Vintage shots from days gone by!

Got one of these in my basement...works too!

 

JalopyJunkie, I have to hand it to you, man. You're one of several great regular posters who
locate material like no one else! I have to say, what might have been a sedate still-life photo
takes on a special sparkle with Goldie Hill in the frame! Little known and rarely mentioned
today, Goldie, along with Kitty Wells, really got the ball rolling for generations of future female
country greats. Though she had numerous hits before marrying Carl Smith in '57 and fading into
private family life, my own personal favorite was "Cry, Cry Darlin'." I remember playing the old
78 when it was still new in the '50s!
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Goldie Hill promo shot thanks
to OriginalOldRadio.

 

Anybody remember the Highway Beautification Act?


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President Lyndon B. Johnson hands Lady Bird Johnson the pen used to sign
the Highway Beautification Act, October 22, 1965. The measure was also known
as “Lady Bird’s Bill.” It removed billboards and junkyards from America’s road-
side and continues on in a somewhat diluted form with 1987 legislation that also
requires funds for planting native flowers, plants and trees along highways.
Photo taken by Frank Wolfe is thanks to the LBJ Library.

​

Snapped by a Detroit News photographer named Styrlander the afternoon of March 28, 1967, this photo seems to me to show an excellent cross-section of the type of cars going to the scrap heap in the later '60s. My WAG is that they needed a photo to illustrate an article about President LBJ and First Lady Ladybird Johnson's very active program of "highway beautification," a prime element of which was withholding federal highway funds from any state or jurisdiction that failed to fence or relocate "eyesore" auto junkyards away from interstate routes and other federally supported highways .

Would you just LOOK at all the decent two-doors in this junkyard??? I love this type of pic, because these just pull you in and DARE you to ID as many makes and models as possible! There appear to be at least three 'verts -- a Ford, a Buick and up front, I'm not sure about the dark one. Appears all but ONE car was from the '50s! A number of these cars weren't even 10 years old! With the exception of Nash and Rambler, I don't see any of the independents, not even a Stude, so it's a bit telling that Kaisers, Packards, Hudsons and the like had already become scarce by '67, isn't it? Taken at Pennsylvania Highway Auto Equipment, Inc., this press photo (original) is available on eBay right now, BTW. Apparently, this yard was in Taylor Twp. in the Detroit vicinity.



Photo taken by an Associated Press photographer May 28, 1965, near Baltimore, MD, along the Baltimore-Washington Expressway. The accompanying original cutline pretty much sums up the story. This original print is also available on eBay at the present time. Looking back, I don't think anyone seriously disagreed over unfenced junkyards being "eyesores" to the average driver. But, I surely do remember that many felt that such measures amounted to unnecessary intrusion on the part of the federal government -- and bullying at that! I guess you have to be a car/truck guy or gal to see the beauty in scrapped cars, awaiting rebirth!

 

Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that sight sure would be beautiful to behold today. It would be even nicer if it were possible to save a bunch of those cars.

 

The way those particular hulks are piled up they are nothing but scrap metal anyway.

 

Dr, not to be argumentive, but the hundreds of parts other than sheet metal would be considerable, IMO, and not only engines, trannies and rears. There'd surely be some trim parts, glass, various lenses, interior items, handles, knobs, linkages, hangers, etc. Notice there are several two-door hardtops, too. And, again, salvagable parts would only have around 10 or 15 years on them.

 

Today that pile would be a gold mine. Back then they were subject to the harsh facts of supply Versus demand. And the cost todismantle and store even the choicest pieces would have been a deal killer right there. So even knowing that the demand would be high someday would not warrant doing it. Oh well.

 

--------------------------------
Of Kitty Wells ... Several years ago , Kitty did a Concert nearby, in Milton Fl.. Among her "crew/ band" was her son who played instruments , sang back-up & actually more or less ran the band & the tour... Her son , you may recognize because he was part of a famous TV Sit-Com McHale's Navy.
*** below seen at far right with Kitty & Elvis

-
and back in the days when he portrayed Seaman Willie Moss, John far left ...
-

 

...

 

Er.... no, thanks. I booked my own accommodations.

 

Damn!

The car ain't bad either!

 

The larger tragedy was building interstates through these areas, then complaining that they are there, and forcing them to move. Kind of like building a housing subdivision within earshot of an airport or race track, then bitching about the noise. Some people...

 

No crap, bro. Bass-ackwards, eh? On my old-time junkyards thread, a guy tells a true story of an investor putting a Howard Johnson's less than a mile from his dad's scrap yard back in the mid-'60s, then bitching to high heaven when he'd burn cars to remove the rubber & fabric prior to crushing for scrap.

I always had the impression that many junkyard guys couldn't afford to build fences and couldn't afford to move, so they went out of business and sold everything off to whomever would take it off their hands.

 

"I said pull that mutha' over"!!!!

 

pre-WWII era German Ford?

​

 

Late 40s unknown location

​

 

​

 

blind spot. what blind spot???????????????

 

1937 German Ford Eifel bigger than the Anglia
Smaller than the french Matford

 

This car made by Rust Heinz (same guy who owned the ketchup company) is on display at the Harrahs collection in Reno NV.

The Phantom Corsair is a prototype automobile built in 1938. It is a six-passenger coupé that was designed by Rust Heinz of the H. J. Heinz family and Maurice Schwartz of the Bohman & Schwartz coachbuilding company in Pasadena, California.

Although sometimes dismissed as a failure because it never entered production, the Corsair is regarded as ahead of its time due to its futuristic features and styling cues such as faired-in fenders and a low profile

thanks,
Douglas Johnson
"Skrach"
www.VividlyVintage.com

 

Douglas, thanks for your positive perspective. Ahead of its time is right, and many features were soon adopted by mainstream automakers. My own feeling is that Preston Tucker and Alex Tremulis would certainly have been aware of this prototype, as well! (Notably, Tucker, too, eventually utilized some Cord components.)

It's easy for some armchair generals to blow off some very innovative prototypes of the '30s. But, heck, Rust Heinz undertook the project in '37 when he was only a 23-year-old car nut and something of a visionary (like Tucker a decade later). He did it without the financial backing of his parents and scored plenty of publicity among a pretty receptive public. In April 1939, he'd arranged to have it displayed at the New York World's Fair" whose theme was the future. Less than three months later he was killed, at age 25, in a head-on collision on Pittsburgh's Westinghouse Bridge. Hard to carry forth with a dream when you're dead.

The car was conceived to combine luxury, safety, performance and wind-cheating aerodynamics. Nobody said it would be cheap, if put into Rust's plan of limited production. Also, no one can possibly know what mods would have gone into a production version, IMO.


Phantom Corsair prototype, Heinz with Bohman & Schwartz, '37/'38.

Tremulis' '42 DeSoto Cyclone concept.​

Tucker 48, as refined by Tremulis and other members
of the Tucker design teams.​

 

FlickR member and Eugene, OR, native John Atherton included this 1952 shot
of him with the family TV set on that great site. THANKS, John This really
brings back memories! This, particularly, since TV technology has changed
so drastically since 1952. John got a small flood or viewer comments, and
they're worth your time if you go look him up on FlickR. Thanks again, John!


Photos thanks to FlickR member GBaku, aka John Atherton.


Who remembers:

When the TV took minutes to warm up?

When you counted yourself lucky if you could get two or even THREE channels?

When TV stations actually shut down at night, usually playing the National Anthem?

When the first thing seen at morning sign-on was a pattern so you could adjust
the darkness, contrast and channel tuning for the day?

When almost nobody in the neighborhood had COLOR (and many still lacked TV)?

Reception was by "rabbit ears" right on top of the set OR by an antenna on your
roof or on a tower?

When a presidential news conference caused you to miss "Leave It to Beaver,"
and the prez was on ALL channels?

When a space shot was just cause for preempting regular programming, and
you LOVED counting down from 10 the final seconds before lift-off?

Unless you acted fast at the sound of the first champagne bubble bursting, your
mom and dad might hear, causing you to sit through a whole hour of "Lawrence
Welk" instead the show you liked?

When Saturday cartoons and kids' shows were actually FUNNY, not P.C.?

When local stations produced live programming, and not just overpaid TV-news
talking heads?

When ever-silent Clarabel the clown actually SPOKE to the kids at home?

 

The Tucker was an aircooled rear engine car. They sure could have made a phanton corsair front on it because they sure did not need a grill. It would have been stunning with a clean no grill front. Cheaper too.

 

Scanned in a few old family photos I thought you might enjoy.

Cousins several times removed: Mark and Vivian Sharp


Another cousin, from the back "Merrill Van Haun on mail route in 1910."



L:R John Lyons, Mark Sharp, Max Ford(my grandfather)



My grandfather father Max Ford during WWII


My great grandmother's house in Lansing MI while under construction. I believe this is present location of the Sears store near Frandor.

 

Tucker #1031 and its present owner​

 

Parnelli?

​

 

I'm so used to seeing the Tuckers with the cool front end, I am pretty much in love with them as they were. I was just trying to make the point that the Phantom, Cyclone and Torpedo were of an emerging breed of more aerodynamic cars.

As for the rear engine, that's right on. But Preston ate up a lot of time trying out three different powerplants. He finally liked the Franklin Aircooled flat six (and bought the company), but he had his engineers convert it to a sealed, liquid-cooled system. Still, that may not have had much bearing on the front-end treatment, which was conceived in '46 and '47, IMO.

The HAMB has a resident Tucker fanatic, and he can probably say what the cap pressure was on the radiator.








See! TuckerFan doesn't miss anything![/I]

 

Kim Novak is not one of the lovely actresses we've covered so far on this thread. But I consider her one of THE most beautiful women to hit during the '50s decade. Though she was obviously not your average girl-next-door, her marvelous appearance did not mask her intelligence and acting ability. Thus, there was little of the enigma that identified Marilyn Monroe, another big '50s star. Top directors sought her out, and she co-starred with many of the top-billed male leads of the era.

Though she racked up screen credit in many hit movies, my personal faves are "Picnic" with William Holden, "Bell, Book and Candle" and Hitchcock's "Vertigo," both of those with Jimmy Stewart. Given what we know of fickle fate, audiences simply cooled on Novak, and her film roles faded in the '60s. Nonetheless, she compiled a filmography and many awards and life memories to be proud of and savor. She added a special, memorable presence to any role. Kim overcame breast cancer in 2010. She lives on a ranch near Eagle Point, Oregon, where she and her husband raise horses and lamas.

I mentioned a few days ago that I personally consider the most beautiful and dynamic female film stars of the '60s to be Ursula Andress, Raquel Welch and Ann-Margret. Obviously, Monroe makes the top three of the '50s, but I'll take Kim Novak as an outside favorite. Anybody else want to vote their favorite?



Kim Novak photo thanks to Rip Jagger's Dojo.


Glam promo pic of Novak thanks to GarboLaughs.


Kim Novak photo thanks to Cedar&Willow.Blogspot.

 

I think Jimi already pointed out that Tuckers are not air cooled. Probably the confusion comes that the company that made the Franklin motors was named Air Cooled Motors. Of course they made an air cooled motor for use in helicopters but the Tucker 335 was water cooled.


I'll have to look up the radiator cap pressure for you Jimi. It's in my files. I know the radiators were made in Wisconsin.



I know this photo was taken in Chicago in January 1950. Do any of you Chicago guys know where it was taken? I'm guessing near the Court House somewhere. Can anyone tell from the buildings in the background where this site is?

 

I'll throw in my vote for Kim, loved her in bell book and candle