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Wheeling In – Automotive History On Display
Today in my hometown we had our annual classic car show. These are often fun affairs, especially when, like this one, they are wide open to all makes and models, from the brass age to the present. Of course what gets the most attention are the rare vehicles, the sports cars, the supercars we slap as posters on our walls as teens, and the rarities, but shows like this bring out even the more humble affairs.
What is preserved? What is allowed to wear out, to be discarded and scrapped away? The everyday cars, the 4-door sedans, minivans, and SUVs that haul us around every day – these are the cars always least represented at these shows. We don’t preserve our ’87 Ford Taurus, driving it with care and keeping it garaged (and with ours it would have been a futile effort, that car was doing its best to commit suicide). So for me I was torn at this show – torn between some of the humbler offerings that somehow were preserved and maintained. The Ford Falcon, Kaiser Manhattan with the “swamp cooler” window A/C unit, and this Olds Holliday – these were my favorites. The Olds in particular grabbed me – look past its ’50s 2-tone, abundant chrome, and jet-fighter hood ornament. This is a car meant for driving, yes in comfort and style, but for everyday driving nonetheless. Look into the interior and admire the way the inside and outside designs tie so well together. She’s a beauty, and someone has held her together all this time.
My favorite Camaro.
A humble Kaiser Manhattan
Opel GT
Hard to believe that some of these have survived, loathed as they are by Mustang purists.
Isettas went from bargain economy runabouts to commanding $50k today.
Even fire engines showed up.
Some hot-rods are just wrong – a Pinto with side pipes?
An elegant Packard
A stock inline-6 Falcon, unmolested after all these years.
Don’t fear the Gremlin
Dodge sub-compact – I remember when these were everywhere.
The last of the Packards – a Silver Hawk
Someday these too will be sought-after collectibles. Nice to see one that hasn’t been abused.
A rarity from an extinguished marque. After Durant built General Motors, he was thrown out and tried starting his own company.
1920s style.
Late 30s Plymouth – now a hot rod.
Panther Pink!
Fire the booster rockets!
Since this thread has the attention of a bunch of car guys, can someone tell me make and model on this car? Picture was taken on my parents honeymoon in 1951.
At first glance, it looked a lot like the 1947 Chevrolet Fleetline my dad owned when I was not much more than a gleam in his eye.
Yeah, it’s got the fastback GM was using on Chevy and Pontiac at that time. Could be as late as a ’51 though, as they continued that body shell for a few years. Here’s a ’51
I tend to prefer the “everyday” cars at car shows over the more exotic models, as I imagine what I would have driven.
Same here. I love old car magazines, but I’ve never been interested in Duesenbergs or Auburn Speedsters, just cars I could conceivably have owned if I were the right age in 1935, 1948, or 1964.
I think it’s an Oldsmobile, whose fastback started in 1941 and lasted through 1948. The horizontal strip of chrome just above the license plate is the right size and shape to read “Hydra-Matic”. The Chevy-Pontiac body that Skipsul shows is a later iteration; note how the Chev’s rear fenders are much flatter than these, and unlike the Chevy this car’s front fenders bulge outwards.
Not the best picture of this Pontiac GTX, but I’d love to have this car back. That’s me helping wash it. Daddy sold it because he said he got into too much trouble with it.
Awwwww. That is so sweet that I’m going to have to call the dentist, because it probably gave me cavities!
Seriously, what a great picture! Thank you for sharing it.
Have you ever picked up copies of Collectible Automobile Magazine? They go right into the nitty-gritty details not just of exotics but of everyday cars. A recent issue has a very in-depth article just on the last 2 model years of Hudson, another covers all of the 1951 models, another covered ’34-35 Cadillacs and how they saved the marque.
http://collectibleautomobile.com/
Well worth the reading, and the mags are ad-free too!
Pink Elephant/ pink trunk in front?
@blondie, I think the GTX was a Plymouth, not a Pontiac. The Pontiac of fame was the GTO, fondly known as the “Goat” . Still a great picture and thanks for sharing.
Now here’s the best car I ever owned, a burly, lightning-quick 2004 GTO built in Australia:
Similar to the G6? I drove one of those for a while, and really liked it.
All together now: “Little GTO, you’re really looking fine….
Well, ok then, here was my favorite. The last of the Superbirds. This 1997 Thunderbird was built in April of 1997, the last year of production, so this really WAS one of the last Superbirds built. This picture was taken when Big Red was at about 150,000 miles, so you can see I took good care of it, but the engine wore out about 50K miles later and I had to give it up.
You may be right – I had a Plymouth Fury II at about that model year and it looked a lot like that.
Yup, that, too…Dad was also thinking of a toy I had at the time; a pink vinyl elephant with a bee on its trunk; it squeaked when squeezed. :-)
318 or 383?
My dad was a Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy. When I turned 16 and got my license, he got himself a new Dodge Monaco, and gave me the Fury II. I remember pulling all the police radios out of it and installing an 8-track. It had a 383 with a four-barrel. I was like Mad Max though, at 16, and wrecked it pretty quick. Give a kid a Police Interceptor and he will wreck.
I got a Vega after that, heh.
Harsh punishment indeed!
So you bought the other one?
No joke – a few months back I had taken the 18 year old Honda CRV my in-laws had gifted us for my eldest daughter to drive, and after spending several weeks fixing the brakes and a CV shaft I hauled it over to a tire shop for new rubber. While there, this Crown Vic Interceptor pulls in, also for new tires. Ex cop car, still in black and white. The driver gets out and it’s this tall lanky young guy (not a teen, probably mid 20s) steps out and I see he’s open-carrying a shiny nickel-plated .50 Desert Eagle!
Naturally I chatted with him. Nice guy, but I couldn’t help ask if it wasn’t a bit flashy of him to go out with that combo. He laughed and said “well, normally I also have a mag pouch on the opposite hip with 3 extras.”
@joelb, you are right. It was a Plymouth. Thanks for reminding me. It was a long time ago.
On the contrary, Blondie, thanks for reminding us. That picture is so true to memory. Kids helping wash Dad’s car; seems timeless enough, but it’s actually perishable as cars have become appliances, and kids feel they have better things to do than help Dad wash the car on Saturday.
You think that’s bad…
Dang. You are officially a Grumpy Old Man. You must now wear the GOM patch on your sleeve so everyone knows.
I saw this beaut (boat?) yesterday in Jacksonville, OR. Seemed a mile long. A lot longer than I remembered. A 66 Chrysler.
(Reposted from the PIT).
Cars of the future! (of the past)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz8HbGjsxM4
A lot of people have observed that “nothing ages faster than the future”, but I suppose someone must have said it first. If you are of a certain age, you know the three words that once described almost all new American automobile models. I believe this is the man who first said, “Longer, lower, wider.”