. Spot The Studebaker .

[aarrggh]

It`s not easy for a Studebaker to hide in any photo is it ?

[52-fan]

There is a Studebaker nosed in at the Standard station across the street. I wonder how the car on this side (Pontiac?) ended up on the sidewalk in front of the bench. Also, what is that thing on the camera side of the bench?

[John Brayton]

Looks like a newspaper stand with coin box on top that was cabled to the bench.

[aenthal]

Based on the officer leaning on the car in question to write something (a report?) and all the people just happily gathered around to chat, I would say the car was in some kind of accident (possibly single car, pulling out of a driveway on our side of the street, that is not in frame).
You can see the photographer in the reflection of the fender and see some low roofline behind him, possibly of another gas station or strip of stores.
The skirt length on the women suggests a mid to late 50's date.
I am not sure what the object on the ground in the foreground of the picture is either, but it seems that it was something else that got hit along with that bus bench, and was pulled out from under the car and left there.
It might be two different objects such as a street sign and a part of a newspaper dispenser that got tangled together.

Then again, the scrapes on the sidewalk indicate the big car moved diagonally backward into this position, not forward, and there is the detail of the car behind the crowd parked facing the wrong way.
Was he pulling out when that other car hit him and all the damage is on the side of the shot we can't see, or is that the photographer's car (or even the officer's car with no roof lights--you can't see its door) parked closest to the action to get to working faster?

So many clues, so few answers.
A fun photo, Studebaker and all.

[aenthal]

I think the car in the street on the far right is a Packard.
Look on top of the tail "fin".
A Pontiac doesn't have that trim.

[Tom Bredehoft]

If you turn the image 180 deg and flop it left to right you can read the writing on the bottom. it says J. H M.....ovitch Traffic investigation, 5/22/52.

So...the officer's car now on the right is parked on the right side of the street and the Packard/Pontiac is on the wrong.....

On the other hand, the writing was done on the negative and all bets are off.

[StudeRich]

The Stude. in the Standard Station looks like a '47-'49 Champion, probably a 4 door.

[JimsLeadCommander]

There is a Studebaker nosed in at the Standard station across the street. I wonder how the car on this side (Pontiac?) ended up on the sidewalk in front of the bench. Also, what is that thing on the camera side of the bench?

I'd bet that the car on the sidewalk was backing in on a parallel parking maneauver but, used too much gas with the clutch out, backed over the curb, pushed the bus bench in a new direction and the item on the ground COULD be a device for the disabled; a folding walker/chair unit?

[bezhawk]

The 'thing' on the ground, I think, is a newspaper stand... face down