John S. Rehberg, 8/31/1956 to 9/14/2022, Dad you may be gone but you're always with me...

[HawkRod]

So the next (2) as I work my way down this list. I have absolutely zero recollection of myself personally. Dad owned a '54 Chevy(thanks google). I tried to capture one that was likely in his price range at the time. Nothing fancy. I'm willing to bet it was probably a 4-door knowing him.
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And another on his list. This came as a surprise to me. I don't ever recall him talking about this one. He owned a '55 Chevy. Interesting point here. All these years I could only recall him owning (2) of the (3) tri-5 Chevys, and the '55 was not one of them. But looking at his list (that he essentially helped me write), he indeed owned a '55 at one time. This came as a surprise to me just in the last couple of days as I'm doing homework in prep for this thread. This '55 in the pic below is an actual pic of a '55 I almost bought a couple of years ago. It was in NJ and the guy was asking $7k. I couldn't line up the trip and trailer in time to get to it before it got swooped up by some fella who bought it and had it shipped to Sweden! Anyway, completely coincidental here, but I'm going to look at another '55 tomorrow. Now I'm second guessing why I really want it. Because if dad already had one? We'll see what mama says after we get eyes on it I guess.

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I have never owned a tri-5 Chevy, but I can understand why they were popular, especially with families. Even a 2 door has TONS of rear seat room. They are roomy, stylish cars.

I worked on one (a 55) at my father-in-law's place (put an O/D transmission in it).

 

[DeltaV]

My condolences to you and the family. R.I.P. Mr. John S. Rehberg.

 

[PlymCrazy]

I have never owned a tri-5 Chevy, but I can understand why they were popular, especially with families. Even a 2 door has TONS of rear seat room. They are roomy, stylish cars.

I worked on one (a 55) at my father-in-law's place (put an O/D transmission in it).

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That’s a beautiful car. What inspired the OD transmission?

 

[PlymCrazy]

So next is, yup, you guessed it. Dad had a ‘56 Chevy. I was fortunate enough to have some pics. And a story or two to go with it. He owned this one for a few years in the late 80’s/early 90’s. This is dad with the car and what it looked like when he first bought it.

Around 1991 we repainted that car in “1990 Chevy Beretta Green”.

That car had a straight-6, 235 and 3-speed column shift. Mom would drive us to school regularly in that car when we missed the bus. It was a daily driver as well. Over 200k miles on it and it finally threw a rod clean through the oil pan one day on the expressway. While mom and dad waited with the car on the side of the expressway, I ran about a mile to the next exit to use a phone to call for help. We got the car home in the back of a tractor trailer from where dad worked. We pulled the oil pan to further asses the damage. With the pan still off, dad started the car to try to move it. That cylinder with the blown rod ignited and blew the piston to the ground. Shot out a pretty cool flame ball too. The car sat for a couple years after that. And dad eventually sold it.

 

[PlymCrazy]

So fast forward to around 2020 and I began to shop for a tri-5 Chevy of my own. A friend of mine forwarded me a Craigslist ad for a ‘56 Chevy for sale at the time. It was located about an hour from my house. Here are a couple of pics of that car.

I really didn’t want a ‘56 or ‘57. I wanted a ‘55 as it wasn’t something I could remember dad having and I could sort of “finish what he started “ so to speak. But…in the Craigslist ad for that orange ‘56 I also saw this:

I recognized that color. 1990 Beretta Green to be exact. And I had to at least go look to see if it was what I thought it could be. My wife and I drove the hour to go look at this car. Asked all the right questions and was able to trace the cars history back to the fella dad sold it to nearly 30 years earlier. I was torn on what to do. This was dads old car. But it was butchered over the years. Lots of rot and body filler. Excessive IMO. My wife and I felt it was best to leave it behind. But what an experience finding it again. If I ever have the chance again, the choice may be different in light of dad’s passing recently. I don’t know…

 

[Dad's69RR]

So fast forward to around 2020 and I began to shop for a tri-5 Chevy of my own. A friend of mine forwarded me a Craigslist ad for a ‘56 Chevy for sale at the time. It was located about an hour from my house. Here are a couple of pics of that car.

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I really didn’t want a ‘56 or ‘57. I wanted a ‘55 as it wasn’t something I could remember dad having and I could sort of “finish what he started “ so to speak. But…in the Craigslist ad for that orange ‘56 I also saw this:

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I recognized that color. 1990 Beretta Green to be exact. And I had to at least go look to see if it was what I thought it could be. My wife and I drove the hour to go look at this car. Asked all the right questions and was able to trace the cars history back to the fella dad sold it to nearly 30 years earlier. I was torn on what to do. This was dads old car. But it was butchered over the years. Lots of rot and body filler. Excessive IMO. My wife and I felt it was best to leave it behind. But what an experience finding it again. If I ever have the chance again, the choice may be different in light of dad’s passing recently. I don’t know…

Dang I don’t know how you passed? I get, it the car was butchered up, but what are the chances!

 

[PlymCrazy]

Dang I don’t know how you passed? I get, it the car was butchered up, but what are the chances!

Wasn’t an easy thing to do. My heart was torn. There’s much more to that decision besides what I shared here. And all considered we felt it was best. Have to trust me on that one my friend.

 

[HawkRod]

That’s a beautiful car. What inspired the OD transmission?

The car had a standard TH350 3 speed automatic transmission in it, but the owner wanted the car to be more friendly on the highway for longer trips. So the TH350 was replaced by a 700R4.

This was dads old car. But it was butchered over the years. Lots of rot and body filler. Excessive IMO. My wife and I felt it was best to leave it behind. But what an experience finding it again. If I ever have the chance again, the choice may be different in light of dad’s passing recently. I don’t know…

Wow, what a tough decision to make, but I tend to agree with your decision. It's cool from an emotional perspective to have the actual car your dad had, but if that car is in really bad shape, then the reality of the costs to fix it up may make the project not possible.

 

[dartforforty]

R.I.P. John S. Rehberg

 

[PlymCrazy]

Dad also had a ‘56 Cadillac. I’ve been pondering that for a day or so and am beginning to think it was actually the ‘56 Cadillac that had the 318 in it. Not the ‘51 Chevy as I previously posted. Don’t know for sure anymore. And I sure can’t ask him. Either way, the thought of a 318 in a GM car always didn’t sit well with me back then. But now a days something like that really wouldn’t surprise me.
(c/o google)

 

[PlymCrazy]

In the late ‘70s dad had a ‘57 Chevy. Can’t recall if it was a 2DR or a 4DR. But I remember it was red. A story that sticks out to me is that dad traded that ‘57 Chevy PLUS his $2k Kenwood stereo system for a vintage Harley Davidson. Within a couple of weeks of having that bike the transmission dropped out of it going across the Stutson Street Bridge in Rochester, NY. Dad walked away from that bike deal much more keen on being more diligent when purchasing vehicles. He became far more thorough at the “tire kicking” process going forward. I called mom today to verify the accuracy of my recollection before I posted this one. Hard to believe I was just 5 or 6 years old and can still remember those details.
(c/o google)

He also had a ‘58 Chevy at one point. I recall absolutely nothing about that car.
(c/o google)

 

[HawkRod]

Some neat cars he was driving around in!
You have to wonder about a 318 in a Cadillac or Chevy - there must be a good story with this. Why not replace the engine with another GM engine? I'm sure the 318 must have needed some work with motor mounts, etc. to get it to fit and work properly. Maybe that was cheap and available?

 

[PlymCrazy]

Some neat cars he was driving around in!
You have to wonder about a 318 in a Cadillac or Chevy - there must be a good story with this. Why not replace the engine with another GM engine? I'm sure the 318 must have needed some work with motor mounts, etc. to get it to fit and work properly. Maybe that was cheap and available?

I wonder that myself. I'm sure it had no problem fitting in the engine bay lol. Wonder if that was even a common thing back in those days. God knows I've heard of plenty of Hemi-swaps into non-Mopars and LS-swaps into non-GM vehicles these days.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Can’t believe I’m actually finding some of these pics from the past.

So next in the list of dad’s car was a 1959 Cadillac. That’s me sitting on top. Only real memory I have of this car was sitting on the armrest in the back seat so I could see out the front windshield.

 

[67440chrg]

I am so sorry for your loss. All the memories he left will keep him strong in your heart. God bless you and all his passing has impacted.

 

[PlymCrazy]

In 1984 dad bought mom a 1959 Ford Ranch Wagon for her 25th birthday. I had never seen a 2DR station wagon before I laid eyes on this. It had a 352 with a Ford-O-Matic 2-spd in it. That car was in great shape all the way around I recall. Here’s a picture we have of it still.

 

[PlymCrazy]

After a few years of owning it dad wanted to change the color. The first color change was to yellow body/white top. He didn’t like the color once it was on the car so we painted it again. This time the body was more of a light baby blue and same white top. He was into black and white photos of that car to capture more of a vintage look. Here’s a couple of pics we still have of it during that stage of appearance.

(Above) Left to right was my sister, my best friend Tommy Wallace (RIP), me, and my Smooth Collie named Spike.

(Above) Left to right was me, the older of my (2) sisters, my baby sister and good old Spike again…

 

[PlymCrazy]

In 1989 I turned 16 and dad said “Nick, I’ll sell you the ‘56 Chevy for $2500 or you can have the ‘59 Ford for free”. Need I say more? That was my first car. First thing we did was repaint it…again. Thrush mufflers, air shocks, 15’s on the rear, 14’s on the front, brought exhaust out front of rear wheels. My girlfriend at the time(now my wife) helped me do a tear down to put new head gaskets on it. Fun times. Here are a couple of pics after we painted it the way I wanted it.

 

[HawkRod]

In 1989 I turned 16 and dad said “Nick, I’ll sell you the ‘56 Chevy for $2500 or you can have the ‘59 Ford for free”. Need I say more? That was my first car. First thing we did was repaint it…again. Thrush mufflers, air shocks, 15’s on the rear, 14’s on the front, brought exhaust out front of rear wheels. My girlfriend at the time(now my wife) helped me do a tear down to put new head gaskets on it. Fun times. Here are a couple of pics after we painted it the way I wanted it.
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Sweet machine! I'll bet it was well protected with 4 coats of paint on it! Maybe that's the next installment, but what happened to the car?

 

[PlymCrazy]

Sweet machine! I'll bet it was well protected with 4 coats of paint on it! Maybe that's the next installment, but what happened to the car?

Funny you mention the (4) coats of paint. When the 2nd or 3rd color went on it, can’t recall which, there was a bad reaction between the paints causing us to have to strip it down entirely before the color change.

The car eventually I sold it around ‘92 or ‘93. Don’t say it please. I already know.