The Chevy clearly has a V8, as proudly acclaimed by it hood badge. Unfortunately the Ford’s grille badge is not visible, but from experience, a rather healthy percentage of Ford pickups from this vintage had V8s. Ford buyers preferred V8s. Henry taught them well.
Today there are even more pickups in Salinas, but many still look like they work for a living. Despite the popularity of Ford’s and Rams here, my totally uncalibrated car census meter thinks there are more late model Chevy work trucks in and around the fields here (I live not too far from Salinas). When I see a Ford or Ram, especially a 1/2 ton, it’s usually clean. But particularly in winter when the farm roads are wet, mud-caked white Chevy 1/2 tons seem to be everywhere. Of course, lots of heavy duty pickups as well, but again, a significant number of Duramax Chevies. Don’t see too many rolled up cuffs like that now, though.
Flossmoor Plan Commission OKs pickup truck parking
The Flossmoor Plan Commission gave its approval Thursday for changing a longstanding ordinance that bans Flossmoor residents from parking pickup trucks in their driveways.
Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to recommend that the Flossmoor Village Board adopt an amendment outlining new regulations that permit pickup-truck parking with some restrictions.
– December, 2018
My uncle who worked at the Ford Stamping plant replaced his LTD with a F-150 in 1975, and everyone in the family cringed. Pick up trucks weren’t considered family vehicles in this part of Chicagoland and pick ups were required to have their licensing painted on their sides. Additionally, he was unable to park his pick up on the street, or in our driveway after 5PM.
As you can see, this was the effective ordinance in Flossmoor until this year.
Consequently, we considered pick up trucks to be exotic work vehicles suitable for non-urban areas. Quaint. We vacationed in the Western US and saw them as trucks driven by park rangers, cowboys and farmers.
We no longer need to hide pick up trucks around here.
While I agree all of these are daily driven trucks, it is important to note that there are Zero females in the photo, and I presume about half of the drivers today are female. If you were to show this same photo with a bunch of females (or at least half of the total of people) driving or riding around in them, I would be impressed. Trucks were for menfolk, not for little ladies, back then, and if ladies drove, it was in a sedan, by gum. That is what has been a major shift in trucks, not that they overtook cars, but that females find them just as acceptable as males do.
Maybe that was true in California, but not in Oklahoma. Okie ladies have always been able to fix a truck or shoot a snake without mussing their makeup.
My Mom (born in 1926) told me that she learned to drive in (on?) a tractor and the first other vehicle she drove was a Dodge truck, both in the 1940’s, long before I was born.
Old street scenes this era from this part of the world often show flatdeck Bedfords Internationals Fords, Chevs and others lots of ex lend lease Jailbar Fords and early 40s Chevs not pretty personal trucks though mostly tired battered work horses.
Bit disingenuous, really. These men are “daily-driving” work trucks because they were working daily. Show me a commuter or office parking lot from the 1950s that’s full of pickups and then we’ll talk.
Yeah those men were filling up their trucks early in the morn to head out into the fields and do “an honest day’s work” with their hands and their backs. And they aren’t wearing those hats and boots to make a fashion statement either. The hats were to protect them from the mid day sun and the boots to protect them from snakes and the terrain. You can bet that the wives never went in these trucks though the (male) kids probably learned to drive in them first sitting in Dad’s lap and then using it for work around the farm, well before they had a driver’s license.
I learned to drive a manual transmission in grandpa’s ’53 Chevy farm truck. I never saw grandma ride in it, only the dog and male relatives. There was a ’53 Belair for grandma.
If that picture were taken today the trucks would be so much taller and the hats so much bigger you’d actually hear bro-country emanating from the photograph.
My dad had a friend who was loaded, I mean crazy rich, and his last vehicle was a ’68? Dodge half ton 4×4 with a 383 in it. He had other cars and his wife drove a Caddy, but Andy drove a Dodge or a Ford 1/2 ton when we saw him. If my dad would have done just one of the fast food franchise deals he was offered, he would have been loaded too. My dad turned down McDonald’s (How many hamburgers can they sell? He asked), KFC, BK(Again, how many hamburgers can they sell?), and finally Wendy’s(They can’t all be in business selling hamburgers!!) I remember going to Columbus and eating at the original Wendy’s and being totally mystified as to why he didn’t want to go in on the deal Andy offered him, since he liked the burger he had there. Dad’s thinking was, “I’m doing ok, so I don’t want to bother with it!”, besides Andy’s drinking was getting to the point it would kill him soon after my dad went, and I think my dad thought maybe Andy had lost his lifetime touch of making insane money even during the depression. My dad turned down almost all of Andy’s deals, about 20 of them would have made my mom a really rich widow in 1973, and even the worst of them would have made her more than comfortable. My mom almost bit on Andy’s last deal, for some “worthless” land out west of town that some old farmer wanted to sell..It was a cornfield then, now it’s motels, restaurants, and shopping centers. It went for huge bucks in the early 80’s so mom could have bought it super cheap and the taxes on it were very low, but she passed and Andy and this other guy split it. Andy’s widow pocketed over a million in ’84 or ’85. Mom just sighed.
For years when my mother was growing up (in the fifties), my grandparents had a truck as their only family vehicle. He had three kids. My mother and uncle sat in the box while their little sister got to sit in the cab with the parents. My grandfather’s attitude was “what’s wrong with the truck?”
That was shot in Salinas, CA if I am not mistaken. Where most of America’s strawberries and a plethora of other fruits and veggies come from…
Nice looking trucks and the length of the cuffs on the jeans of the gentleman on the left are impressive!
And how many of the pictured vehicles had six-cylinders?
In farm country?
Where my Dad grew up (Southern Minnesota in the 50’s) he says the answer would be “all of them.”
The Chevy clearly has a V8, as proudly acclaimed by it hood badge. Unfortunately the Ford’s grille badge is not visible, but from experience, a rather healthy percentage of Ford pickups from this vintage had V8s. Ford buyers preferred V8s. Henry taught them well.
Today there are even more pickups in Salinas, but many still look like they work for a living. Despite the popularity of Ford’s and Rams here, my totally uncalibrated car census meter thinks there are more late model Chevy work trucks in and around the fields here (I live not too far from Salinas). When I see a Ford or Ram, especially a 1/2 ton, it’s usually clean. But particularly in winter when the farm roads are wet, mud-caked white Chevy 1/2 tons seem to be everywhere. Of course, lots of heavy duty pickups as well, but again, a significant number of Duramax Chevies. Don’t see too many rolled up cuffs like that now, though.
i’ve observed the same. i see more older chevys on the road compared to ford or ram.
Flossmoor Plan Commission OKs pickup truck parking
The Flossmoor Plan Commission gave its approval Thursday for changing a longstanding ordinance that bans Flossmoor residents from parking pickup trucks in their driveways.
Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to recommend that the Flossmoor Village Board adopt an amendment outlining new regulations that permit pickup-truck parking with some restrictions.
– December, 2018
My uncle who worked at the Ford Stamping plant replaced his LTD with a F-150 in 1975, and everyone in the family cringed. Pick up trucks weren’t considered family vehicles in this part of Chicagoland and pick ups were required to have their licensing painted on their sides. Additionally, he was unable to park his pick up on the street, or in our driveway after 5PM.
As you can see, this was the effective ordinance in Flossmoor until this year.
Consequently, we considered pick up trucks to be exotic work vehicles suitable for non-urban areas. Quaint. We vacationed in the Western US and saw them as trucks driven by park rangers, cowboys and farmers.
We no longer need to hide pick up trucks around here.
I knew Flossmoore IL had the pickup ordinance in the 1980’s, but had know idea it stuck around until 2018!
While I agree all of these are daily driven trucks, it is important to note that there are Zero females in the photo, and I presume about half of the drivers today are female. If you were to show this same photo with a bunch of females (or at least half of the total of people) driving or riding around in them, I would be impressed. Trucks were for menfolk, not for little ladies, back then, and if ladies drove, it was in a sedan, by gum. That is what has been a major shift in trucks, not that they overtook cars, but that females find them just as acceptable as males do.
Maybe that was true in California, but not in Oklahoma. Okie ladies have always been able to fix a truck or shoot a snake without mussing their makeup.
My Mom (born in 1926) told me that she learned to drive in (on?) a tractor and the first other vehicle she drove was a Dodge truck, both in the 1940’s, long before I was born.
I like the old-style ‘STOP’ sign, with what appears to be reflectors marking the letter shapes.
Old street scenes this era from this part of the world often show flatdeck Bedfords Internationals Fords, Chevs and others lots of ex lend lease Jailbar Fords and early 40s Chevs not pretty personal trucks though mostly tired battered work horses.
Bit disingenuous, really. These men are “daily-driving” work trucks because they were working daily. Show me a commuter or office parking lot from the 1950s that’s full of pickups and then we’ll talk.
Yeah those men were filling up their trucks early in the morn to head out into the fields and do “an honest day’s work” with their hands and their backs. And they aren’t wearing those hats and boots to make a fashion statement either. The hats were to protect them from the mid day sun and the boots to protect them from snakes and the terrain. You can bet that the wives never went in these trucks though the (male) kids probably learned to drive in them first sitting in Dad’s lap and then using it for work around the farm, well before they had a driver’s license.
I learned to drive a manual transmission in grandpa’s ’53 Chevy farm truck. I never saw grandma ride in it, only the dog and male relatives. There was a ’53 Belair for grandma.
If that picture were taken today the trucks would be so much taller and the hats so much bigger you’d actually hear bro-country emanating from the photograph.
My dad had a friend who was loaded, I mean crazy rich, and his last vehicle was a ’68? Dodge half ton 4×4 with a 383 in it. He had other cars and his wife drove a Caddy, but Andy drove a Dodge or a Ford 1/2 ton when we saw him. If my dad would have done just one of the fast food franchise deals he was offered, he would have been loaded too. My dad turned down McDonald’s (How many hamburgers can they sell? He asked), KFC, BK(Again, how many hamburgers can they sell?), and finally Wendy’s(They can’t all be in business selling hamburgers!!) I remember going to Columbus and eating at the original Wendy’s and being totally mystified as to why he didn’t want to go in on the deal Andy offered him, since he liked the burger he had there. Dad’s thinking was, “I’m doing ok, so I don’t want to bother with it!”, besides Andy’s drinking was getting to the point it would kill him soon after my dad went, and I think my dad thought maybe Andy had lost his lifetime touch of making insane money even during the depression. My dad turned down almost all of Andy’s deals, about 20 of them would have made my mom a really rich widow in 1973, and even the worst of them would have made her more than comfortable. My mom almost bit on Andy’s last deal, for some “worthless” land out west of town that some old farmer wanted to sell..It was a cornfield then, now it’s motels, restaurants, and shopping centers. It went for huge bucks in the early 80’s so mom could have bought it super cheap and the taxes on it were very low, but she passed and Andy and this other guy split it. Andy’s widow pocketed over a million in ’84 or ’85. Mom just sighed.
For years when my mother was growing up (in the fifties), my grandparents had a truck as their only family vehicle. He had three kids. My mother and uncle sat in the box while their little sister got to sit in the cab with the parents. My grandfather’s attitude was “what’s wrong with the truck?”