Shorpy; how could I forget about Shorpy? Too busy, that’s probably why. But CC reader Craig D. reminded me that I initially turned him on to that repository of old photos some years ago. And he sent along this shot to me, which is a doozy. So much for folks who complain about modern cars all looking alike. Click on the image for a larger view, but if that’s not enough detail to help you finish up your list, click on this link to the original.
I’ll be waiting for the results…
And if this one is too easy, here’s another from the same general vintage:
This one’s a government employee parking lot in Washington D.C., in July 1939.
Great shots, if only I could sneak in there and grab me a 39 Dodge or Ford.
I must say the color scheme is quite like cars today, just need more white ones 🙂
For anyone who had a bad day at work today, behind the parking lot in the second picture there looks to be a brick cleaning crew salvaging bricks in the hot sun from a recent demolition. A solid tire WW1 Era truck is facing the camera, presumably to be loaded by hand to haul the cleaned bricks off. Were these really the good old days?
General impression from the stockyards: A lot more Hudsons than usual, and a lot less Fords and Chevies than usual. I would have expected more Nashes in Chicago given the proximity, but I only see a couple of them.
I think I spy 2 41 Studebaker Champions, a light one in the middle of the next to last row and a dark one two rows ahead and about 3 cars to the viewer’s left.
How fun it would be to walk through a used car lot back then. Of course back then you probably really were “just buying someone’s problems”.
I spot a couple Lincoln Zephyrs in the DC lot, which reminds me of a passage in “The Grapes of Wrath” – the only cars worth noticing on the highway where V12 Zephyrs and the new Cord 810/812.
The Chicago Stockyards closed in 1971. It is now an industrial park with a fair amount of still vacant land.
And to this day the floor south fork of the south branch of the Chicago river is still polluted from the waste/runoff from the stockyards!
That gray one is a Buick 🙂
CC Effect: Last night I was looking at this riverside pic of the government parking lot below Parliament Hill in Ottawa from 1958. I’m a bit surprised at the volume of smaller cars.
à part le VW en haut , smaller cars where ?
I’m not very good at identifying cattle – I see some color differences but I can’t distinguish the breeds –
Seriously though, it used to amaze me that my Dad (born in ‘24) could distinguish minor details of automobiles of the ‘30s and ‘40s. To me, they all looked pretty much the same. I guess it’s a function of what one grew up with; I’m rarely stumped as to an automobile of the ‘60s or ‘70s.
I couldn’t help but notice that the percentage of convertibles (or phaetons and roadsters) in the DC lot is much higher in the Chicago lot.
Of course I cannot identify anything, but I thinks it’s remarkable that there were still cowboys in the meat packing plant in Chicago in the 1940s.
Good catch! It was probably easier to maneuver in and around the stock pens on a horse, not to mention safer.
Maybe a handful of late ’20s iron.
By far most everything is under seven years old; most even newer.
By comparison, today even 30 year-old vehicle’s aren’t so uncommon.
The 1939 lot contained the low-priced three in majority, with a smattering of Pontiacs, Hudsons. Nashes, Dodges, Studebakers, Olds, Buicks. Standouts are a ’36 Ford phaeton in the fourth row, convertible coupes with tan tops. And contrary to every car show now, whitewall tires were rare.
The 1941 lot, has a preponderance 1939-’41 models, with a higher number of medium-priced makes unlike the prior image. More light color and two-tone cars stand out. By the time of this photo, the public was coming to expect the U.S would soon be drawn into the world war, the economy had improved and many bought in anticipation of later shortages or worse.