I know that CC has already run a few articles on Route 66 , most notably here and here. By pure coincidence, I had my own Route 66 pilgrimage planned in late April 2013, albeit a bit further west, so I hope you’ll forgive me for returning to this subject.
“Take it Easy” is by no means one of my favorite songs, nor the Eagles a favorite band (well, they get some credit for taking in the great Joe Walsh). There’s no denying, however, the compelling sense of time and place in the famous lyric:
Well I’m standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
and it’s such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me. 
Winslow is a wide spot in what used to be US Route 66, about 60 miles east of Flagstaff, and debris-raining distance from the world-famous Barringer Meteor Crater. Good thing that event happened 50,000 years ago and not last month. I-40 jogs around Winslow on the north side; Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s transcontinental rail line forms a Chinese wall to the south. There’s an unexpectedly posh hotel (La Posada, reborn from the Santa Fe’s old Harvey House), a bunch of gas stations, about two blocks of downtown and eight more of residential area, and that’s about it. Mostly, it’s a working-class place, where the endless freight trains change crews and where area ranchers go when they head to town for supplies.
There’s a shrine to the Eagles song at the corner of West 2nd and Kinsley downtown, but that wasn’t my main reason for going. What I did have in mind was that the moderate, high desert climate might have helped preserve some interesting old cars and trucks. The photos following show some of what I stumbled across during a morning’s wander. See what you think.
At the Eagles shrine downtown, someone has been generous enough to pose this nicely restored ’60 Ford for the tourists. OK, so actually it’s a stake bed; whatever.
On the other hand, this late-40’s machine (International K-7, maybe?) seems to have shed a few key parts on its way to back-lot oblivion. Really shows off that clear Arizona light, though.
Found on a back street was this toothless but otherwise complete ’51 Ford, looking fresh off the set of Thunder Road and ready to haul a load of moonshine. Love the Baby Moons.
A flash of chrome glimpsed in a vacant lot downtown turned out to be a ’54 Kaiser Manhattan; engineless, judging from the unloaded front wheels. There was a ‘For Sale’ sign on the lot; wonder if the car goes with it?
Likewise somewhat less than road-ready was this ’55 Ford, sitting forlornly in the dust on the far west end of town. Apparently it’s been pressed into service as advertising for a used auto parts business, kind of the Wal-Mart greeter of the automotive world.
My personal favorite find of the day was a ’57 International A-series 4 x 4. It’s surely been a couple decades since I last saw one of these on the road. I know there has been some discussion here concerning whether one of these was the inspiration for Mater from the movie Cars, but I’m pretty sure the character was based on a ‘57 or ‘58 Chevy. These really do have a face, though.
I suspect all desert southwest towns are required to have an old air-cooled VW bus stashed away somewhere. Amazingly, the early bay-window model shown here still appears to be earning a living, delivering clean clothes to the local population.
Here’s a Volvo 142, in good nick, found sitting right on 66 in the middle of town. Makes me weepy and nostalgic for a similar car my younger brother had once.
Jim Grey, in his Route 66 post, found a nice ’60s Ford pickup during his travels; here’s another one. This ’69 Ranger, spotted just around the corner from the ’51 Ford sedan shown earlier, seems just about right. Good enough overall shape for the Saturday night dance, but not so pristine that you’d be afraid to haul anything in it. Great color, too.
Looking at this ’73 Olds 98, two things come to mind. 1) It’s amazing we didn’t just run out of steel sometime during that decade; 2) I should have taken a closer look at that RV in the driveway. That’s a funky machine in its own right.
Not exactly a thing of beauty (IMO) when new, by now this ’74 Thunderbird looks like it could star in an American remake of Mad Max. Hey, matches the color scheme on the sign, though.
If the Eagles don’t happen to do it for you, how about a chorus of Volare instead? Whoa-oh-oh-oh. Dang, those things even rust out in the desert.
Last, and maybe least, is a solid first-gen Chevy Cavalier wagon spotted down by the tracks. Guess it hit something at a little in excess of five mph at some point; otherwise not too bad cosmetically.
Have to say that for an aficionado of old cars (or trains for that matter; the BNSF freights run like streetcars here) you could certainly do worse than a quick stopover in Winslow. Oh, and if you do go, consider having lunch at La Posada. I don’t think you’d regret it.
Outstanding finds, especially the Kaiser!
I had a picture of myself standing on that corner but it was taken by my exwife.
There is a great little gift shop across the street from the “corner” if you want to get some kitschy Route 66 gifts. I had to have a “NM 66” shield pin for my cowboy hat.
Yes; an excellent collection of CCs indeed. Love that purple fading T-Bird.
That van-camper was one of a type that was quite popular at the time, a precursor to today’s popular Type-B units.
But was there a girl in that flatbed Ford at the corner?
Great photo!
Really cool finds. Boy would I like to go out west to see old unrusted cars. The Volare was probably a transplant, as its worst spot was usually the front fenders.
The Kaiser is especially cool. It looks in too good of condition to have been out in the sun for 50 years. Suddenly it’s 1960? A Kaiser with a missing engine is a curiosity as well. “Hey, Bobby – found me a Kaiser. Been-a-wantin’ a Continental flathead 6 for that hot rod I’ve been-a-buildin'” Maybe out there they do big home-built generator’s or something.
I suppose that the good folks of Winslow are stuck with the Eagles after their town got slighted in the REAL Route 66 song by Bobby Troup first and most famously performed by the Nat King Cole Trio in 1946. Arizona towns of Flagstaff, Winona and Kingman all got mentions there, but not Winslow. Now I’m going to have that song in my head all afternoon – not complaining, mind you.
The ONLY New Mexico town mentioned in the song Get Your Kicks On Route 66?
Gallup New Mexico. I always thought that was amazing, although I guess its dang hard to rhyme Albuquerque.
Maybe an ode to a modern veggie/crunchy kind of gal, you could rhyme it with “Tofurkey.” 🙂
1954 Manhattan also means that it originally came from the factory with a McCulloch supercharger attached to that Continental six. Thinking that some doofus may have discarded that engine in hopes of replacing it with a Chevy small-block gives me a migrane, so I’m just gonna imagine that isn’t the case here.
Funny that one of these would show up here. Yesterday I was trying to think very hard of what my current driveway would look like in 1973. Saab didn’t sell cars in the US during the year I was looking for, so I was asking myself “where could I find hatchbacks, FWD and forced-induction in 1954?” Nowhere! Although Kaiser had two outta three, so they came closest. I decided that my driveway in 1973 would be a Frazer Vagabond 2-door with a ’54-’55 Manhattan engine swapped into it, plus a DKW 3=6 to equal one Saab 900 Turbo in 2013… but I never commented on that one, since it sounded too ridiculous.
Anyway, this story kinda got away from me… but the whole point of it was: I spent all day yesterday thinking about ’54 Kaiser Manhattans – and look, one of them showed up here today! Is that a reverse imaginary CC effect?
It used to be that a lot of Kaisers had Olds Rocket engines transplanted into them – perhaps the fact that a lot of them already had Hydramatic transmissions was a factor. Maybe that’s what the guy had in mind for that one.
My favorite route is always two lane blacktop, not just route 66. Bunch of candidates for pictures just driving along “off the interstate” almost anywhere in Texas. That works until various city fathers decide to modernize.
Dang, I always thought “Flatbed Ford” sounded silly…but then it hit me…. Were they saying “Flathead Ford”? Did anyone call the old Fords “Flathead Fords”?
BTW, LOVE the ’73 Ninety-Eight! Interesting color combo. What a beauty.
“Flatbed Ford,” silly? Not to us in rust country. With Ford trucks, often the first serious casualty was the bed. Plenty of them fell off in big, long strips of rusty metal…finally breaking off right on the frame.
It was so bad even some truck body companies started making smaller stake beds for pickup chassis. The more terminal cases got homemade ones; some of them very good. And some of them all wood, including the blocking to raise the flatbed over the top of the rear wheels.
Rust in Winslow wouldn’t be so much of a problem; but there was a lot of sales of pickup beds to Eastern and Midwestern repair shops, too. If you had a pickup truck, just because it was cheap (in those pre-truck-as-status days) you might consider selling the bed off it; and putting a wooden flatbed on it. No more worries about denting it up.
These scenes in these pics are captivating. Especially the F-Series, the Olds and the T-Bird. Elmore Leonard comes to mind.
There is a truck stop east of downtown where I spent the night back in October because foolish me did not realize there were places to sleep closer to the Grand Canyon. The trains kind of lulled me to sleep.
I hate the freakin’ Eagles…
I hate the Eagles so bad. All the local rock stations have had them on permanent heavy rotation for the past 30 years. ANYTIME I hear any of their songs start, my finger mashes the next radio station button in record time. I’m sick of hearing their crap.
I found one of their CDs in some stuff my ex left and I cooked that sucker in a worn out microwave I was planning to donate. The sparks and plasma trails gave me the most enjoyment I’d had from their music since I graduated high school,
I’d take the Eagles all day over Journey , U2, or Jimmy Buffett.
If there was a worldwide “Battle of the Shittiest Bands”, The Eagles and Jimmy Buffet would square off in the final round. I’m not sure who would win (lose?), though…
The Eagles definitely get too much play on oldies stations these days. The line itself is especially annoying the way the words are pronounced, “It’s a gurrl my Lourd in a flat bed Fourd.” Too bad it wasn’t an International.
That’s the reason, and it’s a good reason, you dislike them. They were a pretty-good California garage band when they came out – but their music was like Pepsodent. Squeeze the tube, and a little more comes out. All the same.
I don’t mind hearing it today – it’s 1970s okay. But then I seldom listen to the radio, so I don’t hear it much. Overexposure…that’ll do it.
I’ve had a rough night…
I could go for a little Creedence about now…
A road trip has been on my agenda for a while….so many places to visit; so little time…
Great finds. The Thunderbird really looks great, but I also had a ’75 model in the copper star fire paint – it was a 20th Anniversary model and the colors are quite close to this one. The F-100 is very tasty; the first vehicle I ever drove was a ’70 F-100 in a color near to this and quite close to Paul’s ’66 F-100.
I’m not a Route 66 fan as such, but there is just that something about it (intrigue? adventure? being far away?) that just captivates me.
For someone who’s spent their entire life in the rusty Northeast…seeing shots like this is always amazing. Even the ’86 or so Cavalier. I owned one for a few months in 1996…ten years old and rusting away.
I was 15 in 1972 and my dad had brought home a ’64 Karmann Ghia convertible that had blown up along the adjacent Interstate. Paid $50 for it and since I had a ’58 Beetle convertible that did run…well you can guess what happened one night with a few friends, a case of beer and a “son, this Karmann Ghia’s worth more than your ’58” or some line like that.
So he got it running but I think it needed brake lines or similar that were never fixed, so it got driven by me around the yard at our Southern VT farm ’til it was sold a year or two later…those details are fuzzy.
But being a V-Dub, the Ghia had a Blaupunkt AM-FM radio with a rich tone that made “Take It Easy” sound special…at least memorable. As a radio personality, I’ve played the song probably 1,000 times at Top 40, Adult Contemporary and Country stations, where Travis Tritt remade it for an Eagles tribute album released 20 years ago….
And EVERY…SINGLE…time, I’m 15 again, in that Karmann Ghia, and it just. sounds. golden.
It was the opening guitar chords that hooked me in 72 as it probably did to everyone else hearing it for the first time on the radio. And you know what? It never got old. Just like Chas108 I’m transported back to my freshman year in high school when I hear those chords ringing out….
But 72 wasn’t just this great song and it’s opening riff that hooked a music fan for life….how about that opening to Go All The Way by the Raspberries? The clear acoustic guitar opening chords to Rocky Mountain High? All The Young Dudes by Mott the Hoople? The funky and optimistic opening to Love Train by the O’Jays? Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple?
You know, looking back to that great music…….I really and truly feel sorry for the young kids of today. The early to mid seventies were a culmination of the greatness of the sixties; the Motown Sound had given way to the Philly Sound of Gamble and Huff. The British Invasion matured with the breakup of the Beatles, the evolution of the Rolling Stones and a rebirth with rockers coming of age like Clapton and Alvin Lee and Ray Davies and Dave Edmunds. In America, the Singer/Songwriter came of age in Jackson Browne, Carly Simon, Carole King. In Britain, Elton John began his run of greatness. And what a time to take it all in if you were around….
Hmmm, a future 8 Track Aural Classics: The Best Cruising Songs of the 60’s/70’s in the making?
The song is actually only half Eagles. Although it was first recorded by them, it was Jackson Browne who wrote most of it, albeit with help from Eagle Glenn Frey.
The International A-series pickup is one rig on my bucket list – a short list.
Always loved them – probably because the old school bus that picked me up in first grade was an International/Wayne of that vintage. When as a kid I saw there were a few pickups that looked JUST LIKE our bus, in front, I was intrigued.
That one, with four-wheel-drive…perfecto!
There is some excellent music coming out now. You’re just unlikely to hear much of it on FM radio. But there is a LOT of good indie rock out these days.
Take The Black Keys… They finally got mainstream recognition for their last two albums, winning a Grammy for El Camino… But I’ve been listening to them on the indie rock channel on Sirius since 2005.
I worked for the college radio station back in ’99… Still remember the first time I heard Sleater-Kinney. Now Carrie Brownstein is in Wild Flag, is half of the Portlandia duo, and is even in an Amex commercial now.
Did you know Sleater-Kinney is named after a road in Olympia/Lacey Wa, Exit 108 A/B off of I-5. Olympia played pretty heavily in the birth of Grunge even though Seattle gets most of the credit.
Yes! I’m mostly a classic-rock aficiando (so yes, the Eagles have made it onto my playlists a few times), but I love me the Black Keys, mostly for their “retro” sound–don’t some of their songs sound a bit like a demo tape circa 1975?
Funny thing, but I came upon this corner completely by accident on one of our many trips to the southwest. Was driving from Albuquerque to Flagstaff, when a sandstorm forced the closure of I-40. All traffic had to exit at Winslow. Was driving in a rented Silver Cadillac DTS listening to one of the Sirius XM Classic Rock stations. Was thinking about the song, driving through the town when I saw the shrine. My wife and I were both blown away by that, since neither of us knew it existed.
During that same trip, I had a great time driving that Caddy on several stretches of old 66, including the stretch through Albuquerque.
Sooner or later, my allergies and hatred of the humidity here in the East is going to bother me enough to want to move out to the high desert for good. The wife and I make trips out to the four corners states every year or two. Love it out there.