Text by Patrick Bell.
Labor Day weekend is the last holiday of summer, and in spite of high fuel costs many folks will be traveling. Today we have a gallery of travelers, either in process or loading/unloading. When you have a break in your travels, take a look at some vintage traveling.
Our lead shot is an unknown location that sure had the look of a school in Germany, or perhaps an U.S. Armed Forces base. And it is hard to tell whether these folks were coming or going, but they were clearly prepared for cold weather.
Volkswagens were the dominant identifiable car in this view with at least three Type 1’s including the white one on the left edge that was a 1966 or 1967 model. The Type 3 Squareback in the foreground looked like a 1967 model, and the black Mercedes-Benz W110 Fintail was produced from 1961-1968. The only American cars visible were the blue 1964 Buick Skylark convertible and the white 1965 Rambler Classic.
A couple of ladies were enjoying a roadside bite to eat in a 1951 Packard Convertible that was equipped with Ultramatic Drive, Packard’s automatic transmission. It also had an Ohio license plate that was used in 1951 and 1952. Its stablemate was the Mayfair, Packard’s new 2 door hardtop. Between the two models 4640 units were sold that year.
On the left edge was a 1951 or 1952 Chevrolet.
This image was noted to be in British Columbia, and showed a 1956 or 1957 Rambler Super sedan parked with the trunk open. It looks like cardboard was placed over the luggage to protect it from the dust. It appears like it had a New Jersey license plate that was used beginning in 1959, so they were a long way from home.
The small, log cabin type structures were likely a roadside motel, and may have been on the Alaska Highway. In those days it was about an 1100 mile dirt highway through B.C. and Yukon, and when you got crossed the border into Alaska it was paved.
A hot and dry looking picnic area was the location of this close to new 1956 Pontiac 860 4 door sedan from California. It had a full load in the trunk and roof rack, plus the back seat appeared to be made into a bed.
The 860 was the entry level Pontiac that year, and this one was basic on the outside with standard hub caps to go with the black wall tires. It had a Bianco Motors license frame, which was a Pontiac/GMC dealer in San Rafael.
There was a lot of interesting stuff going in or coming out of the trunk of a 1957 Ford Custom 300 Fordor Sedan with a 1959 Missouri license plate. The man was holding a large ball in one arm and an electric fan in the other hand. Also a Skotch Cooler, and on the ground two pieces of matching luggage, a couple of hand bags, and maybe someone’s petrified wood collection.
The Custom 300 was the upper level trim of two on the shorter wheelbase body. This model beat the Fairlane 500 Town Sedan by less than 1% to be the most popular Ford of the year.
These two ladies were packing gifts for a special occasion in the back of a 1957 Oldsmobile Starfire 98 Holiday Sedan with a same year Michigan license plate issued in Wayne County, the home of Detroit. The Dave Menhart license frame was from a dealer in Wyandotte, a downriver suburb.
This was the most popular 98 model, and had a base list price of $4013. That included the standard Jetaway Hydra-Matic Drive, as well as Safety Power Steering and Power Brakes.
This family from Texas looks like one we have seen several times in the past. They were loading their 6 cylinder powered 1958 Chevrolet Delray 2 door coupe that had a 1963 Texas license plate.
It appears like they stopped for a meal, and were preparing to get back on the road.
It is always fun watching other people work. This view from above was two men loading the trunk of a 1959 Buick LeSabre 2 door hardtop. It was amazing how small that trunk opening was. This was the first year for the LeSabre name, which replaced the Special as the entry level Buick. It remained the entry level full size Buick through 2005.
To the left was a 1958 Ford Custom or Custom 300, and to the right was a 1954 Packard Clipper Deluxe Club Sedan.
Here was a load of frustrated travelers who appeared to be dealing with a flat tire on a Checker Aerobus. They had to unload the rear compartment to access the spare and tools, and now the guy on the ground was trying to figure how to jack it up. At least the weather was nice in this unknown location.
To the left were two Dodges; a dark colored 1965 or 1966 Dart GT hardtop, and a blue A100 Sportsman Van.
We are now at one of the cabins in the Chisos Mountains Lodge facility in Big Bend National Park, Texas. The lodgers were unpacking their new looking 1961 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan that was ready for hot weather with all the windows down and a water bag hanging from the grille.
The full size Chevrolets for 1961 were redesigned and downsized a hair over the 1960 models. They retained the same 119″ wheelbase, but lost 1.5″ in length, 2.4″ in width, and 145 pounds.
A couple was loading the trunk of their 1961 Cadillac Six Window Sedan that could have been either a Sixty Two or a Sedan deVille. The man was dressed up in his boaters hat and bow tie, and looked like he was trying to figure out how to make it all fit.
The Six Window Sedan was the favorite Cadillac of the era in both trim series. For this year the deVille outsold the Sixty Two by only 201 units, less than 1%.
A man was fiddling with a camera while the ladies were fiddling with their stuff on a cold winter day. They were gathered around a 1963 Mercury Monterey Custom 4 door Breezeway Sedan. To the right was a 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88.
Mercury revived the Breezeway at the beginning of the 1963 model year, and it was the only roof style available on all full size body styles other than convertible and wagon models. That was until mid-year, when the 1963 1/2 Marauder 2 door hardtop with the sloped roof was introduced at the same time the Ford Galaxie 500 debuted theirs.
Showing in two images was a couple loading a 1966 or 1967 Datsun 411 wagon with a California license plate and renewal sticker that appeared to be from 1975. The car looked pretty good for an eight year old. It had a license frame from Al Siegel Imports, but the upper part that likely showed the city was hidden by the suitcase.
The lower image showed the relatively high cargo area floor.
Here was a overhead view of a man looking in the trunk of a 1965 Plymouth Valiant Signet 2 door hardtop. To the right was a 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 4 door sedan.
The Signet was Valiant’s sporty model that had a standard bucket seat interior. It was also available as a convertible.
A family was loading the trunk of a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that had the extra cost Rally Wheels and a California license plate. This was the first year of the downsized Monte Carlo.
In the background was a white 1967 Plymouth Fury III 2 door hardtop, with a dark colored 1973-1987 Chevrolet C/K series pickup in front of it.
And we close with a 1976 or 1977 Toyota Celica Liftback from California. Notes written on the image were: “First car packed for Grand Canyon Vacation, 1978, H.J. Blevins”. It was pretty well packed, with the back seat folded down to have full use of the cargo area.
The Celica was equipped with the typical back glass louvers, 5 speed transmission, and an extra pair of bumper guards or some sort of brackets.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
Good morning! Excellent as always. Just a small point, for the 1958 MY the lower trim for Ford was the Custom 300. There was no longer a Custom.
“Our lead shot is of an unknown location that certainly resembled a school in Germany, or perhaps a U.S. Armed Forces base.”
I’d like to rule out the first possibility. School buildings in Germany generally look quite different. The second possibility, however, seems very plausible. The residential areas of U.S. bases were often built with apartment blocks in a (older) tenement-like style, typically arranged in rows or in a square – with ample parking facilities, as it is the case here. In the background, the typical residential buildings of a German housing estate are visible.
Judging by its bumpers with overriders, the Mercedes appears to be a U.S. version. The green license plate in the U.S. format corresponds to the type issued to U.S. military personnel until the 1970s.
The first pic of the VW wagon: there’s no way they would load all that luggage in it!
It looks like the rear seat is folded down, so no problem.
OK, but then only 2 of the 3 people in the pic will fit.
Sure it will fit. My own photo taken about 50 years ago, from a post I did a few months ago.
Very good! That is indeed a ’51 Packard and not a ’52. Most of the clues are hard to see clearly. The deck lift appears to be the “Admiral’s Hat” version, the three bottle openers suggest ’51 but I don’t think that that’s definitive, and they seem to be the die-cast round-leading-edge variety vs. the pointed, stamped stainless ’52 openers, but that’s hard to be sure of, and the door trim looks like it’s the ~4″ shorter ’51 version. Most unequivocal is the vertical-wing ’51 hood ornament. Also, I think the script in that spot on the quarter panel is early ’51, but I’m not sure about that.
On the tenth day of Christmas my uncle brought to me,
Ten petrified rocks,
Nine bowling balls,
Eight electric fans,
Seven camera bags,
Six Samsonite Suitcases,
Five Lit Cigars!
Four Skotch Coolers,
Three taped-up bags,
Two Fordor Fords,
And a Crookes Tube in a Paint Can!
Because the Datsun 410 series was front-engined, its’ high load floor must’ve been a false one to put it level with the hatch opening and folded-down rear seat, with a lockable compartment below. It’s almost as high as the VW Squareback’s and that had the engine underneath!
Thanks for the memories. We had that identical Skotch cooler that’s shown in the fifth photo. Lots of memories of packing that along with my parent’s Samsonite luggage in the trunk of the old man’s Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles back in the early 60’s.
The Datsun wagon dealership was in South Gate in LA County, a community which is better known (at least among car people) for its GM plant which shut down after nearly 50 years in 1982. I think their last products included the Cadillac Cimarron.
Wow these bring back the memories .
I was amazed at how much crap I could load into my ’66 VW Typ III Squareback, I drove it from Los Angeles to Guatemala, C.A. fully loaded and it never missed a bet and outran a crooked Mexican cop going down hill South of Mexico City .
-Nate
In the mid-1970s, our neighbor bought a sedan version of the Datsun 411 for his college-age daughter. It was light turquoise. It was rust-free and in very good condition, but it would not start if the temperature was in the 20s.
It would be interesting to compare the utility of a Squareback with the much larger SUVs people must have today.
The mention of the unpaved portion of the Alaska Highway in Canada reminded me of the reverse situation in the 1950s between Saint John, New Brunswick and Bangor, Maine. From Saint John it was paved highway to the US border, but from Calais, Maine to Bangor it was 90 miles of dirt road.
In the days before air conditioning summer driving meant windows down, but if you came up behind a slower car on a dusty dirt road windows had to be rolled up. Passing opportunities were minimal because of road quality and visibility, and the combination of a steadily hotter car and gradually infiltrating dust was a dreaded part of any trip.
After my parents packed our 1967 Galaxie 500, the metal picnic basket meant that we wouldn’t be stopping for A&W burgers on the way to our next camping site.
Instead, it meant dried out bologna sandwiches, generic chips and barely chilled Scot Lad pop at a hot I-80 rest stop in “scenic” Nebraska on the way to Colorado.
My folks packed SEVEN of us in that car after my dad loaded its trunk with a week’s worth of stuff. Excitement and terror for 24 hours!
My mom still has that picnic basket 60 years later!
Love the picture of the two ladies packing gifts in the back of a 1957 Oldsmobile Starfire 98 Holiday Sedan. Their printed pants show interesting fashion choices, as does the printed blanket in the trunk. I’m surprised at how spacious the trunks of these cars (especially the ones from the 1950s) appear to be.
CC effect: a fintail Mercedes like the one in the first picture appeared in the neighborhood this morning. It’s at a house with four generations of Jeeps, so it must feel like an adopted kid.
In this candid photo from June 1988, we’re packing after my wife’s parents’ 50th anniversary celebration in Indianapolis. One of our sons is in the car; the other must be out of sight.
We were heading north to the Indiana Dunes National Park on the Lake Michigan shore.
The first photo of the VW Type 3 really resonated with me. In 1964 my aunt, who was in the Canadian Forces, was stationed in Germany and my parents decided to it was time for the family to have a European adventure. My aunt, who had only recently got a driving licence, had replaced her old beetle with a new Squareback, with the dual carb, high performance version of the engine. We spent a wonderful 3 weeks touring Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. It carried the 5 of us comfortably, and my brother and I were teenagers. It did have a roof rack to hold a couple of the suitcases. My dad was an automo engineer and also an exceptional practical mechanic, and after his first ride in the VW he said the ignition timing was off. Obviously he did not have any tools, so he went off to the local VW dealer and my dad, with the help of my aunt with her rudimentary German, tried to explain to the mechanic what the problem was. In the end it was all fixed and we made it successfully through the alps. I think my dad managed to get his hands a bit dirty, which he always liked.