From time to time mom and dad took the family to visit Mr. Blanco, a schoolfellow of his who resided in the same recently-built suburban quarter of San Salvador. Theirs was the ‘traditional’ middle class family, mom and father, with a girl and a boy, living in a new corner house with a large tree partially covering the residential street. Under the shade of said tree was an ever present grey late 60’s Oldsmobile of Mr. Blanco’s possession. An Oldsmobile in San Salvador? In my many years in the nation, Mr. Blanco’s was one of a handful I would ever see, and its presence could only be explained by a passion he had developed for American makes while attending studies in Puerto Rico.
As the Cold War turned icier and international tensions heated up, Kennedy’s Admin took steps to slow the advances of the reds with the Alliance for Progress, a good will US Program aimed towards Latin America. It was a two pronged approach; on one hand offering military support, and on the other development programs with grants and fellowships offered in selected fields. Dad and Mr. Blanco belonged to a handful of selectees for Agricultural Studies in the Puerto Rican Campus of Mayaguez, a prominent college in the US colony that offered advanced studies in various agricultural expertises. Not only was the US providing these development opportunities to individuals, but El Salvador’s National School for Agriculture was to be fully refurbished as well; with a new campus to be filled with modern labs, and quarters that would accommodate a few thousand specialists. Agriculture in El Salvador was about to face its own Green Revolution.
The US is quite known for its ‘carrots and sticks’ politics approach, and while the latter part of that equation tends to grab most of the attention, the US did feel compelled to throw a few ‘carrots’ around after the fall of Cuba to Castro’s Revolucionarios in ’59. Throughout the 60’s, Puerto Rico was selected as a show card of sorts by the US, turning the island into a showcase of what results an American and Latin alliance could have when ‘working’ together. In a scant decade the island went from a mosquito infested backwater filled with shanty towns, into a modern Miamiesque tourist destination for American retirees and modern urban areas. My mom’s slums in Humacao were razed and in its place, factories appeared; the modern shape of Puerto Rico took place. A miraculous change that no silent-generation Puerto Rican forgot, with US goods acquiring a mythical status. Even Tang and canned Corned Beef were considered GOOD, and Sears was the ultimate in bourgeois refinement.
Not only Puerto Ricans were dazzled, those Latino US-sponsored grantees arriving to the Mayaguez Arts And Agriculture College were in awe too. In a few months, the campus was filled with Venezuelans and Central Americans, and both Dad and Mr. Blanco were certainly impressed. In a postcard sent by dad to his family (which I found after his passing) on that first semester, he went on at length about the ‘prestigious and modern’ school he now belonged to. The impression the whole complex made on those new comers is hard to fathom, as the chasm between developed Puerto Rico and very rural Central America must have been mind boggling.
Not all was studies for the grantees, of course. While dad developed an interest in Puerto Rican women (this photo by him at a local parade shows a woman who resembles my mother a great deal), Mr. Blanco apparently took to American cars, as his later devotion to Oldsmobile shows. Actually, a Beetle was Mr. Blanco’s car during his stay in the island, but according to mom (and later evidence) the guy ‘got tired’ of the little vehicle very quickly. At some point in those years he must have tasted those midsize GM-goods and became a Detroit convert. Back in El Salvador, he got a hold of his Oldsmobile as soon as his early paychecks arrived; as a US trained specialist, he could afford it.
As we all know, not only was Puerto Rico riding high during the 60’s, but GM itself was firing on all cylinders during that definitive Mitchell-styling decade. A Supreme of same vintage and color as the one on this post was covered by Paul previously, and it goes into some length as to why the model became so successful. (Heck CC has a full Chronicles of Supremes).
And once Mr. Blanco developed a taste for American style driving, we all know there was nowhere else to go, as no other nation ever even tried to build cars with such a feel. Some quirky styling cues here and there appeared on Vauxhalls and Datsuns, but no other carmaking nation even attempted to provide a similar driving experience. Not remotely.
What lengths Mr. Blanco went through to acquire his Oldsmobile I’ll never know; must have been quite a quest though, as the brand was never sold in the region. Still, as a US trained specialist with a plump salary, he had the means to go after his heart’s desire. Whatever pains the proceedings took, in the end it was all to be smooth gliding; literally. Mr. Blanco had obviously fallen prey to that soft feel only American machinery provided; where a finger’s twitch got that steering turning and all controls moved softly to one’s touch. The Olds’ strong and faithful 8 cylinder pushed the car with a might few cars in the nation could compete with, gliding easily over the less than smooth Salvadorian streets. No cheap-o Japanese Corolla or Sunny, or antsy European Fiat could compare; and Volkswagens were obviously out of the question for Mr. Blanco.
Can we blame Mr. Blanco for his excesses? Of course not. Bill Mitchell’s first decade was an endless string of styling hits, with just about each entry a desirable one. Mitchell himself was apparently more into Buick and Cadillac, but all GM stylists were on a roll and Oldsmobiles carried in spades the stylish-yet-elegant presence all GM offerings had at the time.
Meanwhile the Alliance for Progress made good on its promise during my dad’s absense, as the School For Agriculture became the National Center for Agriculture Development (CENTA). Not long after his return dad became one of its specialists in soil studies, and me and my brother were to spend many afternoons wondering in awe at the sci-fi labs he worked at. With its modernist outwardly-slanted windows, and filled with all sorts of specialist tools, the labs felt like a spaceship in our young minds.
Obviously during those visits we were not to touch anything, as doing so would have meant absolute banishment from its grounds. But just hanging and looking around brought about enough wonder. Just what were each of those special tools? Some even looked like ray guns! And our favorite, the centrifuge. Had we been able to reduce ourselves to ‘beaker size,’ we would have certainly taken rides inside until we puked to our content.
Mr. Blanco remained faithful to his Oldsmobile for as long as I remember, and I knew, as the car was a staple on our drive to school. To be honest, I can’t say for sure if his was a Supreme, a Delta or a plain Cutlass, as my kiddie knowledge of the brand was null. I do know it was a mid-60’s model, as the two-barrel Olds’ face is an indelible memory of the vehicle. Eventually Mr. Blanco’s Olds didn’t move much from under that tree shade, as not even he could cope with its gas guzzling qualities, driving instead a lowly Japanese (can’t recall what) on his daily chores.
Success stories like those of dad and Mr. Blanco were rare though. With conditions in the nation not improving the hoped for Green Revolution turned into a Red Revolution, with the country entering a grueling civil war by 1980. Another case of ‘too little, too late,’ and historically where the ‘military’ part of the Alliance took prominence (and if you wish to talk about that at length, a different forum than CC might be ideal).
Meanwhile in the US, GM was about to enter an age of ‘too little, too much,’ providing too little development, too little engineering, and too much of the ‘luxury for a price’ attributes that had been its mainstay, eventually choking on excess and hubris. We all know how Oldsmobile ended and the news of its demise somehow hit me hard, even if I never came close to having a direct relationship with the brand.
GM generally kept their upscale brands away from South America, sticking solely to Chevy and GMC in the region. To see an Olds in these lands is an absolute rarity, and I can count in the digits of one hand the amount of times I’ve ever come across one. To see this particular sample marooned in a low class neighborhood was a complete surprise, a true synapses-reactivating occurrence. And I do have a soft spot for Olds’, especially of this vintage; partly because of Mr. Blanco, partly because cars of the 60’s are my favorites from US makes (in case it wasn’t obvious). Fords are too ordinary, Chevrolets too plain, and I’ve never been much of a Buick man. But I could do with an Olds like this, even if it would take me a while to get used to its ‘driving dynamics.’
Sticking to vintage and in disrepair, both adjectives reflect the National Center for Agriculture Development (CENTA) quarters nowadays. After the Civil War ended, and proving that ‘modernity’ needs a deeper understanding than acquiring tools, later governments decided to leave behind such ‘quaint’ notions as food production, and took to pirating Windows 98 licenses while giving away cheap laptops to high school students; because, modernity? After all, agriculture is so passé, you know?
On a recent visit the CENTA installations were barely in running order, with a scant workforce of barely a hundred or two, and structures in serious need of maintenance. Solitary buildings, endless empty hallways, and desolate pathways gave the whole place an eerie appearance awfully reminiscent of… an abandoned communist compound.
Back in ’67, for Oldsmobile, Mr. Blanco, the CENTA, and my dad, was much to come; heights of prominence indeed. Now it’s all fading images and memories. Whatever remnants there are, are to be cherished, if ever so briefly.
More on the ’67 Cutlass:
1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme – America’s Love Supreme Starts Here
Great article, great pictures. The single flowerpot on the grounds of the Ag Research Facility says it all.
I loved this story. It is a great reminder that what I found boringly, ordinarily, normal was strange and exotic to someone growing up somewhere else. Mr. Blanco chose well – the Oldsmobiles I experienced in that era (and there were many of them) were uniformly excellent cars that caused very little trouble for their owners. In a locale with no parts or service support, that would be huge.
I was an econ major in college and am still fascinated about why some places seem to blossom organically with zero help and why others never seem to do so, despite massive amounts of aid. Or how occasionally a place that starts in one category will somehow transform into other.
Great stuff as usual.
Interesting story about the Olds, and interesting/sad story about CENTA. Despite it’s popularity, civil war isn’t very civil.
I always look forward to your essays; excellent reflections of life, history and cars too.
American involvement in PR and Central America has very much flowed and ebbed, in response to the red threat. As to agriculture, it’s become increasingly difficult to compete with the giants that have vast land like Brazil and such. The economics of scale are so different.
In many ways it’s not different from farming in the US; in the 60s there were still many farmers making a living on small farms (80-120 acres) in the Midwest. Now those have all been consolidated into multi-thousand acre holdings.
I do wonder what the trend in enrollment in ag programs at universities in the US has been over decades. There’s just such a smaller demand for farmers, and few younger ones are going into it. I know in Iowa that the ag programs at Iowa State University were once very large. Are they still? I rather doubt it.
Great find on that Olds too!
Obviously, I’ve a soft and ‘romantic’ place in my heart for agriculture; seeing my dad work in soil all those years only made me too aware that it’s the ‘sustain of civilization.’ And the countryside is just beautiful as well.
On the other hand I do agree, it is absolute grueling business and profits are razor thin, if there are any at all. Violence isn’t rare either, as those US farmers do know their way around a rifle, and ours around machetes. Images of a retired Coppola in his vineyard are nice, but it’s not a business for the faint of heart.
Ironically, subsistence farming is still rather common over here, as peasants don’t mind putting a few hours a week in order to have extra grain for the year. I’ve a couple of posts in mind were the matter may find its way into the text (stay tuned!).
Well, I know for a fact that the National Science Foundation is putting money into agricultural technology as a STEM pursuit, and that there’s considerable demand for those sorts of programs among 21st century students. Such is my work in Nebraska for the next three years. 🙂 I think that in certain parts of the country, there’s still a lot of engagement in ag programs.
I’m near Michigan State, which is started as a Land-Grant Ag school like Iowa State, and was curious about this question. They certainly still have a considerable amount of land being used for ag research, and it looks like students in Agriculture & Natural Resources make up almost 10% of the total undergrads. I would guess those numbers were higher in the past, but still seems like a fairly significant number.
Rich, I really really like your essays.
I thought I recognized the vintage picture you used in your discussion of the impact that US engagement had on Puerto Rico in the 1960s. That’s currently the student center at UPR Mayaguez I believe. At least I think so. I’ve run a number of workshops in that building. The site looks somewhat different nowadays, but that great ’60s building still stands.
Your mention of Venezuelans and other Central Americans rings true with me too. I know a number of folks who were active at that time who were participants in the vast number of cultural and scientific exchanges that your Dad seems to have been the beneficiary of. At one point, US folks were going to Venezuela to observe their education system and bring home (largely unsuccessfully as it turns out) learnings from another American (the other America that exists south and north of the US) system. It’s a shame to see what has become of all of that, but as you say, that’s a discussion for another forum.
I’m also fascinated by how US manufacturers such as GM set up their distribution and marketing efforts in adjacent territories. The fact that Olds was never chosen to be sold in El Salvador is interesting. Just as I’m fascinated by how Puerto Rico is “mostly” a mirror of the US mainland automobile/brand market, but not exactly. They get stuff there that we don’t here. But in many ways, they are tethered to the US market. E.g., acquisition of Central and South American products which would be much more appropriate for Puerto Rico’s Spanish-speaking population are often difficult to acquire … and thus forcing Puerto Rico to “deal” with English language stuff that doesn’t work for them. The same applies to vehicles in the USVI, which ought to be able to utilize RHD vehicles, but instead has to struggle mostly with LHD US “imports”.
It’s a crazy mixed up world that we live in. Your posts shine some light on that…and I love that.
Hi Jeff,
Yes, as you correctly mention, it’s the student center at the UPR Mayaguez. It’s the postcard my dad sent to his family during his first semester as grantee.
This was a rather emotional post for me, as everything mentioned, Olds, Centa, The Progress Alliance, etc. seemed that would last forever in my dad’s time and now just belong to a bygone era. Thanks for reading!
Speaking of those 1960s university buildings, that National Center for Agriculture Development lab building looks similar to a building I worked in briefly during the 1990s.
That building was built in the ’60s, and I think it was a trend at the time to design university lab buildings with concrete construction and open format labs (supposedly to foster cooperation) like the CENTA building here. Apparently, the scientists hated the open format, since they feared that other colleagues would mess with their stuff, so the building I worked in had a maze of temporary walls set up inside. The concrete exterior didn’t age well either, and looked shabby despite being only 30 years old, so the whole building was a rather depressing place in which to spend your day.
Why was the radio so far to the right of the dashboard. Hard for the driver to control it. ?? safety!! I would appreciate your comments
While the radio is a little to the right of center, it is not as far over as the brochure photo makes it look. The whole part of the dash where the glove box is located is mostly cut off in that photo.
Fell in love with the 67 olds cutlass when I was 17. Finally bought one in1996. Totally restored the 442 convertible. Nothing comes close to the ride and handling of this car. Took a long time to o get it on the road. Couldn’t ask for a nicer vehicle
Great article. This generation of big Olds was pretty uncommon even when I was growing up in the 1980s, but the styling also seemed special to me. Even at a young age, when I considered all 1960s cars to look similar, this one was immediately identifiable as an Olds. So I definitely see its appeal from Mr. Blanco’s standpoint.
The last one I saw on the road was about five years ago — and it seemed in rougher condition than your find here!
The exterior difference between the Supreme and standard Holiday Coupe was the reverse lights were in the lower position below the brake lights on the non supreme. Supreme were in the bumper by the license plate.
My Dad’s only Oldsmobile wasn’t a Cutlass Supreme, but it was a mid-sized F85 wagon he bought new in 1965. He’d started the trend of buying a middle sized wagon with automatic transmission (my Mom never was comfortable with manual, though she learned to drive in a Chrysler with semi-automatic transmission) with the immediate 2 purchases, which were both Ramblers, and each was also green (we have an Irish surname so Dad liked green). The last Rambler got totalled in front of our motel room when we were moving from Catonsville, MD to Burlington Vt…some guy motioned for him to proceed, but the person in the other lane didn’t get that memo. He bought it new at Val Preda’s in South Burlington…not sure how he got from Catonsville to Burlington unless he rented another car.
The F85 was actually pretty basic, though it did have the 330 V8, it just had a heater and AM radio. It also had a power back window, which we never had on prior wagons, which came in handy, I think the window had to be all the way retracted before you could open the tailgate. But that’s about all he needed. The F85 was the last “only” car he bought; after that he bought a used ’59 Beetle and we became a 2 car family.
Not sure why Dad never bought another Oldsmobile, it wasn’t a bad car, he got disappointed by GM but that was years in the future. He had an aunt (actually 2 aunts) who were spinsters, but they always owned an Oldsmobile…I don’t know all of them but they go back to the 30’s, I did know they had a ’62 F85 and a ’69 98.
All I know of El Salvador was told to be my a co-worker who left probably in the 70s…he’d show up for visits unannounced, guess he got into some problems there, and the stories he told me were fascinating but it seemed like a pretty dangerous place to live compared to the US.