Parking lot in Omaha.
Cypress Gardens, Florida.
Parking lot in California.
Butler, PA.
Sausalito, CA.
Downtown Los Angeles, CA.
Vintage Snapshots: A Few Parking Lots – 1950s To 1960s
– Posted on May 27, 2024
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Curbside Classics Archives
Loved spotting the Dalphine, the BMW that opens fron the front, and the Crosley.. The fist lot seemed to be from 1960 – BUT, a big 1965 GM coupe appears among all those 1950 cars. Quit blurry, cant tell what division. There are two Nash vehicles with that ugly Continental tire treatment hanging off their rears.. So nasty. My favorite? Impossible to choose.
What is that small green car in Sausalito?
Looks to me like an English Ford Consul Mk I/II.
What a treasure trove, Rich❗️
Top photo :
Fiat 500 Multipla – Never saw one in the wild, or even an in-the-wild photo.
A number of ’48-ish fastbacks (Plymouths, for ex.) looking so dated, even next to ’53 & ’54 USA cars.
But those fastbacks are quite comparable, next to ’63 Beetles.
Cypress Gdns & other photos —
all those colors !
Thx 😎
Green in sausalito. Early 50 ford zephyr?
Ford Consul Mk.1: shorter bonnet than the Zephyr as it has a four cylinder engine.
In the same picture, right hand end, there’s a Citroen DS/ID, facing away from us.
Boy has the market changed.. Just a handful of station wagons, and one pickup/
SUV’s replaced station wagons! I can see the need for choosing vehicles higher from the ground to prevent getting stuck in high water, or heavy rain. Also, the need for wider visibility that a low station wagon can’t provide! However, style wise, a station wagon is sleeker and more beautiful overall! Now, because they were lower there was less air friction which meant a quieter ride! But mainly, they were less prone to tip over during accidents because of their lower center of gravity! Anyway, I’d love to see some station wagons back in the market cause they were more elegant as well like the 1961 Ford Galaxy wagon! 😀
Maybe suvs were a long con where they removed the cost of designing the station wagons and just plonked a cabin on an already designed truck….
In the beginning, SUVs were truck based. But the enormously more popular crossovers are not. Crossovers are the much more useful iteration of the station wagon.
The last wagon I know offered by a US company was the Buick Regal Tour X. It was a sales dud and was quickly dropped. Anyone who pines for old school wagons, should have snatch one up at that time proving the demand and perhaps others would be moved to produce them.
That “Butler PA”, shot is taken in “Alameda Park”. I believe it’s from when the church of the “Nazarene” would use the park for activities, meet ups.
There actually are/were “parking areas”. They likely filled up with the volume of attendee’s.
5th Photo:
Think I see a red Karmann Ghia convertible in the top row, far left. Sitting next to the ’59 Chevy.
Time to crank up my Time Machine, there’s plenty that I like!!!!!!
In the Sausalito picture the Consul, DS, Dauphine and multiple Beetles were “easy”. But what’s the small white van on the right, closer to the camera than the Citroen? A 2CV van, or a small Thames van?
I’m 97.653% certain it’s a Crosley wagon. But I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
In the Butler,PA photo there’s a’56 Ford Fairlane, green & white two door hardtop in the far back, sideways to the camera. My folks owned one like that ( except we lived in Newport Beach during that period). Lots of great memories.
I’d forgotten just how large the Hudson (with the continental kit) really was.
Thanks for posting these. Besides street scenes, the parking lot shots are a favorite.
I liked the “Falcon cousins”, side by side, in my growing up hometown..The big “Chrysler”, or “Desoto”,up the hill a bit is waay cool too.
The parking lot in California shows a yellow 58 Ford wagon in front of a black 57 Chevy. With that as a reference, if you look back about 5 rows there is a black Model T ish car parked facing away from the camera. It’s the oldest car that I’ve spotted in these pics by a long shot. Of all of the cars pictured here only one has gained market share since these pictures were taken. There is a Jeep station wagon parked behind the English Ford.
five minutes, just five minutes. well maybe ten minutes. ok, a half an hour.
So many colors! Hardly a gray one in any of these.
Today’s first photo is facing north at our Nebraska Univ. @ Omaha, circa 1962. This huge lot is now consumed by at least 3 buildings with walkways, so it’s gone. (Somewhere in this photo I’m told a friend’s older brother drove a copper `59 Sport Fury HT to school.)
Last American wagon that I know of….cancelled for slow sales
I believe that the two cars that Vanilla Dude referred as Nashes are Hudsons. Same basic body but not as ugly as the Nashes were.b Headlights in fenders….not in grill and no front wheel skirting.
And really an Opel made in Germany.
I too first thought ‘! all those wonderful colors !’ =8-) .
Also nice to see others have sharp eyes, I missed the Crosley but spotted the Red ‘Ghia rag top and Dauphine, once a very common car in America .
Can anyone make out what’s written on the back of the Oval Window VW in the parking lot ? .
TIA,
-Nate