For today, I wanted to share a series of images where the landscape was as important as the cars included. When -mostly- undisturbed, the beauty of nature is overpowering and sobering. And one of the joys of cars is their ability to take us to such places, to reacquaint ourselves with the essentials of life.
Nice, too bad we lose context with online photos and don’t know the location or story.
Always appreciate seeing a 60 Pontiac, first car I rode in on my way home from the hospital.
A great series of shots.
#2: The ’50 Cadillac Series 61 coupe is just like the one that used to grace our masthead. I went to visit it and its owner recently; it’s still sitting outside and its patina continues to blossom.
#3: That’s a turbocharged Corvair Monza Spyder out there in the great West. The woman looks like she’s checking her cell phone, but more likely adjusting the focus of her dual-lens top-view camera.
#5: Sweet trailer behind the Ford in Death Valley?
#6: A gem. What a bucolic scene, and what a great combination of car and trailer. I’d love to have that set.
#8. Where did all the ’63 Plymouths go? Compared to ’63 Chevys and Fords, it almost looks so…unfamiliar, even though I saw a fair umber of them back in the day. Have we ever done a CC on one? Oh yes, but way back in 2012, but it’s never been rerun.
#9. Looks like my part of the world. Are there elk out in that meadow? I’d like to have seen the USA in a ’60 Bonneville.
That 60 Pontiac brings memories of a spring break trip my family took in 1970 in a 1960 Ventura 4 door hard top
SWEET ! .
Picture #2, I wish I was there in the Caddy Coupe .
-Nate
That Corvair looks to be a LONG way from home.
Exactly my first impression!
Few would tackle these “off road” roads without 4WD, 12″ of clearance and why won’t my GPS connect?
I’ve done my share of driving around the US and taking some rather lonely roads. These pics made me realize something that I didn’t really think about before: Just how much we rely on our vehicles to take us where we want to go and do it without problems.
Some of those pics gave me a spooky feeling as they seemed to be years away from any real civilization. If that vehicle breaks down…………………
I think I watched a movie where that happened to group of college kids, Dan…
Haha. I think I’ve watched a few too many like that!
Looking at these pictures makes me want to hit the road.
My favorite here is the Ford with the teardrop trailer – to me, it looks like Badlands National Park, and the license plate looks like a 1961 Ohio House Trailer plate, so they’re a long ways from home.
And some of us still take pictures like these. The picture below is one that my wife took of me last year on a trip to the Great Outdoors:
I’ll put this up on the Internet so someone will post it on CC in 2075. Alaska, this summer.
56 Ford, not sure what model. But it’s definitely a 56. Salmon and White
I’d sure like to see some of those sights and with so little traffic. I remember growing up when we took cars off the beaten track. I think rustproofing was in it’s infancy as there was more dust in the car than out. Great pictures.
Top photo reminds me of the time my Dad and I went to the town dump in a ‘64 Impala wagon in the pouring ran. The road was nothing more than slick Mississippi red clay with deep ruts. Somehow, we made it in and out without getting stuck.
The “canned ham” trailer and (probably) V-8 Ford look typical for the times. I have never seen one quite like the one presumably pulled by the Chevy, lot of wind resistance for that 216ci six.
Along this theme, here’s a couple of snapshots from my Grandpa. The story is that he worked at Los Alamos National Lab in the 1940’s. On his days off, he would sometimes go out with friends/coworkers and explore the area. He had a Leica camera and at least for the photos he took in the 1940’s, he used Kodachrome (later he switched to Ektachrome… a lot of those photos are not as well preserved.
This photo is labeled “Several miles along road to Frijoles. 1/26/1947”.
Another one, labeled “John’s car, on highway, just north of Camel Rock. 3/23/1947”.
A reminder of how many dirt roads there still were mid-century.
There’s likely a forgotten skill of knowing how fast to drive in order to smooth out the bumps, while still keeping control of the car – in my memory, it was in the region of 40-45 mph, which always seemed too fast initially until you relaxed into it.
Ah , another beautiful ‘57 Olds .