Text by Patrick Bell.
Today we have another fine batch of images from the Dave Gelinas Collection. They really did a good job of capturing the sights of the past. There is a lot to see, so let’s get started.
We begin on a nice middle class street on a warm early spring day where the grass was green but the trees had not bloomed yet. A sharply dressed gentleman was posing amongst the clean cars.
In the foreground was a grey 1949 Ford Custom Tudor sedan with a tiger’s tail on the antenna, and a black 1953 Plymouth Cambridge 4 door sedan parked behind it. Across the street from the right was 1949 Ford #2, a black Custom Fordor sedan. In front of it was a white over blue 1951 Buick Super Riviera Sedan with possibly a Missouri license plate. The green truck in the street looks like a Chevrolet Advanced Design or GMC Blue Chip with a special body.
A summer day at the park that was likely somewhere in California as that is where the 1946-1948 Chrysler convertible was registered. The convertible was available in either the Windsor model, which was six cylinder powered, or the New Yorker, which was eight cylinder powered and six inches longer in both wheelbase and overall length.
Now we are viewing a neighborhood Sunoco gas station that did not look very busy. On the left looks like a 1928-1931 Ford Model A truck that had been hot rodded. The blue car was a 1942-1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster 2 door Town Sedan, and the green one behind the Kelly Tire sign was the newest; a 1951 or 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook 4 door sedan. To the right was may have been a 1937 or 1938 Pontiac 4 door Touring Sedan.
And another summertime image with the Good Humor Man making his rounds in a 1947-1953 Chevrolet 3600 series Advance Design truck that was customized for their needs. To the right was a 1951 or 1952 Plymouth Concord Savoy wagon with a pair of roof racks.
Let’s go to Provincetown, Massachusetts, and stop at Duarte Motors where there weren’t any Chevrolet’s or Oldsmobile’s in view. It looks like they were AAA approved and sold Texaco gas products, and a two tone 1951 DeSoto Sportsman 2 door hardtop was parked at the pumps. It was available in either the Custom 6, or Fire Dome 8 series. The tower in the background is the Pilgrim Monument.
Philadelphia was our next stop, where a 1949 or 1950 Chevrolet 4400 series Advance Design with a beverage body had a load of Hires Root Beer. On the right edge was a 1949 Ford with a sun visor. Across the river (that was not visible) in the background was Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
We are off to Millington, Tennessee, to view a small business district from the late 1950’s. It was a cool day, and the locals were out and about. In the right lower corner was a 1955 or 1956 Mercury Montclair Coupe. Directly behind it was a white 1956 Buick, and two behind it was a black 1958 Ford, the newest in sight. Across the street at the curb was another Mercury, a blue 1955 Monterey 4 door sedan. Next was a black 1949 Chevrolet, and then a two tone 1956 Plymouth Savoy.
Cattaraugus, New York was the next stop, where we see the Gregory Dairy truck during Christmas season in a 1962 photo. The truck was based on a 1956 Ford F-100 or F-250, with a special body geared toward deliveries with two sliding doors for easy entry and exiting. In the background left was an early Ford Econoline van, and the others were too blurry to pinpoint.
Washington D.C. appears to have been the location in this image, where a lady was posing with three cars that well covered the range of cars available in the mid-1950’s. The 1956-1958 Metropolitan convertible on the left had a District of Columbia license plate, and the 1956 Ford Country Sedan or Parklane may have as well. To the right was a 1956 Packard Four Hundred 2 door hardtop, one of 3224 made in that final year of the “real” Packard.
Here was a parade of police motorcycles in an unknown location. With all the spectators I am sure something more exciting was down the street heading this way, unless this was the end. The time period appears to be the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.
On the left edge was the nose of a white 1958 Cadillac, while in the traffic heading away was a GMC “Old-Look” bus. To it right was a light blue 1959 DeSoto, black 1952 Mercury, and a white 1958 Pontiac.
A family had stopped at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant that could have been most anywhere. Their transportation was a well optioned 1954 Plymouth Belvedere convertible. It had a continental kit, wire wheel covers, whitewall tires, and was yellow inside and out.
A new structure was underway at Vann’s Mobile Village, or so it seemed. Down the road was an establishment that sold beer and Coca-Cola, and barely off the road was a 1960 Ford Fairlane 500 sedan with a Maryland license plate and three occupants. Heading this way was a 1950 or 1951 Studebaker.
This one was in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and dated July of 1968. Along with your ice cream treats you could get Gulf Marine fuel for 39 cents a gallon.
The parking lots were GM heavy, beginning with a blue 1966 Chevrolet full size in the foreground. Next was a turquoise 1965 Pontiac Catalina, and a black 1965 Chevrolet Impala 4 door with at least one Super Sport wheel cover. Then a white 1967 Impala wagon, and in the background a white 1965 Oldsmobile 88 Holiday Sedan. Others in the mix were a Jeep CJ with a home crafted half top, perhaps a mid 1950’s International S series boom truck, and a red Volkswagen Type 1.
For our final stop today we are back in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Commercial Street. It was a busy day and they named that street very well.
The first car we can see was a 1968 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser wagon very much like the one my parents had when I was a teenager. Ahead of it looks like a 1967 Buick Special Deluxe 2 door hardtop.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
I suspect the police motorcycles are part of a funeral procession for a fallen police officer.
They’re behind the hearse.
I live about 1/2 mile from there. I lived there when that picture was taken. That “unknown ” area is on the corner of Sepulveda blvd ( motorcycles heading north on it) and Manchester Ave. Since LAX is to the south – notice control tower in the distance- it could be a presidential motor cade, either Eisenhower or more probably Kennedy since I think Savon got there around ’60 when I was 10. You could get a nickel ice cream cone and then 3 candy bars for a dime,scoot across the street to the Loyola theater and watch a first run movie for 50 cents.
I thought that was the Westchester area. My mom used to treat us to ice cream at that very Sav-On Drugs. I noticed the Loyola theater on the left.
Just wanted to say thank you, many of those photos took me back to my childhood. Grandparents, Mom all long passed. We did alot of traveling and had many great summers. Ho Jo’s was always the favorite meal break.
The “Good Humor”, pic is quite possibly part of the “P/town”, series.. Looks a bit “New England”, seaside. The “DC”, pic is interesting. “Nash”, “Packard”, about the same color. The # of blue, rides in the opening pic is interesting.
Hi Patrick, Thanks for the wonderful pictures. In the Phili picture with the Root Beer Truck, Is that a train I see going by behind the truck and cars? I think that is a racoon tail in the first picture.
I’m thinking your location for your Philadelphia picture is 26th and Spruce Streets, since swallowed up by Schyulkill River Park.. The signal head was a Baltimore& Ohio RR signal: their Philadelphia station was a block NE of the photo location: the CSX uses that as an alternate route for their East Coast north-south freights through Philly. One more thing: on the right is The Palestra, the home of U of P basketball, and a historic, if small, basketball facility; it’s hosted NCAA Men’s Division 1 tournament games, High School playoff games, and even NBA Playoff games in 1968.
Thank you for the reply. It always amazes me that some one in the audience recognizes the location and knows so much about it. Thanks for sharing. You must be a Basketball fan. I just love looking at these old pictures, the buildings,the people, how they dressed, what they drove,and the colorful signage. Thanks again for the info.
In the first pic the special body is most likely for dropping off newspaper bundles for local delivery without having to fully stop. Of interest is the single high mounted (presumably brake) light just in case the young men’s legs block the view of the standard lights.
The Gregory Dairy has been covered in a prior posting.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-snapshots-and-photography/vintage-snapshot-gregorys-dairy-cattaraugus-ny-1962-here-comes-fresh/
Thank you, thank you. So nice to recall our collective past.
The parade of police motorcycles is probably in Southern California, as that is where Sav-On drugs (visible in the background) did most of their business.
I’d take that ’56 Packard 400 hardtop, nice color combo.
That parade scene may be Sepulveda Blvd, just north of LAX. I believe that is the old Loyola movie theater on the left.
^^^^I tried for a while with #11 (after the two “snow” photos), and it does appear to be Los Angeles. I could be off course, but Loyola Theater was on Sepulveda, and here’s a list of Sav-On locations (as of 1963) that perhaps confirms all this.
The Studebaker approaching the 1960 Ford is a 1950.
On the pictures from the 40’s & early 50’s, they have been colorized, right?
I have only seen black/white pics of that era, and noted the stability of even those B/W prints, compared to the film we used in the 70’s and 80’s.
I don’t think any of these shots are colorized. There was color film in the ’40s and ’50s, it was just more expensive. The attached ad is from 1949.
These are all Kodachrome color slides that have been scanned. Kodachrome was introduced in 1935, and became quite popular. There were other color films before it, but they had certain limitations. Kodachrome became the gold standard for color film because the colors do not fade with time, unlike the case with Ektachrome and others.
I’ve had pretty decent color stability on Ektachrome slides taken from 1974 and later when the then-new E-4 (and from 1976, E-6) process was first used for developing, the latter which is still used for almost all color slide film today. There is a sort of graininess to the photos, hard to explain but they sometimes look like old brochure photos, without the ultra-real colors and lack of grain that make Kodachromes look like they were taken a just a few hours ago. Older Ektachrome formulations from the ’50s and ’60s (E-2 or E-3 process) are evil though; by now nearly everything shot on it has turned monochrome red and white.
I don’t know much about Anscochrome (later GAF) but the slides I have from the ’50s/’60s still have reasonable color, if slightly faded. 3M Dynachrome was a Kodachrome clone and they hold up well for the same reasons. Kodachrome processing was a very complex task requiring expensive, elaborate equipment and experienced lab operators. As for Kodacolor prints, they fade some with blue skies becoming aquamarine, but if you still have the negatives they hold up better.
Than, you for this nostalgic moments. I miss those days.
I love antique cars!!!!!!!
Thank you for these images of my childhood .
The cut away body delivery truck in the #1 image was called a “Canopy Express” and were mostly used as in town delivery trucks, many were vegetable trucks that slowly cruised residential neighborhoods .
I remember Provincetown, Mass. in the 1960’s it was always crowded but had terrific campgrounds we’d stay in .
-Nate