Robert Heater: I bought an old 1917 Dodge. I only had to patch together some inner tubes to fit the tires on it. We got it fixed up pretty good. It ran like a sewing machine. You could mash a petal on the floorboard, and it would open a hole in the side of the exhaust pipe and make a lot of racket.

We were going down New Bern Avenue one time. I had 17 people on that car. I went to stop and just didn't have enough brakes to stop it. I got slowed down pretty good and I said, "Bail out and stop us." So a bunch of them dropped out, grabbed and pulled us to a stop. When I went into the service, Daddy got tired of it sitting around and sold it for $100. I tell you, it really upset me when I got home.

Fred Seeger: After I graduated from high school, a friend of mine had a '34 Chevrolet that he wanted $75 for, so I worked to get enough money to buy it. That was my original courting car, which was a four-door black sedan with mohair seats that were about as uncomfortable as could be. But I rode in style.

A couple of young guys came back from World War II and opened up an Esso station (now Exxon) directly across the street from what was then the Cary Theater on Chatham Street next door to Lacy Gilbert's Drugstore. That was where all the teenage boys hung out because those two guys were young, and they had beautiful, brand new cars.

John Yarborough: Gordon Banks had a Jeep and drove it to football practice. If you were lucky, you used your parents' car. In his senior year, Charlie Adams' father bought him a '41 Chevrolet, but he couldn't take it just anywhere. I don't recall anyone having a car that they could use at their own discretion.

On weekends, you could get your parents' car to go to a drive-in movie.