Text by Patrick Bell.
Neighborhoods are the theme today, with many to view in today’s vintage photo gallery. The photos date from the 1960s and ’70s, and offer a good look at ordinary American streets on ordinary days, where the parked cars tell as much about the era as the people, homes, and children enjoying life outdoors. Climb aboard and let’s get this tour going.
We begin with two or three outdoor games on a warm summer day. The children seemed occupied by the games, and that’s a good thing. On the upper left was the tail of a 1967 Buick LeSabre or Wildcat with possibly a Pennsylvania license plate used from 1971-1976. In the foreground left was a 1970 Ford Fairlane 500 2 door hardtop with a vinyl roof and aftermarket rear bumper guards. This was the last year the Fairlane name was used. To the right was a 1968 or 1969 Buick Special Deluxe 4 door sedan or wagon.
Here was a nice fall day for a stroll with the baby carriage on a busy street. In the foreground were two blue Chevrolets; to the right a 1947 Fleetline Aerosedan, and behind it a 1954 Bel Air 4 door sedan. Passing by in the other direction was a maroon 1949 or 1950 Ford Fordor, and the blue station wagon at the curb was a 1953 or 1954 Plymouth.
Image notes indicate this location was in Burlington, Massachusetts. Parked out front was a 1955 Mercury Monterey 4 door sedan in one of the new Spring Colors, Persimmon. There were two more; Lime and Sunglaze. This was a new restyle, and over 70,000 of these Monterey sedans found a home that year.
It was a nice enough day to for a top down ride in a 1955 Buick Special convertible with perhaps a New Jersey license plate. Buick offered convertibles in all four series that year, and the Special was the least expensive and the most popular. Parked in front of it was a wrong way 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe, and behind it a 1960 Oldsmobile Holiday SportSedan, the newest in sight. And across the side street was a red 1956 Lincoln Premiere convertible whose owner apparently felt it was not a good time to have the top down.
This was a very typical looking residential street in Anytown, USA. The tree may have been just beginning to bud, so a late winter day. At the near curb was a two tone 1955 Dodge Royal 4 door sedan on the left, with a 1954 Chevrolet One-Fifty Handyman wagon on the right and also a two tone. Across the street was a V8 powered 1951 Ford Custom Tudor Sedan, and in the driveway a 1950 Chevrolet Fleetline De Luxe 2 door sedan.
We are out in a rural area now, with at least three people on the porch with wagon wheel hand rails on the steps. Parked in front were two 1953 Cadillacs; a white Series Sixty Special, and a black Series Sixty-Two Sedan. To the right was a 1957 Dodge Coronet Lancer 4 door hardtop with the standard hubcaps to go with the whitewall tires.
And a post WWII subdivision with four or five home designs that were repeated, and repeated, and repeated… On the lower edge was a driveway that was home to an oil leaker. In the street from the left was a 1960-1962 Valiant V-100 and two Chevrolets; a 1964 Impala Sport Sedan, and a 1959 Biscayne 4 door sedan. In the driveway was a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere 2 door hardtop, with a Ford Econoline or Falcon Club Wagon further down. And perhaps a blue 1959 Dodge beyond it.
An interesting looking apartment building was shown here in the background, located perhaps in California on a busy street with metered parking. In the foreground left side in the shade, was a 1958 Dodge, and towards the right a 1955 Pontiac Chieftain 860 or 870 2 door sedan. Across the street was a sharp 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie 2 door Club Sedan that brightened up the whole block. Behind it was likely a 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Sport Sedan.
We are back in more of a rural area here, with houses built on small lots. Out front was a pink and white 1957 Mercury Montclair Phaeton Coupe (2 door hardtop) with the optional 368 cubic inch Turnpike Cruiser V8 and “Quadri-Beam” headlamps. On the other side of it was a 1955 GMC flatbed with a box body mounted, and a patiently waiting driver. To the left was a 1941-1946 Chevrolet AK series half ton Light Delivery pickup with a 1956 Plymouth Belvedere in front of it.
A man and his girls were out having fun in a Hillman Minx Series III convertible in an image dated 1967 when the car was around nine years old. Although it had a few bumps and bruises, sunny and dry California had been good to it with no rust showing. In the driveway was a 1962-1965 Chevrolet C series Fleetside long bed with a camper shell, California license plate, and a color matched house.
A man was spending some time with a young girl who was admiring a sprinkler. They were on a suburban street along with a 1962 Chevrolet Chevy II 300 4 door sedan or wagon with a Hi-Thrift 194 6 cylinder that was optional over the base Super-Thrift 153 4 cylinder. On the side street were two Fords; a 1955 Fairlane Victoria 2 door hardtop with the hood up, and a 1958-1960 Thunderbird hardtop.
This appears to have been some sort of institutional building with someone keeping their eye on the photographer. It was a warm day with all the windows open. Parked outside was a 1961 Chrysler Newport or Windsor 4 door sedan on the left, and a 1961 Chevrolet Parkwood 6-passsenger wagon. Both of them were wearing Maryland license plates.
We are now in the turquoise neighborhood, where they were featuring 1965 Chevrolet Sport Coupes on this side of the street. On the left was a Chevelle Malibu with a Turbo-Thrift 230 6 cylinder, which was good for another 20 horsepower over the standard Hi-Thrift 194 6. Up ahead was its big brother, an Impala Super Sport showing off its bucket seat interior. Across the street was a 1961 Rambler Classic Custom 4 door sedan.
Another well settled rural area here, with gravel driveways and large but narrow lots. The lawns were well kept and some flowers were blooming. It looks like both of these cars arrived about the same time and were in the process of unloading the passengers. First in the drive was a 1958 or 1959 Opel Rekord P1 Caravan with a roof rack. Following was a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe with a vinyl roof and bumper guards. Ohio license plates from 1968 or 1970 appear to be on both cars.
This was an older neighborhood with dirt roads and concrete sidewalks. Two of General Motor’s full size offerings were shown here in a similar, if not the same, color. A 1967 Chevrolet Impala convertible with a Turbo-Fire 327 V8 and fender skirts was on this side, and on the other side was a 1965 Buick Electra 225 Sport Coupe with cornering lamps and the windows down for breezy driving. In the background was a red 1962 Ford Falcon Deluxe wagon.
This neighborhood looks middle class, with not much elbow room and located somewhere in California. From the left was a 1965-1968 Dodge D200 Sweptside pickup, 1967 Datsun 411 wagon, and a 1968 or 1969 Volkswagen T2 Station Wagon with some camper equipment and a California license plate.
And we close with a very typical suburban subdivision with large lots and homes in the 2000 square foot range. On the left was a red 1974-1976 Ford Elite with a matching vinyl roof. Further down was a large car that was too blurred to ID, with the unmistakable profile of a Volkswagen Type 1 on the other side of it. Across the street to the right was another one, and both look to be from the 1970’s.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
In our suburban neighborhood in the mid-’60’s through the ’70’s, station wagons were everywhere. And while there were occasional Chevy and Pontiac station wagons, almost everyone drove Ford Country Squires. There was a huge Ford assembly plant located in nearby Mahwah, NJ; which certainly didn’t hurt Ford sales.
My dad was something of a bargain shopper and he wasn’t going to pay extra for “fake wood on the sides”, so our family bucked the trend and had a couple of less expensive Ford Country Sedan wagons instead.
My dad drove a 1962 ford bronze ranch wagon. He replaced it with a sage green 1970 chevy caprice that he bought when the 1971s had just come out.
At that time it was a glorious time to be a 10 year old kid. I remember playing with a super ball all day. And it got away from me because it bounced so high, hitting the hood of a passing car driving by accident. Car stopped, driver could not figure out what happened and then continued on its way. Haha 😄
Similar. My dad was cheap and since my uncle worked for Philco-Ford he was able to get some sort of discount on Ford products. While everyone else’s family seemed to have the Country Squire or Gran Torino Squire we had a 73 base Torino wagon with this black awful plastic/rubber floor and vinyl interior. If your leg touched it in the summer when it was hot you would get the pattern temporarily burned into your skin. Randomly the car did have A/C and the electric back window though.
Then your father had Commonsense did he not?
In the seventh photo down, I’d sure hate to come home half in the bag & stagger into the wrong house! Talk about cookie-cutter!
And we complain about today’s subdivisions! This type of repeated style has been going on for decades.
Most of my childhood in the 1950s-60s I was living in Air Force officers housing on restricted military bases. The only on street parking occurred when someone was giving a cocktail party which was most weekends. Otherwise you kept your cars in the driveways. Neat, tidy neighborhoods that you kept well groomed military style or you would be “written up”. That was the beginning of my life-long hatred of grass. Officers housing was similar to middle-class to upper-middle class neighborhoods in HOA developments now, lots of restrictions. Mom, being ever so trendy & stylish, once wanted to pull up the grass on one side of our house and put in a Zen inspired rock garden that turned out to be very beautiful. But OMG, the drama to get permission drove her to extremes and she pulled up all the grass in one day before permission was granted. Dad was base commander and his family was suppose to represent the highest of military standards but unfortunately for Dad, Mom and his sons were rebels at heart.
In Air Force officers housing, I remember many beautiful cars and it seemed neighbor cars were constantly changing. When Dad bought a new 1963 T-Bird, my best friend across the street, his parents bought a new Buick Electra, and within weeks my other friend parents a few houses down bought a new 1963 Mercury convertible. Within a few months, next door, they bought a new 1964 T-Bird. I remember that car and the neighbors vividly, it was a pinkish color with white interior. She was a bleached blond, and they had no children that was sort of unusual at the time (blond OK, no children questionable). One day our housekeeper, an old lady, got drunk on our booze, went next door and demanded more gin. The MP’s were called, our housekeeper removed from the base, not a good look for Dad the base commander.
One last memory, I promise. It was the early 1960s, military housing on restricted bases, besides the T-Bird we had an Olds Starfire convertible. Being on a military base, people left their car keys in their cars. It was Thanksgiving night, Dad said lets go for a drive, just in time to see our Olds convertible drive away. MP’s were called, gates to the base closed, who is stupid to try and get off the base, in the base commanders convertible. The car was found a few hours later, still on the base, finger prints taken and identified the enlisted guy just out for a joy ride. Well, the young man could have been court martialed, sent to military jail, but Dad just had him transferred to the most remote military base in Alaska where he would not want to joy ride in another officer’s convertible. I remember cleaning all the finger-print powder out of the interior. It was a sticky mess. To this day, every time I see a crime show on TV, and people dust for finger prints, I think who is going to clean that up.
Imagine the guys sitting around that base in Alaska: “so how did you end up here?”
That’s pretty good stuff, Mr. B. Put a smile on my mug.
Great recollections 🙂
I love the part about a transfer to Alaska. I had a patient, since passed away, who was in the Air Force, in the early 60’s. Stationed in Arizona if I recall correctly. To pass time in the desert they would create a small coral and throw in some critters to fight it out. When caught goofing off by a Sergeant he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Boom, next few days transferred to Elmendorf and spent nights patrolling the perimeter fence encountering moose. Cool , short stature guy. Still see his wife to this day.
I was an MP at several different Army bases. It often seemed that the wildest kids (and sometimes wives) were from families of higher ranking officers. My enlistec MPs got a perverse enjoyment out of dumping “officer family problems” in my lap.
At 15 years old my classmates mom was selling her (bought new) 1955 Plymouth for $120 and I bought it with my newspaper route money and grass cutting money. My dad let me practice driving on parking lots until I turned 16. I loved the two tone paint, matching interior and all the chrome! Now I am the owner of an identical Plymouth and reminisce on weekends.
what planes were at the base?
Mid 70s is about as far back as I remember…people 2 doors down had matching Eldorados, white one and yellow one. Lady next door had a brown Pontiac Catalina, my parents had a 69 Delta 88 and a 76 Cutlass S, People on the other side had a Volare wagon and a Chevy truck. People next to them had a Cadillac Calais and a full size Pontiac Gran Prix. People next to them had a VW Beetle and a 74ish Chevy Impala.
Other side of the street, Olds Toronado, next house had 2 Ford Torinos, red one and blue one, next to them Olds Cutlass and some little Chevy, people next to them had a horse, so they had a Wagoneer to pull the hoirse trailer and a Firebird, then the people on the corner had big Mercury sedans.
The Volare was the only station wagon and the only Mopar.
Great stuff! Thank you 😊
Totally enjoyed this. My husband and I grew up in that era. Graduated ’68. We had the hottest cars and the best music. Neighbors were like extended family. It was like American Graffiti it was a great life growing up in Billings Montana
The stories here are as good as the cars =8-) .
Reminders of being young decades ago .
-Nate
You mentioned an opal and hillman but not a Rambler station wagon?
Based on the trim and the fairly tall and skinny emblem on the fender, the Chevy pickup behind the Hillman is a ’63 or ’64. Perhaps someone with better eyes and/or equipment can say for sure.