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.
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.
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
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.
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 😆
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEHVuKvojHE
Since my first car was a VW Beetle, I still carry a air pump and cheater bar today in my car.