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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My prom ride was a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. Yes it was my car, I worked most of my pre and early teen years for that car and foolishly sold it when someone offered me a lot more than I had in it and being a stupid kid I sold it. I would dearly have that car back and the 56 Corvette I replaced it with. A typical case of 20-20 hindsight.
I bought my 1950 Mercery with suicide doors for $50 from my brother. 1961! That was the best I could do in short notice for the that evening! Probably a good thing as I mashed it up some by following too close after too much smart talk at the prom. But I was a regular customer at the local junk yard, so all’s well that ends well. What a fun to be alive back then. Good times with good friends.
I took my aunt’s 1998 Porsche 924S… and I just bought one of the exact spec 32 years later.
You must have a Time Machine.
I too drove my ’67 GTO (gold, black vinyl top, 4-speed, bench seat) to my prom in 1974, and let my younger brother drive it to his prom a year later.
We borrowed my girlfriends uncles 1974 Corvette for our senior prom in ‘84. It made such an impression on me that even though it took me almost 40 years I was finally able to buy a 74 of my own last year and, yes, I have Hagerty insurance for it.
I took my girlfriend to her prom in my 1940 Buick conv that I still have after 60yrs, the car not the girl.
One of the Prom comments mentioned a stock 1955 Chevrolet with a stock 283. Perhaps it was a 265 as the 283 wasn’t available until 1957.
No-one at my school had a car, really. High schoolers in Canada generally could not afford cars in the 1970s. And I went to an urban school in a high-income area — so none of us actually needed a car even if we could have afforded one (purchase prices and insurance were beyond the means of anyone without a full-time job or truly wealthy and indulgent parents). Nor was “prom” really a thing either. I don’t even know if we had one. Overall, this item highlights a few of the many differences between US and Canadian experience. Interesting!
I graduated from high school in 1968. My mother, rest her soul, allowed me to use her 1966 Pontiac 2 + 2
convertible with the 421 cu. inch mill!
I’m doing this for fun, because the word “prom” didn’t exist back here in the UK when I was that age back in the 1960’s. But my dream had always, since the age of 15, an E-type roadster which I did own at 21 and used to take my girl dancing. An accident took care of that one, but I bought another in 1982 when married. And she is still here today, 150,000 miles later, a 1961 flat floor roadster, and running fine.
At my prom in 1970 I drove my 65 VW Beetle and in 1999 I drove my son to his prom in my 1969 Camaro COPO!!! that I had since 1973.
I went to overprivileged high on the San Francisco Peninsula (Woodside) but my parents were not of that financial group and drove rather mundane cars as compared with classmates who used Daddy’s Cad or Continental. I drove my 1954 Olds Super 88 convertible to my Junior Prom and my 1963 Corvair Monza to my Senior Ball.
Went in my 1970 Triumph Spitfire that leaked brake fluid on my dress boots, ate the polish right off. At 6’3″, after the prom, tried to with my date, but the ol Spitfire just wasn’t going to let it happen. The car knew best.
I drove my 1956 Hudson Wasp. My date’s Dad ask me if it had lay down seats like a Nash. When I said yes, he offered me the keys to his 1962 Impala. I still drove my Hudson.
I honestly do not remember the car that I drove to the senior prom. ( 1961) I do vividly remember the girl though. The car could have been my Father’s 55 Ford, my neighbors 49 Studebaker or my friend could have driven his brothers 60 Pontiac. I finally figured out that my neighbor let me drive his Studebaker because he found me attractive young eye candy. That gift horse stopped when my Father also figured it out that he was prepping me. The girl I took was smart very attractive and independent minded, She drove an early 50s Mercury. For a girl to even have a drivers license back then was rare. It was tough figuring out the purpose of life while still in High School. Beautiful woman and cars! I did get a ticket for drag racing one time. A 49 Studebaker up against a 57 Olds. I didn’t start thinking rationally until I got married in 66.