Back in the Day: Junkers couldn't get you very far

A number of my friends are in the market for an automobile. Perhaps you are too! If so, you know that the pickings are slim. In cases where the perfect automobile is located, the problem is usually cost, whether new or pre-owned. The COVID pandemic has impacted the supply chain in many areas. Check out the inventory on the lots of dealerships and you will notice that there are fewer automobiles than in prior years. The current experiences people are having when purchasing a new or used automobile resulted in today’s column.

While we had challenges purchasing an automobile back in the day, the challenges were often related to finding a Junker instead of a new car. Some other terms for such used automobiles included jalopy, clunker, lemon, wreck, heap, bomb, and rattletrap. No matter what the automobile was called, it identified a car that was old and neglected. Sometimes it had non-functioning parts, was damaged and rusty, needed a paint job, and generally burned a great deal of engine oil. Still, most people loved their “junker” and recalled the lasting memories it provided.

At a young age, most guys talked about purchasing, what they called “a ride.” A few of us had access to our father’s automobile. The problem with borrowing your father’s automobile was the need to work around his schedule for availability. Some of you were fortunate in having a family member give you their unwanted automobile. However, purchasing an automobile was extremely important. But, to purchase an automobile, you needed cash; credit terms were not available for those without a job. Even if you had a part-time job after school, saving money was difficult. Getting your father to co-sign for an automobile loan for you was another challenge. A close friend’s father, when asked to co-sign for the purchase of his automobile, told him that he did not need a co-signer, rather he needed more money. So, little or no money, no credit, and the desire for an automobile meant that you got what you could afford.

Maybe you were like a friend who put the word out that he was looking for an automobile. He was contacted by someone in the neighborhood and purchased an automobile for $35.00. After getting it home, his father told him that he just purchased some one’s problems. Did it run; yes, but only for two days. He got little or no use out of the automobile with its illegal stickers and parts held together with rope and tape. What about insurance? Insurance was not mandatory in the past. There were also no “Lemon Laws.” After getting the automobile home, it sat in front of his home for weeks before ending up at the junk yard on Passyunk Avenue. From all descriptions of this automobile, it was a legitimate, bona fide junker.

A payment of $35.00 seemed to be the going rate to purchase a used automobile in the past. In the late 70s, another friend purchased a 1960 Oldsmobile from a garage for $35.00. He remembers the odometer reading all zeroes and a missing oil cap. A rag was pushed down into the opening to prevent the oil from coming out. Whenever the motor was running, dark clouds of smoke could be seen coming from the exhaust pipe. When the engine was turned off, it continued to run for a few minutes. If the turn signal was on, the horn would honk. As for the tires, they were so bald that there was absolutely no traction when driven in the rain. When driving in the rain, his automobile would slide across the wet road and at times would appear to be floating. He and his buddies had a name for the tires on his automobile; they were called, “May Pop.” In other words, driving on these tires might cause them to pop. My friend had the automobile for about two months; he was using it to bridge the gap between his previous automobile and the purchase of a new automobile. He was able to dispose of it by selling it to another garage, no, not the same garage, but again, for $35.00. Purchasing and driving a junker was a real experience, back in the day.

Typically, junkers lacked air conditioning as well as heat. Also, the gas gauge did not work; thus, you had to guess how much gas was in the tank. Do you recall the use of a clothes hanger to replace a broken radio antenna? With many junkers, you could sit in your automobile and look down through a hole in the floor and see the street. Often times, cardboard would be used to cover the hole. Certainly, you have memories of junkers with water coming through the molding around windows when it rained. Were you one that had to push up the windows with your hands as the handle did not work? Did you have the need to use wire to hold up your junker’s muffler? For many of you, after your first full-time job or in particular, after college, your first car was often a Volkswagen Beetle that was purchased for less than one thousand dollars. In cases where one purchased any new automobile, the annual cost was approximately thirty-three hundred dollars and with a reasonable down payment, a monthly payment was less than one-hundred dollars, back in the day.

Issues surrounding the purchase of a used automobile or junker, in particular, are quite different than the past. I strongly recommend that if you are in need of an automobile today, do not go out and purchase a junker. It will be as unreliable today as it was, back in the day.