Text by Patrick Bell.
Our gallery today is going to trigger some different types of memories for many of you. Many of them are vehicles in distress, and are from the fifties and sixties. So grab your tool bag and let’s hit the road.
It’s going to be one of those days… A ’62 or ’63 Chevrolet C10 Fleetside long bed with a ’64 Impala SS wheel cover on the front, a blown tire on the rear and an ironic heavy load.
This man was doing something with the air cleaner on a ’55 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan with a six cylinder, aftermarket window defrosters, a wind deflector on the vent window, and a license plate I don’t recognize. Perhaps it was flooded. That used to be a problem that technology has all but eliminated. He also had a new snow shovel leaning against the fence.
These fellows look too well dressed for the occasion. Perhaps they are traveling salesmen on a back road in a ’54 Buick Special or Century who are displaying some teamwork in their roadside refueling exercise. The license plate has no location or date markings, so it isn’t much help. At any rate, the man looking at the photographer seems to think it is quite humorous.
This one was recently uploaded by CC contributor tbm3fan in the comments section. It’s a photo of his maternal grandfather changing a flat tire on a V8 powered ’56 Dodge 2 door Lancer that could be any of the three trim lines. The guy on the left looks like he’s not too sure about the operation.
A lady topping off the radiator of a ’56 Plymouth Belvedere Club Sedan with a V8 and missing the ‘T’ on the hood. It has apparently been sightseeing in Colorado. To the left is a black ’55 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan, and in the background may be a ’48-’52 Ford F-series pickup.
Another refueling stop, this time in a ’54 Mercury Custom 2 door sedan with perhaps a Wisconsin license plate. The gas can is new, and there is a flag of some sort on the antenna. Across the street is a white over blue ’55 Ford.
An image search leads to a page with this photo labeled ‘On Highway 152 in California 29 Dec 1962’. They are completing a tire change on a ’59 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie Club Victoria likely with the 352 V8 since it has dual exhaust, although at least the tips are aftermarket. It has a pair of auxiliary springs as well to go with the trailer hitch. The spare was an old tire as the flat in the trunk matches the right side tire. This was a normal occurrence when traveling back in the day.
A young mechanic in training with his tutor looking under the hood of a ’59 Ford Fairlane 500 or Galaxie.
The Renault Dauphine was built from ’56-’66 with little change. In the USA they sold very well in the first few years and were the second best selling import after the VW. Sales fell off as problems with the cars appeared. This one is missing the left headlamp trim and has a French license plate so the location likely is the hills of France. The lady is doing something in the trunk, or ‘frunk’ as they call them nowadays.
A search reveals this is Russ Patton from St. Louis, Missouri. He and his new bride were on a three week trip through the western states. The year, as best as I can tell, was 1975. The car is a ’51 Studebaker Land Cruiser, the top of the line with V8 power. The camper is a ’54 Byerly. Russ, who passed away in 2021, later became the owner of Byerly RV, a large dealer in the St. Louis area. It is an interesting story. He said in the desert they had to drive with the heater on to keep the car from overheating.
This ’64 Ford Galaxie 500 2 door hardtop was purchased new at Ryder Ford in Weiser, Idaho. It has the original license plate in this photo, and you can see the never before used spare on the ground. The car survives and has been totally restored by the current owner who lives in Iowa.
If you never have used a bumper jack you have missed out. They were usually a very interesting proposition, especially on the rear of a car with a long overhang such as the one in the photo. You can see it is leaning toward the right, and the jack is near its upward limit but the tire looks like it is still on the ground. The higher you jack the more it leans. It often was a race against time, to get the wheel changed before the jack gave way. When you add an unlevel surface, or a soft surface, or snow and ice, that made it even more interesting. But, all in all, I liked them better than the current scissors style of jack which have many of the same problems. They were more forgiving and easier to control.
Here we have a Jeep Station Wagon with an Arizona license plate issued in ’59 that looks like its jack is not tall enough. Time to find some blocks. There was little change on the back side of these from ’51-’60. Since it does not look new it is likely from the earlier part of this range. This man may be thinking ‘What do we do now?’
A group is headed back home after a little trip in their ’67 Ford Galaxie 500 2 door hardtop registered in Wayne County, Michigan, home of Detroit. The lady sits by the side, looking frustrated. The sign ahead says only 76? miles to town and a tire gives out. Here we sit with another spare that has not been on the ground, about to get broken in.
Uh oh, this ’69 Chrysler Newport 2 door hardtop appears to have a coolant leak. Going by the air cleaner it looks like the standard 383 V8 with a 2 barrel, and it does have factory air conditioning. Even so, it shouldn’t be too hard to find the source of a leak of that magnitude. Perhaps they will have something to fix it at the drugstore. In front of it is a ’68 Chevrolet Impala, behind it is a ’72 Chevrolet Caprice Coupe, and on the left side of the photo a ’66 or ’67 Ford Econoline Super Van.
It is new car show time, maybe in Germany with the DAF and Lloyd displays in the background. I am not sure what these fellows are doing in the trunk of this ’61 Plymouth Fury 2 door hardtop, but they seem to be hard at work. There is a new Chrysler 300 G next to it.
Thanks for joining us and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I’m glad tires are so much better now. I’ve rarely gotten a flat tire in the last 20 years, except for punctures from a nail or screw.
When I bought my ’02 Silverado in 2022, the spare had never been out of its carrier. Bud I did get a flat (from a screw) and when I went to install the spare I noted that the date code on the tire was from 2002. I immediately found a new takeoff tire on FBM and had it mounted.
As my dad was fond of saying upon seeing a flat “fortunately, it’s only flat on the bottom”.
As late as the 1970’s, I recall scenes like this, being quite common. Disabled cars, abandoned for days along highways. Until owners found the resources, to have them towed.
Still lots of litter along highways then, from roadside repairs. Abandoned flat tires, motor oil cans, frayed and snapped fan belts, empty coolant jugs, etc. Every conceivable type of trash you’d see, walking along roads. On busy long weekends, countless broken down cars, along major routes. With entire families, and their pets, watching dad make ad hoc repairs to the family car. Occasionally a stranger, would stop to help. Cars were destined to breakdown, as the parts in them, were so cheap.
Province of Ontario employed slow-moving magnetic ‘nail picker’ trucks until the 1950’s. Picking up thousands of pounds of nails or pieces of metal, along highways.
Beginning in 1963, the Province introduced an ‘Emergency Road Patrol’ on the busy 401 highway. Including supplying a gallon of complimentary gas, for cars out of fuel. In its first fiscal year alone (1963/’64), the service responded to 23,000 incidents. The Patrol lasted for several decades, on Ontario highways.
Several US states have a similar program, including Virginia, where I live. It’s a great service to offer – it helps people and also reduces the likelihood of both injuries and crime (i.e., criminals taking advantage of stranded motorists).
One of our governors eliminated the program a few years ago, but it was restored later. I believe the program is co-sponsored with an insurance company who helps fund it. I don’t know if the drivers themselves are state employees (they should be, in my opinion), but in any case it’s a valuable program. I see these trucks in action often.
Regarding the ’64 Galaxie with a flat…I have seen that car and it is featured in this piece from 10 years ago. The color is a rare one, which is how I was able to make the connection.
The then current owner was like the 10th owner of the Galaxie. He had done a phenomenal restoration of the car.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/the-2015-ford-galaxie-club-of-america-convention-in-tupelo-mississippi/
Those bumper jacks, so dangerous, and risky. I’ve found the safest way is conventional floor jack under the axle, and then sometimes necessary to use the bumper jack to raise the body high enough to clear wheel. When GM went to a rachet type jack under the frame in the late 70’s that was a better design
Bumper jacks were the only practical method of jacking up the rear end of 1960s American full size cars. The body needed to be raised in order to allow room to remove the tyre and wheel.
Any jack design can be ‘dangerous’ if incorrectly used. Used correctly, bumper jacks were no more dangerous than conventional scissor jacks or any other jacks. I would even argue that correctly secured to the bumper and used on a solid flat surface, a bumper jack could even be safer than other design jacks.
Sadly most drivers today would have no idea of how to safely change a flat tyre. It should be a requirement of obtaining a drivers licence as should checking tyre pressure (when the tyres are cold) and checking fluid levels etc. These things should be something that all licensed car drivers can and should do.
My parents retired to the country in 1975. As we lived near a town of 6,000 people. Which was roughly 11 miles away, from another larger town of 10,000 residents.
The overwhelming difference I notice between today’s highways, and roads back then, is there were countless hitchhikers in earlier times. Literally everywhere, there would be someone thumbing a ride. My dad would pick up hitchhikers, even with us kids in the car. It was a casual thing. People appeared far less judgmental back then. And obviously, more risk-taking. Though incidents reported in the local press, were very rare. During daylight hours, and nighttime, there were innumerable hitchhikers on that highway between those communities, I mentioned above. People would routinely give rides, to hitchhikers at night.
Can’t recall the last time, I saw a hitchhiker.
Dad always told me never to pick up hitchhikers. Probably went back to his experience back in the ’30s. He’d picked up a hitchhiker in his ’35 Chevy, and the fellow got his coat caught in the door. He opened the (suicide) door to get his coat loose, and the wind of the car’s passage ripped the door clean off the Chevy. Guy just looked at my Dad and said “Sorry”.
lol My dad picked up a number of hitchhikers over the years, never any issues to my knowledge. In the 1970’s, Canadian television acquired a number of syndicated Australian crime-drama programs. We may have gotten a rougher perception of your country, than was reality. ‘Caged Women’ was on one new network here, every weeknight it seemed. As they filled out their programming with overseas series. lol
I think the trick was, you had to be discerning in who you picked up. Most hitchhikers between those two towns, were regulars.
The shovel behind the ’55 Chevy is actually a ‘Western Scoop Shovel”, like made of an alloy as they’re heavy in steel and not what you’d want to shovel snow .
Old light duty trucks used to come with bottle shaped screw jacks and I’d have to fully unload the bed before lifting it up to change the flat tire .
Not fun in the Mojave Desert .
The fellas putting gasoline into that ’54 Buick have the can upside down ~ try it the next time you’re adding oil, the spout should always be to the upper side so air can easily transfer in and you fill faster .
I always wonder why adverts have the same mistake .
We used to call those tall bumper jacks “widow makers” .
I’m amazed you could narrow the Econoline van to only two years .
I too remember hitch hiking and getting rides, once in a while from some sexual deviant .
-Nate
My father was too cheap to buy a real snow shovel and had a big, heavy scoop shovel he found somewhere for me to use to shovel snow. The thing must have weighed 20 pounds and made the job far more difficult.
We called those shovels ‘grain scoops’ and used them on the farm to shovel ear corn out of corn cribs.
Yes, flats are relatively rare these days, but I have an irrational fear of being stranded somewhere and my sealant kit fails. I ended up sourcing a spare tire kit for my Ecosport from the UK. A company called Carnoisseur sells a package called Road Hero that includes a donut spare on a decent looking alloy wheel. Plus a scissor jack, wrench and other assorted odds and ends to assist you in your roadside repair. They even ship to the US. Got mine in four days.
.Flat tyres I can deal with Citroen puts the required tools and a proper alloy road wheel in the car at the plant, a 12V compressor and small trolley jack were added by me.
Suspension failure the dread of every Citroen owner since 1955, well I had that happen but drove it like that because you can, I parked it where I keep my Hillman and dailied that, the Citroen I repaired it myself once I located and imported the parts,
I have been stranded in trucks more than once, looking under the hood or the cab wont do much, you need a fleet mechanic or one of those cool heavy duty tow trucks, it can be quite an event.
The two ladies changing the tire on the Buick reminds me of when Lucy and Ethel changed a tire on the I Love Lucy show. Hilarious 😆
Since my first car was a VW Beetle, I still carry a air pump and cheater bar today in my car.
The mystery license plate in Picture #4 (the two well-dressed men w/ a ’54 Buick) is from US Forces in France. I’m not quite sure what CF stands for (the F undoubtedly is for France), but the CF prefix was used on these plates throughout the 1950s & 1960s. I think 1968 was the last year for these plates.
I remember spotting in the very back pages of one (or several) of the major car magazines, ads for those car exhaust-driven bladder car jacks. The illustration/photo showed a Lincoln Continental Mark IV being lifted, seeming effortlessly by the air bag. Did a quick Google search, and came up empty.
I mentioned a variant of those – and had a photo of the ad – in an article I wrote about the J.C. Whitney catalog.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/1979-j-c-whitney-catalog-a-reflection-of-its-time-spray-on-saves-you-money-edition/
Although the guy in that ad was lifting something (a kind of weird Vega-Porsche hybrid) considerably lighter than a Continental Mark IV.
Apparently J.C. Whitney was to cars, what E.G. Marshall was to the field of medicine.
Those 2 ladies in the Buick hopefully did not get that tire changed themselves. I say “hopefully” because I fear for them trying to jack up that car at that angle on that surface with what would have been the bumper jack in the trunk. Out of all of the situations pictured here that’s the one that has me most fearful for the safety of the subjects.
Well, the toddler about to fall into the engine bay of the Ford…but probably dad would have grabbed him by the pants before things got too out of control.
You’re correct about that 1969 Newport. I know for a fact – having seen it happen with my family’s 1971 Town & Country – that if the mechanic wasn’t a plus-sized fellow, it was entirely possible to stand in front of the engine, under the hood. With the radiator missing, it was even easier. Anyway, fixing the radiator, thermostat and whatever cooling hoses that have gone south in that car would take all of about 20 minutes. All of the coolant is already drained apparently.
Back to the bumper jacks…yeah, they were horribly unsafe, but they were all we had it seems until nearly the 1980s, so everyone just learned how to use them. I was always fascinated with how the tire iron was used to activate the jack. I still have several of the old-style tire irons around. Particularly given the sharp end of iron, they always seem to come in handy for something. And by the way, you’ve not lived until you’ve had a bumper break off while using one of those jacks to raise a car.
Great pics.
On the positive side, those Buicks were unusual in having those full rear wheel openings. That made changing the tires a fair bit easier.
I was quite taken by the second photo, with they guy in overalls under the hood of the Chevy – wearing a hat. Wearing a hat to work on your car?
The overalls tells me it’s not just casual maintenance. Initially I thought it was in case he bumped his head on the hood. But then I realised with that snow on the ground he’d want to be keeping his head warm. You can probably tell I live where it doesn’t snow.
Flats used to be so common, but I think the last time I had a flat would have been in the mid-nineties. There’s a lot to be said for checking your tyre pressures regularly. I was especially glad I never got a flat in my last car (’05 Mazda 3) as it had a space saver rather than a proper spare – allegedly a proper spare wouldn’t fit (so where do you put the flat?) – and being limited to 80km/h might be fine in the city but can be awkward out here. We carry a full size spare in our cars nowadays, to be on the safe side.
All those flat tires reminds me of the Red Sovine song The Gearjammer and the Hobo.
The trucker blows past the hobo just before pulling over with a flat. The hobo strolls up and says “have a flat?” the trucker sneers at him and says “no thanks, I’ve got one!”
Actually in that picture of the 56 Dodge that is my father changing the tire with his father off to the side. Changing a tire is not something I would ever consider seeing my father do. Maternal grandfather might have been considered the owner since he was a Dodge only owner all his life. Only that is a guess but am sure it wasn’t my father’s.
As for using a jackstand I had to in 1981 when driving up through the Central Valley after taking my state licensing exam. Four of us in an Audi 100LS when the passenger front tire blew out suddenly. Off to the uneven shoulder of gravel. Wasn’t the best situation so helped was provided by tow of the guys lifting the front bumper, one quickly placing the tire on, and me quickly getting some nuts on. We did it. Unfortunately we were next to fields that were had standing water from the rains. There were tons of mosquitos and on Monday, when we showed up at school, all four had dozens upon dozens of bites on different parts of our bodies. Some chests while it was the back of my legs as I had shorts on.
The brand new shiny bumper jack in the ‘64 Ford Galaxie photo looks exactly the same one as the one that was in my ‘73 LTD.
Probably right down to Ford’s part number for it.
I suppose if you have a design that works, why change it.
They were perfectly safe, provided the surface on which you were parked was fairly level.
I suppose if you got a flat on the streets of San Francisco, you’d be screwed.
One thing about bumper jacks, in the late 70’s it wasn’t uncommon to see cars in salt country missing their back bumpers. Translation, they rotted right off. How safe is it to Jack up a two ton car from a part that might just fall off from corrosion? If the bumper has just fallen off from corrosion then how do you Jack it up with the Jack point missing?
Jacks and hitchhikers. Jacks and hitchhikers. Interesting combo. But I can work with it.
Bumper jacks. What an evil device. I wonder what OSHA would say about using one of them, at least as of last month.
Hitchhikers. I’ve done more than my share, never a problem with either the rides I got or the rides I gave, but there have been other issues. I learned quickly in the South to stand right next to an overpass while hitchhiking on a freeway. There were a number of drivers who thought it was cool to either try to run me down or come as close as they could. But standing next to solid concrete allowed me to take as step or two and while not technically protecting myself, at least make the would be ??? run into solid concrete if they were to hit me. Worked great.
Strangest hitchhiking event was as follows. Living in South Lake Tahoe, a resort/casino/mountain community at 6300 feet, coming home from work late one night there was a young woman hitchhiking. In the snow. Barefoot. I gave her a ride, she really wanted a place to sleep for the night so I let her at my house. She asked where, I just told her the couch. Gave her a ride back in the morning, close to where I picked her up, near by the boyfriend who was beating her up no doubt. Oh well.
Regarding the last picture (1961 Plymouth Fury): Judging from the color and typeface of the hanging signs (DAF, Lloyd) I think this was taken at the Paris Motor Show in October 1960.
2CVs had a similar thing to a bumper jack, you had a little hooked end on the slide that went under/around the cill, you had a lot of winding to do because of the suspension travel. A bit hairy to use as the car had the potential to roll off the jack if you didn’t chock the remaining wheels, particularly on a hill.
I love the Lucy video so thanks for posting. In the early 1970s I flew from NYC to Miami. Rented a car at the airport and it was night & monsoon rains. Exiting the airport I hit a curb, blew out a front tire. Got out of the car, in the pouring rain, OK, I can fix this. Got the jack out and started to jack up the front of the car. My friend with me said what was I doing, its the rear tire that is flat. Please understand, I am not proud I had more than a few casual drinks on the plane. Both front & rear tires were flat. Flagged down a cab and back to the airport rental office leaving my car in the middle of the road. I was soaking wet, slightly drunk, yet they rented me another car.
Wouldn’t you know I finally have time to look at curb side classics while sitting at Loves truck stop in Valley City ND. I’m getting a flat repaired on my Freightliner. Oh boy!
Night time, lonely road and sleet coming down. Flat tire on my just purchased ’82 Cutlass. Struggling to remove the wire spoke wheel cover. Finally, sitting on the ground in cold mud, I braced a foot on each side of the tire and pulled with all my strength on the tire iron. Suddenly the wheel cover flew off over my head. That’s when I discovered it had LOCKING wheel covers…duh.
Where I live in N.E. Pennsylvania there are still a few U-Pull-it type junkyards around. Unfortunately, because it IS the Northeast, most of the older vehicles within are there because of a lost battle with the “tin worm” (ie: Rust…for you lucky so-n-so’s in Florida, SoCal & Hawaii!). Removing parts is often a chore due to corrosion. One thing that is disturbing tho is the amount of wheel studs that I have snapped off on late 80’s/early 90’s GM cars. I’m a Ford guy, so i’m normally in THAT section of the yard but I recently acquired a 93 Sedan DeVille & needed a spare wheel for it. Most cars (GM or otherwise) of that vintage have been sitting in the junkyard for some time; but when I put breaker bar to lug wrench: SNAP! Each lug bolt just broke right off. Fords with stiff lugs might round the nuts, but they almost never snap off so easily. Bottom line: Check your lugs often for corrosion; especially on those neo-classic GMs!
I meant “breaker bar to lug…NUT”. Didn’t catch that in time to edit! Oh well. But yeah, many junkyard GM cars I have loosened lugs on – esp early 90s thru early 2000s – seem to have wheel studs that are prone to corrosion & seizure.