(first posted 10/13/2011) Vintage parking lots are always a worthwhile place to hang out, so I spent breakfast looking for some vintage shots to share with you. This one is my favorite, because it just instantly takes me back to Towson, circa 1971, although it’s actually Austin, Texas. There’s a couple of interesting imports in here too (other than about a half-dozen VWs, that is). Notice anything missing? Trucks! Not one anywhere! (Update: Ok, there is a red one back there, but it doesn’t tower over the rest of them like today’s.)
High school lots are always good. Don’t know where this is, but it looks like someone’s got a scooter, maybe a Lambretta?
This high school lot is from Chicago. Old Chevvies are popular here!
Here’s one from Toronto. The proof is in the “narrow-track” 1960 Pontiacs, which rode on Chevy underpinings up north.
Sunday morning in 1965. Somewhere.
Miami, probably 1959 or 1960.
I didn’t note the location. Anyone recognize it?
Mill Valley High School. I bet there were some fine cars there. And looks like some old ones too.
The parking lot at Old Faithful. RVs everywhere. I think I recognize some of them being used by the homeless here now.
A military base in Taiwan.
Somewhere, in a galaxy far away…
Or just an alternative reality, like Disneyland.
Here’s another from the Magic Kingdom. Nice Dodge taxi.
An airport, somewhere.
Shopping, pre-WalMart, in Murray, Utah. Well, my breakfast is over, so now it’s your turn to waste some time. Just don’t let the boss catch you!
1971 Ford Station wagons really were everywhere before they reverted to iron ore.
My aunt had a ’71 Country Squire, spent some time in the back in the dual jumpseats.
I think that Boardwalk one is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, I’d have to look at my personal photos to know for sure.
But I’ll take that 1963 Black Cutlass Convertible at Church, thanks!
I second that motion–athough I don’t think the parking lot is there anymore?
I should have recognized it too; been there plenty of times.
Gah, this is too distracting for a weekday morning!
And I had the same thought about that lovely little Cutlass, baby moons and all.
Liked the 46-48 Ford sedan in the church photo, and of course the 1958 Belvedere convertible, even if it wasn’t red.
Judging by the looks of the license plates, the Mill Valley photo was from 1951-1955, and probably 54 or 55 – no date tab on the front plate.
Once great beasts roamed the earth… they were called Station Wagons… Lo their space utilization was mighty but a great predator the “Baby Boomer” marked them for extinction because of their “uncoolness” and to make room for their mighty Essuvee herds.
Eyiets one and all! I love the station wagon. If I had my druthers mine would be an A3/A4 or preferably a BMW 325 with a nice manual transmission llike this but for now i’ll console myself with the XC70.
When I got my V50, a lady I used to work with asked if it was a small SUV. She was old enough to remember wagons, maybe she didn’t think they made new ones anymore.
Actually, they are still with us. Their DNA simply evolved to raise them up and drive all four wheels. It makes me laugh to think we Boomers think we rejected wagons in favor of – tall AWD wagons!
That ’66 Bonneville wagon in the top pic looks pretty banged up for not such an old car, around 5 years old. Did people take worse car of thier cars in those days? Perhaps under the presumption of endless prosperity, and that they were only a 24 or 36 payment finance plan away from a shiny new dream machine if they so desired. After all, that lawn mower factory or vinegar plant job seemed pretty secure.
Is that much vinegar outsourced? HA!
Just an inside joke among my little circle. Long story.
Besides, don’t laugh. I’ve seen frozen Somosas imported from China
in Safeway in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 1971, a 1966 car was considered fairly old. The idea of keeping a car for 150-200,000 miles and 10 years was in the realm of fantasy for most people. Car styles changed more quickly, and cars simply wore out (or, more accurately, rusted out) faster than they do today.
My mother finally got rid of her 64 Cutlass in 1972. The 64 seemed positively prehistoric at the time, and it was only 8 years old. By the mid 70s, the only people driving 60s iron were teenagers, old folks and those who couldn’t afford a new one. In the midwest, most cars had a bad case of rust holes in the sheetmetal at that age, but that generation of Cutlass was quite rust-resistant for those days.
I have to disagree with you… it’s possible we are from different enough socioeconomic backgrounds, but in my experience growing up middle-class in Rhode Island in the ’60s and ’70s, my family and friends’ families tended to have older cars, that were purchased used, and tended to keep them longer than people do today. Also, repairing an older car was still less costly than replacing it. There were exceptions: one friend’s father was a salesman, so he got a new company car every two years, and he also bought his wife a new car every two years.
A generation back in my family (from 1960 to about 1982 when I was born) there was always 2 cars in the families, the less troublesome one hung around for longer. Or the more luxurious since more of an investment was made. The ‘daily driver’ cars stayed in the family for 5-7 years, and more often than not got passed on to driving age children or relatives that either needed a first/second car or wanted to tinker with them.
But, pointing back to my mothers absolute disgust towards my great grandmother’s 1963 New Yorker by the late 1960s does mean cars, fashion wise got out of date rather quickly.
Whats interesting about it is these pictures are all long before the credit boom – you wouldn’t think people could actually afford to replace as often as now, when the credit is a lot freer and the loan terms longer.
It’s almost like middle class prosperity has been replaced by easy credit or something crazy like that.
The thing that jumps out at me is how few people backed in.
Until his passing, my grandfather always had an unwritten rule that the car and the pickup would only be replaced on 8 year cycles (which amounted to 100K miles each with how little driving they actually did), but offset by about 4 years. This meant that he only ever owned 4 pickups in his lifetime, but bought each one brand-new, exactly how he wanted it. It also ended up having the unintended effect that the car was essentially the same for 16 years (’69 Galaxie to a ’77 LTD, already out-of-date vs. the new GMs when it was brand new).
From Autonews.com: The average age of all U.S. light vehicles in 2014 stands at 11.4 years-old, unchanged from 2013 but still a record high, according to Polk-IHS data. IHS predicts the average vehicle age will remain at 11.4 years through 2015, and then rise to 11.7 years by 2019.
Not surprising. In the 50′-60’s 100,000 miles on a car was very rare and rust claimed them even if they weren’t driven much. And styling changes were rapid, with total re-styles every 2-3 years (even sooner as with the ’58 GM products.) Your four year car looked quite old and dated and you couldn’t wait to replace it. Just look at the difference in styling on a ’53 v. ’57 Chrysler product. Today, a four year old Accord, Camry or many other cars look pretty similar to a new one and has years of useful service left. No, they don’t make them like they used to – they’re far better.
Today, Accord, Camry or Altima change their styling fairly fast comparing to domestic cars. Ford Crown Vic has all sheet-metal intact from ’98-’11, and the second longest domestic car would be W-Body Impala ( 10yrs is very long for unibody cars, except purpose built commercial vehicles like Toyota Comfort )
People in Polk-IHS are leasing newer cars though, like Dodge Charger and mint-green Lincoln MKZ.
The W body Impalas and Crown Vic really aren’t great examples to support that point, both were pretty much relegated to fleet models in their final several years, especially in the case of the Crown Vic which was technically redundant in the lineup since 2005. If you look at Ford’s Midsize segment between 1998 and 2011, they went through 4 styling changes between the ovoid Taurus and the Mazda6 based Fusion. The Camry only had 3 in the same timespan
Yes, fleet service keeps the sheet metal nearly exactly the same.
If not that precisely the same from front clip to rear facial, Grand Marquis retained the old roof line from ’92 to ’11, and Town Car did from ’98 to ’11.
There are also DTS and Lucerne retaining the old look for quite longer time. I think one of the reason is Japanese offering doesn’t include ultimate AARP vehicles ( Avalon is probably for few younger AARP members )
Yes rust is a big issue. The only way to deal with it back then was using thicker steel, in hopes of slower rusting. ( indeed, better than early Civic with thin panels ) but few years longer is only few years older than two winters.
Often times, the housewives that typically drove these wagons did not posess the best “blind spot detection” ability, and it wasn’t unusual for them to bang them against something when taking a right turn. Hope that didn’t sound too sexist, it was just a fact of life back then…
Sad but true. There were plenty of jokes about ‘woman drivers’ in those days. As a schoolkid, I rode with some horrors.
I love how the rocket-like monorail seems right at home among those cars. They’re more like real Apollo space-ships, not the over-the-top Buck Rogers cars of the 1950s.
Notice anything missing? Trucks! Not one anywhere!
I notice two things in considerable numbers that are virtually non-existent today: fullsize station wagons and large 2-door cars. Those are today’s SUV and pickup truck buyers.
There are quite a few in picture 9.
I was commenting on Paul’s observation specifically regarding picture 1.
I still don’t understand why people stop buying large coupes, as it is usually stylish. While SUV returns wind noise and high chance of rollover, especially in winter. ( Drivers are easy to get over optimistic with four wheel drive in snow )
How the mighty have fallen!
That Murray, Utah store reminded me of an old White Front store in Sacramento. Other than that, how many “International Style” shopping centers are left? BTW, I have never heard of a “narrow back” Poncho!
My Chevy dealer in Sharonville, Ohio has a large B&W photo of the place on the showroom wall from 1972. Pretty cool stuff. You know, we took all those cars for granted, that the OEMs would continue forever building dream machines, but then the 1973 model year came and…you know the rest. (wiping a tear from my eye)
On the church parking lot, I’ll take the turquoise 1957 Chevy sports sedan. please!
IF we’re divving up that church lot i’ll put mydibs on the cream colour Falcon next to yours 🙂
Deal!
That 60 Pontiac could have been my families, but ours was blue and base trim level. Same narrow track – looks normal to me.
If I’m picking my next CC I’ll take the IH Scout in Murray, Utah
What’s interesting about the first photo is the high percentage of cars that are GM cars – in particular, fairly late model full-size Pontiacs and Oldsmobile Cutlasses.
In the second Disneyland photo, behind the monorail line is a silver suicide-door Lincoln Continental sedan. Behind the Lincoln, one can barely make out a 1956 or 1957 Rambler station wagon with a tri-tone paint job!
It also looks as though another suicide-door Lincoln is pulling out of the parking lot, just below the monorail line.
If I could go back in time, I’d like to see these cars in original, unrestored condition to see just how they were really built. And then I’d bring back as many mint-condition Matchbox and Hot Wheel cars as possible, so that I could retire!
I’ll take that batwing Impala that’s front and center of the ‘Airport Somewhere’ photo. Wow!
+1. With wings like that, who needs a plane!
I’d get tired of smiling before I get tired of looking at Tri-Fives.
Interesting Toronto photo. I didn’t know (or forgot that) SS Kresge Co operated north of the border.
Kresge created Kmart in the early 60’s but continued to operate Kresge stores some years after. During the two years I lived in Canada (1969-70), there was a deep concern about losing their Canadian national identity amidst a sea of American brands. I’m guessing that’s what Beaumont and Acadian were all about.
Still fascinated today with Canadian “narrow-track because it’s riding a Chevy chassis” Pontiacs. Wonder how much effort went into adapting the body dies since they literally rode a Chevy chassis with its 119″ wheelbase…instead of 121″ and up depending on year/model in the US?
There’s a 1970 Monte Carlo in the top photo I wouldn’t mind having.
Interesting memories about cars not lasting as long back then. That’s how I remember it too…if your car was over five years old, you lived in the stone age. Seemed like that began to change in the 70’s. Maybe the older cars became an attractive alternative…it certainly was as I get my license and owned my own car. The other thing was how the price of a new car skyrocketed in that decade…a side effect of having to comply with safety and smog laws. Today we enjoy the benefits of safer, cleaner cars but was it ever painful to adapt back then.
I love photos like these, and you’ve picked some good ones.
Interesting to see a little Datsun at the left edge of Taiwan base photo. Must be around ’64. Back home we never saw Datsuns among fifties iron.
Is that a big billboard for Montclair cigarettes in front of the high school?
I wonder if it was a locally-built Yue Loong, that being Taiwan. They assembled Nissan/Datsuns under their own name there for ages but I’m not sure when they started.
This photo isn’t great for car-spotting, but I submit it as evidence of how much times have changed:
http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/patch/54a2088d9f3f11df8cad3eb557419d99
“Parkington” was the perfect name for a shopping destination in a car-crazy era. In the 1980s it was redeveloped and renamed “Ballston Common” (ugh). The footprint of the anchor department store (now a Macy’s) is just about all that’s left of the original.
@c5Karl: Ballston Commons? As in Ballston Lake, NY? Or Ballston Spa, NY?
Ballston neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, within spittin’ distance of where I used to work. I think I moved to Virginia right after the conversion of the urban shopping mall from Parkington to Ballston Common.
Some modern renaming just doesn’t work. There used to be a shopping centre named “Old Orchard” near where my wife used to live. Told you what the land used to be, right? Some big developer type changed it to some ‘modern, corporate’ but utterly forgettable name. The old-timers still called it by the original name as recently as ten years ago. Maybe they still do.
I seem to recall that in the 50’s and 60’s trucks were considered “farmers” vehicles.
My dad was a commerical painter in the Eugene area, and he used a ’52 Oldsmobile
sedan for hauling his ladder and paint.
I can remember when one of the neighbors in the late 60’s/early 70’s bought an used pickup truck. The gossip around the neighborhood was that they were on hard times. Not even remotely true, but that’s what people thought back then. Only farmers and poor people owned pickup trucks.
One of my friends dad growing up was a painter, he always bought 5 to 10 year old station wagons for his business. He said that they were too old for most people to use for family duties, but too new to junk. I don’t think he ever kept them more than 2 or 3 years at a time, but the way he loaded them down with paint, sundries and ladders, they all looked like lowriders. I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did with him.
Yeah, the demise of the full-size station wagon relative to the rise of the pickup truck can be attributed to some other factors I never see mentioned. One was how old pickup trucks had, for a long time, smallish beds. It wasn’t until the bed sides went out over the wheel-wells, increasing carrying capacity, that they began winning over station wagons.
Likewise, there was the rise of the cargo van in the sixties. The biggest problem with a pickup truck is the open bed exposing whatever’s being transported to the elements. Oh, you could get a cap, sure, but why not just buy a station wagon or van, instead?
But the big rise of the pickup surely has to be the introduction of the 1972 Dodge Club Cab. It was the game-changer that started the pickup on the path of becoming a viable alternative to a full-size station wagon.
Was a time in many urban and sub-urban areas that the truck, whether pick-up, box, van or delivery, could NOT be parked on the street for more than a delivery, and were particularly banned overnight.
Somewhere, sometime, these laws were changed to allow parking them and thus the rise of the truck as a city vehicle was enabled.
Heck some places still don’t let you park a pickup in your own driveway
Me Ill take the various VW commercials worth 35-50k here now in pristine original order
And even an Albertsons before they went all yuppie-yuk! Kinda matches the cars, don’t you think?
Notice that different models looked different. And the wide range of colors back then. Today, everything is greyish and looks like a Honda Accord whether its a Mercedes or a Kia.
Agreed. Plus, you got to choose between 5 or 6 interior colors.
I got a better look at these – my monitor is better at home.
Sometimes I need to be reminded how few people drove anything from Chrysler back in those days. And virtually NOBODY drove Studebakers, even in the 50s.
Peaking at 300,000 or so in 1950, Studebaker sales collapsed after the 1953 chrome-less models and remained that way through the 50s.
Even lark production (1960 was the high, tho’ 1959 was the profitable year)
never broke the 100,000 mark.
I’m all over the 57 Plymouth Convertible in the third picture!
I was just about to post that I wanted that one. OK, I’ll take the Buick that’s partly hidden by the ONE WAY sign in picture 4, or the yellow Imperial in the bottom-left corner of the first Disneyland picture (though the color leaves something to be desired).
I believe that is a 1958 Plymouth. The side molding for the two-tone paint treatment did not rise with the fin on the 1957 models.
Interesting how dominant GM was back in the day, especially Chevy. Ford makes a good showing also, and there’s a fair number of Plymouths and Ramblers.
The military base in Tiawan sports a number of cars that would have been considered ancient at the time (around 1964), such as the ’54 Chevy convertible in the lower left, the ’55 or ’56 Plymouth behind it, and the early 50s Buick sedan even farther back (behind the walking man with glasses).
My current fleet consists of vehicles between 7 and 14 model years old, and no one gives them a second glance!
Back then, GM had around 50 percent of the market, and Chevrolet alone held about 20 percent. Today all of GM doesn’t hold 20 percent of the market, if I recall correctly.
The Plymouth is a 1956 model (you can see the modest tailfins). Beside it is a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere hardtop coupe.
Considering how krappy my last Chevy was, that is only apporpriate.
Thanks, your stats all seem correct. With my much bigger monitor at work, I can see the little finlets on the ’56 Plymouth much more clearly, and it’s possible to discern the Belvedere next to it as a ’58 rather than a ’57.
My aunt had a ’57 Savoy 4-door sedan with the side-valve six. I remember the car, and that she had a lot of trouble with it (surprise, surprise!), but I was too young to remember the details. She swore off Mopar and traded it for a ’59 batwing Chevy Bel Air sedan.
Our next-door neighbor was a Plymouth man (his wife didn’t drive; in fact, she often rode in the right rear seat because she didn’t like the way he drove). He had a ’56 Plymouth, then a ’58 Belvedere sedan in gun-metal gray, followed by a ’61 tan Belvedere, and last, a ’64 Belvedere sedan in turquoise, which he kept into his retirement.
The “airport somewhere” is Dallas Love Field.
A visit to these old parking lots would be like a museum or art gallery visit to us car lovers! I used to live in San Francisco, and as narrow as the streets were and how tight the parking was, I always wonder how it is like in the 1960’s and 1970s when all these land barges dominate! Of course there were a lot less cars then…
This is very cool though I didn’t have to worry about being distracted by these this morning as I was off line and then had to go into work where the internet in any great way is verboten but got to see them here at home.
As to cars not lasting in the past, I’ve read many accounts where until the mid 60’s or so, it was MUCH more common for a car to be considered used up when it hits 50-80K miles as things like the suspension, the steering system etc were major maintenance items along with the motors and transmissions and many motors simply didn’t last much beyond 80K without needing a rebuild.
That and as had been stated, the styles were so radically different within a 4 year span (planned obsolescence) that it was NOT uncommon for someone to only keep a car keep a car just a few short years and then sell or trade in for a new one.
My parents managed to buy 2 new cars and keep them for many years, a 55 Mercury that they bought new that I think they finally replaced in 1961 for a slightly used Dodge Dart Seneca 2 door sedan which got replaced in 1964 with a full sized Dodge and they kept that car until 1977 and something like 145K on the old slant six. Never mind it had all reliability by then and was fairly rusty by then too.
I seem to recall that in the 50′s and 60′s trucks were considered “farmers” vehicles.
As recently as 1992 my prim and proper Grandmother would not ride in my Nissan SE-V6 sport truck, which was decked out for all my bikes and equipment. Trucks were for farmers.
An SUV was apparently no problem…..
If I could time travel I’d probably slowly wander the parking lot slack jawed until I was arrested.
You and me both!
What sticks out to me is how relatively new most of those cars are. Compared to today, is that good, because cars were so unreliable they didn’t last very long? Or bad, because back then people could afford newer cars. I’m not sure on that. What I am sure of is the choices were a lot more interesting.
Back then, ‘planned obsolescence’ was the big thing in a great consumer society. Products were cheap and designed to wear out much faster, to then be replaced at a regular pace.
It’s a whole different ballgame, today. Cars are a lot more expensive (even adjusting for inflation), but they also last quite a bit longer, too.
Cars are quite similarly priced, actually. A Chevy Spark is about the same as a VW Beetle back then, and a Camry is about the same as a Chevy Impala with a few options (inflation adjusted).
But the new cars are more durable, and have gobs of standard equipment. In that respect, they’re much cheaper now, because it’s possible to run a Camry for ten years and 200k miles and still have it look decent, whereas back then you pretty much had to buy a new car every 3-6 years unless you wanted to be seen in a beater.
I don’t know Paul. While I agree with everything in the second part of your post about more equipment and longevity, I don’t feel that new cars are similarly priced (inflation adjusted).
How do we explain this:
1968 Chevrolet Impala MSRP: (base) $2850 = $20,450 2014 dollars
2014 Chevrolet Impala MSRP: (base) $26,860
1968 Ford Mustang MSRP: (base) $2602 = $17,740 2014 dollars
2014 Ford Mustang MSRP: (base) $22,510
In almost every case of my doing “apples to apples” comparisons, cars seem to have risen in price faster than inflation. Again, I realize the substantially higher levels of equipment, safety and usually performance in today’s cars. But the point still stands; the average buyer purchasing the same vehicle 46 years later is spending more (inflation adjusted) dollars.
Inflation-adjusted is one measure; proportion of income is another. Around 1970, the purchase price for a house was approx 2x household income. Now you’re looking at about 4x over here.
http://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/australias-housing-boom-in-five-graphs-20140615-ixkox
Admittedly not the US, and anecdotally it appears to me the ratio is actually more pronounced over here.
How many ’68 Impalas were sold with the six, three-on-the-tree, manual steering and brakes, dog dish hubcaps and blackwalls? Not many at all. The typical ’68 Impala sold for some $3300-$3500, whci adjusts to some $23-24k.
I would not compare the ’68 Impala to the current one, which is decidedly in a class higher now, and is essentially the same as a Cadillac (XTS). The proper comparison would be a Camry, and new Camry’s can be readily bought right now for under $20k.
Again, the ’68 Mustang base price was for a 200 CID six with three-speed and manual steering, dog dish hub caps, etc.. The current Mustang is not a proper comparison. I would compare the ’68 Mustang to a Scion TC, which starts at $19k.
In doing comparisons over the decades, it’s often not best to compare the same nameplate, but the new car that plays a comparable role in the marketplace. In 1968, the most popular family sedan was the Impala; today it’s the Camry and Accord. In 1968 the cheapest sporty coupe was the Mustang; today it’s the Scion TC (or something similar).
Both the current Impala and Mustang have moved up in the market, in relative terms to the competition.
I don’t think Impala or Mustang has changed much. Impala is always a reasonable priced full size sedan, and Mustang is always a reasonable priced rwd ( maybe 2.3 Lima L4 though ) sports car. Newer Impala isn’t a cop car itself, but police only Caprice is at the similar price range like a RWD equivalent with optional V8. Like a ’65 Impala, it was just mainstream and far from premium ( But I guess more cops were buying Mopar then )
When full size sedan and sports car like Mustang suddenly appears to be at a higher class, I feel the market itself slides down with the nation. Camry has the competition Malibu, and this model occurs to me today ( on 8 Mile Rd, Detroit ) I just don’t understand why this class became the mainstream. ( and that’s where GM didn’t understand and lose the market share, as even in the ’90s, LeSabre and Olds 88 class was still very mainstream )
That’s an interesting take Don. Another thing is that families were predominantly single income back then as well. Which meant no daycare expenses. I spent over over $20K last year on daycare for my 3 kids, and one was summer care only! And that’s fairly modest compared to larger cities.
I always thought of my family’s cars in the 70’s and 80’s as “old”. But looking back I now realize they were only 6-10 years old when we moved on.
Paul, interesting point that it may be more relevant not to compare exact nameplates in certain cases and your examples do make sense.
Maybe higher up in the market, we can find better examples of excessive price increase. What about these…
1961 Jaguar XKE MSRP $5620 = $44,580 2014 dollars
2015 Jaguar XK Conv. MSRP $90,500
1978 Chevrolet Suburban 4×4 MSRP (base) $7000 = $25,500 2014 dollars
2015 Chevrolet Suburban 4×4 MSRP (base) $46,300
Well the ball game is pretty much the same today, it’s just switched from the car industry to electronics. You want to talk about planned obsolescence look no further than printers, or especially pretty much anything made by Apple. I mean if you tell someone you’ve got an iPhone 4s they’ll treat you as if you’ve fallen on hard times.
Having said that I think the image thing through the annual styling changes had more to do with short term ownership than anything else back then. There was an intrinsic nut and bolt simplicity to cars back then, so generally if they were kept tuned up, fresh on fluids they’ll go A-B forever unless the car had some dreadful shortcomings, and I think those particular models have all pretty much been covered here at this point. Plus paint and corrosion resistance has come a looooooooooooooooooong way since then. Old car fanciers(present company included) love to point out how cars since the 80s are put together with paper thin sheet metal, but it was really necessary back then to have steel that thick since the inevitable rust out will take a slightly longer time to get all the way through. And if the rust miraculously doesn’t ruin the paint it will fade, turn chalky and flat and finally burn all the way off within a decade if not constantly upkept. Modern factory paints with clearcoat, unless defective(an many 90s Fords and GMs had it seems) will generally look overall presentable for a very very long time.
I use a six year old Mac with ‘boxed’ Adobe Creative Suite graphics software. If I want to update, I have to now go on the cloud and rent CS because they don’t sell it as a ‘boxed’ single purchase anymore. Now the largest capacity iPod has been discontinued in an attempt to shift music collections to the cloud.
http://appadvice.com/appnn/2014/12/the-ipod-classic-remains-in-high-demand-on-the-secondary-market-3-months-after-apple-retired-it
And also bear in mind that cars very rarely went more than 4-5 years without at least a minor restyling, if not a completely new body.
4-5? They used to be refreshed almost every year up until the 70s. I still marvel at the 50’s and early 60’s where most cars had significant changes each year. I can’t imagine today’s bureaucratic focus-grouping manufacturers doing such a thing.
That picture in Mill Valley is of Tamalpais High School. There is no such thing as “Mill Valley” High School. Google Tam High and you’ll see the same clock tower.
Being from Marin (San Rafael High ’77), I recognized “Tam High” right away . . . .
I spy, with my little eye, a Bunkie-Beak. How many do you see?
Here is that Mill Valley high school (Tamalpais High, Mill Valley CA), in 1937, before the parking lot. After electric commuter train service ended, the tracks became the street where that dark Chrysler (or is it a DeSoto?) is driving past.
A shame, actually. The commuter trains quit running just short of World War II. Had they held on a few months they’d probably have run all through the war (a major shipyard was opened in nearby Sausalito virtually next to the tracks) and into the postwar population boom in Marin County; there’d probably be a modernized version of it today in Southern Marin; and a frequent connecting ferry service into San Francisco.
Mill Valley? Didn’t B.J. Honeycutt live there 🙂 ?
Yup! Being from Mill Valley, he’d have been a RICH doctor.
I will second the Airport Somewhere as being Dallas Love Field – and, back when flying was fun!
The link shows a picture of Love Field Terminal in Dallas dated 1958
http://todayinsci.com/Events/Technology/LoveField1958Terminal.jpg
The picture shows a Manly Man humping his own suitcase and briefcase thru the parking lot, apparently headed for the terminal.
All the planes behind that modern terminal building back then had propellers. Turboprop service started mid-1959 and 707’s were probably not seen there for at least another year. Flying was fun the same way driving in those cars was fun compared to today. Barf bags and blankets were necessary on Constellations.
Sad, but my grocery store parking lot today was all German, Japanese, and Korean cars…The exception was a Chevy Cruze. The only other American vehicles were ALL towering 4door pickups and SUV’s. I see the same at redlights–if it’s big, it’s American/if it’s reasonable, it’s foreign. I live in exclusive area filled with “Stepford Wives” driving monstrous 8 passenger SUV’s–alone. I guess I am old, but if I had that kind of money, give me a Caddy coupe or a ‘Vette. You know this bird is not hauling anything! The American manufacturers spend bajillions updating trucks, and the cars are frequently also-rans. I must say Chevy is on the right track with the very marketable Malibu and Impala. Perhaps one of these should offer a wagon. These photos make me nostalgic for our Mercury Zephyr and Olds Cutlass, my Uncle’s Rambler, and Grandpa’s Imperial. Not to mention my 5 Ponchos and 5 AMC’s…
What seems foreign to me is how few foreign cars can be observed in these photos. As long as I can remember (born in ’80 so my early hazy memories would probably be from ’84 or so) foreign cars have been a large part of the landscape, but even in the newest of these photos, not at all. Other than a handful of Volkswagens, the only ones I see are the two in that first photo, parked next to each other no less. Austin America and early Corolla, I think?
Though not nearly as vintage as your photos (or containing as many cars), I recently came across this picture of a shopping center here in Virginia from 1988.
The unusual thing is the Yugo that’s maneuvering out of a parking space behind the first row of cars. Pictures of Yugos are almost as rare as the cars themselves.
That five-door Colt is rare too, it was only offered in 1985 and only in ultrastripped trim (although I’ve seen a Canadian-spec 5 door DL, once). It competed directly with the Omnirizon and for whatever reason Mitsubishi chose to offer only 3-doors through its’ own dealers (sedans and wagons were Mopar-exclusive but had longer runs).
I love pictures like this. I’ve been making an effort to take pictures of cars in parking lots present day to look at in the future. Especially when there’s a variety of car from different eras.
The lack of trucks seems strange, just show’s how trucks and suv’s pretty much replaced station wagons and large sedans today. Car’s today go through a longer styling cycle so the “I still drive last years model” stigma is less apparent. Trucks change even less often. And durability, especially rust resistance is so much better today. That Texas shot, with one 67-72 GM pickup in the lot really shows how tastes have changed. Huge car seats and booster seats along with front airbags pretty much require a large vehicle if you have a family just to stay legal. And I believe there are less working people able to afford to change out cars every 2 or 3 years nowadays. But these old parking lot shots are great time capsules with lot’s of eye candy for sure. Also today a lot of people, no matter the climate think 4WD is as necessary as a steering wheel
I’ll take the two-door LeSabre in Taiwan if someone pays for a time machine and shipping
An Austin in Austin in the top photo.
While I’d love to visit Austin, I guess I’d rather have a Milano in Milano.
A choice of 71 Ford wagons! I’ll take the one in cream.
During the time of these photos , it wasn’t uncommon to be told ” you can’t park that commie junk in here ” from your Boss….
Nice photos , many old rigs I’d love to have .
-Nate
The first photo is refreshing! In one row, three out of five realized that it only takes a little to move up a lot.
In the first picture of the Austin lot, mid-range back there is a silver/black top ’69 Ambassador DPL hardtop, something that was rarely seen even back in the day. One of Dick Teague’s more appealing AMC designs.
Toronto shot, behind the blue Corvair. A red BMW 700. Nice!
Seeing quite a few AMC products in here, including that very nice ’69 Ambassador hardtop in Austin.
At first I thought it was a Type 3 VW, but on closer examination I think you are right, it is a BMW. In the mid 60s, in suburban Toronto, a girl at my high school drove a red one. She had a coupe and I think this one is a sedan, so probably not the same car.
those are the kind of cars I’d rather see in a parking lot over the cars you commonly see today any day, cars of this era seem to have more character, personality and look more luxurious as well.
Ahh yes… The great American camper craze!!!! A 70-72 F250 Camper Special with a big ole slide in camper at Old Faithful!!! Kinda partial to these cause I have one.
The 1970 Pontiac in the top photo is identical to the one my dad had. His was such a stripper it only had 350 V-8 and Powerglide. The six was available, as was three on the tree, but I’ve never seen one.
Front disk brakes were optional on these cars, and dad’s didn’t have them. I remember going down the 401 one time at the fast (for the day) speed of 75 mph. There was a collision ahead and dad had to brake hard. I can recall the car being very unstable during that stop and the look of utter terror in mum’s eyes.
We stopped just in time.
Another time mum and I were driving on a county road when one of the crappo stock bias ply tires blew out, the right front. The car ended up in the ditch. Another brush with death.
The Pontiac was full of rust holes by the time we left for the West Coast in 1976. Both front springs were broken and the brakes shot. It had 73,000 miles on it and the car was done. The exhaust was shot and it sounded like a tank.
My daily driver has more miles on it than the Pontiac had when it was junked. It’s still almost like new.
Sorry that you had a bad experience with a 1970 Pontiac. I am assuming that you had a Tempest/Lemans or that you were from Canada, since the fullsize did not offer a 6 cyl in the U.S. market. Many of the problems that you mention (brakes,exhaust) are wear and tear items. Was this vehicle maintained regularly? I have had 3 1970 Catalina’s starting in 1970. I currently have a 1970 Catalina sedan. All good cars.
growing up in a small Ontario town and working at my dads gas station let me see a lot of the changes in peoples vehicle tastes over the years. I have no theories as to why but a lot of people that bought new cars every 3-5 years in the late 60’s and early 70’s went on to not only keep their vehicles much longer by the 90’s but were by then buying 2 and 3 year old cars just off lease instead of new.
my favourite picture was the military base in Taiwan. I wonder how many of those Detroit family specials made it back to the States and how many are still rolling around Taiwan today? any military families from the time period have some thoughts on that?
I like to watch all the vintage TV shows from the last 55 years, especially the ones that were filmed on the streets. Then you can see every fifth car was a VW!
I’m in something of a time warp myself; most of my cars and trucks are late 60’s to early 70’s. Even the motorcycles are from that era…
That top pic shows the immense popularity of coupes in the early 70’s. Nearly all of the non station wagons are coupes.
That first pic is like a snapshot right out of my childhood, automotively speaking. And yes, the big 2-door hardtop or coupe was king back in those days. My family didn’t own a single 4-door car until the late ’80’s, and I was the first of 3 brothers, having been born in ’67. The cars were so big and roomy, and the doors were so long that unless you had 4 or more kids in the family you really didn’t need 4 doors or a wagon. My parents replaced both of our family vehicles every 2-3 years, always with one coupe or hatchback after another. My mother only finally gave in to 4 doors when in the late ’80’s my father came home with a Jaguar Vanden Plas. Prior to that she was of the opinion that sedans and wagons were for “old fogies”.
How about a car park- well street parking in Lae, New Guinea?
Sorry about the low res images- I’m working with what I have for a school reunion.
My theory on why two door full size cars were so popular back then and completely went away is because of child safety seats. Try and deal with a child seat from only the front doors. My father would not buy a four door car because we were not restrained in back and his fear of us opening the door and falling out. The ’63 Rambler Classic was his first four door, and he had seat belts installed all around.
Granted, style and cheapness came into play, as a two door coupe was the cheapest body style, biggest seller and the stylists tended to do the two door roof first, then the four doors and wagons, with sometimes awkward results.
Nikita, you are right on the money about the coupes. Plus success and prestige of vehicles like the Coupe deVille, Mark IV and Eldorado solidified that it was not only the better looking car but you were successful if you had one.
My observation, and it may be inaccurate, is just that there’s a greater variety of color in the color photos. There doesn’t appear to be an endless sea of blacks, whites, silvers and greys.
I think you’re right. There was a piece here not long ago based on NY State car registrations, which demnostrated quite a shrinkage in the number of different exterior colors over time.
Seconded. Donut Media did a YouTube spot on this recently. Mostly all about not shrinking your resale pool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab2u-iGN3uk&vl=en
Also, more authoritatively, Consumer Reports: https://www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/a-brief-history-of-car-colors-and-why-are-we-so-boring-now/
The lead pic really shows the US auto market oligopoly of the time: the majority of the cars are GM products, pretty closely followed by Ford, there’s a sprinkling of Chrysler products and VWs, and a scant dusting of anything else.
Here’s my contribution.
The grocery store on the left in the Toronto photo is a Loblaws store. Their window signage is about Food Stamps. I remember my Mom getting a little booklet into which I would help her paste in the weekly haul of stamps.
The license plates are still six numeric digits at that time. Owners were issued a brand new plate every year in alternating colours, dark on white or vice versa. I would help my Dad affix them on the appointed day the plates arrived or were picked up. A screwdriver is quite possibly the only tool he owned.
My mom talks about how she always felt like she stuck out like sore thumb when she was a teenager and would have to drive her father’s pickup (he was one who actually NEEDED a truck for his home renovation business) She’d say while she certainly appreciated him lending her his truck so she could get to work, she felt so out of place driving a big lumbering truck in town to go to work. When she got herself a car, she bought a ’77 Toyota Celica.
It’s a sentiment she has today, aside from a brief stint with a 1st gen Explorer, she drives small or mid size cars (currently a Focus ST) and isn’t a fan of driving my dad’s crew cab F150.
SemiOT: Vintag.es has some pics from the upscale parts of West Berlin in 1957. VWs and MBs are present but NOT dominant. Most of the traffic is Opels and Taunuses. I see one unfamiliar microcar. The big stoplight on the trunk suggests a Gutbrod, but that’s not definite.
https://www.vintag.es/2021/03/berlin-summer-1957.html
Spotted several Rambler cars as well. It is interesting that the first photo notes only one truck. I wonder if any of the full size station wagons could fit a 4×8′ panel. Then again, maybe 4×8′ sheetrock wasn’t the standard back then. I believe the later 1970s Chevy Caprice and Buick Roadmaster wagons could fit them.