These images come from the US National Archives, with a series of activities that make me feel like stepping out for a while. Obviously, there are some nice cars as well. Why else would I add them over here if not?
First of all, a scenic viewpoint at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, 1972.
East Boston, 1973.
Kids playing in East Boston, 1973.
Luguillo Beach in Puerto Rico, 1973.
I simply cannot wax nostaligic over these cars. I remember them too well.
A cool great outdoors moment when the Montreal Canadiens do a Stanley cup parade after the won the cup like in 1971. 😉
https://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesmontreal/albums/72157650662201622
That photo of the 914 towing the boat out of the surf has got to be one of the best vintage car shots I’ve ever seen. Matching colors for car and boat too.
I’ve searched hard for Porsche’s 1973 towing guide, but for some reason can’t find it…
It is exceptional. Can’t say I remember ever seeing a 914 tow, but back then all kinds of now unlikely cars did get used for towing.
Not to mention driving on sand. That looks fairly hard packed, but most drive on beaches today are marked 4 wheel drive only. And they mean it. I’ve seen several cars in deep sand waiting for a tow while at the beach.
We used to let about 1/2 of the air out of the tires to ride the beach. The tires mush out giving a bigger footprint and more flotation over the sand.
Yep, air down, slow and constant speed, and you should have no problems.
This. I worried the first time I had my Scout out on the sand but with the tires aired down (and the required shovel, planks, and compressor) she powered over it like it was asphalt.
Some years back I rented a Jeep Wrangler to take out on the beach on the Outer Banks. It brought back horrible memories of the many Maryland winters where I had to keep moving through the snow, knowing that if I had to stop, I was going to be stuck. My family loved it. I suffered flashbacks.
I have never seen a 914 tow anything! Simply a very cool and rare shot.
THANK YOU for these great pictures ! .
914’s rusted in the dealer’s showroom in Los Angeles, I wonder how many years that beautiful yellow one lasted ? .
I remember 1973 very well, many of the cars had horrible running problems with spark retard, EGR valves and so on .
Mot were easily by passed to make them run okay if not fantastically .
For a while my idiot middle bother owned a triplex walk up like that one in Sommerville .
More please .
-Nate
I love that Imperial in the first picture.
And I haven’t seen a Montego like that in ages! I’m guessing that’s a brand new ’72, the Mercury sister car to Vince’s Torino.
A neighbor back then had a ’72 yellow Montego sedan with black vinyl interior. Wretched car. But it didn’t die after every start like our ’73 Century. I’d say ’73-4 was Detroit’s nadir in driveability and assembly quality, and ’82 in performance.
Mercury Comet in the Boston photo, not to be confused as being a Maverick.
Just curious, but can anyone identify the small yellow wagon in the lead photo? My first thought was Toyota Corona, but something seems off
Close… it’s a Mazda RX-3. Here’s a recent picture of a yellow RX-3 wagon for reference:
yup RX-3. Mom had one in blue–fun car–it could scoot, til the engine seals gave up.
I would have said Mazda Cappella wagon but with rotary going by the grille badge.
That top shot reminds me of my life around 1976-80 or so. There were so many nice, well-kept, older 60s cars around that I could never work up any enthusiasm for the newer stuff. I only see one car in that top photo, and it is that luscious Imperial. Everything else was just background. Even the one in the foreground – is there a more perfect representation of FoMoCo in the 70s than that turd-brown Montego?
That “big, hulking, Buick” behind the kids playing beings back memories.
Great photos! Perhaps they were more common in the United States, but I don’t recall seeing any four-door hardtop taxis, as a little kid.
In many ways, the four-door Matador seemed like a perfect size, for many people. Unfortunately, AMC burdened it, with exceptionally dumpy styling.Well-styled, and it could have been as vital to AMC as the Hornet.
Absolutely love, the mature trees, and wide sidewalks.
(Colour corrected pic.)
The four door hardtop taxi is unusual. In suburban areas and smaller towns, where taxi service was less intensive and often provided by very small or by independent operators, they would often buy used cars instead of new ones, since their annual mileage would be much less. And the higher trim interior of the Impala would be a nice touch for passengers too.
You would absolutely not have seen this in big city centers. And a ’67 would already have been sold off from a taxi fleet by 1973.
Taxi service varies widely; in very small towns and rural areas, anything could and would be used.
Thanks for this background info. I figured this unique example, was a one-off. Not reflective of a larger fleet.
If I was a tourist, and stumbled across a hardtop taxi, I might be inclined to hire their services for a couple hours. The rare and pleasant surprise of finding a hardtop cab, if I was new to a town or small city, would make a cab/driver rental a tempting consideration.
For a large photo database of classic CCs, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation galleries from the 1950s through the 1980s, are a goldmine.
Mostly shot in downtown Ottawa and other larger cities, primarily focused on real estate of course, you also get to see many period CCs in their natural settings. Winters, with heavy salt and frigid temps, were very demanding on cars back then. You can see the rough condition of various autos here. Many quite rare.
Just an excellent time capsule. A bonus, is that many photos are in colour and very high resolution, ensuring clear details.
http://www.ottawahh.com/ottawahh.pl?x=gallery&g=CMHC-2
More here:
http://www.ottawahh.com/ottawahh.pl?x=gallery&g=CMHC-1
Sample 1 1968.
Sample 2 1968.
Very high resolution 1970.
http://www.ottawahh.com/ottawahh.pl?x=galleryitem&g=CMHC-1&i=369
High resolution 1950s and 1960s Cadillacs in 1968.
http://www.ottawahh.com/ottawahh.pl?x=galleryitem&g=CMHC-2&i=7
The Montego in the first pic looks exactly like the one I owned except mine was a ’73 or maybe a ’74. Same color, vinyl roof and four doors. Nice comfy car but had the rust worm eat the lower door panels. She did get me from Ottawa to Vancouver a few years later, but died on the roadside while on the way to pick up a brand new 1980 Mazda RX7 – another great ride.
Your Montego looks to be a ‘73, as it appears from the photo to have the better looking back bumper than the ‘74 had.
Nice color!
A nice variety of photos, but the 914 on the beach with the boat is certainly special. Though I did see a BMW Z3 towing a small trailer recently.
1st image adjusted.
914 adjusted.