Text by Patrick Bell.
Today we have a gallery of cars used in weddings. Some of these were obviously a “getaway” car, where someone chauffeured the bride and groom to another destination. Meanwhile, many were likely simpler ceremonies where the newlyweds used their own car to escape the festivities when the time came. Mine was of the latter variety; I had a ’69 Chrysler Newport that we used to go on our weekend honeymoon. The car is long gone, but thankfully, I still have the wife.
There was plenty of room for the whole wedding party in this V8 powered ’59 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan. In front of it was a ’64 Ford Galaxie 500 with some in-process body work. The Impala looks in much better condition than the Galaxie, yet it was five years older. There was another photographer at work on the far right.
It was a beautiful day for a wedding likely in California where the wedding party was climbing aboard this ’54 Oldsmobile Super 88 4 door sedan. Behind it was a ’59 Ford, and across the street a ’57 or ’58 Dodge.
Everyone looks happy except the driver of this sharp ’54 Plymouth Belvedere Convertible Coupe equipped with wire wheel covers. This was one of 6,900 drop tops built that year.
Plymouths must have been popular wedding cars as we have another ’54 Belvedere, this one a 4 door sedan. And there’s another ’54 4 door sedan across the street. The decorating was underway. A search reveals this was the wedding of Bruce and Bette in 1957.
I am not sure if this was the bride and groom, with the difference in clothing style, I would say it was not. The wedding car was a close to new ’55 Buick Special 2 door Riviera from Ohio. The license frame says “Bill’s Buick”, so that may have been Bill in the photo.
“Just Married – Watch ……….. ! – Don’t laff it kood happen to you!” All that on the back of a ’55 Mercury Montclair 4 door sedan from LaPorte County, Indiana.
A group was checking out the newlyweds’ ’60 or ’61 Plymouth Valiant in the driveway of a mid-century home. In the street was a white over red ’58 Ford Fairlane Club Victoria with a ’57 Ford wheel cover, a Morris Minor Tourer, and a ’59 Oldsmobile Super 88 4 door sedan.
Now here was a nice wedding car, a ’59 Cadillac Sixty-Two Six Window Sedan. The wedding was taking place at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church which was built in 1940 and is still in operation. Rudy’s Odorless Cleaners is also still in operation across the street. They are located on the 4900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, the old Route 66. At the curb was a gray ’49 or ’50 Chevrolet and a coral ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air.
The newlywed couple was getting in a very nice ’61 Chevrolet Impala convertible equipped with a V8, trailer hitch, and California license plates, perhaps heading off to their honeymoon. It seems like an unusual place to be trading cars. To the right was a ’58 Dodge.
A sharp ’62 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport convertible was serving as the “getaway” car here, with the bride and groom climbing aboard. The neighborhood kids were observing in the background, and they don’t seem too impressed. On the left, a tan ’59 or ’60 Studebaker Lark with a ’62 issue Illinois license plate.
People were milling about likely waiting for the newlyweds to emerge from the church. The car in waiting was a ’62 Ford Falcon Tudor Sedan with a ’71 issue Ohio license plate. It looks fairly solid for a nine year old car.
This was probably the bride as I see a wedding band, with the groom serving as photographer. They were in the traveling phase of their honeymoon in a ’64 Plymouth Valiant Barracuda. The Barracuda was introduced 17 days before the Mustang, but it was not near the hit, with sales less than 20% of the Ford. On the left edge is a Mercedes-Benz W110 or W111 Fintail.
“Tennessee or Bust”. I presume since this ’67 Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe was still decorated, the married couple had not left for their destination. It was equipped with a vinyl roof, full wheel covers, and triple whitewall tires. Next to it looks like a ’72 or ’73 Chrysler Newport Custom 2 door hardtop.
Here was another crowd waiting for the new bride and groom to work their way out to the ’77 or ’78 Ford Thunderbird at the curb. It was from California and that also looks like the location.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
And Hopefully, They all lived happily ever after! 💕 💞. Now entering the Golden Years ✨
There’s one extremely rare car in those pics I wonder if any can figure ?
Studebaker Lark behind the 1962 Chevrolet?
That would be the car transporting the virgin to her wedding.
Rudy’s Odorless Cleaners isn’t the best product placement for a formal wedding with rented limo! But maybe it was a good reminder when the bride later needed help with household drudgery.
I used my 1938 Buick special sedan in 1976 in my wedding.. Can’t find the pic with the ex sitting on the fender… Had the car for 9 years total. Eventually sold it to pay off a visa bill. Should have kept the Buick and dumped the wife then…!! Buick never gave me a problem…!!!
My brother’s father-in-law owned a ’39 Buick limousine and was the chauffeur for the memorable evening. (No disrespect, but it made that 38 special sedan look rather short.)
When it was time for the bride and groom to make their departure, the driver (father) was sufficiently lubricated to the point where he shouldn’t have been driving. Pulling out from the entrance to the club it was plain to see he would hit a concrete post and all of us tried to stop him. Taking that as a challenge, he proceeded to go forward and hit back fender with a big crunch. There was an immediate switch of drivers.
Close. Mine was a 37 Special 2-door, it didn’t take part in my (first) wedding as the entire family was boycotting (parents deliberately, sister because dad was paying for Medical School) and the car was parked at home. No available garage at the place we moved into.
Six years later, the folks (sorta speaking to us at this point) wondered if I could use it for my sister’s wedding – unfortunately, the couple of years sitting while we were on the outs hadn’t been completely fixed yet.
The car got sold about a year later, motorcycles had taken over.
Tom Wasney’s comment is my morning laugh. Thanks, Tom. I hope that your life is peaceful now. I would have kept the Buick, too.
Luckily our wedding in 1971 was the best thing I ever did. Our church car was this 1964 Cadillac Fleetood 75, and our honeymoon car, which we drove from MD to Sqaum Lake NH and back was our trusty ’67 Volvo 122s, which we kept for 10 more years. Both the car and the wife proved to be a great choice!
Squam Lake is where “On Golden Pond” was filmed. The story takes place in Maine but was filmed in NH.
I wish I had taken pictures of our Grand Am rental car that we used for our wedding, but I guess my mind was on more important things. A friend of my wife’s offered to decorate the Grand Am, by we politely declined. I remember after the wedding the first thing we did as a married couple was to go through a Wendy’s Drive-Through because we were both famished.
Morris Minor appears to have a ’63-on California black plate. Terrain, plants and houses look like coastal Southern California.
The Morris looks out of place and dowdy next to the mid century Americana.
It needs a cut-and-polish and a bumper straightening. That and putting the top down’ll fit it in a lot better.
No 9 with the red Impala looks like it’s parked on the scrubland that was the entrance to the Batcave in the 1960s TV show.
“Wild times tonight”………………..Bwa-ha-ha-ha !!!
My getaway ‘car’ was our 1997 Electra Glide! We got married in Oct of that year, the bike was bought on July 3rd. We are still married, and have that bike, but also have a bunch of others that came along since. That was my first bike to learn to ride on at age 40. I still have my 2003 Electra Glide, and my 2005 Screamin Eagle Electra Glide CVO.
My mother said it was the style in the 40s/50s for some of the guests to chase the bride & groom out of town in their own cars. One of her cousins had a fairly serious accident that way, so she disapproved.
I am a runner and in the 90s a group of us would go and run a race in the US a couple of times a year. As we live in Ontario, it would often be a 12 hour or more drive. As none of us had a large car, we would often rent Cadillac or Lincoln for the weekend. We seemed to get some very good deals with no mileage limits. One of my friends finally asked about it and they said that these cars were generally rented for weddings, so they never got much mileage put on them, thus the good deals for us.
I covered my brother’s getaway car in racy puns on famous novel titles (they’re both big readers). He was not pleased the next day because cars kept using their high beams to read them. Then the valet at the hotel before they left for Hawaii left their keys in someone else’s car, and her wonderful mother had forgotten to make the hotel reservation.
I like these pictures, memories of a different time .
I was married in Los Angles in June of 1976 and my buddy Billy Bad Ass used his ex police metro car, a 1971 Doge was our escape car . we had no idea how to properly attach the flowers like shown here so all of them one by one flew off once we hit the freeway home .
I think the Padre knew better than I because he locked me into the church a couple hours before the wedding .
I’m still friends with my ex but I too should have kept the ’55 VW #117 instead or her .
Ah, youth ~ young and dumb and full of (ourselves) =8-) .
-Nate
I think that’s aRambler next to the Barracuda; my late parents had a red ’60 Impala for a wedding car in December 1963