According to You: What vehicle took you to prom?
Wow, your feedback was certainly impressive for this question! Seems like everyone participating in the latest installment of According to You had a vehicle worth sharing: a car that was worthy of a special night spent dancing as a teenager. Our prom memories are just as diverse as our tastes and life experiences, so we’ve selected some examples from the Hagerty Community to share with everyone. (You can have a look at all of them here.)
Let’s get into it, and see what vehicles took us to the big dance!
The Deuce and a Quarter
@Mike: For my 1973 prom, I took a 1970 black Deuce and a Quarter [Electra 225] that had Dad recently gotten as a trade at the Buick dealer. Beautiful ivory-colored brocade interior. I did 120 mph and got the car airborne! (On a 35 mph street, no less.) No damage, and we lived through it. My date was surprised. Tough car–I drove it to the junkyard in 1982.
A Sterling mode of transport
@Mr. Ed: Mine was a Lynx Bronze 1988 Sterling 825 SL that my dad had purchased the previous fall. Connolly leather–wrapped seats, Recaro front buckets, reclining rear seats, authentic burl-wood interior trim—the works.
The Brits know how to put an interior together and build a great suspension, but they can’t make an electrical system to save their lives. Still can’t believe Rover went with a Lucas electrical system instead of the Honda/Denso system in its Acura Legend cousin.
Even more luxurious yachts
@Steve: My uncle had a brand new, 1968 Continental Mark III in triple black that drove my date and me to the senior prom in 1967. We were stylin’!
@Bob: To both junior and senior proms, I took a 1950 green Olds 88 coupe with the big, four-barrel engine. After a few wrenching sessions, it was the fastest car in our town.
@WAB: Junior prom (in 1977) was in a 1972 Chrysler Imperial Coupe—super impressive, and comfortable luxury everywhere you looked. My [ride to] 1978 senior prom was a 1977 Monte Carlo, triple Firethorn Red, that I had inherited from my father a couple years ago with 3000 miles on it. Wish I had that Imperial Coup … have been looking for an excellent one for years.
@Tom: I had a 1941 Series 61 Cadillac Sedan (in very good condition) that had been sitting up on blocks in a neighbor’s garage for 15 years. When my friends and I were young kids, the owner would allow us to play in the car as if we were driving it. As I approached my 16th birthday, the neighbor said that, if I got it in working order, I could have the car for $100. I was able to do so under the guidance of a local service station owner. When I received my license in 1967, I became “that guy” who all my friends wanted to double date with as it had a very roomy back seat. Needless to say, there was no double dating on prom night for any of my friends.
High five for the Tri-Five
@DUB6: A 1955 Bel Air hardtop with stock 283 and three-speed floor-shift. Green interior—bench seat up front. The car was mostly white but with a tan hood and one blue fender, plus several spots showing my early attempts at body work, protected with yellow primer. (Where/why did I get yellow primer? Hey, it was the psychedelic ’60s, folks!)
After the dance, we headed downtown, where I promptly got pulled over for drag racing, which was an automatic $50 fine in those days. Not having that much cash, I got to spend the night in a cell, with my Chevy parked out front—minus my date, who had had to call her father to come get her. (Needless to say, we never dated again after that night.) When I scrounged the $50 from friends the next day, I in my powder-blue tux with white bucks sashayed out to the ’55 to the hoots of my assembled buddies and—quite red-faced, I assure you—headed home to face my folks. Memorable prom night? Yup!
@Ray: 1957 Chevy Bel Air 283. It was the family car, but during my high school years, after I got my license, it was mine pretty much any time I needed wheels.
Greatest Of All Time?
@Ken: I took a 1967 Pontiac GTO in 1972. Two proms, two girlfriends at the same time. Too much fun, too much car for a 17-year-old kid, and did not get into too much trouble (with the car or the two girls).
@Frank: In 1975 I drove a 1967 Pontiac GTO, Fathom Blue with black interior, Hurst dual-gate automatic, no power steering/brakes, and no air conditioning. Bought the car in December of 1974 for $700 at age 17. My first car. Remember everything about the car, and it was in very nice condition.
@DUB6: Ah, the days when you could buy a “very nice condition,” seven-year-old GTO for $700—please, please, please take me back!
The bench-seat Monte…
@Tim: I took a 1986 Monte Carlo SS, and it was one of the few I have seen that came with a front bench seat. It came in handy that night! Drove it to my prom in 1987.
A Pinto punchline?
@Jim: 1978 Ford Pinto wagon, four-speed. Beast!
Mopar muscle
@John: 1967 Plymouth GTX, midnight metallic blue, white interior. 440 Commando, dual quads, and A-727 Torqueflite.
@Steve: For my 1970 prom I took a ’66 Plymouth Satellite with a 440, 727 auto, Keystone Klassic wheels, and redline tires.
@Patrick: 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix: monstrous fourdoor with a 318. Great beer wagon.
Dumps like a truck?
@Richard: In the early ’80s my son was going to a prom with no date. The company I worked for had an ole Mack dump truck. He asked me if I’d drive him there in the ole beast. I said, “Hell yes.” He worked on that truck until it looked like a rough show truck. We made a statement for sure; some 40 years later, when he sees old classmates, they say, “Hey, you’re the kid that came to the prom in the dump truck!”
@Steve: A 1966 Chevy C-10 stepside–I had pulled out the six-cylinder, dropped in a 327 V-8, and added a nice set of oversized aluminum slots with a fresh paint job in Corvette blue. The best part was the bench seat! Ended up getting married to that girl.
@Gred: In 1979, I took my 1971 Ford Ranchero GT, 351 Cleveland 4V carb, light green w/wood paneling, skinny rims, and tires w/dog-dish hubcaps. That car was such a sleeper.
Down to Cougar town!
@Steve: In 1977, ’78, and ’79 (with the same girl) I drove my ’67 Cougar (my daily, but I was proud of it). Girl is still a friend, and I recently bought the car back after a 15-year absence. It was partially stripped and almost hopeless, but it’s been fun to try to get it back to what it was when foolishly sold.
Stay in your (Fair)lane?
@John: 1974 or 1975 (can’t remember which) prom, drove the 1965 Ford Fairlane my father bought for me to drive when my aunt was going to trade it in. Visualize a shoebox, you have the styling for that car (1966 and 1967 models looked a lot better). My brother got to drive our parents’ 1969 Galaxie 500, a nicer ride. Anyway, it wasn’t an impressive ride, I was a hopelessly shy and awkward nerd and she was quite a looker, so she moved on to more impressive guys.
She heard he had a Mercury …
@Len: I took my own car to the 1956 prom, a 1951 Mercury convertible.
Malibu with my ‘bu!
@snailish: Mid-’90s prom, and I got to borrow a driver-quality 1970 Chevelle Malibu (dark blue with the black Malibu interior) convertible for that. Sadly the car was sold away from the family while I was away at college (for cheap, too). The next owner did a $50,000 restomod (in late ’90s dollars) to turn it into a red-with-black-stripes SS clone.
Prom-prom-prom?
@Sam: I took a 2004 Mazda 3 for junior prom. Hopefully I get something better for my senior prom! LOL!
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I took an Amish girl to my prom. Her parents made me use their horse and their buggy for transportation. The seat in that buggy was very accommodating later that night as we parked in the country.
Floyd this one is the best!!! I am a woman and I love cars. Your story is the BEST hands down!!!
Hi Gabrielle. now we are all waiting with baited breath for the details of your Prom night!
Best story here !
I drove my mom’s 1965 Impala SS convertable (red with black top and interior). I wish that I could add a picture of me getting into that car.
I went to my Senior Prom, in 1968, in my father’s brand new 1968 Chrysler New Yorker 2 door hardtop. It was white with a black vinyl top and burgundy interior. It had 2 red pinstripes down the sides and a 440 magnum under the hood.
I had the identical car, burgundy paint and burgundy, soft leather, sun roof, automatic, aircon etc. my favourite American car of them all.
Sophomore prom: ‘58 VW. Junior prom: ‘63 VW; Senior prom: same ‘63 VW as junior prom.
I drove my Dad’s 1976 Three-way Firethorn Red Cadillac Coupe de Ville with 500 cubes, landau top, white pinstripes and semi-wide whitewall tires. He always let me pick out his cars, including a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville in Evening Orchid with purple interior. What was I thinking? He checked the order boxes on this one, not me, and it remains my favorite of all of our family cars. And, to think, you could get Firethorn Red on a Chevy Chevette.
Firethorn Red looks all the business on any ’70s Eldorado convertible, have a good friend with a ’74. White top, parchment interior, and occasionally he will mount the “Superfly” grille & headlight covers.
I guess I wasn’t the only one that took an Electra to the prom. I took my Dad’s 76 Electra 225 Limited in Independence Red! The fuse for the heater blew that night.
I took my dates to my Junior and Senior proms in ‘71 and ‘72 in my mom and dad’s 1967 Pontiac Catalina 4door. Wonderful Memories of a beautiful girl and my first love.
took my 65 mustang convertible 289 4 speed dk blue interior powder blue out, front seat was a bench with a arm rest boy did that come in handy. for my senior prom ride in 1970
Seeing the pictures of the 65
Fairlane brought back a ton of memories for me. I had a 65 with a 420 hp 289 I built and raced in the mid 80s.
My “customized”1972 Chevrolet Vega panel delivery, found some Vega GT seats as wheels, and put big speakers, wood paneling, and shag carpet inside—it had three on the floor and couldn’t get out of its own way!
I didn’t go to prom, but if I had, it would have been in a 1967 Olds Delmont 88. My school had a wide gap between the “haves” and “have nots”. I was in the latter. The “have” kids had their own cars, mostly sports cars or muscle cars. We “have not” kids had to borrow the family car. If any of us had a car, it was probably torn down for some sort of repair.
This year the prom committee rented the grand ballroom at Navy Pier. Most of the kids were flown in by helicopter.
I’m glad I didn’t go to that school. In my school we were all pretty much poor, so there was no disparity.
Took my Dad’s 63 Dodge 330. Slanting 6 cylinder, tarpaper on the floors, dog dish hubcaps, three on the tree, four doors, Fingerhut plastic seat covers with that bumping texture.
That should have read “Bumpy” not “Bumping.” That would have been inappropriate.
When I was 16 my dad bought a new ’62 Buick Wildcat which I took to my Junior Prom and my Senior Ball. When he went to trade in his ’55 Special coupe they offered him $500. He decided to give it to me instead, so I had a car of my own in high school. BTW, it had those Fingerhut plastic seat covers when I first got it. They were great on first dates. A hard left turn and your date wound up smack up against you. 😉
I drive a right hand drive ’69 Morris Mini. The hard left turn is indeed a great tool to get your date to slide over to you in a right hand drive car!
Real Jake, my Dad had JUST traded the beige, pushbutton-auto version of your Dad’s car – the one I learned to drive in – for a brand new ‘71 Dodge Coronet Brougham in triple-green (HA!). I was so glad he let me drive it to the senior prom. The prom venue was to make the news almost 10 years later to the day: the Washington Hilton, where President Reagan survived the assassination attempt.
1970 GS455 that belonged to my brother. He bought it just after returning from Nam. Real fun when I was heading home and hooked up with a 428 Mach 1 at 2AM.
Jr Prom in 1960 I drove my Dad’s ’59 Olds Super 88. Later that night a little ‘stoplight ballet’ occurred. A buddy showed me how to adjust the kick-down so the automatic could be held in gear longer. Forgot to re-adjust it before giving it back to Dad. Long unpleasant story followed. Sr prom my ’53 Stude Starlight Coupe – great evening overall, until the heater valve sprang a leak on my date’s legs – thankfully we were already on the way to her house. Needless to say, she was not impressed – nor were any of her friends the next day at school.
Junior prom I took my mom’s 72 Impala 4 door hardtop. Senior prom I had a 1968 Buick Gran Sport. Yeah, the bucket seats kinda’ sucked.