Family Cars in California
That’s about all I do remember about it. ’Twas certainly an earlier model than 1949, because that’s when Studebaker put out its wonderful bullet-nosed style (see at right), and I became a pint-sized expert on Detroit’s once-distinctive products. If we’d ever had one of these beauties, I’d remember. Did catch one parked at Stater Bros.

We may have made the 1946 move to San Bernardino in the Studebaker, and it may have lasted us until… 		49 Studebaker

After 1949: The Bathtub
49 Studebaker More fully, the Upside-Down Bathtub. A 1949 Nash, which I’m fairly sure we didn’t buy new. Wondrous machine. This photo is from the Web. Our Beloved Bathtub was finished in a mellow yellow and endowed with a plethora of gadgets.
We had this car several years and never became confident that we’d located and mastered all its serendipities. Of which the best may have been that we could unlatch the front bench seat-back and lay it down flat, transforming the passenger space into a very tolerable double bed. It was in the Bathtub that we developed the family tradition of the Aimless Driving Vacation. We’d load up in the driveway, spread out a highway map, and choose a direction as the Spirit moved us. We’d then drive in that direction, stopping whenever something looked interesting, until it began to get dark. Then we’d pull off the road, make the car into a bed, and snuggle (pronounced “nuggle”), the four of us, ’til dawn. When we’d restore the Bathtub to vehicular status and proceed.
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