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.

"Independents" Day: More Photos from the '80s

Continuing my series of vintage cars I photographed in the early 1980s, today I present three manufacturers among the last of the domestic "Independents," Packard, Studebaker and Hudson. Pictured in canary yellow and black is a 1956 Clipper sedan by Packard, the last year that Packard sold cars using its own bodyshells. Clipper was now its own division, although it was clearly a junior Packard. I'm sure most people didn't understand, or appreciate, this difference, as the Clipper nameplate had been used by Packard since the early 1940s. There is a long, sad story of Packard's last days, first being bought by Studebaker and eventually dropped after building badge-engineered Studes for '57 and '58, but I won't go into it now. The last "true" Packards, the '55s and '56s were magnificent cars, whether they were the juniors, the Clippers,  or the seniors, the 400s, Patricians and Caribbeans.

The '56 Packards featured push-button automatic transmissions, visible through the steering wheel, just under the radio. Notice the divided leather front seats; even a bottom-of-the-range Packard was a quality automobile.

The "Clipper" script on the front of the hood is one of the most distinctive uses of typography on a mid-century automobile. Stretching seven connected letters across almost the width of the car was gutsy, artistic and dramatic. The Clipper's "ship's wheel" logo is centered in the grille below it, and the bow-shaped grille itself, a modern interpretation of Packard's classic "yoke" radiator shape.

Many, many times in its long and storied history, Studebaker fielded dramatic and elegantly styled cars. This is the rear window of a 1937 Dictator business coupe. Art Deco meets Streamline styling and equals distinction and presence in spades.

Another Studebaker coupe that blew the competition into the weeds in 1947: "The first by far with a post war car!" proclaimed the company's advertisements. This wraparound rear window of the Starlight coupe was the exclamation point for the entire lineup of futuristic automobiles designed primarily by Virgil Exner, though credited to Raymond Loewy at the time as it was his name on the design firm's letterhead and in the newspapers. There was nothing like it then, or now.

The Hudson Italia, a halo car built for Hudson by an Italian firm named Touring. This was a compact "personal luxury coupe" a good ten years ahead of its time. Only 25 examples of this car were built, all in the same cream exterior with red and white leather interior as this car was. Click on the links in this caption to read more about this fascinating automaker.

The red-and-white leather bucket seats included lumbar supports, and the interior boasted flow-through ventilation, creature comforts ahead of their time. Also visible in this view are the aircraft-inspired door openings cut high into the low roof for ease of entrance. I don't seem to have gotten a shot of the car's most interesting design detail—the taillights were housed in three individual chrome "tubes"  on the rear sides of the car, looking for all the world like jet exhausts. Many manufacturers seized upon the postwar jets' styling cues, notably DeSoto and Mercury, but none as stunningly as Hudson on their Italia.

As with all of the images in this old car show series, these photographs were taken with black-and-white film and have been colorized in a whimsical manner using Photoshop; all are clickable to enlarge.

The Standard of the World; Faded Glory

Grace of the Fallen—approximately 22 x 20 inches on two joined pine boards. Paint, paper, silver foil and polyurethane.

This series of photos dates back to the early 1980s, as have my other recently posted car images. They were shot with a Nikon camera, using film of course and I've scanned these particular images from my contact proof sheets. The photo above shows an early postwar Cadillac 75 limousine, in decidedly ragged condition. I was struck by the elegance still apparent, from the power window switches, the button-tufted upholstery, and the quality materials evident throughout and used it one of my first pieces on wood, top.

The front fender of the same 75 limousine . I love this Cadillac script and the stainless steel trim pieces.

The Cadillac crest and wings on the trunk of the '75 limousine. Such class and taste.

The aluminum step plate of the 75 limousine. Body by Fleetwood.

I've posted other detail photos of this Cadillac "cemetery" and this 1962 Cadillac Park Avenue in particular in earlier posts, here, and here. This was a short-trunk version of the regular Cadillac sedan, meant to fit in prewar garages, and was produced in '61, '62 and '63. This profile view shows what I consider, almost perfect proportions. The interior of this specimen sported separate front seat. I suppose they were called "buckets" but they were wider, and flatter than bucket seats in any other car, though they still have a space in between them. They weren't the divided bench seats of later models. I've always wondered what happened to this particular car, it was emminently restorable.

Three more "resting" Cadillacs, including two 1959s, left, and a '66 Fleetwood limousine, right. The factory painted-roof limousines are among the most elegant of sixties Cadillacs in my opinion. These were not "pimp daddy" limos, they weren't stretched Hummers, they didn't have a hot tub on the deck. These were limousines for old money families and captains of industry, not Snookie and the rest of the Jersey shore drunks.

Having a bit of fun one day in '83. I took this Cadillac script with me on an outing one day and posed it in various "out-of-context" photos, including this one on the grille of my '83 Toyota Celica GT-S notchback.

Photos from a 1980 Car Show, Part 8

Early 1930s Auburn Speedster—flowing grace sculpture from the hood mascot to the boat tail. Click on images to enlarge.

1934 Chevrolet eagle hood ornament, left; 1952 Dodge, right—what else but a ram?

1954 Studebaker 's European-inspired sleek front hood and grilles. The V8 logo is highly stylized, like the best of Raymond Loewy's work. Yes, that's me reflected in the chrome bumper.

Talk about inspired typography! The V-12 badge from Lincoln's 1937 K series.

What else could this Art Deco style hood ornament be on but a Duesenberg? 

An early Thirties Pierce-Arrow hood ornament, left; Packard's late Twenties, right.

Resting Giants. Scenes from an '80s Junkyard

Somehow I don't think one would find a '35 Packard in a junkyard today. This relic of bygone days was covered with surface rust, but was relatively complete and quite restorable. Let's hope it was! All photos clickable to enlarge, as always.

These four 1959 Cadillac photos were all shot in a car "cemetery" that contained only Cadillacs. It's no longer there, having been cleared away for a parking lot in the late 1980s, but it was one of my favorite places to go sharpen my photographic skills. The cars ranged in condition from almost turn-key to sad parts cars. There is an elegance to a Cadillac, or a Lincoln, or a Packard, that transcends condition however. They may be down-at-the-heels, the makeup might be aging but, like Baby Jane Hudson, or Norma Desmond, a true classic is a classic forever.

Photos from a 1980 Car Show, Part 7

These photos actually date from a car show I attended in 1982, but for the sake of the series, let's just call it 1980! This is the famous "checkmark" side trim from the 1956 Ford Sunliner convertible. My parent's was pink and black so I colorized this photo to match. All images clickable to enlarge.

I've been fascinated with Studebaker, Raymond Loewy and Virgil Exner since I was a child. I've been studying the history of cars since I learned how to read.

An early post-war Oldsmobile, a 1947. The downward turning chrome grille bars formed a frown, but I've always thought they were very artistically styled. Notice how the turn signals are beautifully incorporated into the bumper guards.

I don't think anyone will need a genie or three guesses to figure out which car is hiding under this cover.

The twin-cowled fully instrumented dashboard of the first Corvette series, the '53-'55 models. Symmetry ruled the day.

The Super Deluxe script nameplate on the front of a 1941 Ford. The angled chrome letters are a perfectly placed accent.

This simple italicized nameplate appears on the equally simple slab sides of the 1958-60 Rambler American.

A detail shot of part of the dashboard of a late 1920s Packard. Quality, always!

• For the first six installments of these car show photos, you may click on "Car shows" in the list of Labels on the right side of this blog, or you may simply click here.

Photos from a 1980 Car Show, Part 6

Packard's rather inglorious final series, the 1958 model, often called the "fish mouth" for obvious reasons. Packard used thinly-disguised Studebaker bodies for 1957 and 1958 before closing its doors forever. I actually like this car quite a bit, but for kitsch reasons having nothing to do with elegance or Packard's long, long history.

Packard used a fin-on-top-of-another-fin in the quest for relevance in the late 1950s. 

Rather more in keeping with Packard's real place in the automotive world, is this Twin-Six V12 engine from the early 1930s.

A 1942 Packard One Eighty Darrin, also featured in the earlier 1980 Car Show series.

1956 Lincoln, left, and 1957 Lincoln, right, show off their respective rear ends. The '56 was tasteful in every way, while the '57 went just a bit garish with its rising fins, but compared with other '57s from luxury makers, was still quite restrained.

1956 Chrysler 300B, the second year of Chrysler's "Banker's Hot Rod." Oddly, the first 300, the 1955 model, was named the C300 (this corrects my mistyping 300C the first time, I swear I knew that, lol—thanks to Paul NYC for pointing out my error!). From '57 onwards, the 300s were consecutively named, C, D, E, F, G, H, and then J, skipping over "I" as they felt it might be seen as 3001, then K and L, with the '65 300L being the last in the original series.

Even then, if I found some flowers I'd photograph them.