Curtis Perry has uploaded a slew of new photos to the Cohort, and I’m getting behind, as there’s so many more yet to post here. These shots are from Hackberry, Arizona, and we can be certain of one thing: cars don’t rust, at least not in the usual sense. Yes, the paint falls off, like on this one in the front (Chevy?), but that’s just a really good deep suntan. Nothing a good bead-blast session won’t fix.
This pink wagon caught my attention, and I can identify it too. It’s a 1959 Mercury Voyager station wagon, and a genuine hardtop at that. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen one; these were uncommon to see even in the early 60s. Actually, all ’59 Mercury wagons were hardtops, even the cheapest two-door Commuter. That’s pretty odd, actually. But then so was just about everything with Mercury, in 1959 and 1960.
The sign on the fence says “Limit 10 Gal”. That’s not going to get this barge very far down the road. Its 332 hp 383 MEL V8 is as thirsty as a cowboy after a long roundup. You’d be lucky to get a hundred miles away from Hackberry with that much in the tank. Maybe that’s why it was abandoned here?
And if you try to break that 10 gallon rule, the sheriff of Hackberry will be in hot pursuit. The little 283 in his ’65 Biscayne might have trouble keeping up with the big Marauder V8, but it’ll still have plenty of gas left when the Mercury runs dry. Which it will. Everything runs dry in Hackberry.
Love this kind of pix. When you live in wetter parts of the US (almost anywhere else) you get the idea that these are some easy restorations just because there’s no rust-through. Must be a lot of $$$ in upholstery, rubber and seals, though.
If you judge the Chevy by its wheels, it might be hiding some lineage from Max Balchowsky’s “Old Yeller” in its past. If so, I wouldn’t try to outrun it.
(Photo by Tony Baker)
Yup, thats the fun part of living anywhere from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest. Paint does not rust off, it simply dries out and peels off in sheets
Nice shots. I love the patina on all of those old cars. Too bad you didn’t add in a few more shots of that blue Chrysler in the background. They all look like it wouldn’t take much to get them back on the road. Leave them as unrestored drivers with lots of character. It reminds me of an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage I saw once. He found a 1928 Duesenberg that had been sitting in a garage since the late ’40’s. All he did was clean up the interior and restore the drivetrain to running order, and he ended up with a great old car that could still keep up with anything on the road today.
I like the Mercury and Chrysler a lot, one of the few fans of 55/56 Mopars & 50s Mercuries here.
I’ve driven this stretch of AZ66 (formerly US66) from Kingman to Seligman several times. Kingman is only about 100 miles from Las Vegas, and sometimes it’s nice to avoid I-40.
All the little towns along 66 died when the Interstate bypassed them. When Route 66 nostalgia came along, the few die-hards left in these towns realized they could cash in on the nostalgia.
A lot of these places feel really staged or contrived. Then again, because all these old cars were dragged out to the main drag from wherever they were hiding, it gives the public a chance to see them.
All the little “Route 66” stores along the way are well-stocked with souvenirs made in China. Virtually all of the real antiques are long gone.
It gives me a very weird set of mixed emotions.
As far as “staging,” at least these cars do not have eyes in the windows a la the Disney movie cars. When I drove the western half of 66 in 2013 (so that would have included passing thru Hackberry) there was a whole lot of that going around, and it gets old really fast.
The cars at Hackberry actually MOVE…at least it appears that way from Google Earth photos of Hackberry. The cars are shown in what look like different positions, including one that plainly shows the Mercury wagon in a different spot.
Of course all it takes is a couple of guys, shoe leather and a beer or two afterward. And air in the tires.
That Mercury is nice. I’ve developed an aversion to the 1957-59 Fords but that Mercury seems to cover up whatever it is I don’t like about its junior brand. Fascinating that wagons were only hardtops for those two years.
Don A.
I think you are off a bit on the years Mercury offered it’s wagons as hardtops only. 1957 to 1959 would be three years, and in those 3 years Mercury offered it’s wagons as 2 or 4 door hardtops only. In 1960, the big Mercury wagon was still a hardtop, just not available as a 2 door anymore.
So not 2 years, but 4 years of hardtop wagons.
Chrysler also offered hardtop wagons, I’m just not sure which years and if they offered 2 and 4 door hardtop wagons or just 4 door hardtop wagons.
Going to Google Images you find shots of hardtop Chrysler wagons for 1960, 1961, and 1964…but oddly no 1962 and 1963. All 4 door hardtops.
Thanks Howard, I misread Paul’s text. 1960 is one of my favourite years for FoMoCo, but conversely to my above statement I vastly prefer the Ford and Edsel over the Mercury and the less said about the Lincoln the better.
+1 a Ford Starliner/ Edsel Ranger are my favourite early 60s American cars.
Great pix! But a little more love on those two Mopars in the middle would have been nice. A Chrysler (blue) and a DeSoto (red), I think. Also, curiosity is killing me on what that square-rigged early 20s thing with the disc wheels might be? It’s not a Ford, but that is as far as I go. Chevy or Dodge maybe? But from that era, it could be any one of 50.
On a guess I did a Google search for ‘1925 2 door closed car’, thinking that the double belt line would make it easy to identify. But it turns out it was quite common.
In the end though, the three door hinges & their location makes me think it’s a 1925 Chrysler Four?
http://www.eurooldtimers.com/eng/inzerat/67267-chrysler-four-r-v-1925.html
But so many cars did look similar….Willys Overland & Nash among them.
The Chrysler is close, but I’m not convinced. The leading edge of the radiator shell looks too square on the mystery car. The Chrysler had a unique curvature to its radiator shell. But I’ve spent a bit trying and can’t do any better than you did. We will have to get on Curtis about the need for a good front end shot of anything from the 20s. 🙂
OK Robadr, what do you think – 1927 Oakland? The door hinges line up, at least.
Well spotted on the radiator. Now I’m noticing the shape of the rear side window of the mystery car. I think the Oakland’s are more rectangular.
Possibly a 1928 Chevrolet? Belt line, door hinges, radiator, and side window shape?
http://cdn.barrett-jackson.com/staging/carlist/items/Fullsize/Cars/161623/161623_Side_Profile_Web.jpg
Didn’t I say it was a Chevy in the post? 🙂 Well, more like a quick semi-educated guess. But from your picture, I’m feeling a bit chuffed, since it does look like it.
Occam’s razor strikes again. Here I was looking at pictures of Ajax, Velie and National sedans before hitting on Oakland. Of course it would be Chevrolet, the best selling car in America in 1927.
I definitely went down the rabbit hole as well, even missing Paul’s guess in the post. But it was interesting to see how mid-1920’s sedans were possibly even more similar to each other than mid-2010’s are.
Check out this Nash on Shorpy!
http://www.shorpy.com/node/19943?size=_original
Last year I drove from Phoenix up through Sedona to Flagstaff then west. I took old route 66 from Williams through Seligman onto Kingman. Seligman is home to Delgadillo’s Snow Cap. There were cars parked behind the business and in the street with the Eyeballs, but I think it was done just for the kids. At least this gives the kids something they can relate too. Who knows, this could lead to an interest in historic cars, We all had to start somewhere.
Nice ! .
It’s been a good ten years since I’ve driven old Rt. 66 in Az. , since I’m retiring this year , maybe it’s time to drag SWMBO across America again .
-Nate
+1 for SWMBO (I have one too!)
The cool thing Tom ;
She loves Auto Travel and is patient when I find Junk Yards or old cars / Motos in the middle of nowhere….
I’m a very lucky Man , looking forward to this retirement thing as long as we’ll be traveling .
Not a whole lot of geezers out there who run home to Mama as fast as they can go , I’m one of them =8-) .
-Nate
Re: hardtop wagons. As a two door there was only the Mercury. (Some may say a Nomad/Safari is a hardtop wagon but it does have “B” pillar – unlike the ’57-’59 Mercurys.)
This Mercury wagon seems to have original, correct glass. That quarter glass must be a nearly impossible piece to find for someone crazy enough to restore one of these Mercurys.
I just noticed that the Mercury is one of the very, very few cars of 1959 that was using parallel-action wipers, and not the kind that wipe in opposite directions. Not sure I have ever noticed that before.
Also, is the 59 Mercury’s hood ornament where Mazda got the idea for its current insignia? 🙂
Love these photos- especially the Mercury wagon. Makes me think of a trip I made to northern AZ in the spring of 2001. Gotta go dig up some old abandoned car pics and maybe post them if I can get the scanner working. . .
oh, it is wonderful here in AZ, especially if you grew up in the Rust Belt. I DD 3 15-25 year old cars, bought cheap and without a speck of rust top or bottom. Just stick to white or very light colors, get the windows tinted, and use your windshield sunshade religiously cause the sun WILL do a number on your interior if you don’t.
Love the Mercury…and as mentioned, it just seems to be crying out for a mechanical restoration. Leave the exterior exactly as-is, just shoot it with some matte clear for a little protection. What a cool driver that would be…
And just beyond the right front fender of the ’65 Chev police car is a 1923-’54 STOP sign—black legend on yellow field. 1955 was when they got the white legend and border on red field.