07/17/2026
Pat and Irma, Eddie slept in the back of the 1951 Pontiac just like this picture when we travelled to ABQ
You could literally lay down on that big flat space behind the back seat and just take a nap while Dad drove seventy down the interstate.
No seatbelt, no car seat, no nothing.
Just you, that hard vinyl shelf, and maybe a jacket rolled up as a pillow if you were lucky.
The rear window would get warm from the sun, you could see the sky and the tops of trees flying by, and nobody thought twice about it.
Meanwhile today the car beeps seventeen times if someone in the back seat sneezes without their seatbelt fastened, and you need an engineering degree just to install a car seat correctly.
Wild how different things were.
Did you ever fall asleep on the rear dash, or were you more of a back seat floor kid?
