On today’s gallery, let’s revisit Buicks during some of its glorious days of the ’50s and ’60s. The images feature a mix of drivers, owners, and admirers posing alongside these Flint products, with attitudes that range from jolly to proud.
Vintage Snapshots: Buick People In The ’50s-’60s – Portholes And Sweep Spears
– Posted on November 9, 2024
Great pictures!
Does anyone know what the bags hanging from the front bumper in picture 3 are for? Are they filled with sand or salt that could be used for traction if needed in the snow?
I was just curious – I am from the southern US, so I know next to nothing about winter driving, but that is all I could think of.
Water bags for the desert. They were on the bumper to keep them cool. Looks like the family is in California, getting the Death Valley to Mountain Snow experience!
The guy’s wearing short sleeves, too.
We used one of those bags driving from Needles AZ to San Diego in the summer. Dad shut off the A/C for part of the day, too.
They are surprising to see in a picture with snow, since they “desert” water bags.
https://www.marquettehistory.org/blog/canvas-water-bags
Interesting too that the car has Virginia license plates (with a topper from Waynesboro). They’re a long way from home. I’m guessing the couple were on an extended road trip to the Southwest, and just kept the bags on the car because it beats trying to find a place for big dirty bags in the trunk. Neat picture though!
It snows in the desert, at least in the western US. Often quite a bit.
They are water bags, called desert bags, because the fabric allows some of the water to come to the surface and as it evaporates, it cools the water.
Realistically, in this application it was more likely to be used for the engine in case of overheating than for the passengers to drink, as folks typically had insulated water/drink jugs in the car for that purpose.
Importantly, the evaporation cools the air flowing past it to the radiator, which needs it.
I rather severely doubt that the small amount of cooled air coming off that bag would have made a difference.
Thanks for these Mr Baron. The water bags on the third picture were never a thing here in the UK. I first became aware of them watching Zabriski Point, there’s one on the 53 (from memory) Buick driven by the beautiful Daria Halprin. The guy in the second picture looks like he’s hit the big time.
Something to be proud of then .
Grandmaw, _please_ stop holding the doors by the window ! .
-Nate
Those are Flax “Evaporative cooling” bags full of water .
Pep Boys sold them well into the late 1970’s, I tossed out my last one in 1988 or so .
-Nate
Your best set, yet, Rich!
Great cars …. sharp dressers …..
Bring back the:
Whitewalls
Hardtops (pillarless)
Fender skirts
Chrome bumpers
Three-on-the-tree’s
Four-on–the-floor’s
😎
Great collection of pics. Subtle colour palettes, we are seeing re-popularized today.
The green, sixties, “LeSabre”; radio antenna on drivers,side? Not sure I remember that from then.
I think the picture of the older lady with the green ’62 LeSabre is one of those odd time-warp pictures.
The trash bins in the back are from a modern decade, and enlarging the photo seems to show some kind of modern SUV in the parking lot to the left in the background. It’s a great picture, and I doubt it’s an intentional retro photo – the fact that it may be more modern than the 1960s makes it even better.
I see what you mean, plastic wheels bin and an indistinct 2000 up SUV in the distant background behind the trees to the left.
I like the winter scene the best – at first I thought the roof was covered with snow, but no that’s just white paint. Great illusion though.
Quite run-down building behind the tomato-colored ’58.
My feet hurt just looking at the lady in the blue dress with those ridiculously high and pointy heels.
’60 Invicta two door HT in Tampico red.
Is that Andy Griffith posing with the 1950 convertible?
It is strangely difficult to get a full-view photo of mid-1950s Buicks in their most notable role, a television drama. Here is a partial view of a 1955 Buick Century with the star of the show.
Thanks for the great photos. I really enjoy this feature.
#1 ’52 Super 4 door sedan with the DynaFlow transmission.
#2 ’50 Super convertible.
#3 ’51 Super 4 door sedan from Virginia with some sort of attachment on the hood ornament.
#4 ’51 Special Deluxe from California, going by the lack of chrome on the front upper edge of the door.
#5 ’55 Special or Century 4 door Riviera, the first year for the hardtop. They are heading to or from church, perhaps to officiate at a wedding.
#6 ’55 Century 4 door Riviera.
#7 ’58 Super 4 door Riviera from New Jersey.
#8 ’60 LeSabre 2 door hardtop in a redwood forest?
#9 ’62 LeSabre 4 door hardtop with a power antenna and aluminum window shades.
#10 ’63 Wildcat 2 door Sport Coupe with bucket seats and a console.
#11 ’61 Invicta 2 door hardtop.
Thanks again!
Patrick, That is a wind-snow deflector on the 51 Super, pic #3. How something that small works I don’t know.
Thanks, Rich. I recalled later that it might be a bug deflector, which essentially has the same effect as what you are saying. I guess they split the wind and whatever is in it enough to keep it off the windshield, or at least that was the principle involved.
I think #5 is a Special because the end of the last letter’s script is barely showing in front of her dress. The Century script’s ending has a different look.
For fans of Buicks, having remembered that Nick Nolte’s character, Max Hoover drove a ’49 Roadmaster in Mulholland Falls, I found: https://www.imcdb.org/vehicles_make-Buick_model-Roadmaster.html, and there you’ll find 27 pages of photos Roadmasters and the films or shows in which they were featured. Enjoy.
I’d hide that ’58 fin if I owned it, too.
When Buicks were classy cars and you KNEW they were Buicks instead of looking like everything else on the road.
The grill on that 1950 probably weighs more than most of the cars nowadays !
My first car, a hand-me-down 1950 Buick Super from my Grandma Babe. The toothiest grille ever!
The 58 Buick fin is just a bloated version of the 57 Chevy fin!
Great takes me back that’s when cars and trucks where michigan iron.what happened. Well you and I know.
In retrospect, it surprises me that Detroit allowed the difference between track and body width to increase as it did during the ‘fifties, before Pontiac finally addressed the issue in 1959. Was this a case of Engineering resisting a trend that Styling (and Sales) were happy to exploit–width being seen as desirable, along with increased length, square corners and low rooflines ? The cavernous inset of wheels within fenders must have bothered at least some designers, don’t you think ?
My grandparents owned Buicks for many years. They married in 1922 and owned a ‘20 Buick 4 door sedan. Later they owned a ‘37 Roadmaster, kept it during the Depression and World War Two and traded it in during the fall of ‘49 for a ‘50 Riveria two door hardtop. I remember asking my Granddad to “roll all the windows down “. They kept it and years later bought a ‘57 Caballero wagon in colors called ‘oxblood’ and ‘ivory’.
One doesn’t see such brand loyalty anymore.
Thank you for posting these pictures. Such memories of a bygone time.
Those evaporative cooling bags are a new one on me. Learn something new everyday. I just figured the bags on the bumpers were a fashion accessory to match the bags under the eyes of the owners. The average age of a Buick owner tended to be older. 🤪
And reading these comments my word some of you people know your Buicks! Amazing trove of knowledge!
Love this front bumper on 56 Buick
Great photos and itemization by Dan F. Thanks for all of your comments. As for brand loyalty, I got behind the wheel of a 1986 CMC Safari on October 4, 1985. Since then, I have driven only GNC’s. My latest is a 2024 Acadia. I still have not seen another of this iteration on the road. I took delivery on September 27th. GM does not even advertise the new Acadia. It fits the modicum of spaciousness and old-style height that Detroit dissolved when they made vehicles longer and lower. It’s a cruiser, not a bruiser.
I’ll add myself and my ‘lark to the list
No pictures but I had a ‘66 Buick GS that I bought used back in the early ‘70’s. I loved that car, drove it for years. It reminded me of my ‘65 442 only not nearly as fast. How ever it did have power steering and power brakes.
#5, the ’55 4-door hardtop takes the cake for me. He looks like my grandfather at about that time, and the omission of two-tone on the body lets the surfacing and trim do the talking. The top matched perfectly. Lovely car!
I find the 60s cars to be lacking what the 50s cars had. Swing, fullness, shapeliness. It would have been interesting to see what an Earl rather than Mitchell-led Sixties era would have produced.
Back in the late 40s and into the 50s Buick was considered the “Doctors Car” After all in those days doctors made house calls. Remember Buick use to have a slogan ” When better automobiles are built, Buick will build them”