Everybody needs to have their basic operating procedures. A new one I’m implementing is to chronicle the cars from towns I visit where there are contradictory terms in the name. So this is what I found on a recent foray through North Sioux City, South Dakota.
What initially caught my eye was this 1955 Plymouth Belvedere two-door sedan. Well, it says Belvedere on the front fender but the chrome treatment is what was found on the Savoy. The lack of a V emblem on the hood reflects it as having a six-cylinder engine. Whatever trim level it is, somebody has taken pride of ownership in their Plymouth.
This generation of Tornado has spoken to me for years. This particular one, however, isn’t speaking as loudly. Perhaps it is soft-spoken due to its feeling a might beleaguered. But it is obviously still on the prowl, more than can be said of the Oldsmobile name or the Chevelle parked in front of it.
One has to wonder if somebody living here as a thing for reddish Oldsmobile Toronados. This particular Toronado has avoided the carcinoma of the ’79 to ’85 model we just saw. Perhaps it’s due to being newer or having more plastic cladding. Neither of these Toronados are that wide or tall, with the width of the elder being at a midpoint between a new Corolla and Camry. The black Nissan Altima is rather dwarfing this newer one.
The Chevelle is proclaiming itself to be an SS.
It’s hard to know if South Dakota is classified as being Upper Midwest, Great Plains, or simply Cold For Much Of The Year. But it’s obvious GM maintains a mighty heavy presence to this day – at least around here.
This Buick Park Avenue is one of the few I’ve seen in a very long time and looks to be in good shape apart from the rocker panels.
Our last car needs no introduction…
What town is complete without an old GM B-body parked in some driveway? Had it been a Chevrolet it would have blended in with the dandelions but with this being a Pontiac Parisienne, that is a slightly different story.
More to come if I ever visit places such as North Charleston, South Carolina, or South Raleigh, North Carolina, or East Wheeling, West Virginia….if such towns exist.
My Dad had an ’80 Bonneville in that color combination. His was a 2-door though, IIRC.
I’m not a fan of those wire wheel covers though, and they look even worse with black wall tires. A nice set of wide white stripes would spruce that Parisienne right up!
Nice finds, Jason, and there really is a Wheeling, WV. Tagged with East though? I’m not so sure on that one. ;o)
LOTS and LOTS of CC’s where my sister lives near Gassaway, WV… And yes, that’s a real place right smack dab in the middle of the state. It seems that Pontiac Sunbirds (the ones that look like a Cobalt, not the Cavalier) are the official car of that town. They’re as ubiquitous as Corollas in other more populated parts of the world. I’m not really sure what the attraction is however.
You are so right about the blackwall tire and wire wheelcover look. I can deal with one or the other, but both together is really poison.
There is no formal “East Wheeling, WV.” Sorry.
It’s Fulton, Elm Grove, Woodsdale, Edgwood, Winifred Knoll, Wheeling Heights, Bethlehem, then Triadelphia and the Highlands further out as you approach PA.
There is definitely a North Charleston, South Carolina; it may actually contain more people than does Charleston, which is geographically contained on a peninsula. My favorite one of these towns is West Louisville, Kentucky, which is an unincorporated area in Daviess County. It is indeed west of Louisville, which is some 90 miles to the east.
There is also a city upstate just called North, South Carolina. I chuckle every time I drive through it.
I live in Charleston, it is just a little bit bigger than North Charleston when you consider the whole city. What you’re referring to is Downtown, or Peninsular Charleston. Charleston city limits also contains West Ashley, James Island, Johns Island, Daniel Island & Cainhoy.
I’m probably straying a bit from the original subject, but North, South Carolina made me think of George, Washington, which is a real town.
There is a community near Waco called West, Texas. On my several trips to Fort Hood for National Guard training we started referring to the town as “West – Comma – Texas”; I suppose to differentiate from the real west Texas.
I will venture out and see what I can find along Upper Middle Road. Who came up with that moniker? Great finds and with unusual angles on these town names. One of my favourite contradictory landmarks is Magnetic Hill. You park, in neutral, and the illusion is that your car rolls uphill as if pulled by a magnet.
A big shout out to the Plymouth. I’m not quite a fan of the colour of that one, but it is in amazing condition!
Visit Tampa and enjoy north and south Boulevard Street, or the east and west North Street, among others.
And I seem to recall someone living in East something-or-other Egypt. I am not sure exactly where that is….
Central Indianapolis has streets named North, East, West and South. They are named for which border they were once upon a time. But it leads to the confusing situation that both North and South streets have an East and West, while East and West streets have a North and South.
As for the state, South Bend is way up north and North Vernon is way down south.
French Lick isn’t what you’d expect, either.
GM-heavy is right, even the cars in the backgrounds of your shots make the point.
And while there are some cars I have come to appreciate more over time, this 55 Plymouth is one that has been going in the other direction. I really want to like it, but it is just so . . . nothing. Not square, not round, not beautiful, not ugly. There are so many places where a little nip or tuck here or there would have helped. Your shot shows the dramatic downward slope of the tail end, something I had never noticed before. At least this low-trim version lacks some of the bad two-tone jobs these got.
Interesting commentary on the downward slope at the back of the Plymouth. Seen in profile it is less apparent. But seen lengthwise like the red one above makes it more apparent. That may be why they increased the height of the tail fins for the 1956’s. I’m going to look for one at Carlisle for a re-inspection this year.
Of the Low Priced Three for 1955 (which were all terrific), I actually like the Plymouth the best. It’s the most restrained of Exner’s Forward Look before he went all nutso with the fins.
Yeah, it could have used a better roof (the convertible is the looker of the bunch) but it’s still good enough that it would have a place in my dream garage. It’s a hell a lot better than the 1955 Dodge, that’s for sure.
Or you could check out the student cars at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople.
And take in a PDQ Bach concert while you’re there, depending on the wackiness of your sense of humor.
I recently moved from the “real” Hoople to Indiana. Of course, it’s not in southern North Dakota…
The Hoopties of Hoople?
Next stop: South Sioux City, Nebraska.
It’s weird; I never crossed the river into Nebraska. Not sure why, other than going into SD allowed me the ability to say I ventured into a state that isn’t one of the eight that touches my home state of Missouri. I’ve been to those eight many times.
Good grief – there are 8 states contiguous to Missouri? Is that a record? Indiana has only 4 – 1 per side.
Ontario has more states that it borders, than provinces. Just two provinces, but three to five states depending if you count PA and OH that we border by water. VT NY and MI are the others.
I don’t think Ontario and Vermont share a border (Quebec and Vermont do.) Ontario and Minnesota also share a border west of Thunder Bay.
VT borders Ontario between Kingston and Cornwall. I’d forgotten about Minnesota also. We’d get Wisconsin too if you count across water.
Correction – Greg you were right about VT.
Massena is technically in the Burlington-Plattsburgh media market but it’s definitely in the state of New York.
The VT-NY state line runs through Lake Champlain.
It is a record. Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska all touch the state somewhere.
Actually, it’s tied for a record. Tennessee also borders 8 states (including Missouri, so they have something in common there).
Incidentally, I once drove from Missouri to Virginia while only going through 1 state (Tennessee) in between.
They’re going to change the slogan to the “Show Me Too” State with all that touching going on….
The Toronados really grab my attention here. First, the ’85 Toronado — I still see these occasionally, most often at small-town used car dealers, which seems to be their natural habitat these days. The one you found appears to be a Brougham.
Now that 1990-92 Toronado is quite a find. Actually, I think it’s a Trofeo, but since it was silly to drop the Toronado name from the Trofeo, I’ll just call it a Toronado in an act of willful disobedience. I think only about 10,000 were made over each of the three years… and the horrendous depreciation and quirky electronics thinned out their ranks pretty quickly. And I never would have guessed that this car was sized between a modern Corolla and Camry. Wow.
A mixed bag of GM here. The Buick was very space efficient and had great outward visibility, good looks, and reasonable reliability. This is the car Buick should have kept making into the late ’90s instead of the three-year-older Century. Even with the rust, I’d rather have the older Toro than the ungainly next gen version. I think the small nameplate badge instead of T O R O N A D O block letters across the trunk lid identify the older one as ’82 to ’85. The Parisienne was nice but whenever I see these I can’t help wishing it were a few years older so it would have a real Pontiac dashboard and front end (I’m fine with the Chevy engine though). What is that pink thing that looks like an outgrowth on the Plymouth?
Looks to be a recycle bin or trash can. Why it’s pink is anyone’s guess.
The recycle bin we had at our beach house in Delaware was yellow, while the garbage can was “Waste Management Green”, as this was the private contractor for our little corner of Rehoboth, DE.
The accepted color in Baltimore County Maryland is blue for recyclables, and whatever color you want for trash. (county run pick-up)
Pink must be this area’s company color if it’s a private enterprise.
Well, I just had to look this one up. Seems that North Sioux City contracts with a private company for solid waste/recycling, and that company’s recycling bins are, in fact, pink:
That totally explains it. At the beach-house (in reality “That 70’s Trailer” 2 miles from the water*), we had a private company. I’m not sure about the rest of Rehoboth Beach, DE.
Green and Yellow for our bins makes total sense. The company’s logo appears below.
* and in response to one of Paul’s replies to JJ Powers “Bug COAL”, even this far from the water, we got salty air. The dew would settle on my Mustang and leave its salty film. It drove me nuts, even if I never took that car down to the beach. We walked or biked most of the time.
Beautiful Plymouth. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a V8 behind that 6 symbol. The car has a restomod feel.
Missouri has one of the best directional contradictions. Driving along 36 west from Hannibal, you come to West Ely, then as you continue west you reach Ely, which is west of West Ely.
This is going pretty far back, but my oldest brother had a high school friend that owned a ‘55 or ‘56 Plymouth. I remember it as having a dark green / light green paint job.
To say the car was a beater would’ve been a compliment. The body looked like it was made of compressed Swiss cheese and the flathead six barely ran.
While the featured Plymouth may elicit “meh” feelings now, these would’ve been like a breath of fresh air back then (when compared to used cars from the immediate post war years.)