Vintage Snapshots: Cars And Parades In The ’50s to ’70s – Celebrating the 4th Of July And More

text by Paul Niedermeyer     Americans have been celebrating the 4th of July with parades and other festivities since 1777. The nature of those celebrations has changed somewhat over the centuries, but Main Street parade featuring floats, marching bands, and attractive women riding on the back of open cars have been around for at least a hundred years. Let’s take a look at some of these parade cars and their riders from the ’50s to the ’70s, although not all of them are necessarily 4th of July parades. But it seems pretty safe to guess that these two being hauled by a 1959 Lincoln were part of an Independence Day parade.

This parade was a few years earlier, judging from the cars. The yellow Buick convertible is likely a 1952 model.

 

A 1951 Ford convertible heads up this group of open cars.

 

A spiffy new ’57 Ford Sunliner is sponsored by Ruth’s Beauty Salon. Yes, American parades are also an opportunity for businesses to get their name in front of a lot of eyeballs.

 

Miss Oregon 1958 is waving to the crowds from her perch on a 1958 Ford Sunliner.

 

TV’s Zorro makes an appearance in a white 1958 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight. Based on the Multnomah Hotel sign this is most likely in Portland, OR.

 

A kid is presumably looking for a handout from the woman in the 1954 Olds convertible. And a cop is about to intervene.

 

The Grand Marshal gets to ride in the grandest convertible of them all in 1959, a Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.

 

There’s a comment with this photo that says it’s from Berkeley, CA, and dated 11/11/61. The gals riding with that rocket are sporting some rockets of their own. The float, sponsored by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce is being pulled by a 1960 or 1961 Chevy pickup.

 

The license plate says “Ohio” and the cars say “1965” and the winter coats say something other than the 4th of July. Thanksgiving? Veteran’s Day? A ’65 Impala is in front, a ’65 Pontiac follows and there’s a ’65 Ford Galaxie 500 sedan parked in front of a ’62 Buick Special.

 

Miss Arcadia Cindy Clark and her court are riding on a 1969 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe. Looking good!

 

I can’t make out the writing on the signs, but if it’s a showdown between the ’65 Ford Galaxie 500 and ’67 Chevy Impala convertible, I’ll have to give the nod to the Chevy. It’s sporting a Turbo-Jet V8 emblem, most likely for the 396 but you never know.

 

Here’s an Official Hurst-Olds Indy 500 Pace Car, and the sign has these three names on it: Al Unser, Roger McCluskey and George Snider. That does look like it could be Al sitting back there facing away from the camera.

 

Now this is a little different on two accounts. One didn’t commonly see VW buses in parades, although a sunroof version would have made a great stand-up platform for a celebrity or politician. And the sign of course refers to Martin Luther King’s famous speech. The location has a decidedly LA feel to it, so I’m guessing it was some sort of celebration or commemoration in South Central LA.

 

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