remember noticing what my religious order nuns , brothers and priests drove. One of the most popular biology teachers, Mr Goodhart drove a VW camper bus. He would often have it loaded up and his wife would pick him up after school and away they went. He was only about six or seven years older than us seniors as this was his first teaching job. Another popular English teacher, Mr. Petrini drove an older but clean Mercedes finback. He is best remembered for marrying one of his former students a couple years after she graduated. She was a beautiful girl. There were lots of interesting cars driven by the students.One of the girls in my class drove her parents Mercedes 280 SL. A lovely car. One of our class cut ups drove a ’58 Cadillac limo. High school for me was not the great “Happy Days” experience, If it wasn’t for my motorcycles i would have been miserable.
I only remember a few highlights, from the mid-seventies. These were all parked in the street outside the school.
Principal – 1956 Chevy 210, with patina as you’d expect a 20-year-old car to look.
Head of English – new navy Rover 3 1/2 litre “Coupe” (low-roof 4 door).
Some hippie English teacher – dark grey Mercedes 180 Ponton, with the 3-pointed star altered to a “ban the bomb” symbol!
Some commie history teacher – light grey 1957 FE Holden, never washed.
Woodwork teacher – pale green SWB 2 door Nissan Patrol.
Plus there were three LC Torana 2250 2 door sedans, two in the same yellowy-orange, and one more of a red.
There were a lot of other cars there too, but these were the ones I remember 40 years later.
it was funny with our high school. it was small town and very rural but I don’t remember many kids driving. the only two regular student drivers were myself with my trusty, rusty 72 pinto and another guy in my class, paul cardwell, who had a 64 fury coupe he continually upgraded into a nice runner.
the teachers were an interesting bunch, in person and car wise.
mr. pilley, who was a very young and cool phys-ed teacher drove a 74-76 hornet wagon that looked like it was owned by the phone company, dark green and pie plate hubcaps.
the drivers ed teacher who had a rusty 69 sedan de ville and an old a-100 dodge pickup.
mr torma, the old german math teacher who drove a 64 dodge sedan, 225-6 and 3 on the tree until he retired and bought a beautiful red and white 78-79 lebaron.
the young math teacher who was brought in to replace the old one who left after several nervous breakdowns and got her classes back under control by bouncing your head off your desk to get your attention. she drove a orange or green Porsche 914. I ran into her a few years back, now retired, and she drives a black vette.
the English teacher, mr clements, who drove an old ford pickup until his wife and daughter were tragically killed in a house fire, then showed up in a brand new Lincoln Versailles bragging about all the insurance money he had to invest. he left shortly after and was not missed.
then there were the two science teachers who must have had a bet over whose car would last the longest as one had a bare bones 68 coronet wagon, the other a similar 68 belvedere wagon and both were driven well into the late 70’s with the salty Ontario winters making sure less and less of the cars showed up each September for the start of the school year.
mr towns, who when I graduated in 1981 was still driving his first cat, a 1970 monte carlo that had over 150,000 miles I remember him saying and rear fenders you could have shot thru the trunk and not touched anything!
and oh yes, mr simmons the music teacher, who I bought a 66 valiant off of for $14 and drove a 65 valiant sedan that after 15 Canadian winters was almost triangle shaped when you looked at it head on from the layers of bondo built on the bottom over the years.
life in small town Ontario. it’s never boring!
Every GM “A” (and “A” special) variant, Valiants,Darts and more than a few Mopar “B”s Only imports were a couple of VW Bugs and a 1 Renault Dauphine!
See if you can guess what year I graduated….(Mostly student but a few faculty cars)
86 Mercury Cougar
87 Nissan Pulsar
87 Acura Legend
92 Toyota Celica
95 Jeep Wrangler
91 Hyundai Scoupe
86 Lincoln Town Car
67 Chevy Camero
93 Chevy Caprice
88 Pontiac Grand AM
86 Nissan P/U
84 Mercedes 240d
81 Porsche 924
93 Pontiac Sunbird Convertible
97 Ford Mustang
84 Toyota Cresida
88 Jaguar XJ6
86 Thunderbird
90 Dodge Spirit
97 Toyota Tacoma
90 Dodge Shadow
96 Chevy Beretta
89 Chrysler TC by Maserati
87 AMC Eagle Wagon
73 Dodge Dart Swinger
74 Ford Torino 4dr
77 BMW 533i
94 Infiniti J30
94 Toyota 4 Runner
83 Buick Park Avenue
86 Olds Cutlass Supreme
88 Jeep Cherokee
88 Ford Bronco II
84 Chevy Celebrity
96 Mitsubishi Eclipse
89 Ford Ranger
94 Ford Ranger Splash
90 Toyota Camry
87 Chrysler Laser
94 Ford Mustang
92 Isuzu P/U
A few more teachers cars from my secondary education at 2 grammar schools in east England between 1969 and 1976
Mr & Mrs Hurst Austin/Morris 1100/1300 (Latin)
Mr Clark Mk1 Cortina woody til there was nothing for the boys in metalwork to weld to (Art)
Mr Miles Morris Minor (French)
Mr Stewart Fiat 850 coupe (English)
Mrs Grey Hillman Imp to replace her rusty Vauxhall Viva HA (Religious education,history, geography,art)
Mr Ridley VW beetle which was always hooked up to a battery charger and was often push started by the boys (Physics)
Not many pupils had cars or motorcycles though my 2nd boyfriend at school( my best girl friend since 1979) had a silver Mk2 Cortina 1600E which had peeling paint despite being only 5 years old a common fault with silver UK Fords
Jimmy Brown my brothers rugby mate drove a Ford Anglia with a slant back window and a BSA Bantam 175 motorcycle
Steve ? had a Hillman Hunter as his Dad owned the Chrysler garage
Julie Thorpe had a Morris Minor
Scouse(can’t remember his real name,he came from Liverpool and it’s a common nickname for anyone from there) had a Honda CB77 which was a weird 300cc size engine
Sean Murphy Triumph 350 which became my brother’s first Triumph and started his interest in Triumphs which never went away despite being a Harley rider for nearly 40 years
An English boarding school in a small market town in the mid-1970s. Most people walked everywhere; of course, none of the pupils had cars, but about 20 senior prefects were allowed to use bicycles.
The memorable vehicles were:
Housemaster: white Citroen DS, traded for a white Opel Ascona.
Matron: a pristine little Austin A35
Distracted English master: a grey Morris Minor that once found itself lifted up on to bricks, wheels removed, and filled with waste paper
Mad scientist physics master: a vast pale blue 60s Vauxhall Cresta, traded for a Morris Minor van which he repainted by hand. Using a brush.
Trendy sports master: white Toyota Celica GT
Dapper geography master: gorgeous red Triumph TR4A.
Drunk, bullying French master: Austin Cambridge Countryman in rust with duck-egg blue paint in places
That’s about all I can remember, but with one shining exception:
This master had two vehicles, both of which were regularly driven into the quad…
– a 1930s Lagonda drophead
– a 1950s working fire engine (a Dennis?)
Quite magnificent!
I graduated in 2010. The student parking lot was full of Honda Civics, Accords, and even more Civics of all model years and condition, lots of Acura coupes as well. Countless Toyota Prius. Then there were many 2000s Volkswagen Jettas, Beetles and Toyota Corollas, a few 2000s 3-series BMWs and the occasional Nissan, Kia, Lexus or Hyundai.
The only non-imports the student population had seemed to have been overwhelmingly confined to the trucks. Even then, the majority were Toyota Tacomas. My girlfriend (now fiancee) drove a 2004 320i sedan and I had a 2004 Dodge Intrepid ES.
Like most of the students, it seemed like the majority of the staff had Hondas and Toyotas, only overall, newer and in much better condition.
I’m also surprised at how few I recall. These are the standouts.
1975 Kindergarten – the principal had a split window ’63 Corvette
1981 6th grade – The secretary had a ’68 or ’69 Corvette, One of the teachers had a fastback ’71-’73 Mustang, & my teacher sometimes drove a pale yellow Sedan DeVille or Fleetwood (pretty sure her husband was a realtor)
The only faculty cars I remember from HS in the mid-late ’80s would be the English teacher with the ’73 Mercedes diesel, and the drafting teacher who had an MG & and ’77 Olds wagon. He lived in my neighborhood, so I rode in each at least once.
The most distinctive student cars would be the ’68, ’69 & ’71 Cutlass convertibles.
If we expand beyond high school–my primary school (’85-’88) principal, Dr. Henderson had a Series III Jaguar XJ6 and the art teacher, Mr. Barnhill, had a little green MG convertible. Not sure if it was a B or a Midget. In elementary/middle (’88-’94), our principal Mr. Mabe drove a big brown late 70’s Ford LTD. One assistant principal, Ms. Miller, drove a shiny Buick Grand National–definitely the most badass car at that school. One of the guidance counselors drove a mid 60’s Volvo PV544, which was definitely the oldest faculty car. And my third-grade teacher Mrs. Wheeler drove a 1981 Pontiac Grand LeMans, which was a rather ordinary car but always stood out as that was one-year-only styling.
I only remember a few from my mid 80’s California high school student lot.
A blown 57 Chevy stick shift with third brake light installed for cheaper insurance and driven by a girl.
A Pontiac Can Am
A couple of late 70’s Vettes
A Volare wagon pickup conversion
My Javelin
An AMC Sundancer
A 68 SS/RS Camaro
Rough but very fast 71 Camaro and 70 Challenger
A nice 63 Chevy pickup
The rest of the lot was populated with unremarkable for the time and now forgotten late 70’s and early 80’s cars and trucks.
I almost forgot my favorite, a beautiful brite red 59 El Camino I lusted after. I have loved 59 elkies ever since.
Great post, Jason! Had me thinking back. Looks like you and I are only two graduating classes apart. Total throwback.
My favorite is that your Mrs. Bonifield’s silver, ’77 Lincoln Continental was a ringer for my freshman English teacher’s (Mrs. Nora Fisher’s) car.
I don’t think we had any Mercedes in our parking lot, but I do remember a few of the staff’s cars: Mrs. Ehrlich’s cream-colored ’86 Dodge 600 convertible, Mr. Eufinger’s silver c. ’84 Chevy Celebrity, and Mr. Bearden’s fourth-gen ’91 Honda Prelude (with All-Wheel-Steering!).
I graduated high school in 1971. I found pictures I took that year of one of the parking lots. I found these: mid-60s Dodge pickup with a small camper; a Sting Ray (parents must have been wealthy!); ’57 Chevy 210 wagon; 1962 Mercury; 1968-ish Nova sedan; ’57 or ’58 Rambler (no clear view of the headlights); ’64 Galaxie 500 4-door hardtop; ’69 or so Toyota Corona wagon; ’60 Chevrolet; ’64 Fairlane 500; ’67 Chevrolet Impala; ’55 or ’56 Dodge; ’57 Pontiac Star Chief 2-door hardtop; ’60 Chevrolet mid-line (Kingswood? my photo doesn’t resolve the lettering well) wagon; a ’67 Rambler American wagon; a ’62 Rambler American wagon; a ’68 or so Ford pickup; a ’68 Galaxie 500 sedan; a ’58 Chevy convertible; a ’53 or ’54 Bel-Air 4-door sedan; a ’67 Ford Falcon; and a ’67 Dodge Dart. These were all in the juniors’ parking lot. I don’t have any pictures of the seniors’ lot, but I know I’ve commented about one classmate’s 1971 Pinto that several of us tried to move on to the sidewalk. I drove a ’41 Chevy Master Deluxe Town Sedan that year; just the age of the car earned me a certain grudging respect. Another classmate had a ’57 Cadillac Series 62 convertible.
I have no idea what the priests drove; they had on-site living quarters in a monastery on the school grounds. The nuns commuted from wherever their particular orders were based in Tucson, so I don’t know what they drove.
As for the many lay teachers, I know my wood shop teacher had a ’67 Ford pickup (base model) and a ’66 or ’67 Buick Special 2-door sedan (very much a base model). My art teacher in senior year had a brand-new Gremlin.
“I have no idea what the priests drove; they had on-site living quarters in a monastery on the school grounds. The nuns commuted from wherever their particular orders were based in Tucson, so I don’t know what they drove.”
I would imagine that the Nuns used fleet cars. I guess it would depend of whatever the order decided on. My great Aunt was a Nun in an order located in Penna and I remember her coming to visit my grandmother(her sister) in a Reliant K or Aries K sedans of various colors all during the 1980’s. I am guessing the Order’s motor pool was full of Chrysler K cars though out the 1980’s. They were all column shifter models with no frills and cloth seats (which I guess was the “fleet Car” K Car?).
I think they kept them into the 1990’s and I am not sure what they replaced them with. To be honest, despite going to visit her once a year at the convent while growing up, I never did see the motor pool.
Another photo.
And the last one.
Redondo [Beach, CA] Union Seahawk here, class of 1971
I dont remember everything, but here goes.
Two of my friends and I drove VW Beetles, one of which had a wild paint job.
67 Dodge Polara, CHP auction, fastest car on campus.
70 Ford Maverick, his dad was a car dealer and wanted him in something slow.
Many Mustangs, driven by teachers and female students, mostly.
MG Midget, young male Civics teacher. Football players lifted it up and turned it sideways in its parking stall.
Studebaker Hawk, old Drivers Ed. teacher.
Black Cadillac, old History teacher.
VW bus, coach.
Honda 600, don’t remember who drove it.
One Harley ridden by a very independent-minded honor student and lots of small Japanese motorcycles.
I just realized that in the opening photo, the rather corpulent Elsorado appera, ironically, to be parked outside of Weight Watchers.
Ah, high-school days. Lots of old well-worn cars in the students’ parking lot like my 47 Chevy – this was in 1956-57. One rich kid had a 55 Chevy 2-door hardtop though. Another guy created an instant sensation by showing up with a fenderless flathead-powered Model A roadster.
The principal, Mr. Rutherford, had a turquoise and white 1956 Plymouth Belvedere 4-door sedan. Mr. Root, my Latin teacher, had a maroon 1950 Studebaker Starlight coupe. Mr. Hubbell, the shop teacher, had a pristine-looking pale yellow 1950 or 1951 Mercury station wagon. He lived across a back street from the school and walked to work of course, but the car could be seen sometimes in his driveway.
well Jason,
I graduated class of 1995 and being in a state that likes to use loads of salt on the roads even if there is just a slight threat of snow, most of the cars you mentioned were starting to come up thin on the ground(especially the cars from the 1960’s and 1970’s) I don’t remember what my teachers drove as they got to park in a different parking lot(i.e. the close one) But I do remember what a lot of the students drove. There was one 1986 Grand Am(my best friend at the time) and a bunch of J-body cars, Corollas, Metros, A Body cars and G body cars(such as my own Malibu) and a few Volvo 240 and 740. By far Cavaliers were very popular(especially the coupes)
Now while I don’t know what cars the teachers and staff drove. I am sure at least one drove a Caddy. Interestingly enough, my 1995 Deville was was made and sold the same year I graduated and it was sold by the local Caddy dealer so I could have been passing it or coming into contact with it for years and did not know it. At that time I felt Cadillac was a fogie mobile so I did not pay attention to them(and yet ironically at age 38 I happen to be driving a car that I dismissed as a old person car.
I was in technical High school and we didn’t have access to the teachers parking lot which was across the the street. But i remember some cars from my Junior High, I had a very austere portuguese teacher, Ms. Annette and she had a brand new 1982 4 doors Chevy Opala, her Opala was the nicest sight among a ton of VW bug in that parking lot.
And the oddest one was 1966 DKW Fissore owned by Mr. Alex, my physical education teacher. The Fissore now is a highly collectible car in Brazil but by that time it was just a crappy, smoke maker, 2 stroker, little piece of s… we felt sorry for Mr. Alex.
Class of 1999 here and I remember seeing the student parking lot being filled with Toyota Corolla’s, Tercel’s, Camry’s (mostly the first two generations), Ford Taurus’s, Tempo’s, Probe’s, Ranger’s, Chevy Cavalier’s, S10 pickup’s, S10 Blazer’s, Jeep Cherokee’s, Honda Civic’s (mostly 80’s models), Honda Accord’s (first three generations), Nissan Sentra’s, pickup’s, Mazda 323’s, pickup’s, Chrysler’s K cars, GM’s FWD X-cars, 3rd generation Chevy Camaro’s.
I also remember 2 of my teachers drove a 90’s Buick Regal 4 door sedan, another teacher drove a late 70’s Chevy Caprice Classic, an early 80’s Chevy Citation 2 door HB, the school principal drove a 1979/80 Chevy LUV pickup, the assistant principal drove a mid 90’s Nissan Maxima, the home economics teacher drove a newer model GMC Suburban.
Class of ’98, Western Guilford High School in Greensboro, NC.
I don’t remember all of them by any means, but a few stand out. Our principal, Dr. Barham, drove an immaculate late 80’s W126 Mercedes, black with gray rockers. I think it was a 560SEL. (Principals made good money plus her husband was a doctor.) In contrast, our assistant principal, Mr. Woody, drove a rather worn-looking late 80’s Cavalier Z24 in bright blue. The drafting teacher, Mr. Armstrong (or “A-bomb” as we knew him) had an early 90’s Beretta Z26 in white. My 11th grade English teacher, Ms. Johnston, drove a mid 80’s Nissan 200SX hatchback that constantly had a terrible squeal from either the belts or the clutch. My US History teacher, Coach Forster, drove a cruiser motorcycle of some sort, except after his wreck one summer, where he was unable to ride while his injured arm was recuperating. The rest were what you’d expect, lots of late 80’s to late 90’s low to mid price miscellany.
My absolute favorite faculty car belonged to the art teacher, Mrs. Averill. One day she brought up that she had recently bought a BMW as a “gift to herself”. But not just any BMW–this was a mint condiiton 1987 L6, the high-spec version of the 635CSi with a full leather interior (even the headliner was leather) and the M6’s front air dam. I already loved the E24, and that car was simply breathtaking.
The student lot had the requisite selection of early 80’s through mid 90’s compacts, mid-sizers, pickups, and the occasional hand-me-down minivan or full-size. Some notable standouts, though, included a ’70 K5 Blazer, ’70 Chevelle SS454, ’59 Land Rover, and one spoiled sophomore who was given a brand new Acura 3.2 CL on his 16th birthday.