My dad died at the age of 86. My mom passed away at the age of 79. And they never owned a new car. Never, Not one.

And I don't think that was so unique. (Back in the 1980's I bought my first new car, it was a Pontiac Grand Am. When I drove it back to Leota to show my dad, he said it was nice...but I was crazy to buy a new car).

Think back to when you were a kid. Is there one car that stands out more than any other that was, well, the family car when you were little? For me, there were actually two.

A 1959 Chevy Biscayne, and a 1960 Chevy Biscayne. Now, of course, we had them when they were used. In fact, they were very used. But they were cool!

The thing I remember most about both of them are the fins. Yes, I said fins. They both had fins on the back, the '59 a little bigger than the '60, at least in my memory. Gas mileage? I don't know, and my dad probably didn't either. Gas was pretty cheap in the 'old days'. But I do remember this: They were either spacious, or maybe I was just little, but there was room to roam!

I did some intense and exhaustive research (Ok, ok, I looked at Wikipedia) and found out Chevrolet made the Biscayne from 1958-1972. And they were, uh, the cheap Chevy.

They didn't have the exterior and interior fancy trimmings of the Bel Air or Impala, and so the Biscayne was cheaper. It was one of those cars that, if you saw it from a couple of blocks away, well that might be an Impala! Then when it got close...oh, it's a Biscayne. But you know what?

It was ours!

I remember my dad having a lot of different cars through the years, probably because they were used...real used. I remember a Mercury, a Chrysler Ambassador, even a Kaiser. There were others, but the one (or two) I remember most was the Biscayne. And just how good was the Biscayne?

Well, plenty good enough to deliver rural mail, as the commercial below will tell ya!

 

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