Friday, February 18, 2011

Photos from 1980—Car Show and Used Car Lot

One of the more distinctive front ends from the latter part of the 1930s, this 1939 Chrysler Royal, sports abundant chrome and streamline design cues. The headlights were also highly styled, with flush covers and shield-shaped housings. In reality, the red circle behind the word "Chrysler" was blue, but I used my artistic license and made it red to contrast bette with the blue car. All photos are clickable to enlarge.

Magnificent 1938 Lincoln K V12 sedan at a local car show. The greyhound hood ornament was a longtime Lincoln feature.

The "toned down" 1959 Edsel front end at a used car lot in 1980. The handwriting was already on the wall for this upper-medium priced marque. Dropping the larger Mercury-based models, the Edsel was reduced to marketing only the smaller Ford-based versions, and would be dropped completely shortly after the 1960 models were announced.

The interior of the '59 Edsel may look "glitzy" in this photo, but had lost many of its most unique features from its first year, 1958. The unique compass-like speedometer and Tele-touch transmission buttons in the middle of the steering wheel hub were gone by '59.

The car show also included this mid sixties Ferrari Lusso. The tailpipes say it all!

I'm not sure what car these highly-styled hood louvers belong to, but I'm guessing it's early 1930s. Any guesses?

The 1950 Ford, here in club coupe guise. The '49 Ford is credited with "saving" the corporation, being completely redesigned and completely up-to-date mechanically and style-wise. The '50 Ford may have only had a minor facelift, but was advertised as being "50 Ways Finer for '50."

The trunk logo from a late fifties Mercedes Benz 300SL roadster, a six-figure car today.

A step plate and running board from a mid 1920s Buick.

The distinctive rear fender trim from a Duesenberg SJ phaeton.

"Ask the man who owns one," was Packard's famous advertising line for decades.

Gorgeous Packard, a 1931 Deluxe Eight 840 Roadster I believe, above and below.

Ford Fairlane from 1956. The "jet" hood ornament is scooped into the hood itself, the Ford crest is highly stylized and the name "Fairlane" beautifully scripted underlining it all. Fair Lane, two words, was the name of Henry and Clara Ford's estate, and was used on Ford's top-line models for a few years, before being slightly decontented when the Galaxie was introduced halfway through 1959.

9 comments:

  1. I JUST KNEW YOU LOVED ME CASEY. YOU PUT UP THE OLD CARS THAT I LOVE SO MUCH. I COULD JUST SEE ANNIE AND I RIDING DOWN THE STREET [ME DRIVING OF COURSE] IN THAT PACKARD CONVERTIBLE. OF COURSE FLIRTING ALL THE WAY. GRAMPS WOULD HAVE TO RIDE IN THE TRUCK. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THESE CARS AND EVEN THE MUCH OLDER ONES.

    GRANNY

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  2. Loving these pics! I haven't a clue about those hood louvers -- they look almost homemade -- I'll be interested to see if anyone else has a guess.

    And speaking of say it all, that detail of the rear fender just shouts out Duesenberg to me -- before reading your caption the name just jumped into my head, just like yesterday, when I soon as I saw the name Continental on your post, the name DeVaux jumped right in and that's a name I haven't thought of probably since I read about the Continental Beacon in SIA in the 70s!

    Fairlane was used in in 55 and 56 as to top of line Ford, then branched out into Fairlane and Fairlane 500 for 57 and 58, to denote the 118" wheelbase cars and again in 59 wtih Fairlane being one step up from the Custom 300 and Fairlane 500 being two steps up. I don't think the Fairlane 500 was decontented when the Galaxie was introduced mid-year. I think the "Thunderbird" roofline was the only real difference. For 1960, the Fairlane and Fairlane 500 were distinctly downmarket from the Galaxie.

    The other cars in this posting are terrific too -- love the vignette of the 39 Chrysler and how often does one see a Lincoln K? And the Packard -- oh boy, don't get me started!

    The real esate agent that I engaged to sell my mother's house was a girl I'd gone to high school with. Her father had a 300SL Roadster (which I like better than the gullwing) and she was lamenting that she'd sold it when he died for about $50,0000! Her mother drove a 62 Custom 880 convertible!

    Paul, NYC

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  3. I had never seen an Edsel in person, but they are sure different looking and was never well received by the public which lead it its failure. I had also never seen the guagues/dash area before, very interesting and way ahead of its time. It sort of resembles a pin ball machine for some reason.

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  4. Woody,

    If you like the dashboard of the 59 Edsel you should Google or Wiki a picture of the 58! It was unique and pretty wild!

    Paul, NYC

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  5. Thanks Paul, I just love all that metal and weight that went into shaping one of the most unforgettable times in automotive history. Today, everything is cheap plastic, styrofoam, lack of character and over priced.

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  6. It is definitely a joy to see lots of vintage autos in one place. Some of these vehicles are still running on the street, which is good. It means that there are people who still dig the classic auto. But what I love most about these vehicles is their durability. Most of them are older than a decade, but you can still see them standing still and rollin’ on the streets.

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  7. I definitely agree with you Nettie. Seeing these vintage flappers brings smiles to everyone’s hearts, especially car aficionados. I think that is the fun of going to car shows like this. You can see with your own two eyes these classic autos and marvel at these pieces of history. Just looking at them tells a story on how life was back then.

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  8. Even way back, these classics are as beautiful as the ones we have today. It’s just that as time goes by, their value increases. This is what’s great about vintages; the longer they are being well taken care of, the higher the value and appreciation they would get from people. ;)

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