Vintage Snapshots: Parking Lots In The ’60s & ’70s

By
– Posted on February 22, 2025

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!

 

More Vintage Photos Here