104th Edition Carnival of Genealogy--Cars as Stars

The topic for the 104th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Cars As Stars of Our Family History II! Three years ago, on April 4, 2008, we celebrated the automobile with stories of cars that touched our hearts, made us laugh, made us cry, and best of all made us remember the (mostly ;-) good old days. That you to Creative Gene for again sponsoring the Carnival of Genealogy.
There have been so many cars throughout the years Growing up Hughes. I was lucky to be a kid during the 50's and 60's when chrome and fins on cars were all the rage. To me the classic cars are those of this time period.
The smiling fellow waving from the window of this brand spankin new 1947 Mercury Town Sedan is my Dad. It was my parents first car and as my Mom wrote under the photograph in the old album...."The New Merc".
I can remember years back, when my Mom and I were looking at these old photos, she remarked that the car was purchased for them by her mother, Martha Marie Frederick Stark. Oddly, Mom's folks never owned a car. Her Dad got to work in Pittsburgh on the streetcar and her Mom walked uptown for shopping and also used the streetcar to get into the city. Vacations were taken in Uncle Walter's "buggy," my grandmother's name for the new fangled automobiles, or on trains.


As a doctor, recently graduated from medical school, my Dad would need transportation and I bet the car was bought before I was born in May 1947. During this time Dad was serving with the Army at Deshon Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania, about an hour's drive or more, from family back in the Bellevue-Avalon, Pennsylvania area. Definately a good reason for a set of wheels. Also necessary to drive Baby Linda back to see her grandparents....I was the first grandchild for both the Hughes and Stark families.
I don't remember the car. I don't know how long Dad drove it. It could have moved with us in 1950 to Washington Drive, our first house, but I was too young to notice or care about the make and model of a car.
Many more autos were to follow the Merc.....mostly Chevy's as one of my Dad's patients was a Chevrolet dealer. I began to take notice of cars when Dad came home when I was 16 with HIS new red Chevy convertible. Now were talkin' ;-) Hey Dad......
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