Family vehicles I remember:

1952 Willys—used

1995 Ford–used

1962 Mercury Comet—used

1951 Plymouth (Neta & Cherie’s)–used

1956 Ford (Neta’s)

1952 Chevrolet—(Grandma & Grandpa Barnes’s; then Cherie’s and mine) used

1967 Buick Special— new

1978 Buick LeSabre— new

Vehicles I have driven:

1952 Chevrolet

1967 Buick Special–new

1964 Ford Fairlane–used

1965 Dodge Coronet 500–used

1972 Subaru–used

1978 Datsun (Nissan)–used

1978 Chevrolet Impala Wagon–used

1996 Safari van (GMC) – new

1978 Triumph Spitfire–used

1986 Mazda 626–used

1982 BMW—used

1985 Chevrolet Caprice Classic (Zach’s)

1995 Ford Taurus–used

1995 Ford Windstar—used

1987 Toyota SR5 pick-up truck (Bill’s)

1986 Chevrolet Caprice—used

1998 Nissan Maxima (Laresa’s)

 

2003 Nissan Maxima–used

Dad and Mom had a 1952 Willys. It was a green two-door. It’s the first car I remember. Dad made a bed in the back seat, so when we went to the drive-in to see a show, we could lay down and go to sleep when we got tired. About 1962 he bought a 1955 Ford. We were so excited, as children, to have a 4-door car. It had been wrecked and had a bent frame so it didn’t track straight and wore out the back tires. Dad was never happy about it.

1952 Willys; ours was light green 1955 Ford; ours was green

November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was killed, Dad and Mom were test driving cars. Dad had taken the day off work and they picked us up from school at Lorin Farr Elementary in a 1962 Mercury Comet. It was a dark turquoise blue, 6 cylinder, 3 speed on the column and had four doors. That was a nice car. We drove to California to Disneyland in that car in 1967. It didn’t have air conditioning but I don’t think we cared because we didn’t know the difference. I never drove that car, but I remember Mom practicing driving when she started to lose the feeling in her feet. Neta would go with her. I think that is why Dad never bought another stick shift—hoping that Mom could drive again.

  1962 Mercury Comet; ours was 4 door, turquoise

In 1967, Dad traded the Comet in for a new royal blue Buick Special. It was the first automatic transmission car they owned and the first new car they owned and probably the first car they paid for in full at the time of purchase. Dad ordered it from the GM factory in Flint, Michigan and took a bus from Ogden to drive his new car home. He paid cash for it. I don’t remember how much it cost, but he did receive some discount by picking it up at the factory. It had no power steering or air conditioning but it was new and paid for. I got to drive it once in awhile when I was chauffeuring Mom or Rick and Deanna. It was powerful. I actually drove it a little bit on our way to Alabama for Deanna’s heart surgery in August 1972.

ours was a 4 door and royal blue

The first car I drove was Grandma Barnes’s 1952 Chevrolet. By 1967 Grandma had stopped driving, and she gave us the car. It was a 3 speed manual transmission on the column, 2 door, green, dark green roof and light green body, sedan. It had a push button starter on the floor. Cherie took me driving in it so I could learn how to use a clutch. Oh what fun I had finding the friction point on a hill.

ours was a 2 door, dark green roof, light green body

In 1971 or 1972, Dad loaned me $450 to buy a 1964 Ford Fairlane when I was going to college at Weber State. It was a 3 speed manual transmission on the column, 4 door and light blue. It did the job of getting me where I needed to go for quite a while. Mickey called it a piece of junk when he first saw it in 1973. It had a leaking water pump and the front end needed a lot of work. In the winter of 1974, before we were married, we sold it for $160. We used the money to get Grandma’s rocking chair and Mom and Dad’s footstool reupholstered to use in our first apartment.

it was light blue

The next car I drove was Mickey’s 1965 Dodge Coronet 500—car of the year that year. It was a beautiful two door, three speed automatic, silver blue with black leather interior and lots of chrome, which Mickey kept polished. He would often ask me if I noticed anything about the car. Since he always kept it so clean, it was hard to find something different. Usually he would ask me that just after he had polished the inside chrome or polished the tires or washed the windows.

Mickey’s Dodge, March 1973

  This was taken March 1979 from our front porch in Huntington, Utah. We couldn’t get up our driveway because of the mud. It really is blue.

It was sad when we were in an accident and it got hit on the passenger side. On the way home from the Salt Lake Temple April 11, 1974, the night I received my endowment, we were hit by a drunk driver on Harrison Blvd. He came down the hill from the apartments near 40th and Harrison and ran right into us. After that we took it to Hinckley Dodge in Ogden to be repainted. Since they couldn’t match the original aqua blue paint we chose “regal blue firemist” for the paint color. When we moved to Huntington it was difficult for Mickey to see the beating the car took from the muddy roads. He who used to work in a car wash in Oregon and would wash the car every few days. Huntington was dusty or muddy, depending on the time of year. The poor Dodge got washed much less frequently.

In the late summer of 1979, we had the opportunity to borrow a car from our neighbors, Leo and Lynne Davis. They loaned us their little Subaru when we needed another car. It was a 1972 two door, dark green car with a 4 speed manual transmission. We had to hold the gear shift in place in 4th gear with a bungee cord. In October, Heidi and I were coming home from Salt Lake and I fell asleep and drove off the road in Huntington south of the airport. The front got scratched and dented when it went down the ravine. After that we bought the car for $950. It was wrecked in January 1983, when it got hit while Mickey was driving home from school in Castle Dale. It was totaled. I think somebody slid on the ice and ran into him. He was fine, but the car was not.

In April 1983 we drove from Huntington to Ogden to put a new transmission in the Dodge. Mickey and my brother, Rick, removed the manual transmission and installed an automatic transmission. This allowed us to have a bench seat in place of the bucket seats and console in the front, making it a 6 passenger car. Our family had grown and we needed room for someone to sit in front with us and have room in the back for the other three members of the family. The Dodge was a great car and sometimes I miss it. I have a lot of good memories with that car. We finally had to sell it in August 1995 for $100. It was hard to say goodbye and let it go. It’s a shame that Laresa and Bethani never got a chance to drive it.

In May 1984, Mickey ordered parts to rebuild the engine of the Dodge. Neta and Arnie let us use their 1978 Datsun B210 hatchback in May after Arnie finished the semester at BYU and they went to New York for his internship during the summer. We thought we would only need it for the summer while the Dodge was being rebuilt. But the car parts were delayed in coming. We drove it until Nov 8, 1984 when we purchased a 1978 Chevrolet Impala station wagon for $2800 from a man who lived in Logan. Mickey saw it advertised in the newspaper when we were visiting Cherie and Eric and their family.The station wagon was a white, nine passenger Impala, with red interior. It had air conditioning and the children loved having the third seat that gave us the option of folding all the back seats or just the very back seat down. They called the very back of the car, where the third seat is the “back pack.”

This is Zach riding in the Linford’s driveway in Logan, Behind him is Mickey’s Dodge and Neta and Arnie’s white Datsun, September 1983.

This was a great car for us and we have many memories. In July 1991 we loaded it up and drove it to Seattle and on to Mt. St. Helen’s for a Cochran family reunion and camping trip. We had a luggage rack on top. On August 17, 1995, Zach was driving home from work at SoftOne he got hit broadside by a man who ran the stop sign after making a U-turn at 600 East and 600 North.  Fortunately no one was hurt but the station wagon was totaled. Later, we received $900 from the man’s insurance company. We sold it November 1995 for $350.

 

June 4, 1987, our driveway with the station wagon, the Dodge and our dog, Sammy.

July 1991, Cochran family reunion, camping trip to Mt. St. Helen’s. Zach, Laresa, Bethani, Kathy and Heidi.

March 1992, Mom and Dad gave us their 1978 maroon Buick Le Sabre. That really came in handy, because we had Mickey, Heidi and Zachary all working at Pier 54 and we were driving to and from Provo a few times every day. It was a big, safe car that all of the children were able to drive at some time during their teen age years. Zach drove it to Seattle in August 1994 with Mitch Lee and LeeAnn Goodrich. He and Bethani drove it the most. We sold it April 30, 2001 for $600.

 

Dad’s was maroon.

September 1983 Heidi is roller skating on Linford’s driveway in front of

Grandma and Grandpa Baggs’s 1978 Buick LeSabre.

July 1994 we bought a 1985 light blue, four door Mazda 626 from Josh Benson, manager at The Pier (Pier 54 Pizzeria). We bought it for $1000. It needed new tires and some other work, but proved to be a big help because it got such good mileage compared to our other cars, which at the time included the 1965 Dodge, 1978 Chevrolet Impala station wagon, and Grandpa Baggs’s 1978 Buick LeSabre. We sold it in 1999.

In December 1994 Mickey brought home the new SoftOne 1995 GMC Safari van. It was a company van that Terry Stephenson gave it to Mickey to use. It’s very nice. It was white with gray interior. Mickey took it back to Terry in November 1995, when his and Zach’s employment at SoftOne ended.

  

The van, Mazda and wagon in our driveway behind Laresa, Bethani and Zach.

1995, Laresa, Bethani & Zachary & David Baker in front of the Safari van.

Sometime in 1996 or 1997 Mickey paid $200 for a 1982 BMW. He put a windshield and a battery in it and did several other things to repair it. That was a nice little car. Laresa drove it for a while and then we gave it to Zach.

ours was gold/brown

In April 1995 Mickey acquired an orange 1979 Triumph Spitfire convertible in trade for a computer. It was a fun little car. Most of the time we owned it it was parked in the driveway or at some repair place. I think we had trouble getting the title from the owner and it didn’t run for quite awhile.

October 1995, the Triumph and the Mazda

In the spring of 1998 we bought an emerald green, 4-door 1995 Taurus GS for $7,000. It’s a  nice car and I enjoyed driving it. We sold to Heidi December 1999.

 

December 1999 Mickey bought a red 1995 Ford Windstar for $9,000.

  

1991 in front of Matson’s home in Las Vegas

About 2000, Bill Woolf gave Mickey his gray 1987 Toyota SR5 pick-up truck. He won’t let him buy it yet and he retains the title. It’s a good truck for us. We’ve all enjoyed it. There was a sad, bad time in March 2003 when I was picking up Bethani at Provo Towne Center after her shift at Charlotte Russe and backed out, turning too sharp and hitting a concrete post, tearing off part of the front bumper and headlight covering.

    

Zach & Mickey with the floor of Zach’s shed on the back of the truck, July 3, 2008.   

September 24, 2003, Jim and Metta Christensen gave us their 1986 Chevrolet Caprice which we gave to Jay Anderson October 2, 2003.

We were ready for a new car and we didn’t need the van any more. When Zach and Kathleen were expecting their third baby we wanted them to have it. In May 2008, we bought a 4-door, “Merlot” (maroon) 2003 Nissan Maxima  SE for, $11,995. This is a great little car and we are very happy with its reliability, size, power and leather interior. I like it so much I would buy a Nissan again. Just as I was working on finishing this long post, our Maxima got scratched up in the parking lot at the Museum of Art at BYU while Heidi and I were visiting Laresa’s Humanities class, July 19, 2010. A note with information and a phone number was left on the windshield A young woman was trying to park her parent’s Yukon next to us and scratched the right rear fender. It was repaired and repainted a few days later.