My first car was a 1950 Plymouth Special DeLuxe 4 dr with a flathead 6 and three on the tree. It was black with a back seat you could really stretch out in (don't ask me how I know). I bought it from the original owner with 53,000 mi on the odometer for a whopping $125.00 and it was in mint condition. It had an X frame with a torque tube (enclosed driveline). It seemed to need brakes about every 6 months (I wonder why?) and I got pretty good at pulling those @#$%^!* rear tapered axle shafts.
My next ride was a 1956 dodge s/w with a v-8 and a 2 speed auto with the shift lever on the dash. It always had marginal oil pressure and one day coming off the freeway the motor spun a bearing and at 30 mph the engine locked up! I was real happy it was an automatic right about then.
In those days you actually had to DRIVE the cars, ie manual drum (which way are they going to pull this time) brakes and manual steering with the associated 2 ft diameter steering wheel.
The A M radios (F M hadn't been invented yet?) would periodically require you to take them apart and replace several of the TUBES. (Ask your father!). If you had an automatic , you quickly learned the art of "Neutral Drops" which we used to call "Dumping the Tranny". This procedure got it's name from what you had to do with the transmission after about the 6th or 7th time you performed this manuver ! Anyway for you "young guns" out there, remember that THESE are your "good ole days" !!!