These are two scans from the big box of my dad’s photos. The date written on the back of each is January 1, 1966. He loved astronomy and day trips. So, the run from our home in Redondo Beach, California to Mt. Palomar was one he took many times over the decades. Yes, it does snow near San Diego in Winter. This may have been Southern California in the 1960’s, but only full-sized “low priced three” American cars can be seen in these shots.
This is my first contribution and I hope you like it. I have many family old pictures. I hope to write a CC Kids article showing our ’55 Pontiac and myself as a little tyke.
Speaking as a CC Kid alumni, it would be cool to see some new CC Kid articles.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-kids-yes-officer-he-does-look-a-bit-young-for-his-age/
Here’s a picture…
(Hmmm… the pic wouldn’t attach from my iPhone 🙁 )
Seeing cars in these vintage photographs helps put a lot more perspective to their lives. It’s great to see how they looked when they were just ordinary used cars.
Keep them coming!
What’s interesting is that for the ’62 Ford, the other four cars are all from the 50s, three of them from ’55’-’56, meaning they were 10+ years old then. But then this is Southern California, and no, they didn’t use salt up on Mt. Palomar.
I noticed that with the ’62 Ford vs. the others, also. With the amount of snow seen, a couple hours help from Mother Nature would clear that right up.
Note the kid safety guard in the ’59 Plymouth. In those days ‘kid safety’ meant protecting the parents from the kids.
Love Mt. Palomar. We used to go camping up there when we lived in SD and LA. And I have a picture from one of our first camping trips up there, in 1978, also with snow. It’s Stephanie, her brother and her mom. All four of us slept in my Dodge A100 van because the weather was crappy. Cozy quarters.
I like the ski jacket. Most puffy but that’s the way they were.
Always interesting to see other peoples old photos like this and at what was then ‘everyday’ and now historic. (Obviously the Observatory isn’t everyday, but the vehicles are).
I like to go to antique auctions. Many old photo albums end up in auctions for any amount of reasons. I always enjoy looking through them before the sale. 98% of them are just pictures pasted in a book. Interesting but, what or who am I looking at and when? Every once in a while I come across an exceptional photo album that is labeled from the viewers perspective and NOT the owners. This makes all the difference in the world. Instead of just a picture with no narrative or a very breif narrative such as “Uncle Zeb and Aunt Maud”, the exceptional albums will give the same photo a description like ” Uncle Zeb and Aunt Maud with their dog Jasper and their Ford Model T, August 21, 1928 visiting, on their way to Boston.” A picture may be worth a thousand words but a dozen factual words about that picture can easily be worth another thousand.
You’re so right about the context – I’m slowly sorting through a big tin of pre-1960 family photos. While I’ve got the negatives for most of them, they’re all separate for each picture and very few of them in separate folders or strips. The best clues I’ve found is by looking at the reverse of the prints where you have the make of paper (mostly Kodak Velox, but they obviously changed the letter form a few times over the years) and developers marks, stamps, numbers and, in a few cases, the way the edges are treated (form and thickness of white border and straight or crinkle-cut edges). Probably less than 5% have any written notes about the subject on the back.
? Pontiac ? .
-Nate
I’m not sure he’s referring to it but the wagon on the far right in the top picture could well be a Pontiac.
The Pontiac was long gone by ’66. Dad traded cars often back then. He drove a ’65 Impala wagon that day.
I’ve been there! August 1971 in the family 1967 Chevy Bel Air. We were able to tour the observatory, which at that time still housed the largest, most powerful optical telescope in the world.
I always look at old pictures like this and wonder if the vehicle is still alive today.
it makes me chuckle too, to think of the current owner of say the 56 ford wagon and his probable reaction if you told him you wanted to borrow it to take your kids on a trip up the mountain…in the snow…
A 1962 happy-family photo at Mt. P:
A dual axle travel trailer being pulled by a full-size sedan. Not unusual back then but looking at this pic now I cringe at what a risky a ride that might have been up and down a mountain.
I remember how cold it was in the SF Bay Area on January 1 of that year, as I had to ride my bike cross town to a family friend’s house to pick something up left behind the night before by my parents. San Francisco only had a high temperature of 46 degrees, perhaps balmy for other parts of the country, but cold for this area. That was one cold bike ride for a 12 year old. A few years earlier we spent a winter in Maryland, and I don’t remember freezing my rear off bike riding in the snow like I did on that bike ride on 1/1/66. Obviously, San Diego was not immune from the cold snap.
I used to go on Palomar drives with the S2000 club. It would be 70 degrees in La Jolla, and we’d go up Palomar only to find snow on the ground. Also motorcyclists.
Looks like stills from “Rebel Without Cause”. Half expected to see James Dean or Dennis Hopper
There’s a few old car photos kicking around at my parents’ house. The one I remember best was taken in early 1964 – it has my grandmother standing in front of our ’61 VW holding me as a baby, and my older sister (then a toddler) standing next to her.
Top shot of the Ford and Chevy I saw already today, going to watch the local Targa racing at the first stage parked on the road opposite me was a 55 Ford two door sedan a very rare car in NZ a quick check of the rego label told me its been here four years and parked next to me when I went to leave was a 55 Chev cut down from a sedan into a ute on a trailer it blew the motor racing the previous day, I get home and what do I find a 56 and 55 on here its been one of those days.
I was forwarded production figures for 55-56 Canadian built Ford automobiles.
The production figures include RH drive cars broken down for export to Africa and New Zealand and probably include Australia. I’m really surprised how many full-size sedans and wagons were built and exported as knock-down kits for finally assembly in other countries. The stats include all Meteor models. So if you ever come across a Meteor of this vintage it will be very rare indeed!
Brother built a cabin a few miles away from the Palomar Observatory back in 1991. Was up there about 3 years ago and visited Mt. Palomar, it was in the middle of a major refit/remodel at the time. There was a pair of ’66 Imperials parked in front of a cabin up there, still in original condition. The area is so dry these days, it’s been in a drought condition for many years up there.