(first posted 6/21/2018) In a recent Buick-themed vintage snapshot gallery the other day, it was noted in the comments on how few imports there were to be seen. So I went looking for shots from the ’50s and ’60s and I found some; quite a few actually. Now you get to ID them.
This first one is not surprising, as it is in front of the Art Theatre in Akron, OH.
Lexington, MA
San Francisco
Mojave, CA
Main Street, Somewhere #1
Tahoe, CA
San Francisco
Somewhere, Massachusetts
Camden
Windsor, VT
Salt Lake City, UT
Somewhere, MA
Ohio
Fargo, ND
Las Vegas
Huntington, NY
Somewhere, NY
Stowe, VT
Freeport
Stowe, VT #2
Chicago, IL
Wow, great photos. I think I see my VW there in Salt Lake City. 🙂
Beautiful shot of the XK-120 in Ohio. Reminds me of The Last Open Road novel..
The shot with the black 1964 Ford convertible is Ithaca NY. You can just make out the sign on the Ithaca Hotel in the background.
Can’t tell exactly where it is though, downtown Ithaca appears to have been razed and replaced by generic boring 70’s buildings.
There we go, that street is a pedestrian walkway now.
I won’t comment on the cars, but I believe “Main Street, Somewhere #1” is actually in Quebec…maybe Montreal?
There’s a Montreal Shoe Stores to the left, so maybe – but all of the signs are in English which seems unlikely in Montreal.
Did chimneys back then really pour out as much smoke as is above the white building? I’d suspect a fire if I saw that today.
It’s probably Quebec – there’s a ‘Magasin Lenet’ across the street and further down you can just make out ‘La Banque Royale du Canada’.
Given the vintage, it wouldn’t surprise me that the majority of signs being English. The militant changeover to French didn’t happen until the 70’s, and I can remember being fascinated by the French language signs which were still in the minority when the family vacationed there in 1959.
And my late wife has all the horror stories during her first marriage when she lived there, 1972-1983.
The “Chicago” picture is actually Elgin IL, about 35 miles NW of the Loop. A satellite city and a suburb.
Didn’t the “Connor’s” or a close relative live in “Elgin”, in the “Roseanne” show?
Dang, I went looking for that split window VW bus in Stowe, but it’s gone.
Well, there are 21 great photos here.
I’ll do my best here.
VWs, by far the most common car. Model year is an estimate, of course.
Pic #: 2 – VW’59, 3 – VW’55, 6 – VW 55, 8- VW Transporter ’60, 9- VW 59, 11-VW ’57, 20 – VW Transporter ’60, 21 – VW ’58
Pic #
1 – XK120, Fiat 1500 conv (or other small Pininfarina)
4 – ’51 Hillman Minx
5 – ’60 Morris Minor
7 – Austin A 30 Cambridge
10 – Simca Aronde, 2nd series, ’60
12 – Ford Cortina Slant back (around ’60)
13 – XK 120
14 – Simca Aronde, ’62
16 – Austin A 40, ca 1950
19 – ’58 MB 190SL, MB 220S, MB 300 S convertible.
I’m thinking, based on Mr. Niedermeyer’s strong affinity for them and the prominent placement of photo #1 as the lead shot that the vehicle at center frame is a Peugeot 403.
It’s a Fiat.
I generally concur, but in no.7 that’s a Triumph 10 Companion (estate/wagon), not an Austin. In the UK it would be a Standard 10 Companion, but in the US it was marketed as a Triumph. Standard were ahead of the trend in doing such a small 4 door wagon when BMC, Rootes and Ford only made them with 2 doors. The Ford in no.12 is the 105E Anglia.
Thank you for that info. I was sure it was an Austin, but at the same time didn’t remember seeing it as an estate. In Uruguay they were very uncommon. And of course you are right. I misnamed the Anglia.
Glad to help; I did guess you meant the Anglia since the Cortina never had a rear window like that, though the short-lived Consul Classic did.
The Austin Countryman version of the A30/A35 used the van body so only had two doors and was rather boxy. Van and estate versions also had the same single, side-hinged rear door, so it was really done ‘on the cheap’. Standard did a much better job even if the Eight/Ten styling was a bit dull (Well, very dull!).
I’m impressed with your eye! I think that the blue car in the first picture though isn’t am XK but an MGA coupe.
I think it’s an XK140, they have heavier bumpers than either the XK 120 or MGA. Also look how the beltline swoops very low ahead of the rear wheel, it’s not so defined on the MGA.
Very good car identification here, and geography too.
The only car correction I can confidently make is to the three Mercedes photo. The farthest car is a 220SE, not a 300S.
I knew the “Chicago” had to be wrong as there are no hills in Chicago as steep as the one in what was identified as being Elgin.
Thanks a lot!. I said it was a 300 S because off handedly because I didn’t remember the very existence of the 220. How do you tell one from the other? Chrome, lights, size?
I’m even more impressed! Well spotted!
I think the British wagon exiting left in pic #7 is a Standard, circa 1959.
Thank you. It’s obviously settled in Standard!!
Amazing how ubiquitous the Beetle already was (the Bus, too) when these great photos were taken.
The Hotel Utah is still there, but it’s now an LDS church history center. First stop in town for genealogy researchers, who come from all over the world. I half expected to see my grandfather’s 1954 Chevy parked at Temple Square across the street. I spent many a summer with my grandparents, and I vividly remember the city when it looked like that.
I do thoroughly enjoy these period street scenes.
Thanks, Paul!
These photos are more like how I remember the early 1960s being.
The “Somewhere, NY” picture looks practically like one could walk right into it and stroll down that street, which I would do without hesitation were it possible.
Did anyone else subconsciously ignore the VWs and go looking for another foreign car?
Yep, the VWs are everywhere.
Lots of foreign cars here:
Auto graveyard, Rt. 46, Pine Brook NJ, c. 1966.
Surprised not to notice any Dauphines, since Renault sold a lot of them in the late ’50’s. #2seller, for awhile. Also, the first run of Opels and Vauxhalls. Looks like some in that junkyard shot above, though.
Dauphines were mostly IN the junkyard by then. My brother and I owned 2 in 1966 and they were both refugees from that place. One a gray 1960 and other a 1959 parts car. Paid $50 for one and $25 for the other as I remember. We paid too much. We sold the ’60 for $75 about a year later with the engine block from the parts car and a lot of our own labor. We did gain a lot of experience though.
Stowe. VT hasn’t changed much since then. Here’s the view with the Mobil station on the left;
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4653231,-72.6878752,3a,75y,71.25h,103.45t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMwBF-YeEbjSM9E4RSdlmMA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
And a bit further up with Depot St. on the right;
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4653937,-72.6866088,3a,75y,91.45h,92.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swHv_fji7r5cCyRVEqe0SFg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Tahoe, CA, 6th photo down:
Terrific light blue ’54 Olds 88 2-dr. hardtop @ lower left.
Gotta love how the fender skirts blend perfectly into the overall architecture.
Seems to be blackwall tires ….. making it rather “un-self-concious”
Having grown up in a small town in northeastern Ohio in the 50’s & 60’s, I remember seeing very few imports. VWs were starting to take hold in the states but it was extremely rare to see a Jag, MB or MG on the streets. I remember the first time I saw a Simca. It was on our annual vacation to southern Ontario, Canada. As a 15 year old teenager, a neighbors boyfriend drove a XKE. When I went to check it out, he took me for a ride. To say that I was blown away by that experience would be an UNDERSTATEMENT !!!!!
These also show just how dominant GM was. There were a fair number of Ford products. Chrysler was almost as rare as Studebaker and AMC.
Photo 6 – is that a DKW under the “Country Club” sign next tot he station wagon?
Photo 14 – what’s the red car in front of the black Simca?
It’s a Studebaker.
A Corvair sedan.
6 – Very similar window and boot line to a DKW but it appears to have horizontal tail lights. I don’t know DKWs well enough to say on that, but all the pictures I’ve found show small, vertically orientated tail lights.
14 – Corvair sedan? (not the coupe). Or is it too high for a Corvair even though it is lower than everything else?
The brown house on the immediate right of #3 is 1212 Lombard Street, owned for decades by a cousin in law. He is a composite character in “Tales Of The City” because of the fabulous parties that were thrown there. He was played by Ian McKellan in the miniseries. A film crew knocked on his door in 1971 when he was about to move in and asked to lease the house for a film shoot. All the interior shots for Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam were shot in there.
Like the “go Krogering” , billboard on “pic #1”. Memories, memories. The little black sports car is beautiful too. Datsun?
THANK YOU for these ! .
They take me back instantly, now I see how/why some old folks (not me) think they were “the good old days !” .
Most of the Beetles are ’58 ~ ’61, the black oval would be a ’55 ~ ’57 DeLuxe .
I saw some Rootes products in there too, lots of really nice hard to find now cars .
-Nate
One thing that strikes me about the cars is despite many off-the-greyscale colors, they still overall look rather drab, even though the brochure palates showed many bold and distinct hues. Or maybe they were shot on Anscochrome or such that wasn’t known for capturing vibrant colors.
The businesses always draw my attention in these vintage photos. Almost all the stores, restaurants, and hotels are one-offs or small local chains, not the thousands-large chains of today (the one chaing store that seemed ubiquitous was S. S. Kresge, which became Kmart which ironically is since become defunct (2 stores left in the US). The Kroger sign looks just like their current logo, Avis car rental certainly doesn’t (Kroger wasn’t yet the huge company it is today). Only the gas stations are dominated by national brands. The Freeport shot looks like many of the small towns I saw in Maine, where wonderfully permissive zoning regs result in lots of residential neighborhoods with a handful of stores mixed in with the houses, like the Nite&Day Grocery and a welding shop on the corner before there’s more houses on the other side. The grocery looks tiny, but who cares when they have the basics and it’s only a block or two from where you live? Walk six blocks in any direction and there’s probably another little grocer or hardware store or restaurant, serving the two or three blocks surrounding them.
I’m usually terrible at ID-ing old imports, but I recognize the Benzes, Jags, Porsches, and of course VWs, though the various British cars and long-gone Euro brands faze me, as do captive imports like Vauxhauls and English/German Fords.
When I lived out in the S. F. Avenues, 21st between Geary and Anza, there was a produce store around the corner on Geary. Two blocks and three blocks up were two more. Then there were the small Asian grocers. Several blocks away was a long time butcher in a building that had to date to somewhere around 1920. Five blocks away for bagels and they sold a dozen bag of day old bagels for $3. This between 1992-98.
Yeah I can identify them, A Standard Companion in the US really Morris Hillman MK5, I had one but in Humber ten flavour Simca etc did not expect a Standard and a rare version too
“Picnic in the Grass” 1959 French film.. back in the era when an “Art Theatre” played mostly foreign films..
There used to be art house theaters in most medium and large cities, especially near college campuses.
Now, they are very rare as most single screen theaters are gone.
A photo that’s lacking one of the typical smaller town ‘foreign car’ garages: usually a single bay/one- or two-man garage, surrounded by a sea of various English and European makes plus a few VW’s, all awaiting the attention of one of the few mechanics in an area willing to work on import cars. Most cars were waiting for replacement part which were notoriously slow to arrive from the afore-mentioned makers.
VW had developed a good dealership and repair parts network which was one of the reasons they succeeded where their English and European counterparts failed.
I believe the one photo labeled “Tahoe CA” is likely Stateline NV based on the gaming facilities. South Lake Tahoe borders Stateline, NV on US 50. I enjoy these photos of past decades.
Freeport, ME. Now entirely an outlet center town. Cars have to fight busloads of shopper tourists.
What was the import share by year? And I know the big 3 sold captive imports as early as the 50s. How many did they actually sell?