Saturday 2 October 2021

Sepia Saturday 590 - Old Cars

 

 Above: The prompt picture for Sepia Saturday 590 -
"a photograph of a couple sat on the running board of a car"

My mind went searching for memories of photos of cars in my family albums, and the first (and oldest) that came to mind was this one, from one of my grandmother's albums:


 It's a black & white photo in the album, but I think it comes out even better in sepia:


My grandmother's note below the photo only says "old Ford visiting" [at the farm where she grew up and lived until 1930, when she got married], but nothing about who the people in that car were.
I would date the photo to the late 1920s. My grandmother is the young woman in the dark dress in the front seat, closest to the camera. I don't recognize any of the others. The photo is signed by a photographer whose name is also unknown to me.

Next, I wondered if I might have a photo somewhere of my parents', or dad's, first car. I found two blurry ones in mum's photo album, from shortly after she and dad got married, in the summer of 1954. They called the car Patrick.



I'm not sure I ever met Patrick myself; I think he was exchanged for a slightly more modern Volvo around the time I was born (1955), or not very long after. 

However, even if perhaps I never travelled in Patrick myself, I still remember him as spoken of by my parents; and also as a "character" in a small picture story book that my mum made during her first year/s as a young teacher in a countryside school, while she and dad were dating. She hand-made a few picture books for the children she taught back then, because there wasn't much of a library available (or at least not that kind of books). That was some years before I was born; but she kept those books, and took them out to show me sometimes when I was little - and I still have them.


This is a photo taken outside that school house in 1952, when my dad and his parents came to visit. It shows mum, dad, my grandmother (dad's mum), and my grandparents' dog Zepp, a collie. I assume my grandfather took the photo (he usually did). 

The children my mum was teaching at that school in 1952.

And here are the pictures from the book "Bumse and Patrik";


The book (7 handwritten pages) is in Swedish, but here is a summary for you:

Bumse, a young troll living in the forest, decided to go off seeking adventure. When he got out to a road, he came upon a car parked there. He had never seen a car before, so didn't know what it was. He started talking it, and the car, Patrick, offered him a ride. He could jump up at the back, Patrick said, after the family he was driving had got in, and then they wouldn't see him. But after a while, excited by the adventure, Bumse forgot to hold on - and  fell off. He did not know where he was, or what to do. Another car came driving in the opposite direction, and Bumse asked it if he could get a ride back. But that car (it's name was Dollar Grin) just answered "No lift" (in English!). Just as the little troll was getting very worried about how to get home again, he heard another car nearby coughing and stopping, and a man's voice saying "I can't understand why it stopped". Bumse crept up to have a look - and found Patrick standing there, blinking at him.  "I thought it must be around here that you fell off," Patrick said. "But hurry up to get back on now - I don't like causing a delay for the family!"

18 comments:

  1. my favorite today is the pictures from the childrens book. wow. I agree, sepia brings out more details in this photo. love the one of the school kids too...

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  2. your mom was a good artist, and knew how to tell a story! We have named our cars as well. I do think that car shows up better in sepia.

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    1. Thanks Ginny. I can't remember that our later cars had names, except that later on, when we had two, they were usually referred to by nicknames meaning "the big one" (dad's) vs "the little one" (mum's)

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  3. You look so much like your Dad, Monica!
    How wonderful that your Mum made her own books, and you still have them.

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    1. Meike, it's always been rather obvious that both my brother and I resemble our dad - who in turn looked more like his mother than his father.

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  4. wow I'm so envious you have some lovely family photos, I wish I had some too my my ancestors, I love the old car.

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    1. Amy, my p. grandfather was a keen photographer (he was also a journalist) and also processed his own photos - something my dad also learned from him. And my mum was good at making photo albums (also adding notes and dates), a habit I inherited from her and kept up until digital photography (and blogging) took over.

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  5. Lovely photos. I like hearing about your mother's teaching and authoring children's books. Incidentally, you need to change your link over on SS, because it is the wrong one.

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    1. Oh no, not again (groan)... I've added a correct link now (I think!!) Thanks Barbara.

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  6. Another post with a perfect match for the Sepia Saturday theme. I loved the story book about 'Bumse and Patrik', and I'm sure your mother's school children did too.

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  7. My maternal Grandma Louise called her 1954 Chevy 2-tone coupe "Betsy" I remember riding with her once when she took a turn a little too fast and slid slightly off the road into gravel before getting us back on the road again. I remember her patting the dashboard and saying: "Slow down Betsy!" and I remember rolling my eyes and thinking: "Slow down BETSY???" I also remember drawing a little picture book for my son to look at to hopefully keep him quiet when I took him on a plane with me at the age of 18 months. Your Mom was quite the artist and story-teller with her cute book.

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    1. Thanks for that story, LaN. It reminded me in turn of a car adventure in the past with another old lady... Maybe material for some other blog post some time :)

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  8. That is a sweet story about Patrick. We gave names to cars in our family too. My mom had a big Buick we called the Monster. I just looked up the definition of monster. ...an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. As I remember it, the car wasn't all that bad. :-) I think we could have done better with our nicknames. :-) Thanks for sharing another neat post!

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    1. I think quite a few people name their cars. Writing this post + reading comments, it strikes me that I have no idea why my parents called that car Patrick. I don't think I ever asked!

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  9. A great match to the prompt with lovely family memories - my favourite your first photograph. My son in law has a vintage car and for some reason he too calls it Betsy.

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    1. I never had a car of my own to name. I have sometimes named my computers, though. Maybe one needs a name for things that one tends to argue with a lot! (lol) (My present laptop is called Susie because it's an ASUS.)

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