This is another gallery of images that offer a good deal of armchair (or virtual-chair) traveling through time and locations. It features cars either visiting, arriving, or near forest areas. Clearly, all of these belong to special trips, be it a plain vacation, picnicking, or camping.
As with most of these randomly found images, there’s no information on dates or locations. That except for one, the lede image, which was taken at Big Thompson Canyon in Colorado.
More Vintage Snapshot Galleries Here
Awsome scenery in some of these pics!
Looks like the ’48 Olds is wearing snow tires.
You mean the ’49 convertible? Back then these high traction tires were called “mud and snow” tires, and folks who ventured off pavement often used them year-round for extra traction. I ran a set of them on the back of my Dodge A100 van to give it better traction in the desert and mountains.
No ;
I’m pretty sure he’s referring to the 195? Hard Top Coupe, it clearly has rear snow tires .
Like you, I used them for better traction on dirt/mud roads way back when .
It’s on a well maintained hard pack dirt road .
-Nate
Sorry Paul, the blue Olds cvt. is definitely a `48 Olds 98. The hood emblem is the clue.
True that.
Might that first photo be Big Thompson Canyon in Colorado, not California? Scene of many floods including a big one in 1976.
Holy cow, I hoped they were able to save that Studebaker. That little rope hooked to the back corner doesn’t look like much insurance, lol.
Big Thompson Canyon is in Colorado, not California, and more widely known as US-34, the road up to the town of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park from Loveland, CO
The attached is from probably a corner or two away a few years ago during one of my reviews…
Yes it is, and I’ve amended the text. A very familiar route, to and from many trips to Estes Park and the RMNP.
Great photography!
CC Effect strikes again. Two days ago, this Canadian flatlander drove from Fort Collins to RMNP on US-34 to do the Gem Lake hike.
Gem Lake; we did that a few times back in our annual summer vacations there. And it was our first cougar sighting ever, up high on those rocks above the lake.
That motorhome is a Ford transit bus. Jim Brophy just covered them in his recent post:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/bus-stop-classic/bus-stop-classics-obscurity-1948-1953-ford-wayne-marmon-herrington-8mb-ford-folds-on-its-transit-bus-business/
These were built betweem 1939 and 1947, and of course powered by a flathead Ford V8.
All are gorgeous images! A great selection again Rich. Amazing, what accurate colours and saturation can do, to support and enhance beautiful photography. I am also impressed, how flattering the cars themselves look, in each image. NIce view selections. The composition being quite artistic, in a couple of the images.
The softer, rounder bodies of ’50’s era design, merge well into nature. Better than many modern cars.
Harsh, sharp-edged designs, often looking opposite of nature. And conflicting.
Mt. Laguna just east of San Diego. Nothing strange about a Cougar in the western woods.
My yearly trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Solstice was perfect.
We looked for campground openings in Big Thompson that day every thing was full , had to go several miles out to find spot ,saved our lives.
Is that a Studebaker Wagonaire or a regular wagon? In either case it something one never sees anymore.
All great images that take me back to the latec50’s through the mid ’60’s except of course, we’d have been in rusty jalopies .
-Nate
It’s unusual, to the modern eye, to see such common, everyday cars out on camping trips. Nothing lifted, no 4WD, no fender flares or bull bars or tactical lights. These travelers didn’t waste time prepping and modding; they just went out there with whatever vehicle they had. Most of them got back alive, because these cars had high ground clearance and forgiving balloon tires and low-geared torque. Simpler times, for sure.
The Big Thompson Canyon flood happened in 1976, Colorado’s centennial year. It’s little remembered now, but the losses were enormous: 144 people were killed. Dozens of private campsites and lodges had sprung up in the canyon, and they were packed, just a few days ahead of July 4th. A years’ worth of rain fell in a few hours, and most of it ran down the bare rock to turn the Big Thompson into a log flume. For most of its victims, there was no warning.
Another big flood hit nearby in the Front Range 11 years ago. When the road reopened four months later, I ventured up there to take photos. One car-related memory- a car, probably a Dodge Sebring convertible, flattened against a cliffside by the pounding waters. It was about one foot thick, molded to the rock like it had been hammered by a blacksmith.
John I am from Estes Park. The 1976 flood was not near the July 4th weekend, but was on the evening of July 31st. Colorado was celebrating 100 years of statehood on that date. The devastation was almost beyond description. Some of those killed were never found or recovered.
One of the first victims was Sgt. Hugh Purdy, a veteran Colorado State Patrol Officer who I knew very well. Sgt. Purdy was very close to retirement age. He had blocked off the canyon with his cruiser and saved a lot of lives by doing that. A true hero.
The Colorado PBS station has a very well done documentary on the flood and it’s aftermath.
I’ve got a few, as much as I focus on cars, most are more of the National Parks I’m so fond of. But I’ll throw one out here as kind of a retro spirit, with a relatively recent car. Sequoia National Park, the drive thru tree, not something that’s common anymore.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a single-tone ’56 Olds before–or one with writing above the front wheel arch instead of behind it. Did someone screw a name on his or her car, and an outside mirror?
The Studebaker wagon in the picture of the Galaxie has a rather large load on the roof. I’m guessing the car has the sliding roof since the loaf is on the front haf of the roof.
Mud/snow tires were mandatory on the back of ALL cars, and trucks before the interstate highway system was built. I still to this day use them year round. Sure doesn’t hurt, and they help more than they cost!
Beautiful pictures and memories…thank you!