an Oldsmobile man

One of my season enjoyments is with Joe, watching at least one screening of the annual The Christmas Story set in the early 1940s in a snowy Indiana town

with Ralphie longing for a Red Ryder BB gun. I know the longing and had at least one just like it.

Some may, like me, be more focused on the Olds sedan parked there beside the house and Ralphie’s remark that his father was “an Oldsmobile man” -- as was I also for a decade of the century long Olds run that ended with the death of the venerable American brand in 2004.

Our first Olds was a 1973 Custom Cruiser station wagon that I ordered from Key Olds in Columbus, Ohio just after Tass was born. By today’s standards it was a large car, cream yellow with the wood applique like a Ford Country Squire (a classy car and probably the most popular station wagon on the road at the time), cream-tan leather or vinyl seats, seated nine. The clam-shell tailgate that GM offered several years.

The car’s wood applique began to fade after several years in the sun, and eventually to peel. In loyal service until we donated it to charity in 1984 before moving from Harrisburg to Apalachicola, in its last days with us the Olds was having problems that caused it to burn nearly a half-tank of gasoline as I drove it for the final time the ten miles from our house to the Goodwill store for donation.

Our other Oldsmobile was a 1970 Cutlass Supreme hardtop coupe, great car that replaced our 1967 Thunderbird. Yellow with the black fabric top that was popular then, the Cutlass was a favorite car.

When I bought it used, low mileage from Wayne Haughey in Columbus for $1700, it was metallic green; but after Malinda’s skidding accident on snowy Route 50 just outside the Beltway in Northern Virginia, I had the fender straightened and the car repainted yellow at the Earl Scheibb paint and body shop near Crystal City.

But Ralphie’s dad’s Oldsmobile --

is a 1937 six cylinder touring sedan. A bit longer than the six, the eight cylinder Olds for that year was easily distinguished from the six with its heavy horizontal bars, by the eight's fancier mesh-type front grill.

The Oldsmobile that Ralphie’s dad drove might seem enormous today, but was classic for the era, with comfortable leg room to stretch out in the back seat.

The ’37 Oldsmobiles had flat head engines, straight-eight or straight-six, three speed manual transmission with gear shift on the floor,

no power steering or power brakes, no air conditioning, no back-up lights. Side mount spare tires optional,

and the spare often needed. Ralphie’s father had the “touring sedan” with built in trunk:

whereas the standard model was the slant back:

Oldsmobile. What a great car! Shame, GM! Instead of coming out with the very good but ill-fated Saturn, GM should have built either Olds or Pontiac back up. Maybe it's just me.