My First Car: '37 Studebaker, Ken Smith, 83, St. Petersburg

'37 Studebaker

My first car was a 1937 Studebaker Dictator, dark blue, 4-door, 3-speed straight-6 with hill holder that let you stop on an uphill grade and not hold the brake on. They cost $1185 new in 1937. I paid $400 for mine in 1947 which seems high, but new cars were just starting to roll out of factories after WWII. I sold it for $ 30 to a junkyard in 1951 after three buddies and I took a 12,123-mile 28-state trip across the United States in the summer of 1950. It cost us about $200 each. The cheapest gas was 14 cents a gallon, but we used 72 gallons of 60-weight oil for an average of 40 miles to a quart. The picture of the four of us was taken upon arrival home in Findlay, Ohio, on Sept. 17, 1950.