1951 Ford Coupe

Above, the 1951 Ford Coupe model we had, but not quite as gussied up.

Some cars one's parents owned while one is a kid stand out more than others for varying reasons.

One such car was a 1951 Ford Coupe that my parents had around 1962-1965.

It was like the model (same color) above, only it wasn't customized like this one.

One weekend around 1962, we were going to 29 Palms, California to visit my grandmother. We were either on U.S. 101 or had already transitioned to what is now Interstate 10 in East Los Angeles (we had left the downtown L.A. area) when the car's engine blew a rod. This happened near California State University, Los Angeles.

Above, looking west on U.S. 101 towards downtown in
1950. Our car blew a rod about 2-4 miles east of this point.

What seemed like eternity, we were on the side of the freeway waiting to be towed off. Finally, we were towed to a friend of my dad's home in South-Central Los Angeles. We were there until my grandfather picked us up.

My dad's plan was go replace the engine with a rebuilt one from work. At the time, he worked for Engine Rebuilding Corporation on McKinley Avenue and 55th Street in Los Angeles. He was able to get an engine from them relatively cheap (employee discounts do come in handy). Once he got the engine, he and friends installed it into the Ford. 

My dad worked at Engine Rebuilding until 1976 when he sustained a back injury. He was on temporary disability for awhile. Once healed, he went to work at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, only a mile from home. He worked there until he retired. Engine Rebuilding Corp. went out-of-business in 1977, I found. That's likely why he didn't go back. 

We had the car until around 1965 when he gave it to my uncle. My uncle later totaled the car not too long afterwards.