Text by Patrick Bell.
In today’s gallery we have an assortment of parking lot photos in various locations across the USA. All of these images save the last one are over fifty years old, some of them over sixty. It is always fun and sad at the same time, to see these cars as they lived their lives back when they were just a car. Now so many have disappeared for all practical purposes, with others worth so much they get restored and cloned to the point it seems like there are more of them now than there ever were back in the day.
Our first stop is in Woodstock, Vermont at the Woodstock Inn. The license plates are Vermont issue used from ’69-’71 which is within a few years after this new building was completed to replace an old one that wasn’t worth refurbishing. From the left in the foreground a ’68 Ford Falcon 4 door sedan, ’69 Chevrolet Camaro convertible still wearing its snow tires, ’67 Plymouth Barracuda Hardtop Coupe, and a ’66 or ’67 Volkswagen Type 1 with a ski rack. Parked in the street are two ’61-’67 International Scouts, a white over green Travel-Top to the left, and a white over red Utility (pickup) by the tree. In between them is a ’67 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan.
Now we are in a small town somewhere with a Burger Chef and lots of other vintage eye candy as you look up the road. In the foreground is a ’62 Mercury Comet Custom 4 door sedan in pale yellow, heading away a white over green ’65 Rambler Classic 4 door sedan, and a white ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan. In the left background a white Renault Dauphine, and on the road a civilian Checker Marathon also in white.
Here it looks like we are at a coastal location in a warm climate. The two pickups and van in the background likely belong to the workmen in the building on the left. In the foreground left side is a white ’65 Ford Falcon Squire, on the second row in front of it a dark green ’65 Plymouth Sport Fury 2 door hardtop, back on the first row a white over blue ’61 Pontiac Catalina 4 door sedan with a Pennsylvania license plate, and a white over gold ’63 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe with a ’65 Texas plate. It has a Super Sport wheel cover but the emblem on the quarter panel is not a SS. One of those last two, or possibly both, are far from home.
Let’s head to Cleveland, Ohio and visit the Stouffer’s Restaurant in Shaker Square. It is a winter photo with quite a variety of parked cars. We have two Mustangs, a green ’69 and a black over red ’65 or ’66. Two basic 2 doors, a green ’69 Chevrolet Chevelle 300 Deluxe and a blue ’64 Dodge 330. Two convertibles, a maroon ’65 Pontiac LeMans and a yellow ’65-’67 Chevrolet Corvair. One luxury car, a white ’62 Imperial. And two mid class units, a black ’66 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Town Sedan, and a blue ’65 Pontiac Catalina Safari wagon with a busted nose. Three of the cars have visible quarter panel damage, and the yellow license plates are Ohio ’71 issue.
This one looks like a stadium or arena in California in 1962. From the left a new looking ’62 Rambler Classic Custom 4 door sedan, a new ’62 Mercury Comet 2 door sedan with no license plate, and a ’58-’60 Lincoln 4 door hardtop.
It is time for a boat ride if we can find a place to park. The location may be one of the New England states going by what appears to be a ’70 issue New Hampshire license plate on the Cutlass in the foreground. Starting on the left lower corner a ’69 Chevrolet Malibu Sport Coupe, ’67 Oldsmobile Cutlass Holiday Coupe, ’64 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Coupe, ’64 Plymouth Valiant 100 4 door sedan, and a ’65 Chevrolet Impala. The second row left side starts with a ’69 Buick Skylark Custom Sport Coupe, and beyond there everything is in pairs. Two Chevrolet’s, Chrysler’s, European cars, and Cadillac’s.
It is shopping time so let’s try the Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles. In the distance on the left may be a C2 Corvette, in the center lane is a ’65 Plymouth Belvedere Satellite hardtop, and the first one on the right is a ’70 Buick Electra 225 Sport Coupe.
I don’t have a location on this one but it looks like a tourist attraction in the mountains. I see three different license plates and the only one I recognize is Tennessee on the black Volkswagen Type 1. The rows beginning with the black ’70 Lincoln Continental Sedan heading this way and the brown ’71 Ford LTD 4 door Pillared Hardtop heading away are actually the street traffic that appears to be backed up and stopped. Other cars are the tail of a blue ’64 Rambler 660 Classic Cross Country on the left edge, and the greenhouse of a 4 door Thunderbird in front of the LTD.
Our final stop is at a train station on a beautiful fall day. I can’t read the license plates, so I am unsure of the location. The long, brown ’74 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe and blue ’72 or ’73 Plymouth Fury Sport Suburban both do well at hiding a white AMC Hornet and orange Chevrolet Chevette. The green car is a ’77-’79 Dodge Colt, and the second from the end is a black Saab 900.
Thanks for riding along!
Love all these vintage photos, I was around in all of those times.
The Woodstock Inn was built by the Rockefellers back in the 30s, and much of the golf course course was once part of my Great Grandfather’s cow pastures, which he sold them for that purpose when he retired. The modest 2 story frame house is still on the hillside across the street. He became caretaker of a house owned by a wealthy NYer in “town”, a very charming village with the prototype New England green. A must visit for folks who love classic Vermont town. s
The second to last picture is Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Cliff Dwellers is an art gallery.
The gridlocked traffic was pretty much par for the course. Fortunately there’s a bypass that lets you get directly to the national park entrance.
Those are pretty random shots, surprising in an era where the marginal cost of another photo wasn’t zero.
I’d most like to drive that 65 Belvedere hardtop out of the scene.
Last photo is no earlier than autumn 1977.
Car on left is a Fairmont wagon. Fairmont debuted in 1977 as a 1978 model. THAT is the clearest clue.
Trees look autumnal.
The two-tone silver/black car between the Saab and Mopar wagon is a late 70s GM, most likely a Regal or Cutlass. also new for 1978 (or maybe a new for 77 downsized Riviera)
Great photo selection here!
The last photo appears to be of the Haverford Train Station just outside of Philadelphia. Those Philadelphia-area train stations were beautiful, and often designed by well-known architects, so its good to see that this one has evidently been retained.
Google Street View link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/61bncEGEsLEDY1Xf6
That awesome Burger Chef billboard photo has some pretty delicious (sorry, haven’t had lunch yet) mid-century signage behind it.
There’s a Teague Texaco with signs, including the beloved “Registered Rest Rooms;” a Firestone bow-tie with a Budweiser bow-tie right above it; the very ’50’s Dr. Pepper gold “V” logo; and the c.1957 Mobil sign (with Pegasus); I believe that design lasted less than a decade.
Surround all that with stuff like a Checker and a Dauphine and an Econoline pickup, and maybe you can see why I think it’s a real meal of a picture…
Picture #3 is the Pier Pavilion at Clearwater Beach, Florida. There were a number of pavilions in Clearwater at the time; few if any are still standing, but I believe this one was replaced in the 1980s or ’90s.
I believe that Picture #2 (Burger Chef billboard) is from Phoenix, Arizona.
The arid location was a clue, but also the Checker’s license plate. This is an obscure plate, but Arizona used white-on-green plates in the 1960s as 30-day temporary license plates. My best guess is that that’s what’s on the Checker. (images below)
Then I looked for clues in the background. One of the businesses has an address that begins w/ “62” – so I’m assuming its the 6200 block of a major commercial street. There’s a sign in the background for a Zoo – which is pretty unusual. Turns out there was a small children’s zoo called “Jungle Park Zoo” at 6232 N. 7th St. in Phoenix in the 1960s.
There are other matches for that block as well. On the opposite side of the street there’s a building with a sign for “Rents & Sells” – and there was a business called Bun’s Equipment Rentals on N. 7th St. at the time. There was also a dairy at 6235 N 7th St., and if you look hard in the vintage shot, there’s a milk-shaped sign back there.
So, I think the scene is the 6200 block of N. 7th St. in Phoenix. There’s no structure that survives from those days, but in Google Street View images from 2011 and before, there is a billboard in what I believe is the same location.
As is probably obvious, I have a bit of free time on my hands today…
Google StreetView link to location:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TEtxjb4KavPNv7Qx6
Whoa… AFAIC that’s well-used time, Eric703; nice detective work!