Station Wagon of the Day - 1959 Chevrolet Impala 2 Door Station Wagon

Always loved that dash and steering wheel.

 

Yes and the convenience of not having to have a key to start it.
There had to have been tons of thefts of GM cars before they eliminated that.

 

Oddly I've had a number of 55 Chevys and a 57. I can't remember ever not using the key.

 

Seems you could turn the key to off, and remove the key. You could then turn it to on and start without the key. Or, you could turn it to lock, and it wouldn't turn forward without the key.
My folks solved the problem by just leaving the key in the ignition.

 

Yep ! That's how they worked.
We lived on the end of a cul-de-sac......... dead end street to us on the south side of the tracks ............. and most of the time I left my car keys in all of my cars. That way I knew where they were. Us, most relatives, and neighbors didn't lock the house up either.

 

Cat, my folks decided to sell their big house after all 12 kids grew up and moved away. The way the story goes, they went to the closing, got handed a check, and were asked for the keys. Dad turned to Mom and said "I guess they gave us keys when we bought it?". They called a locksmith and had keys made. I never remember the doors being locked.

 

Yeah, my dad's first new car, a '63 ChevyII Nova was one of them. He would only turn the ignition to 'off' and then take the key out, which meant anyone who got in the car could drive right off with it.

He replaced it with a '65 Nova wagon, with the same ignition. I think he learned his lesson on that one, and turned the switch all the way to 'lock'.

 

locks are just to keep honest people honest.... but they have made the cars a bit harder to just hop in and go..