My mom and uncle posing in front of the family 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon
Instead of the usual assortment of anonymous random people, today’s snapshots come from my maternal grandparents’ collection of 35mm slides. So these are all relatives on my mom’s side (Kneer being my mom’s maiden name).
First a little background: My mom’s family hails from Evansville, Indiana, in the very southern toe of Indiana, right across the Ohio River from Henderson, Kentucky. Evansville, like much of southern Indiana, was settled by German immigrants during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Due to its proximity to the Ohio River and wealth of immigrant labor, by mid-century Evansville had become a major manufacturing hub, and played a key role in building ships, tanks, and aircraft during World War II.
Both my maternal grandparents (Bernard and Dorothy Kneer) were born and raised in Evansville and served in WWII. Here they are on their wedding day, December 16, 1944 (in uniform, of course).
1952 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan
To start things off, here is a picture from around 1954 or 1955 of Dorothy driving a 1952 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan with her son (and my namesake) Tommy Kneer. I don’t know much more about this car other than the fact that it is unusual, as we shall see, for not being a stripped base model. Perhaps it was purchased used.
Like many in the Greatest Generation, Bernard Kneer was a child of the Depression, and developed a frugality that he carried with him throughout his life (he would frequently tell us how he and his siblings would scour the railroad tracks as kids for pieces of coal to heat their house with).
My Uncle Tom in front of 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon
This frugality naturally applied to his car purchasing habits. Behold the 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon pictured above and in the lead photo. The photo above also shows my uncle Tommy, while my mother and her brother Danny appear in the lede photo. At $2,183 ($25,122 in 2024), the Ranch Wagon was the cheapest Ford station wagon you could buy in 1956 (and pretty much the cheapest wagon from any manufacturer in 1956). Standard features include one sun visor, one armrest (both driver’s side only) and, well that’s about it.
1956 Ford Ranch Wagon. Very few were likely sold with whitewall tires.
While every Ford engine, up to and including the 225 hp 4-bbl. 312 Thunderbird V8 was available in the Ranch Wagon, I would be willing to wager that Bernard’s wagon, like most 1956 Ranch Wagons, was sporting the 137hp 223 six. Grandpa’s wagon does have the bright rear window trim and partial side spear, indicating that it is a mid-1956 model.
1955 Buick Special
Roughly around this time, Grandma Kneer was driving this 1955 Buick Special two-door sedan. I’m not sure if it was purchased new or used, but many of my grandparents’ vehicles were purchased new. Bernard may have been frugal, but he wasn’t foolish enough to buy someone else’s problems. Full wheel covers were a $20 option on the 1955 Buick Special, believe it or not, as were whitewall tires, so unlike the Ranch Wagon, at least a few options are present and accounted for.
1955 Buick Special 2-Door Sedan
The Special two-door sedan was your cheapest ticket into the Buick fold in 1955, starting at just $2,233 (about $26,000 in 2024). But hey, it’s still a Buick, amirite? Believe it or not, the Special actually undercut the cheapest 1955 Oldsmobile (the 88 two-door sedan) by about $60, but don’t mention that part to your friends. Even in 1955, the Sloanian Ladder was already starting to collapse.
Grandma loved red cars, and she loved this Buick. She said it made her feel rich! You can see her behind the wheel above, with her mother in the passenger seat. Grandma was a slight woman, and the Buick seems absolutely massive around her.
1959 Pontiac Catalina Safari Wagon
Bernard and Dorothy had three children, which was probably doable in the two-row Ranch Wagon when the kids were little, but I’m sure it got tight once they hit their teenage years. To make more room for his growing family, in 1959 Bernard purchased a Pontiac Catalina Safari Wagon. A two-row version, it would have started out at $3,101 (about $33,000 in 2024).
As per his now well-established pattern, Grandpa likely passed most of the available options. Looking at the nice clear windshield above, I’m sure he made an exception for the optional $102 heater and defroster.
Finally, here is a picture of Bernard with a 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne 4-Door Sedan. Grandpa worked as a traveling salesman, so I feel fairly certain that this would have a company car issued to him by his employer, and not a car that he personally purchased.
Wonderful photos. Grandma and Great Grandma do look small in the red Buick.
Thanks Tom! I for one really enjoy old pictures all that much more when I can know something of the stories – cars, cities, people – behind them. So thanks for providing that with these great pics.
One thing that I notice from the car pictures are the massive panel gaps on nearly all of the cars pictured. Some of that is probably just an artifact of how the snapshots are lit (no one was really trying to make the car look better when it’s the people who were/are the point), but it’s hard to deny that manufacturing standards have really changed here in the 21st century (all jokes about Cybertrucks aside).
Evansville. As a 2+ year resident of Owensboro, KY, I’ll note that attributing Evansville to being “right across the river” from Owensboro just speaks to the fact that there’s really not much going on there in that part of KY (or Indiana for that matter). We used to drive to Evansville (about 30 minutes away) for things that weren’t available in Owensboro. Like, a Nissan dealer, grocery stores that actually sold fresh produce, and restaurants that didn’t feature “4 meats” (when at least 2 of those were mutton). In other words, I knew Evansville well. Compared to Owensboro, it was Paris on the Ohio.
It also had a gigantic Whirlpool factory at the time which produced the lion’s share of the nation’s refrigerators, washers, etc. That shut down I believe in the late 1990s.
I have taken to noticing that panel-gap thing in all photos of older cars for some time now, not not including wallet-melting ’70’s Mercedes!
Ah, the good old days, when a skinny kid could enter the car without opening the door.
I’m quite familiar with Evansville as I live 55 miles north and have a daughter who lives on a farm on the edge of the city. The former Whirlpool plant is right on the edge of the airport along US 41. It was originally used to build the P47 during WWII. Also on the river there was a shipyard that built LSTs.
Someone down thread asked if Evansville gets any snow now. This part of the state has never been known to get a lot of snow. We may get an occasional surprise with a heavy snow, but that is pretty unusual. Evansville is more likely to get freezing rain. However, we seem to be on the path of some pretty bad thunderstorms and an occasional tornado in this region.
My Dad also worked in sales during that time and always had a new company car. He worked for two different companies. It is interesting to compare the cars of the two agribusiness companies. When he worked for Oliver farm equipment he always got a base model Chevy. When he worked for Central Soya he got either a Ford or a Chevy in middle line trim. The ’58 Biscayne was even two tone blue and white. That was the year that the Delray was the base model. That was also the year he left Oliver and his Delray company car. He never liked that one.
Hi Jeff. This is Tom’s Mom. I think it would be more accurate to say that Evansville is right across the river from HENDERSON, Kentucky, rather than Owensboro. But Owensboro isn’t that far away upriver.
Great photos, I wonder what’s in the box in photo #1.
Wow, great material and great writing. Enjoyed it very much.
The color slides seem to have an otherworldly effect compared to regular photos. That top shot of your mom has a lot of personality.
My dad also talked about scrounging coal along the RR tracks in South Dakota (’30s) and along Bellingham Bay (’40s). He and my mom briefly had a ’55 Olds similar to the red Buick above, but Mom said my dad looked too small in it.
A former co-worked of mine grew up in West Virginia in the 1960s and had similar stories about scavenging for coal along the railroad tracks. He said it was a chore parents would often give their kids since it kept them busy for a whole day and was a good way to save some money. Not too many parents these days would tell their kids to go spend the day on the railroad tracks!
My wife and I are in our 60s and we both remember our parents saying, “Go outside and don’t come back until it’s dark!” And that was fine by me.
My version of scrounging coal was returning empties to the beer distributor for a penny a bottle in the ’70s. Also aluminum cans. So much fun then, but I probably wouldn’t touch an empty beer can now if my life depended on it. (Joking).
The Buick seems out of place, given the other more modest offerings. Take it this was not Bernard’s idea?
Buick’s Special really dove deep into the lower-price market. There was really no reason why anyone who could afford a Chevy, Ford or Plymouth couldn’t afford a Buick Special, which explains how Buick beat Plymouth for the #3 sales position.
In the mid-60s when I became aware of GM’s hierarchy of brands (didn’t know of the term “Sloan ladder” then), I thought Buick was on the middle rung, with Olds in 2nd place behind Cadillac. I recall being rather surprised when I learned later on that Buick was supposed to be number 2.
+1. I thought the same in the 50’s. As a kid I ranked my aunt’s 55 Olds Holiday hardtop above the neighbor’s 55 Buick Special. When GM introduced the limited edition convertibles in 53 – the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Skylark, and Olds 98 Fiesta, that also seemed to place Buick and Olds at least equivalent in class. In the 60’s an Olds 98 and a Buick Electra 225 seemed equally luxurious. For sure more doctors seemed to drive Buicks than Oldsmobiles in my area, one indication of its status. And later like you I learned more about the Sloan ladder – and Buick’s reputation abroad as a luxury make, i.e., in China. Here are the Duke and Duchess of Windsor with one of their Buicks.
I knew that a Pontiac was somehow better than a Chevy, but seeing as how we got the Canadian ‘Cheviacs’ down here, just how it was supposed to be better I never understood.
They were rich mans’ cars anyway. The whole idea of three more layers of cars (which we didn’t get) above these just seemed incredible, and cemented in my impressionable young mind what a rich place America must be.
Love these old family snapshots.
Wonderful snapshots, and it’s great to put names and stories with these images, because in looking an anonymous shots I always find myself imagining the circumstances under which the photos were taken.
And I love the red Buick!
I can’t tell from the wedding day pic–who outranks who?
Both my parents were in the service and (WW II). They married in “47”. Mom was “Navy”; Dad “Army”.
We used to have some pics of them together , in uniform.
They have to be somewhere in my brothers basement now a days..(If they still exist.)
Hi Kaf, this is Tom’s Mom. Regarding who outranls who, I was told that my Mom & Dad held the same rank. I think they were lieutenants.
Nice post, Mr H.
Snow in several of the pictures. Does it even snow in Evansville anymore?
Love the family background to compliment the pics. Thanks for the personalized time capsule!
My grandmother never made it to five feet tall nor 100 pounds. She drove a ’48 Buick Roadmaster, it looked like a ghost car going down the road as you couldn’t see her behind the wheel. Stick shift, no power steering or power brakes!
How blessed you are to have these old family photos. And photos of ordinary people doing ordinary people things.
Apart from ones I’ve taken over the past sixty-odd years, family photos I have are mostly nineteenth-century posed studio shots of maternal ancestors, about whom I know very little. There’s a big gap with no photographic record of the people, let alone their cars.
My dad had a 58 Olds rocket 88..when I xwas 2..latter a 61 Olds 4door.full.size…in 1968 we had a full size 68 impala station wagon 396 car..so many memories and my mom had a 68 Vista cursier Olds wagon to..got my drivers license in that car..my first car.is a 66ss396 chevelle I bought in 1972..what a gas eater..8mpg..ugh..then Oct 1973..gas war..75.cents gal…dad bought us a 73 vega for college..78…out of school. I bought a 81 grand.prix Pontiac new..and kept.my old 1973 firebird for fun…we made somehow..now I drive a 2015 impala..and love my old cars of course..my 66 chevelle..my 69 camaro and my 79 Trans am car…we love old chevy cars…r jones
My dad had a 58 Olds rocket 88..when I xwas 2..latter a 61 Olds.in 1968 we had a full size 68 impala station wagon 396 car..so many memories and my mom had a 68 Vista cursier Olds wagon to..got my drivers license in that car..my first car.is a 66ss396 chevelle I bought in 1972..what a gas eater..8mpg..ugh..then Oct 1973..gas war..75.cents gal…dad bought us a 73 vega for college..78…out of school. I bought a 81 grand.prix Pontiac new..and kept.my old 1973 firebird for fun…we made somehow..now I drive a 2015 impala..and love my old cars of course..my 66 chevelle..69 camaro. 79 Trans am…Chevy guy..r.jones
Tom Halter – What a beautiful story! Also explains a lot, to me, about cars not having heat back then. Thank you so much for sharing!