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?
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.