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

[PlymCrazy]

Next up…

1986 Chevy Caprice Classic, 2DR, 4.3L
Found a couple of actual pictures.

When dad first brought that car home around 1992 it was grey. Not long after, dad felt it was due for a color change. Here’s a pic of dad in the middle of a paint job on that car. Look at that, caught with the gun in his hand lol.
Edit: That is the older of my two sisters you see there on the other side of the car, opposite dad. Overlooked that when initially posted.

In the background of this picture on the right, you’ll see the Caprice after the color change. All black, black steel rims with raised white letter tires. It was a sharp looking car after dad added his touch.
My baby sister is facing the camera in front of the tree there.

The transmission on this car finally lost reverse, so dad had to make sure he always parked in a way that he could drive forward to leave anywhere he was parked. Drove it another 2-3 years with it that way. Still ran and drove when he finally got rid of it.

 

[PlymCrazy]

To “pick up” where I left off(pun intended),
Dad bought a new pickup truck in 1986

It was a Chevy S-10
(c/o google)

Dad’s truck looked nearly identical to this. It was a 4 cylinder, 5-speed, dark blue in color. He bought it new at Mancuso Motors in Batavia, NY.

I recall dad using this truck often to pick up motors and transmissions from local auto shops and take them to the scrap yard for extra cash. He used the top of an old picnic table as a ramp to load that old iron on to the back of the truck. Sometimes he’d bring us boys to assist with the muscle. But dad was an extremely strong man. He most often did the scrap pickups by himself.

The picnic table shown here is identical to the one dad disassembled to use as a ramp. Same color and all.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Another 1986 model dad had was…

A 1986 Lincoln Town Car
(actual photo)

That’s my baby sister near the front of the car. My mom is back near the trunk.

This car was about 3-4 years old when dad bought it. It had a 5.0L engine in it. It was just as you see it, brown body color with a light brown padded canvas top. I believe dad called that top a “soft top “. The trunk had a neat feature called a “pull down” that sort of sucked the trunk closed after it was latched. It also had auto dimming headlights which was a new one for us. Those headlights would flick off and on annoyingly when they shined on a reflective street sign.

I was practicing for my license when we got this car. Dad told mom that I was not to practice using this car. But mom took me out to practice with it anyway when dad wasn’t around. Dad would have never found out if mom didn’t encourage me to use strictly the mirrors to back out one day. I was not used to using the mirrors yet. And I hit a tree with the passenger mirror, seriously denting the passenger front door.

That mishap led to a complete color change on the car. Dad went all black on it. The soft top took a special paint I recall. It required a little extra research on dad’s part to assure he was using the proper paint for it. The car turned out really nice With the color change.

Another interesting experience with this car…The transmission started giving dad issues after owning it a while, and it needed to be rebuilt. Dad had me drive this car and follow him about an hour away to a shop in Buffalo. Following him we got separated. The stress of losing him and being in unfamiliar territory led to me going the wrong way on a highway ramp.…with 4 lanes of traffic pointed at me! Fortunately that did NOT end in disaster. No cell phones back then to save me on that one lol. That mission was aborted. We wound up taking the car for transmission repairs to a place more local to home at a later date.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Well, dad's 80's cars are behind us in this thread.

First car dad bought in the 90's. A brand new...

1990 Geo Metro XFI, 2DR, 5 speed, 3 cylinder, 1.0L engine
(c/o google)

Dad's car looked identical to the one shown above here, color and all. At the time dad bought this car, he and mom had recently bought their first home in the southern tier NY. It was a 70 mile drive one way for dad to get to work back in the city. And with this car's advertised 53 city/58 hwy fuel economy, dad was able to soften the blow of fuel consumption with such a big commute. There were times on the highway dad estimated he was getting close to 70 mpg with this thing! He nicknamed it "The Egg" for obvious reasons.

Dad drove tractor trailer and worked for local moving companies full time for most of his working life. Approximately 45 years if my math is correct. Body work and painting cars was always a side business of his until the mid 90's. But the truck driving experience led him to also becoming a driving instructor for the company he worked for, from what I understand. Needless to say, dad was an excellent driver. I can't recall him ever being in an accident in the years I knew him. No accidents I'm aware of anyway. I did hear stories of some mishaps with vehicles in his younger years however. That was before I came along.

Dad teaching me to drive in this car....Dad was big on simulating circumstances that helped develop situational awareness and proper reaction while driving. One of those situations was taking me down an icy hill one night in the dead of winter while on my learners permit. On the way down the hill and without warning, the tail end spun around 270 degrees. Going around 40mph I'd guess. I had no idea how that happened out of nowhere! It literally threw the back of this car into a snowbank on the side of the road. We were stuck. Dad told me to stay in the car and start driving when he said to. Dad got out and picked the back end of the car up out of the snowbank, walked it back on to the road, then yelled to me to start driving. And then he jumped back in the car as we were moving again back up the hill. Looked like something out of an episode of The Incredible Hulk. That car weighed just around 1600 lbs IIRC. Myself and a friend could barely pick the back end up, let alone me by myself at 16 years old lol. Again, dad was a big, strong guy. A 405-lb bench press was his claim to fame in his prime. Dad was around 33 years old when this particular incident that night occurred. Years later, dad would hint to me that he pulled up on the park brake lever intentionally on the icy hill that night. He wanted me experience it with him in the car. Not sure if he expected it to go that way. Thanks dad.

For the time dad had this Geo Metro, we drove the wheels off it. 96K miles on it in the first couple years and the only thing that it ever needed was a front wheel bearing replacement at around 35k miles. I had a small fender bender where I pushed the front bumper cover in a bit one time too. Dad taught me how to use a heat gun to pop it back out. Just like new.

We'd make teasing comments about this car like "the engine is made by Briggs and Stratton" or "we can put a bottle of Flex-All 454 under the hood to give dad a big block". And dad ran straight 60 weight oil in this in the summer months and 20w50 in the winter. Never any issue. In fact most, if not all, of his older cars ALWAYS had Castrol GTX 20w50 in them.

Lastly, dad took one of the horns out of our '56 Chevy and we installed it in this car. Sounded like a train. Nobody expected that kind of noise to be coming from this little thing for sure.

 

[PlymCrazy]

1994 Chevy Cavalier Z-24
(c/o google)

The car pictured above is identical to the one dad owned. 3.1L automatic. This was formerly my first brand new car purchase in April of 1994. Dad agreed to take over the monthly payments at or around the arrival of our first child in May of 1997. This car was not a good fit for us starting out as a family. Dad alleviated us of these car payments and allowed my new family to move in with him for about a year. That gave my wife and I the financial momentum we needed to buy our first home in 1998. This car would later become my baby sister's first car when it came time.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Here is the last 90's model vehicle dad owned...

1999 Saturn SL2
(c/o google)

Pretty sure dad bought this car new. By the time this car came on the scene I was knee deep in doing the "dad thing" myself, as my wife and I had our 2nd child in the beginning of 1999. Dad's 1999 Saturn was either silver or white if I remember correctly. One of the selling features of this car I recall is that it was "dent resistant". Regardless of that feature, Dad was pretty good at keeping dings and scratches to a minimum, if they even existed at all on the newer vehicles he ever owned.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Here is the last 90's model vehicle dad owned...

1999 Saturn SL2
(c/o google)
View attachment 1381026

Pretty sure dad bought this car new. By the time this car came on the scene I was knee deep in doing the "dad thing" myself, as my wife and I had our 2nd child in the beginning of 1999. Dad's 1999 Saturn was either silver or white if I remember correctly. One of the selling features of this car I recall is that it was "dent resistant". Regardless of that feature, Dad was pretty good at keeping dings and scratches to a minimum, if they even existed at all on the newer vehicles he ever owned.

My immediate boss drove one of these during my corporate tour, I had my '66 Imperial during that era. My daughter thought it was funny that all the big shots drove cheap cars, but she figured out that they got there by proving they could control costs.

 

[PlymCrazy]

My immediate boss drove one of these during my corporate tour, I had my '66 Imperial during that era. My daughter thought it was funny that all the big shots drove cheap cars, but she figured out that they got there by proving they could control costs.

Love your style Adam

 

[PlymCrazy]

Well, up to this point so far I count (50) vehicles. More to come of course, because dad sure didn't stop there. About to embark on the last 20 or so years of vehicles dad owned. I know less and less of the vehicles he owned as they become more and more recent. Circumstances later in life led to dad and I not being as close as we could have, nor as we should have.

Dad is continually at the forefront of my mind since he passed. And returning to this thread regularly, to finish what I started, at times gets a bit overwhelming internally. I have moments where I want to just sign out of this site, and never look back just as a way to try to run from the pain of him being gone. But dad taught us to never give up and to always do our best with all of our might. So I will see this through to it's completion. It gives me strength as I think about those of you who have chimed in along the way, in support of what I'm trying to accomplish here. And for those of you who are reading this that I may never meet or ever hear from...Or anyone who may come across this thread in the future. I thank you all for travelling down this road with me.

Be back soon to continue....

 

[PlymCrazy]

The countdown continues...

This is car #51 dad owned.

2000 BMW 323i
(c/o google)

Dad's BMW was more of a dark blue. As you can see his taste in vehicles is starting to evolve here. Although I'm not a big fan of the BMW myself, I can't deny the car was beautiful and dad took immaculate care of it. That picture above is a great representative of just how presentable dad kept his.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Car #52 dad owned...

2001 Chevy S10 Pickup

(c/o google)

Dad's S10 was same color and extended cab like this one. He also had a red Leer cap on the back. I believe it was 2WD, A/T. Meticulously kept.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Car #53 dad owned...

2002 Pontiac Grand Am

(c/o google)

Once us kids were all on our own, dad really kept his vehicles spotless inside and out. After the '94 Z24 listed here previously, all of dad's cars he bought brand new or near new.

 

[Cranky]

Sorry to hear of your dad's passing. I still think of my dad quite often and he's been gone since 98....and wasn't much for working on cars but I was. Don't know of any outside influence but remember mom letting me shift (or try to) her 51 Plymouth Crapbrook I mean Cranbrook and watching them drive/operate the cars. Don't even remember when I got a pedal car but remember it was a Jeep complete with the star on the hood. Even outgrew it before finally learning to ride a bike. Once that happened, I was gone and got my butt whooped many times for that .

Anyways, I was brought home in that 51 and remember it having problems in mid 56. Dad said something about it 'jumping time' and all I could think was it had something to do with a clock?? Next car was a 56 Belvedere Sports Coupe with push button shift. That car caught my attention even more and it wasn't slow compared to the 51. Dad actually let me drive the 56 behind the wheel when I was around 7 or so. It would be 63 before getting another car....a 63 Dart 170 3 on the tree and about as basic as could be and we used that car to move to Texas from Massachusetts after mom passed on just before getting the Dart. Dad's job was moving to NY and we knew no one there. One of dad's brothers that was in the home building business said to come on so we did. It wasn't our first trip to Texas though. Came here in 61 but mom didn't like it and neither did my sister so we went back. The 56 never missed a lick but it rusted away up in the NE salty winters.

After dad working in Texas for a couple of years he had to buy a pickup for work since my sister graduated from high school in 65 and landed a job and dad let her take the 63 Dart and used my lawn mowing money as a down payment on the pickup. But before my sister took over the Dart, I was using it without permission to go mow lawns. Dad finally questioned me about it and wasn't happy but didn't blow up like he usually did. I'm thinking maybe he liked the idea that he didn't have to teach me how to drive....especially a stick? Plus I was taking care of the car and then his truck keeping them clean and checking the oil etc.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Sorry to hear of your dad's passing. I still think of my dad quite often and he's been gone since 98....

All these years and you think of him often...I'm encouraged to hear that. I don't ever want to get to a point where I don't think of my dad often. Too many people that have passed in my lifetime, that were significant to me, have had a tendency of being thought of less and less frequently as time goes on. God help me to not let that happen with dad.

...and wasn't much for working on cars but I was.

Have you given much thought as to what influenced you to be so into cars? By golly, you help run an old car forum. That's a heck of an interest in cars I'd say!

Don't even remember when I got a pedal car but remember it was a Jeep complete with the star on the hood.

Says this one was from 1948. IIRC, you said somewhere you are 71 years old. That would make this one pretty close to that era. Even has the star on the hood.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7204259_664-western-toy-mfg-sjeep-pedal-car

Dad said something about it 'jumping time' and all I could think was it had something to do with a clock??

Yup, that's us as kids for ya.

Dad finally questioned me about it and wasn't happy but didn't blow up like he usually did. I'm thinking maybe he liked the idea that he didn't have to teach me how to drive....especially a stick?

Not just any old stick. It was 3-on-the-tree no less. Not quite as simple as something on the floor IMO. That detail may have been more cause for him to be relieved that you seemingly figured it out yourself .

@Mr. Cranky, thanks for stopping in and sharing some of your story. You guys really make for a great atmosphere around here.

 

[Cranky]

All these years and you think of him often...I'm encouraged to hear that. I don't ever want to get to a point where I don't think of my dad often. Too many people that have passed in my lifetime, that were significant to me, have had a tendency of being thought of less and less frequently as time goes on. God help me to not let that happen with dad.


Have you given much thought as to what influenced you to be so into cars? By golly, you help run an old car forum. That's a heck of an interest in cars I'd say!


Says this one was from 1948. IIRC, you said somewhere you are 71 years old. That would make this one pretty close to that era. Even has the star on the hood.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7204259_664-western-toy-mfg-sjeep-pedal-car


Yup, that's us as kids for ya.


Not just any old stick. It was 3-on-the-tree no less. Not quite as simple as something on the floor IMO. That detail may have been more cause for him to be relieved that you seemingly figured it out yourself .

@Mr. Cranky, thanks for stopping in and sharing some of your story. You guys really make for a great atmosphere around here.

Yup, that Jeep looks pretty close to what I remember having.....

 

[Hey-O]

Dad owned (2) Ford Econoline vans, a 1965 and a 1966. I only remember one of them personally. The white one below is striking similar to the one I recall. Without the mags lol.



1965 Econoline
(c/o google)
View attachment 1366826


And a 1966 Econoline
(c/o google)
View attachment 1366827

I had a 64 and a 71 Econoline and they both looked like your dads white one, except the 64 was burgundy. The 64 had the front and back bumpers shaved. The back doors hinges were shaved and the back was closed with 1/8 plate steel. Four tips dumped out in front of the back tires on both sides, same wheels. It was gorgeous and looked new. The interior had a wrap around bench seat with a round table in the back. The 71 looked just like your dads in the picture of his 65, but was a 71. I worked on a few other vans and they all went on the premises of less is better

 

[PlymCrazy]

I had a 64 and a 71 Econoline and they both looked like your dads white one, except the 65 was burgundy. The 64 had the front and back bumpers shaved. The back doors hinges were shaved and the back was closed with 1/8 plate steel. Four tips dumped out in front of the back tires on both sides, same wheels. It was gorgeous and looked new. The interior had a wrap around bench seat with a round table in the back. The 71 looked just like your dads in the picture of his 65, but was a 71. I worked on a few other vans and they all went on the premises of less is better

Those vans were unique to say the least. Looking back they almost look like something out of a Scooby-Doo episode. I only remember the one in the picture that has my brother in it. When that van wasn’t being driven, us kids would play in it like it was a fort. Not many memories with it, but what I do recall they were good memories.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Car #54 dad owned

2002 Volkswagen Jetta
(c/o google)

This looks pretty close, if not darn-near identical, to the one dad owned. Color and all. This the 2nd German-made vehicle, amongst several, that dad would own in the last 15-20 years or so.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Car #55 dad owned...

2008 Volkswagen Beetle. This is an actual photo of his car we found along with a copy of the registration he left behind. Looks like he kept a copy of the registration for every car since then. And what? Just noticed...A 5-cylinder? This would be a first for him with owning a 5-cylinder car I believe.

Thankfully these registrations will tell us the exact year and make of every vehicle he had from this point on. A couple of my siblings who were closest to him the last several years confirmed this... That each of these registrations reflect accurately the rest of the vehicles dad owned. None are missing.

As I make this entry I'm suddenly realizing that me posting dad's vehicles will likely be ending at some point here soon. Part of me, I find now, doesn't want it to end because the memory of him is so vivid as I share with you all. Seeing this registration posted above is a bit of a dose of reality for me right now.

Be back soon...

 

[PlymCrazy]

Car #56 dad owned…

2009 Mini Cooper. This is an actual photo taken back in December of 2014. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this just yesterday in my google photos. I was not expecting to find a picture of this car.

I recall dad saying this car got in the 40’s mpg fuel economy. It had a manual transmission.