Mystery car pix

fintail

IMCDB to the rescue, here we have a Volvo "Russian" police car with a USDM W111 fintail doing a fireball jump over it. Seems legit:

tmart

What is that in front of the Chevy wagon? It looks like a 61 Ranchero taxi! Could be the reflection off the trunk, but still looks weird in the picture.

ab348

Well, the '61 Ranchero was Falcon-based, so it's not that. I think you are seeing the camera play tricks with the long rear deck of that Ford.

ab348

It's a nice day to visit the beach - Surfside Beach, SC to be precise, around 1965:

Lostwrench3

I'll grab the 1959 Chevy wagon and the 1950 Ford.

stickguy

Corvair by the building. And a tempest behind the stop sign. Black convertible toward the right, is that a jag? I first thought MGA but seems to bulky. Could be camera angle.

texases

And a ‘60 Ford. I’m surprised there aren’t any Mustangs.

magnette

@ab348 re the use of odd cars for Eastern Block countries on TV.

I notice that - usually the bad guys all drive Benzes (and are often Brits) and the streets are all Fiats / DS Citroens or similar. Haven't noticed it with Checkers on the stuff we still get here though - although I haven't seen McGuiver for years - I'm sure it is out there on some channel though!

We were watching a foreign drama which was a detective story set in Cuba and I thought it would be just studio sets and fifties US cars with funny plates (it is in Spanish with subtitles) but it turned out to be actually made in Cuba - the cop is driving a Volga, the patrol cars are mostly Ladas and the streets are full of old Chevs and Fords with random bits of chrome and trim missing. I think the programme is called Four Seasons of Havana

magnette

That Humber Super Snipe blends in quite well with the contemporary US traffic - although we thought of it here as a large car (like the FordZodiac or Vauxhall Cresta) but there it is really quite small compared with the other cars in that shot

magnette

@stickguy Black convertible toward the right, is that a jag? I first thought MGA but seems to bulky.



Yes I think that is an XK150 coupe

ab348

magnette said:

@ab348 re the use of odd cars for Eastern Block countries on TV.

I notice that - usually the bad guys all drive Benzes (and are often Brits) and the streets are all Fiats / DS Citroens or similar. Haven't noticed it with Checkers on the stuff we still get here though - although I haven't seen McGuiver for years - I'm sure it is out there on some channel though!

The bad guys are almost always Brits. And they all drive Jags these days!

https://youtu.be/e7gR7EYjcP8

tmart

ab348 said:

It's a nice day to visit the beach - Surfside Beach, SC to be precise, around 1965:

57 Ford, 2 59 Fords, Fairlane 500 at the left and a wagon at the entrance ramp, Square Bird 58/60, 61 Ford at right.

fintail

Surfiside pic shows how the finned cars really looked dated when styles changed in that short window of relatively clean modern cars before pretentious bloat set in. Lots of late model cars in that pic. Oldest cars might be a Stude next to the Jag, and a shoebox Ford at center left.

ab348

Today’s Mission: Impossible auto oddity: in some fictional European monarchy, a stretch limo ‘69 AMC Ambassador. Never knew such a thing ever existed.

fintail

Today is the 53rd anniversary of Sweden keeping to the right. As one may expect, such a jump taking place instantly created some traffic tie-ups. Here are some cars driving on the right side of the road:

stickguy

not as many Volvos as I expected. But some.

andys120

The only car I see that isn't Swedish or German is the Ford Thunderbird ('58-'60 Squarebird)
at the top center with its hood up.

There's but a single Saab swimming with a horde of Volvos of all kinds. It's a '95 or 96 at top left just entering frame.

stickguy

Isn't that a BMC of some sort behind the dark VW bus, and a rear engine Renault next to it?

fintail

Yep looks like an ADO16 behind the VW, and maybe a Renault 8.

ab348

I don't know what is to the right of the ADO16 and I know this is impossible, but the rear design of it reminds me of an early K-car. I'll take the Volvo P-1800 coming towards us.

stickguy

Looks like a big Mercedes to me.

magnette

Yes - I liked the advert for the Jaguars - the tunnel bit he drives through is actually on the way we would use to go into central London from here in the eastern suburbs, although I avoid driving in town if possible - and of course its not really at the moment.

We always know who the baddie is going to be in a film when a Brit (or maybe Australian) actor shows up.

magnette

I read an article years ago about some British Journalists from an auto magazine who took a Rover from here over to Sweden to be there for the change over and although everybody had to stop for half an hour before they drove off again while swapping sides, loads of people came out in the middle of the night to do it and in Stockholm the traffic was busier than usual.

The journalists were trying to get to a ferry so had to pass loads of people on the new side of the road - and of course that meant overtaking on the old side - and they got flashed up and shouted at by the Swedes probably because they assumed as the car had British plates they didn't know about the change over!

Ghana changed sides in the 70's and I knew someone who had lived there and he said when they changed over it was ok where he lived as the road discipline was pretty lax anyway!

fintail

Yep, to the right of the ADO16 is a MB W108. Another W108 is perpendicular to it, on the cross street, nearest the curb.

tmart

andys120 said:

The only car I see that isn't Swedish or German is the Ford Thunderbird ('58-'60 Squarebird)
at the top center with its hood up.

There's but a single Saab swimming with a horde of Volvos of all kinds. It's a '95 or 96 at top left just entering frame.

The Squarebird is a 1960. Strange looking with no fender skirts.

fintail

Seattle, 1984 - might zoom in a little fuzzy, but a lot of material is discernable:

stickguy

Ford Fiesta in the center next to a late 60s/early 70s Chevy PU with a cap. Up top, a white Dodge Colt *81-84 vintage). Next to a Stanza. end of that row next to the white Chevy van, i think the nose of a Fiat X1/9.

ab348

That Seattle 1984 pic makes me wish I was in the pickup cap business back then.

Here's one from Boston, summer of 1972:

Michaell

ab348 said:

That Seattle 1984 pic makes me wish I was in the pickup cap business back then.

Here's one from Boston, summer of 1972:

Central Artery - now gone, replaced with the Big Dig

tmart

Yellow Ford Country Sedan, Pinto.

ab348

I remember taking a cab in Boston around 1982 and the driver went over one of those overpasses pictured here - travelling L to R on your screen - and then made a *right* turn going the wrong way on the surface street to then make a left at the next corner. The two of us in the back seat were terrified but it was no big deal to the cabbie apparently.

fintail

Pickup canopies were/are huge here. Probably on 90% or more of trucks back then.

VW fastback heading down the on-ramp at left. Looks like maybe a Peugeot 404 in front of the yellow Ford wagon.

sda

Thunderbird with brake lights on, right lane.

stickguy

yellow 73ish Corolla coming toward the camera, and a blue '69 Camaro.

a Capri just ahead of the Blue pinto.

ab348

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the '68 Cutlass in the right lane heading towards the camera.

bhill2

ab348 said:

I remember taking a cab in Boston around 1982 and the driver went over one of those overpasses pictured here - travelling L to R on your screen - and then made a *right* turn going the wrong way on the surface street to then make a left at the next corner. The two of us in the back seat were terrified but it was no big deal to the cabbie apparently.

Ah yes, Boston cabbies. In the mid-'70s I was in grad school and several of us students went to Boston for a meeting. The session on the last day ran a bit long, and we had a tight schedule for getting to Logan airport to get back. When we hailed a cab one of my fellow students, a quite attractive young woman with big blue eyes, plopped down in the front seat beside the cabbie, gazed worriedly into his eyes, and said "we're late and afraid of missing our flight home". I spent most of the ride under the seat, but we made the flight.

andys120

Its's not a '60 Ford but it's close>

Lostwrench3

Ah, the 1960 Edsel Villager. That's the one to own.
9 passenger - 59 built.
6 passenger - 216 built.

andys120

I saw a '59 Villager in Cornish NH a couple of summers ago.

ab348

Aside from the bizarre taillights, I thought the '60 Edsel was a decent-looking car.

fintail

No surprise, I'd take it. All of that differentiation to make a couple hundred units. Lose money on every sale and don't even make up for it with volume.

In modern times, I've never seen a roof rack on a 60 Ford wagon, nice accessory.

On that theme, Seattle, 1960 (should zoom in nicely enough):

stickguy

man, late 40s/early 50s cars looked so dated by 1960. That 59ish Plymouth in the middle looks like a spaceship in comparison.

ab348

Man, Seattle traffic has always been bad it seems.

tmart

52/54 Ford wagon at left, in the median a 57 Ford and I think I spy a 60 Ford!

fintail

Yep!

I think the traffic might be linked to a construction issue - something is up with the graveled median.

Most interestingly, I see at least 3 apparent prewar cars in the pic - cars held up here even then. I think my grandpa was driving a 57 Ford at that time.

Lostwrench3

And, on the left, a '53 Plymouth followed by a '53 Olds followed by a '52 Chevy.

Lostwrench3

We had a photo of this area before, did we not?
I remember that nosedived aircraft.

ab348

North to Alaska! Pre-earthquake Anchorage, 1960.

andys120

MG-A going away at right. It's one of three drop-top cars visible. Blue Caddy ('59-'60?) ahead of Squarebird convert w top down on left. Odd to see convertibles driven in Alaska.

fintail

Caddy in the immediate foreground, not totally visible, appears to be a 59. Same behind it, I don't think it is a convertible, rather a 6 window sedan. I wonder if there's a Caddy dealer at left.