MovieChat Forums > The Waltons (1972) Discussion > such a big family and only 2 cars...

such a big family and only 2 cars...

posted 8 years ago by misd-86934
14 replies | jump to latest

I would not want to be a neighbor of the Waltons in real life. I know they are pretty self sufficient, but when a family of that size has only 1 car for many years, then gets only one more for many more years, in real life they would be bumming rides all over the place.

John boy had to take Jason and Erin to work all the time. Jason inherited the car after John boy goes to New York. Ben was always either driving the old truck or using Cindy's car once he married her. The only reason Mary Ellen had a vehicle is because she used Curt's ambulance.

I had a couple of cousins that didn't have cars when we were teenagers. Every time I went to their house they were either asking to borrow my car or asking me to drive them to the store.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

It was a weird show in that respect. Walton's Mountain was a dirt poor community and yet people such as Yancy Tucker had a car and the first several seasons they did not show Ike Godsey with anything more than a old motorcycle. I guess one could say that Yancy found the money being a moonshine runner such as he was shown in an early episode. Most of the things the kids did were within bicycle distance and yet we never saw one. A mule is a very inefficient way to get work done due to needing rest just like a horse and yet we never saw the Walton's with a tractor. For story purposes we could say a tractor would have been bought during the relatively prosperous 1920's before the stock market crash. The reality was that the studio for the most part was done buying props after the first few seasons other than John's woody which might have been loaned to the studio by a collector.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

The Baldwin Sister's car and Sheriff Bridge's car I suspect were on loan to the studio for as little as recognition that some collector could say his car appeared on the Walton's.

[–] thetaylors604 8 years ago

But a tractor is used by farmers, which the Waltons were not. John supported his family by running a lumber mill. A tractor would have been of no use to him.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

A tractor would have been of all kinds of use to the Walton's. Horses and mules require rest periods which a tractor does not. The Walton's used a mule to pull logs. The big contracts that they faced periodically would have been easier to fill if time was not wasted resting a draft animal. The Walton's also subsistence farmed where a tractor would have been of great use. The Walton's lumber mill could have been powered by a tractor versus a stationary engine as shown.

[–] thetaylors604 8 years ago

During the Depression people were lucky to have one car.

[–] ScreenFanMH 8 years ago

Finally, someone with a sensible answer!

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

to have even one car in the 1930s was quite an impressive thing. young people were not as depndent on cars in those days as they are now, even in america. people walked to places, or rode bicycles, or they took buses, or they went on the train. teenagers were not the helpless creatures they are now and did not expect to be driven everywhere.

[–] Dottiegrl 8 years ago

You are forgetting the time period. Things were different then during the depression and the start of World War 2. Someone with two cars was considered rich. I grew up in big family and one of six kids. I was born in 1963 & we had just one car up until I was in jr high! We were pretty poor but everything was within walking distance. My mom never even learned to drive. She said God gave her two feet and she was going to use them.

~ Whoever said diamonds were a girls best friend never owned a dog ~

[–] TheXmanCometh 8 years ago

I couldn't agree more. I talked to a husband and wife that moved to my town just after WWII and the husband noted that he loved the location because when he was off at work with the car his wife could walk to the center of town in 5 minutes and buy anything she needed.

One of the reasons that cars like the Ford Falcon (1960) were a success was because there was a big need for a smaller less expensive car. A second car became more of a reality.

[–] GlenEllyn (21659) 8 years ago

Apparently, a lot of people judge old series by today's "standards" and never consider just what life was like at that earlier time period. Is this a product of today? It's disheartening how unaware some people are of how things used to be.

[–] sjbradford 8 years ago

Grandma had a little convertible Cabriolet she went tooling around in when no one was looking. Later on, Lorimar gave the same car to Miss Ellie on "Dallas".

[–] bobgllsp 8 years ago

They used to walk a lot to wherever they were going

[–] MissMargoChanning (6630) 7 years ago

❤️️
Big deal.
Such a big family and only ONE BATHROOM!
Now them's hard times, son!

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

Yeah! We never saw an outhouse once on The Waltons.