Text by Patrick Bell.
The calendar says spring is here in the northern hemisphere, so today we are going to cruise around and see what is in some driveways. It is always fun to see how people live, especially in the past, so let’s get right to it.
The first stop is a Ford driveway on a nice summer day. In the foreground is a ’72 Gran Torino 2 door hardtop, the first year both of a restyle and the ‘Gran’ name in front of the ‘Torino’. It has a vinyl roof and what appears to be a Minnesota license plate. In front of it is a ’71 or ’72 Country Squire, one of the more popular people haulers of that era.
Now we we are in a rural area with more variety in the driveway. It is a spring day, with the flowers blooming and the grass is green. From the left a ’55 Plymouth Belvedere Club Sedan with a six cylinder, and a ’64 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 Sports Coupe designated by the rectangular badge on the right lower corner of the deck lid. It was likely close to new and it is receiving a bath. Next is a ’56 Lincoln Capri or Premiere 4 door sedan, and a ’57 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan with some bumper damage.
It looks like the gang is getting ready to go on a road trip and Pa is trying to figure out how to make all the luggage fit. It is likely a suburban neighborhood with tall antennas and nicely kept homes. The travel car is a ’60 Pontiac Catalina 4 door sedan with a home crafted roof luggage carrier and a license plate that looks like Michigan in all ways except the color. Maybe they are taking the teenage daughter off to college.
A good photographer will always center their photos so that makes the object of this one the tree. There are two ladies and a small dog? sitting on the porch probably in Florida as that is where the ’64 Ford Thunderbird convertible on the right is from. It was registered in Miami-Dade County and looks good in an all white exterior.
With this photo we actually get two driveways, most likely in California. Front and center is a ’62 Plymouth Savoy sedan with twin spotlights and a ‘PRESS’ sign in the windshield. Perhaps it is a former police car. Behind it is a ’50 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 4 door sedan also with a spotlight. On the left a ’59 Oldsmobile Super 88 4 door sedan, with a ’54 Cadillac sedan behind it.
In this driveway is someone’s brand new ’60 Ford Falcon Deluxe Fordor that looks sharp with two tone, full wheel covers and whitewalls. It has the dealer license frame and filler on the front and the buyer’s tag in the windshield. And there is someone behind the wheel checking it out.
We are at another California location with someone’s rolling project, a ’53-’57 Volkswagen Type 1 Deluxe with some body repairs underway. In front of it is a ’63 Ford Galaxie 4 door sedan.
This looks like a late winter or early spring photo in a middle class neighborhood where the wind is blowing the clothes on the line. In the street is a ’63 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport Coupe with a ’60 Chevrolet Biscayne 2 door sedan with a six cylinder and a post ’57 Volkswagen Type 1 in the driveway.
Another diverse driveway with a ’64 Ford Falcon 2 door sedan on the left with the Convenience Package which consists of additional exterior and interior trim. In the center a ’64 Chrysler Newport 4 door sedan, and on the right a ’62 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe.
Here we have a Chevrolet driveway in a middle class neighborhood. In the drive is a clean ’64 Bel Air 4 door sedan from Kent County, Michigan, where the seat is Grand Rapids. In the garage is a ’64 Chevelle Malibu wagon. Perhaps this person works for the Chevrolet division of General Motors.
There are some oil drippers that park here, perhaps this ’66 Plymouth Barracuda with a V8 is one of them. It also has a decal in the back window that indicates it is equipped with factory Airtemp air conditioning. Next door is the nose of a ’63 Ford Galaxie.
A search reveals this location is Dallas, Texas, where there is a circular drive in front of this home that could use some paint work. Parked in front is a dirty ’69 Buick Electra 225 Custom Limited 4 door hardtop. It looks like a warm summer day.
There are three cars checking out this new driveway in a new addition where the houses are not yet complete. The left hand car is a ’67 Chevrolet Caprice Custom Coupe with some damage on the side. In the middle is a ’72 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Coupe, and the nose of a ’61 Chevrolet Impala is along the right edge.
In this shot we have two different license plates in two different driveways. A family is posing outside and the photographer apparently wanted to get the complete house in the photo so he stood way back. In the driveway a ’71 or ’72 Ford Country Squire wearing a license plate I do not recognize, with a mid-seventies Dodge Tradesman van with some custom work in the background along with a mid-seventies Volkswagen Type 1. On the right a ’72 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe from Michigan looking good in all black.
I can’t tell if all these people are coming or going. They are in the hills where the fall colors are beginning to show. In the left foreground is a ’75-’77 Ford Granada 4 door sedan with a ’71 or ’72 Ford Pinto wagon in the background. In the right foreground is a ’74 Plymouth Gold Duster with some quarter panel damage, and a ’70-’72 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the background.
Thanks for riding along and have a great day!
Once again, a great tour with much information that I would not pick up. Fun photos.
I saw a pale green ’66 Barracuda in the wild yesterday in #yka. First one I’ve seen in decades!
Wow! Can’t say last time I’ve seen one anywhere.
I love vintage photos sets such as these.
The cars are the stars.
The people and places complete the picture.
The second-to-last picture appears to be from Lansing, Michigan. Then-and-now comparison and StreetView link are below
The Country Squire has an Indiana license plate from 1975 (or possibly ’76). Indiana plates had that distinctive smaller letter – third character on the vintage plate, and also Indiana plates from 1970-76 had a long expiration sticker on the bottom-center of the plate.
I’m guessing the family posing on the front lawn either recently bought the house, or were visiting relatives.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/S5WYHSK6Z6Zmg8HGA
Here’s a close-up of the Ford’s license plate w/ a 1975 Indiana plate:
Great job! If memory serves, 55 indicates Morgan County. The first Indiana plate I received for my 1975 VW Rabbit is pictured; I got it in August 1975 and resided in Monroe County (53), home of Indiana University at Bloomington. Morgan County is located just north of Monroe County.
Thanks, Eric! I thought it had an Indiana vibe but I wasn’t sure enough to pull the trigger.
Yes the first one or two digits were associated with an alphabetical listing of counties. I cannot make out the first digits, other then a 3.
Changes I like:
– fully paving the driveway
– ditching the fake shutters (they looked particularly bad on the small windows on the second floor, where there wasn’t room for two shutters and the one that’s there isn’t big enough to cover the whole window)
– getting rid of the ivy on the chimney
Changes I don’t like:
– the drab paint color, though it’s not bad
– losing the storm door
– removing the bushes (though they should have been pruned shorter)
I’m on the fence about the shutters, because the house looks sort of plain in the modern shot. Though that may improve with landscaping.
The other big change is that the garage is gone. I assume it had structural problems and was taken down – that’s what happened with the garage that was originally on my lot; one of the previous owners took it down due to rotted wood.
The one photo shows fairly new models of a Falcon, Chrysler Newport and Chevy Impala. All look fairly well equipped except for the blackwall tires. Some people never liked whitewalls and the care they required, even on luxury cars. I recall a neighbor decades ago who had an air conditioned 1956 Cadillac with blackwalls. Our next door neighbor bought a new 1966 Chrysler Town and Country wagon, loaded, including A/C and the 440 TNT, but with blackwalls. It was the tow vehicle for his 30’ Airstream trailer. He gets a pass as he told me he couldn’t get whitewalls in the six ply tires he wanted as part of the tow package.
Like a lot of families, we went from a 1 car to a 2 car family in the 60’s. Unlike most families that 2nd car was an import, till 1980, when my Dad bought a Dodge Omni, and never bought another import till he passed away in 2016. Probably not that strange, the first was a ’59 VW Beetle, that was his only VW, he replaced it with a French, then several Japanese cars in a row. Including the Omni, they had manual transmissions (after the Omni he only owned automatics).
The 1st car was a wagon, till he bought an ’84 Sunbird (which turned out to be the worst car he ever owned) when he stopped buying wagons in favor of sedans.
We moved around a lot in my parent’s younger days. Up through the mid 60’s our house had a 1 car garage (if it had a garage….our house in Catonsville had a driveway but no garage nor carport). We moved to Virginia in 1969, a steep driveway with a turn around, and from then on a 2 car garage (never had anything but 2 car after that…which I’d guess lines up with most people’s homes since that time as well). We never lived closer than about a 4 hour trip by car from my Grandparents (both pairs lived about the same area).
What are those ornamental iron vertical things, as seen on the corner of the front porch in the fourth photo with the T-Bird, called? I’ve seen several restorations of mid-century houses left incomplete because they couldn’t find or fabricate a replica.
That’s pretty much exactly what they are…ornamental iron porch roof posts. I guess you can get them in aluminum too, but all of the ones on houses I’ve lived in and stayed in have been iron.
https://homeimprovementsupply.com/p-9694-superior-aluminum-series-6e-decorative-columns.aspx?
The iron ones usually need painting. That one on the FL house is a fancy one with the stuff sprouting off the top, but the basic concept was very common, especially in the South and I suspect maybe other Sunbelt locations? I put them in the same category as the very decorative storm door “screen guards”. Those often embedded the last name initials of the owner, flamingos, or some other decorative detail, in aluminum. You don’t see those too often anymore. Classic 1950s – 1960s suburban.
Great pictures. The white house that Eric says is in Lansing looks nearly identical to several of the houses I grew up in. And all of those driveways looked so much like these photos. A real blast from the past for those of us of a certain age.
I had three of those without the upper sprouts at my place here in central Texas. They were sixty years old and rusty, so I had one of our grandsons replace them with 4×4 wood posts. They are much easier to maintain.
#9: Another diverse driveway with a ’64 Ford Falcon 2 door sedan on the left with the Convenience Package which consists of additional exterior and interior trim. In the center a ’64 Chrysler Newport 4 door sedan, and on the right a ’62 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe.
But what’s that in the garage?
Nothing positive came to mind on that one so I left it alone. It makes me think of an early Nova, but the tail light seems too big. Any clues?
That red “Falcon” looks amazing. One forgets how well ‘red” can photograph. The “Baracuda” makes me want an “early edition”, one.
(blue please))
I’m always amazed by old photos like these. Growing up Dad had a old card $50 specials like Studebaker 4 door coup and later 49 Ford four door the newest car we ever had was 1969 Dad bought a 60 Ford falcon. Life was always a struggle with 9 of us.