This collection of postcards will be varied, from gift shops to daily services and even a few attractions. Random ones that have been accumulating, and that altogether, offer a colorful glimpse of services and needs as they presented themselves in the past. And as always, all with a good assortment of cars, of course.
Our first image, above, the Factory Store, Brattleboro, Vermont, with an eclectic selection of cars in front.
The Shell Factory, Fort Myers, Florida.
Kadoka Junction Souvenirs and Cafe, South Dakota.
Orange Blossom Groves, Largo, Florida.
Bank of the Commonwealth, Detroit, Michigan.
The Farmer’s Daughter Gift Barn, St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
Treasure City Store in Saumico, Wisconsin.
Fort Pedro Fireworks, South Of The Border, South Carolina.
C & J Glass, North Arlington, New Jersey.
Stamp Coin Retail Store, Hamilton, Ontario.
Chum’s Tourist Supplies, Maple Creek Trans Canada Campground.
Lots of rarities in the same place! Stepdown, Jet, Airflyte, and Buick Special ‘stripper’ sedanet in pic 2. (Maybe the business coupe?) I’ve never seen a Jet in pictures. Then Fiat 1100 and Simca Aronde in pic 7.
Wonderful pictures! Everything’s so colorful! I wish I had a time machine to see all that in person!
Anyone can id the dark little car to left of the Corvair on the Factory Store, Vermont? How about the gray/white one at the right corner?
Fiat 1100, and Simca Aronde, I think.
It wouldn’t be a completely assorted collection of Mid-Century architectural kitsch without an image of The (italics) Shell Factory!
The Shell Factory still exists in all of its 1950s glory!
Pedro’s South of the Border on 1-95 near Dillon SC still exists with an array of billboards touting it on 95.
And it’s just as much of a trash heap as it was back then. We’ll stop by once every few years on our annual St. Augustine trips and I swear it never changes. They added EV fast charging a couple of years ago, and that’s about it. It’s on I-95 now, but I remember the family dropping by on our 1957 Florida vacation (my first time in St. Augustine), and there was no Interstate back then. Would it have been on US1?
It’s a relic of the days when consumer-grade fireworks were illegal in North Carolina. So people just drove to South Carolina and Tennessee and smuggled them back home.
The place started back in 1949(? – going on memory here) as a place to buy beer, since you couldn’t in NC. They sell a t-shirt with the whole story on the front.
While no longer only promoting handbags, gloves and moccasins (or maybe not even selling them at all), the Factory Store in Brattleboro still stands and still is an outlet for something…ladies underwear it would appear from the recent Google photo.
This place though has been a highway landmark since the 1960s and for generations of people driving north, it was the indicator (right at the first VT exit on 91 – or probably Rt. 5 before that) that one had entered Vermont.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/udYftz1yuQost9B88
As the first photo illustrates, with its compacts and subcompacts, Vermont was, and still is, the home of the small, affordable car. There has long been significant poverty among the year-round population, but everyone needs a car to get over the hill to town.
Ramblers, Fiat and Simca all in that first picture. Stellantis outnumbering Ford and GM!
Is that a 1961 DeSoto at the Orange Blossom? A possible 1967 Meteor at the Coin & Stamp Shop in Hamilton.
It could be a ’61 DeSoto, but more likely the same year Chrysler (can’t see the taillights to be sure).
I looked at 1960 & 61 Chrysler & DeSoto brochures on line. The side trim is definitely DeSoto. In both years DeSoto’s had a full length chrome strip. In 1960 Chrysler’s chrome strip was lower and ended at the front wheel well, in 1961 Chrysler’s chrome strip was higher and was not straight with the rear 2/3rds on top of the tail fin.
Chum’s in Canada may have been the inspiration in Sponge Bob Square Pants for Plankton’s restaurant “The Chum Bucket”.
Best as I can tell, the site of Stamps Coins Retail store in Hamilton, Ontario was at 136 Centennial Pkwy. It now seems the be the site of a small strip mall.
Second pics the Shell Factory , where the Step-Down sea cucumbers gather. Today’s very popular pick-ups which are becoming widespread as personal cars should take note of this old Hudson ad.
Wonderful pictures, I can’t say I ever visited any of these places but my nose was certainly pressed against the side glass of Pop’s car as we’d go by .
-Nate
Thanks Rich! So much to appreciate here.This might be the best yet! Cheers
Great postcards, just some quick ID’s for today.
#1 Brattleboro. Left to right a ivory over gold ’63 or ’64 Rambler Classic 4 door sedan, white ’63 Ford Fairlane 500, blue ’61-’63 Rambler American, black Fiat 1100, gold ’64 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Coupe, blue ’64 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Sports Coupe, and a white ’55-’58 Simca 90A Aronde 4 door saloon.
#2 Ft. Myers. Left to right a ’50 Buick Special 2 door Sedanette, ’49 or ’50 Nash Airflyte 4 door sedan, ’53 Hudson Super Jet, and a ’53 Hudson 4 door sedan.
#3 S. Dakota. A black ’54 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan and an ivory over brown ’56 Plymouth Savoy 4 door sedan.
#4 Largo. From the left a ’58 GMC flatbed, ’48-’53 Studebaker flatbed, a last year ’61 DeSoto 2 door hardtop, and a ’57 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Sedan.
#5 Detroit. Almost all ’59 models. From the left a green Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan, white Mercury, white Chevrolet 2 door sedan, white over brown Chevrolet 4 door sedan, black Chevrolet, and a white ’58 Imperial 4 door.
#6 St. Johnsbury. From the left a white over red ’63 Rambler Classic 4 door sedan in the background, white over red ’61 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 or Super 88 Fiesta wagon, white ’60 Chrysler Windsor or New Yorker wagon, and a white over brown ’59 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 4 door sedan.
#7 Saumico. From the left a black ’61 Dodge Lancer 770 2 door hardtop, green ’63 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan, red ’63 Rambler Classic 550 4 door sedan, and a white ’57 Dodge Suburban 2 door wagon.
#8 South of the Border. In the foreground convertible row with a black over red ’67 Plymouth Fury III and a white over red ’64 Mercury Monterey. In the background on the left a blue ’68 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon with a pop up tent trailer, and over further to the right a black over white ’66 Chrysler 300 2 door hardtop.
#9 N. Arlington. From the left a ’59 Ford Custom 300 Fordor, ’63 Dodge Dart 170 4 door sedan, ’65 Buick Electra 225 2 door hardtop, and a ’65 Chevrolet Biscayne wagon.
#10 Hamilton. From the left a blue ’64 Dodge 330 4 door sedan, a little darker blue ’69 Plymouth Valiant 100 4 door sedan, white ’58 Ford Country Sedan, black ’67 Meteor or Mercury 2 door hardtop, and an orange ’65 Chevrolet C series stepside.
#11 Maple Creek. On the left a ’69 Ford XL Sportsroof and to the a ’64 Ford Custom 500 4 door sedan. I’m not sure about the one in the background, perhaps a Karmann Ghia.
The Farmer’s Daughter barn is still standing in Saint J but has been closed for several years now.
I like the sign lettering on the C&J Glass building. Reminds me of every rockabilly revival album from the late ’70s early ’80s.
Love the old tourist traps, gift shops and the old cars.. we would go to cape cod for a week every summer. My Dad was from Mass but settled in Hyde Park NY after ww2.. There were three cool shops on rt.28 in the south yarmouth area. Treasure chest, which was styled after a giant treasure chest, Moby Dicks which had a huge white whale on its entry way roof and the barefoot trader that had foot prints going up the sidewalk in the concrete… They were big fun for my two older brothers and i. But we were warned pre entry, look but don’t touch… Bare foot trader is now a thrift store with profits going to aid mental health. The whale was moved down the street to a mini golf. The old gift shop thing went out a long time ago.. One old pic I got from a screen saver in the repurposed store and a shot of Moby Dick in his new location
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