Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cars In My Life - 1950 Jeepster Convertible

1950 Jeepster Convertible In-line 4 3-Speed Manual

When I got to the Altoona Campus of Penn State in 1957 I needed a car to get around. Mom had taken over the Mercury, so they bought me a Jeepster. This was a sort of cross-over vehicle between a Jeep and a regular convertible car. The top was manually operated and there were canvas side curtains, no windup windows at all. The car owed much more to the Jeep than to a car. It was very spartan. It had a very small four cylinder engine that only put out 40 horsepower. It was very cold in the winter, the side curtains didn't fit snugly and the wind whistled in while the car was in motion.
I got Moon wheel covers for it. These were spun aluminum covers that were screwed to the wheels of the car. I don't think I had them for more than a week when they were stolen.
In my last year at Penn State I replaced the four cylinder engine with a V-8. What a disaster that was. I drove it to my first job at IBM in Endicott, New York. The car didn't last long at all. Actually, neither did the job.

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