First a trickle, then a flood. But the flood of imports was quite a way into the future when most of these photos were taken. Yet, even if not many in number, a few of these period images do appear online. Particularly of sports cars, which make up the bulk of this posting.
Being imports, the brands are quite varied on this occasion. Image quality is also varied. Unlike previous galleries, this one has Kodachromes, Polaroids, and more. So bear with that quality fluctuation (and one seems to have a scanning mistake on a parked streamliner).
Ah memories…..I just came back from Vietnam in 1969 with very little money. Passed someones house when a pretty blue 1962 Triumph Spitfire caught my eye. For sale sign in the windshield. 500 bucks and it was mine.
Don’t remember how long I kept it, but pretty soon marriage, first baby, commute to job all came along. Time to go. One thing I do remember, it had a heater but to turn it off or on, I had to open the hood,(the whole front end) and turn off a petcock. Also my big feet didn’t like the tiny, close pedals!
My parents had a ’64 Spitfire as their only car. That lasted until shortly after my first birthday and I outgrew the footwell.
LAUGHS. I was selling International Trucks in the late 1960’s. A man in his late forties or early fifties wanted to trade in his MG Midget. He bought an International pickup from me. The problem was that he stood 5′ 3″ tall and sported a 40″ waist. He struggled for several years piloting this car with the steering wheel rubbing his belly. He finally decided that “sport” had to go. Love the photos!
I knew Sonny and Cher had matching customized Mustangs. I did not know they also had a Fiat.
Sonny & Cher Mustangs
It looks like Sonny & Cher were trying to make those Mustangs look like a ’61 Pontiac Laurentian or Bonneville!
That shot is circa 75/76 based on that CA blue plate. In Southern California the import invasion was very well established by then as you could see Datsun, Toyota, VW, and Mercedes all over the place with a smattering of British and Italian. I actually have a COAL sitting on a 1976 Celica Liftback.
Love that Isetta parked in front of the red ’51 Ford convert in the gray VW picture!
I’ll take the XK-140 in the pic with the babe in the fancy dress!
Our next door neighbor in Towson was from NY and was a Cornell PhD in Math and he worked at Ft Holabird in cryptography in the ’50s to ’70s. He was an early adopter with a white 62 VW bug and a baby blue ’60 Bugeye Sprite. He got the Sprite I was 10, and he invited me to go for a ride when he brought it home. I felt like I was riding on the ground, it was such thrill after the Ford wagons that we and so many other families always had. That very Sprite is THE car got me interested in British sports cars, of which I’ve had about 30 in the 60 some years since then. Thank you Dr. Paul (RIP).
Minor nit: it’s a four passenger BMW 700, not an Isetta, which was the shorter two-passenger version.
It’s a four passenger BMW 600 – the stop-gap between the Isetta and the 700. A buddy of mine has one and I had the pleasure of driving it. What an experience!
BMW 700s had a more conventional body designed by Michelotti. Attached is a photo of the 700 version.
Of course. The wrong number popped in my head. Here’s my CC on the 600:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/cohort-classic-1961-bmw-600-the-four-passenger-isetta-stretch/
A girl in my high school who was several years older than me drove a 700. It was a cute vehicle.
I fancy myself in a 356 if I’d been an engineer in 1968, driving to inspect a bridge.
Great photos, people were obviously proud of their not entirely practical cars.
My high school math teacher drove a 356, and he was an engineer. He was a young bachelor, but the story was that he had a TR3 and was in a bad accident, but he bought the Porsche with his settlement. I don’t know if the story was true, but he did have a slight limp.
Great shots, and I have a personal connection to a number of the cars. Had two VWs, a Peugeot 403, and my older brother had a Sprite and an MGA. And I’ve lusted after a 356A like the blue one all my life.
Pretty cool pix. The front end of that ’60ish sky blue Singer with its half open top has sort of a Studebaker vibe.
It’s a series II Sunbeam Rapier convertible (1958-9). The connection is Raymond Loewy Associates, hired by Rootes as well as Studebaker.
One of our neighbour in suburban Toronto had one and I actually got a ride in it. He was a “funeral director” and had always driven full size black 4 door sedans, so a smallish convertible was quite a change. Convertibles in general were quite rare. It was the only Rapier convertible that I remember ever seeing. Lots of Alpines though.
A couple of years later his teenaged son bought a Morris Minor Estate, so maybe the Sunbeam was his inspiration.
My parents had a Renault Dauphine as a second car in the late 1950s. Our dirt road beat it to death in a couple of years.
The Fiat 850 coupe has a license plate frame from Peter Satori, a large chain whose name I remember from my youth. Based on the plate starting with Z that;s probably a 1969. One of Peter Satori’s original dealerships in my hometown of Berkeley, California, became CJ Motors where my parents bought their Hillman Minx in 1954. This site also confirms my memories that CJ sold English Fords, which were not sold out of the local Ford dealership, Golden Bear.
https://www.seattlecitroen.net/cj-motors
Many of these shots remind me of my parents. They were early import adopters, and in the 1960s had two VWs, a Peugeot 404, a Porsche 356 and a Triumph. I didn’t inherit their Early Adopter tendencies.
In 1955 I had some contact with an Austin A40 Devon. Given the circumstances, I think it belonged to one of my maternal aunts.
I think my family was middle early period in 1969 my parents bought a used Mercedes S class, one uncle was driving a 63 Bentley before going German in the early 70s, one great uncle had a Mercedes W115 at a time when his brother was still driving civilian Checkers and I just remember my grandfather bought a 69 Volvo 164. The Volvo didn’t stick and he reverted to Oldsmobiles. By the early 70s when I was old enough to read and notice stuff imports were common and my first grade class had blocks with a Simca 1200 and Renault 16 on them
My (now ex-) wife transferred her father’s home movies to video. He was a dentist, so he could afford a movie camera. Among the footage was an elderly aunt driving a DKW sedan, IIRC the 3=6 of the late 50s.
Looks a lot like a Crosley Hot Shot
Late to the game, but the Datsun 240-Z owner is posing in front of the Bay Club Condos in Rancho Palos Verdes California (straight west of Long Beach).
She looks like she is ready to audition for a guest star role on Three’s Company as either Jack’s or Larry’s date.
Always got a Santa Monica or Venice vibe watching Three’s Company.
Oops- That’s a 260 or 280-Z.
So many pretty cars ! .
Pops was an early import fan, he bought a Peugeot 403 four door with sunroof in 1959 and loved it .
I remember it did very well in the snow and had a good heater .
I also like the Strato Silver 58/59 VW #113 DeLuxe in front of the BMW, IIRC those Bimmers were air cooled twins ? .
The blue 356 Porsche looks to be the same blue as my old ’63, it’s an interesting color that’s hard to find these days .
Certainly the coastal cities were hotbeds of imports .
When I moved to So. Cal. in 1970 I went to a junkyard on Long Beach, Ca. where they had dozens of imports including 356’s stacked on top of early Jaguars, none had collision damage .
-Nate
About 1952 the elementary school in which I was a pupil sponsored a train trip from our Dallas suburb to Austin, Texas’s capital, so we could, I’m supposing pick up up some Texas history and sense of government. I don’t remember much about that but do recall seeing a Nash Healey parked at the curb in Austin’s downtown area. It might well have been the only Nash Healey I’ve ever seen.