Mystery car pix

andys120

tjc78

53 Hudson Hornet

andys120

tjc78 said:

53 Hudson Hornet

You're mostly right, it's a 1953 Hudson Wasp.

ab348

Don't know where this is from but I get a Canada vibe from it. Late '60s vintage, should be enlargeable with a right-click:

andys120

I think the oldest car is the two-tone green '53-'54 MoPar (Chrysler?) in the row furthest to the righy. The newest is the Red '66 Ford in the
rightmost row. A white one is in front of the building and it's next to a '65 Pontac.

ab348

I thought I saw a ‘68 Cutlass there somewhere.

fintail

What's the yellow wagon parked at right near the building, 64 Mercury? Rare bird today.

Parked facing the building, 2 to the right of the white 65 Ford, looks like a 67 Impala. The dark car 2 to the right of that looks like a 68 Ford. I also see the Cutlass and what looks like a big 68 Ford to its right, in the 2nd row from right.

4th row from right, white 60 Ford sedan, and to its right, 68 LeMans?

Smallish white car 2 to the right of a Chevy truck in the far left row - Toyota Corona?

andys120

Sandwiched between the two-tone MoPar and the red '65 Ford on right is a blue '60-'62 Pontiac Tempest compact.

fintail

Spending a few more minutes with the pic, I think I see 2x 68 Cutlass - a white roof hardtop in the 2nd row from right next to a 68 Ford, and in the 3rd row from right, next to a Nova/Chevy II wagon, a Cutlass sedan.

I'd guess the building is/was a train station. Is that a blue US style mailbox near the main door?

ab348

I think that white-roofed car next to the Ford is a '68 Skylark.

Also see a ubiquitous '60 Ford 4-door sedan with the bubble rear glass.

Lostwrench3

And, for us railroad fans, the railroad station in Duluth, Mn.

andys120

Lostwrench3 said:

And, for us railroad fans, the railroad station in Duluth, Mn.

It's a reminder of some of the magnificent rail stations that used to exist all over the country, almost all have since been torn down. Concord NH used to have a beautiful Romanesque
style Boston & Maine RR station that was razed in the 50s to make way for a nondescript strip mall. If the station had been simply converted to a three story mall (as they did in LA) it would have been a real asset.

The there was the destruction of NY's magnificent Penn Station.

imidazol97

Did anyone ID the two cars on the end facing each other in the row that leads to the yellow car. Is one a Rambler?

fintail

At the far end of the rightmost 2 rows, I think both cars nearest the building are Ramblers.

On the train station subject, Seattle remarkably has a couple still in existence, adjacent to each other, surprising in an area where anything old is liable to be razed and replaced with a crappy mcmodern box or a "luxury" apartment/condo tower that looks like the result of a drunken game of Jenga. These buildings have been maintained and restored.

andys120

imidazol97 said:

Did anyone ID the two cars on the end facing each other in the row that leads to the yellow car. Is one a Rambler?

The car parked in the second row from right, across from the Yellow Ford wagon looks like a late 50s Rambler.

bhill2

Yes, with that shape and the reverse C pillar the white one has to be a Rambler. I can't quite identify the white over brown one behind it. Anyone?

omarman

Funny that the yellow wagon has a bubblegum red light on the roof. No other markings that I can see.

Found a similar year Ford wagon pic in full police trim.

fintail

bhill2 said:

Yes, with that shape and the reverse C pillar the white one has to be a Rambler. I can't quite identify the white over brown one behind it. Anyone?

I want to say ~62 Rambler

bhill2

fintail said:

bhill2 said:

Yes, with that shape and the reverse C pillar the white one has to be a Rambler. I can't quite identify the white over brown one behind it. Anyone?

I want to say ~62 Rambler

The problem is, the taillights don't match, unless there is something weird about the angle. The Classic had small round taillights, and the Ambassador had slightly larger ones that were vaguely rectangular.

fintail

I think it might be the angle and obscured details. I see a lot that matches between this:



And this:

bhill2 said:

The problem is, the taillights don't match, unless there is something weird about the angle. The Classic had small round taillights, and the Ambassador had slightly larger ones that were vaguely rectangular.

Lostwrench3

omarman said:

Funny that the yellow wagon has a bubblegum red light on the roof. No other markings that I can see.

Found a similar year Ford wagon pic in full police trim.

That yellow wagon had the capability of riding on the train track rails. The installation of the train wheels devices required the removal of the wagon's bumpers. The attached steel train wheels were not drive wheels but simply kept the wagon's rubber tires on the rails.
In the event a terrible mistake was made and there was an approaching train on the same track, the wagon's yellow color and the rotating red light helped the wagon to be seen.

Lostwrench3

fintail said:

Spending a few more minutes with the pic, I think I see 2x 68 Cutlass - a white roof hardtop in the 2nd row from right next to a 68 Ford, and in the 3rd row from right, next to a Nova/Chevy II wagon, a Cutlass sedan.

I'd guess the building is/was a train station. Is that a blue US style mailbox near the main door?

Yes, a red, white, and blue mail drop box. That color combination was used until 1971 when the US Postal Service came into existence and the color of the drop boxes was changed to all blue. I found many odd things inside those drop boxes including a dead seagull.

andys120

Custom paint>

fintail

60 Starliner in unusual colors, in the background a ~50 Caddy at left, ~40 Dodge behind it. 3 decades in one pic.

Definitely more styling evolution between 1940-60 than say 2000-2020

andys120

fintail said:

60 Starliner in unusual colors, in the background a ~50 Caddy at left, ~40 Dodge behind it. 3 decades in one pic.

Definitely more styling evolution between 1940-60 than say 2000-2020

Yep, the '60 Ford Starliner has a custom two-tone paint job, you don't get speckled purple from a Ford dealer. You didn't see many Caddys w blackwall tires either.

andys120

ab348

andys120 said:

Andy, you've got to be kidding, right?

imidazol97

The black in that picture seems to have been turned to deep purple. I look at the dark green areas in the leaves of the trees and the same appears. The speckling also seems to be an aging artifact. The "black" Cadillac is also speckled.

tmart

andys120 said:

fintail said:

60 Starliner in unusual colors, in the background a ~50 Caddy at left, ~40 Dodge behind it. 3 decades in one pic.

Definitely more styling evolution between 1940-60 than say 2000-2020

Yep, the '60 Ford Starliner has a custom two-tone paint job, you don't get speckled purple from a Ford dealer. You didn't see many Caddys w blackwall tires either.

While not speckled, the Starliner was available in a light purple. Don’t recall if it model specific, but looked good on the Starliner with a white top.

bhill2

fintail said:

I think it might be the angle and obscured details. I see a lot that matches between this:



And this:

bhill2 said:

The problem is, the taillights don't match, unless there is something weird about the angle. The Classic had small round taillights, and the Ambassador had slightly larger ones that were vaguely rectangular.

Yeah, Fin, you make a good point. I can't identify it as anything else, and not a lot of cars looked like a Rambler anyway.

ab348

Here's something you don't see very often. I did a little MS Paint camo on the hood badge.

stickguy

some version of a 1960 Ford product?

andys120

1960 Meteor (CDM)?

ab348

That would be it. I cannot quite tell if it has the Ford flat rear glass or the Edsel bubble glass.

fintail

Had to google it, looks like they used the Galaxie flat glass rather than the Edsel/Fairlane bubble glass. Cool car (I can only find images from brochures, maybe a car in 4 door HT form with no known survivors?);

omarman

That blue one is the Meteor Montcalm Hardtop.

For 1960, the Rideau models are the lowest priced in the Meteor family.

omarman

Found a pic of the 1960 Meteor Rideau sedan in the wild.

andys120

ab348 said:

andys120 said:

Andy, you've got to be kidding, right?

Too obvious? Then you should be able to mail the model yr.

fintail

Interesting rear fascia on that Rideau. These Canadian models must have been an exercise in spending money just for the sake of spending money.

ab348

They were sold at Mercury dealers to give them a lower-priced model. Essentially a gussied-up Ford, slightly nicer trim at all levels. Catering to the Canadian thirst at the time for a cheap/value model car, which still holds true to a lesser extent today. My dad bought a '61 Meteor when I was a tyke, much like this one:

fintail

The Monarch then being a gussied up Mercury? I know Canada got normal Fords too - sounds like another case of competing with yourself. The cheap car thing makes sense in areas with severe weather/salted roads - if it is going to dissolve anyway, don't spend a fortune on something fancy.

A little extra trim helps - the base Fords of that era are really base looking, they need a little chrome.

Not sure about the Olds-esque front of that 61, but I like the rear with how the side trim/fin line carries through the light into the rear fascia.

andys120

I have to say I've never understood the case for creating so many different cars and models for the relatively small Canadian market (no offense) as they did in the 50s and 60s. There's a certain amount of expense related to marketing Canada-only brands (Fargo/Meteor) and even Canada-only models. Even more expense would be involved in the engineering required to mate Chevrolet chassis to Pontiac bodies.

I'm also curious as to whether any of the brands popular in the US were simply not available in Canada (Cadillac/Olds/Buick/Chrysler/Plymouth/Lincoln?). Were there border jumpers who went over to buy US only models, especially in times when the Canadian dollar was strong?

The former marketing guy in me wants to know.

ab348

fintail said:

The Monarch then being a gussied up Mercury? I know Canada got normal Fords too - sounds like another case of competing with yourself. The cheap car thing makes sense in areas with severe weather/salted roads - if it is going to dissolve anyway, don't spend a fortune on something fancy.

A little extra trim helps - the base Fords of that era are really base looking, they need a little chrome.

Not sure about the Olds-esque front of that 61, but I like the rear with how the side trim/fin line carries through the light into the rear fascia.

I think the reasoning was that in many communities there could be a Ford Dealer or a Mercury dealer but not be big enough for one of each, so that allowed them to offer the full product line. But who knows for sure.

I don't ever recall seeing a Ford-Mercury dealer up here. They were either one or the other.

ab348

andys120 said:

I have to say I've never understood the case for creating so many different cars and models for the relatively small Canadian market (no offense) as they did in the 50s and 60s. There's a certain amount of expense related to marketing Canada-only brands (Fargo/Meteor) and even Canada-only models. Even more expense would be involved in the engineering required to mate Chevrolet chassis to Pontiac bodies.

I'm also curious as to whether any of the brands popular in the US were simply not available in Canada (Cadillac/Olds/Buick/Chrysler/Plymouth/Lincoln?). Were there border jumpers who went over to buy US only models, especially in times when the Canadian dollar was strong?

The former marketing guy in me wants to know.

Prior to the mid-1960s Auto Pact between Canada and the US, there were duties imposed on vehicles built in the US imported into Canada. While the US manufacturers all had plants in Canada, the market wasn't big enough to justify tooling up for manufacturing the full range of models offered in the US. So that led to Pontiacs on Chevy chassis with Chevy engines, Dodges with Plymouth trim, etc. Because many towns only had a big enough market for one dealer of a given manufacturer, a Plymouth dealer (for instance) needed a truck line to sell, so Fargo was created. I'm not sure why they couldn't have just sold a Dodge truck instead, but there you go.

You could get all the brands, but not necessarily the models. So Pontiac here in the '60s did not offer Catalinas, Bonnevilles, etc; they had a range from Strato Chief through Laurentian and Parisienne to finally Grande Parisienne, roughly approximating the Chevy Biscayne-Caprice spectrum, using Chevy chassis and engines but Pontiac bodies and dashboards. They did not offer the Tempest in the mid-60s at all, having the Beaumont, a tweaked Chevelle, instead. I cannot recall if the early GTO was ever sold here. Oddly enough though, the Olds and Buick intermediates were available. Don't ask me why that was, I have no idea.

andys120

stickguy

that is pretty!

tmart

Jag XK-E

fintail

I can imagine that. The Auto Pact, as you mention, is also a huge deal, maybe the real reason. Although it still seems incredibly expensive and wasteful to design unique trim for models sold in a market that was maybe 1/8th the size - just build em the same north of 49.

Did Mopar have unique models? None come to mind.

E-Type is a Series II ~1970.

ab348 said:

I think the reasoning was that in many communities there could be a Ford Dealer or a Mercury dealer but not be big enough for one of each, so that allowed them to offer the full product line. But who knows for sure.

I don't ever recall seeing a Ford-Mercury dealer up here. They were either one or the other.

andys120

Yes the E-type is a (1969) Series II , mostly an Series I with mods necessary to comply with new regs mandating headlights, tail lights and bumpers that became effective from '68 on.
There were underhood changes resulting in less power and throttle response.

For a long time I hated this car for being a corrupted version of one of the most perfect looking cars ever made but now when I think about what they had to do it doesn't seem so awful.
Especially considering how much cheaper it would be to acquire compared to an original (SI).

fintail

More pure than a Series III anyway.