Studes in Roadside Americana photos

[Bob Andrews]

[Bob Andrews]

[BobPalma]

Oooo...Tahiti Coral!

OK, there's a lady right in front of the store getting ready to put something in the trunk of the 1956 Chevy.

Next to her Chevy is a ???? (I don't know, but on the other side of it is a Rambler station wagon, so it's the car between the Rambler and the '56 Chevy; what is it? A Dodge?) BP

[Bob Andrews]

It's weird how that happened, Bob. You can pretty easily make out the details of all the other cars except that one

I saved it to my computer and expanded it, and my best guess is a '56 Dodge Coronet.

[BobPalma]

It's weird how that happened, Bob. You can pretty easily make out the details of all the other cars except that one

I saved it to my computer and expanded it, and my best guess is a '56 Dodge Coronet.

Agreed. That was my first guess; 1956 Dodge. 'Might be easier to identify it if the lady wasn't standing right there.

'Must've been taken in 1959. There are three 1959 models for sure: The Studebaker Hawk, the Dodge right next to it, and the Chrysler (DeSoto?) far down that same row.

On the extreme right, partially out of the photo, might be a 1959 "flat-top" Chevy Sport Sedan, and the blue station wagon in the right foreground with cargo on top might be a '59 Chevy, but more likely a '58.

Finally, the second car to the right of the '59 Chrysler (DeSoto?) might be a '59 Ford, but 'can't say for sure.

The Red Mercury "woodie" in the foreground brings back a fond memory from age 14.

'Went with Dad to The Decatur [IL] Auto Auction in the summer of 1960; he still had privileges because he knew somebody. We were looking for a "new" family car and came home with a white, current-year-model 1960 Valiant station wagon having a dog-leg three-speed on the floor. Cool, I thought; a stick!

But the ice breaker down the chute that day, the first sacrificial lamb across the block to open the sale, was a older red Mercury woodie like the one in this photo. It was pumping oil badly; I mean they let it idle and it damn near filled the whole place with enough heavy blue smoke to kill every mosquito in the county. Even the cigarette smokers were backing away.

I still remember the auctioneer addressing the obvious issue by assuring would-be bidders, "Now, boys, that oil pressure goes right up and it runs fine out on the road!"

Ahh, the days of unregulated BS. BP

[JRoberts]

Pick one!

[Studebaker Wheel]

I guess you could call this is the old and the new!? I just won this on an Ebay auction. It is an original real photo post card that was sent from Atkinson, Nebraska to Anacortes, Washington on May 1, 1919. However I am sure the actual photo was taken much earlier. The car in the photo is a 1913 Studebaker and the wagon "might" also be a Studebaker (though we will never know). Note the right hand drive on the car, the last year for this on domestic cars. I believe the owner is standing to the far left while the guy in the center is a passerby.
The words old and new were originally written below the vehicles but I edited them out in photoshop. I have no idea where the photo was taken but there is a store showing "Balin Brothers General Merchandise" on the left next to a Harness shop. In any event an interesting piece of Americana with a strong Studebaker connection.

[Studebaker Wheel]

I believe Post #295 is Dick Quinn he day his got his drivers license, circa 1939. BP

Thanks Bob, that was taken during my "Alfred E. Newman" days. I was known as a real chick magnet back then. Well come to think of it I still am!

[aarrggh]

[aarrggh]

[52-fan]

Looks like the driver and passenger may have hit the windshield. Not good.

[Bob Andrews]

[aarrggh]

[aarrggh]

Yeah : Seen this before .

[JRoberts]