I recently had occasion to drive to La Porte, Indiana. It is about a two and a half hour drive, and is much closer to Chicago than it is to Indianapolis. To get there and back is to drive through a lot of northern rural and small town Indiana. Even in January, there are some interesting things to see. The 1958 Oldsmobile (here) was chief among them, but there were some other interesting finds as well. Like this 1970 Cutlass. A pretty solid car to be in a junkyard.
Don’t ask for any shots from inside the junkyard, because it appears to be closed. For good. But on the way back to the main road, I caught a glimpse of an early Blazer with the removable roof.
Not all of the cars were in the junkyard. Someone takes care of a Mark VIII. I do not remember these as two tones, but maybe my memory is getting foggy.
Once upon a time, Travelalls were seen in the wild in Indiana with some frequency. Not any more, which makes this one parked outside of a house in Walkerton a rare sight. As I drove around the block to get a better shot of the Travelall, I got another surprise . . .
a Binder pickup. Or, “The Other Pickup” as they used to call it in the ads. It looks mighty nice for a truck that plainly lives outside. I realize that it takes me a three hour drive to find as many cars as Paul Niedermeyer can find on a twenty minute walk in Eugene, but we will just have to make do.
Big rims on a Donk are evidently not just a big city phenomenon. Maybe there is something about these cars that issues a universal call for 22s. Not that I can think of a better use for a ’72 Impala sedan. I did not really like that color on my mother’s ’72 Cutlass, and it hasn’t grown on me all that much in the last forty years.
A nice straight ’68 Torino is always a treat. I could not get close enough to this one to tell whether it’s really a Torino, or whether the hood with the scoops is gracing Grandma’s six cylinder Fairlane. But it looks pretty nice and straight, either way.
And if all this has worn you out, there is even a place to stay. Is this where you hide out if you can’t keep your hands off another man’s Chevy?
Some nice finds, I especially like that International pickup. It looks like it has ’64-’65 Studebaker wheel covers. I wonder if International bought the tooling after Studebaker got out of the car market?
I remember when the Mark VIIIs came out and still have most of the brochures I collected at the time. Two tone was not an option, so this must be a custom. It looks very nice though!
I believe that you are correct. These were the wheelcovers used on Travelalls and pickups until 1972, IIRC. These were on the 71 T-all that my best friend’s dad owned from 71-73.
I believe that International just got rid of the S in the middle and used the part that they probably bought for peanuts when Studebaker shut down. Eric VanBuren probably knows more about this. Maybe this was even his house 🙂
Yes IH used the same supplier as Studebaker for hubcaps with the “S” die removed. The “flipper” dies were removed for the 1971 model year. For the 4x4s they were cut out for locking hub clearance.
The Pickup is either a 69 or 70 based on the hubcaps and grille. The T-all a 71 with it’s one year grille, assuming it is still wearing the grille it left the factory with.
It doesn’t surprise me that you found that pickup since IH’s tend to multiply. They’re like the old Lay’s commerical no one can have just one.
It usually goes something like this: Hey here is a “parts” truck for sale, then when they get home with it they decide either it is nicer than the one they have or at least too nice to let die. Then comes another “parts” truck followed by figuring out where you can stash others so you wife doesn’t find out.
I have seen IH trucks with what looked like Studebaker hubcaps when the trucks were new.
Looks a little light in the nose… probably engineless… the Cutlass and Torino
Loving the Mark XIII and the IHs.
Paint is likely custom on the Mark, factory would have put a pinstripe between.
Some nice finds the Torino looks nice but sans engine and IHs are always good though for me rare now 22s on anything look stupid and completely out of proportion to the rest of the car but perhaps thats the idea,
Mess with the wrong Chevy, and you may find yourself facing another man’s Fury!!
Don Juan was the first Plymouth dealer. “After dealing with Don Juan, the Count drove off in a Fury!”
Some great finds there, esp. the Int’l pickup and the 72 Chev, despite the stupid rims.
Those FN10 Lincolns never really caught me when they were new but that 2 tone treatment is something I could get into!
Indiana is an Illinoisian’s paradise for slightly less rusty classics.
That Impala needs 15″ wheels, narrow-band whitewall tires, and full wheel covers.
That’s a Fairlane, and not even a 500 by the looks of things. This was the base intermediate in ’68 and likely left the factory with either a 200 six ,289 or 302.
Those are not factory scoops, more like J.C. Whitney.
The paint job on the Mark VIII is incredably popular in my skeezy corner of Minneapolis. I’ve seen several Marks done up that way. It seems that our friendly neighborhood drug dealers have moved on to Lincolns and Land Rovers since the supply of clean full sized 60′s and 70′s Chevys has dried up and the P71 Crown Victoria is no longer considered ghetto fabulous.
I LOVE the Mark VIII! And the two-tone gives it a better than factory appearance. Eat THIS, Jaguar!
JPC — good to see you’re contributing as a writer. I look forward to more!
nice article. Reminds me of southwest kansas. They do use salt on the streets but there is a lot of two lane blacktop that apparently only gets graded. For whatever reason it’s an old car paradise.
One guy that I knew growing up owned a junkyard in Wilroads Garden, right next to Dodge City. He must have had a thousand old cars and trucks and he only sold them as complete vehicles. If he is still alive he is probably still doing that. Came close to springing for a 48 studebaker truck.
Well, the county got a bug about cleaning up so a bunch have disappeared from the farms around there but it’s still better browsing that most parts of the country that have suffered from urban renewal. Makes me want to take a road trip.
I owned a 1969 Torino, the 1968 in the pix looks like a Fairlane, not a Torino. There was a lot more trim on the Torinos.
I’d love the Olds. And the Fairlane. I’d take either one and make them resto-mods.
What blows my mind about the Impala with the dubs, is that the car is not lifted two feet int the air to accomodate the bigger wheels… How did they do that?
EDIT: I kind of miss those old stand-alone, non corporate motels like the one pictured. We have a number of those within the city limits of Grand Rapids. I think they’re all no-tell motels now… Of course, the corporate motels are generally very nice and you don’t have to worry about tiny livestock living in the room you just rented…