Old gas stations

[LizzieMaine]

I thought maybe she'd stolen the Batmobile.

A journalist named John Keats -- who was eternally telling people "not the poet" -- wrote a lacerating book about late 1950s car design called "The Insolent Chariots," in which he took the auto industry very much to task for the poorly-engineered, extravagantly over-designed marketing-uber-alles vehicles of the time. He covered a lot of the same ground Ralph Nader would in "Unsafe at Any Speed" a few years later, but he was much, much funnier.

 

[Fading Fast]

...He covered a lot of the same ground Ralph Nader would in "Unsafe at Any Speed" a few years later, but he was much, much funnier.

Nader set the bar very low for him.

 

[David Conwill]

The mystery car is a 1960 Plymouth--last year for the fins.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

The mystery car is a 1960 Plymouth--last year for the fins.

Awesome...thanks, Dave!

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[LizzieMaine]

Gee, why didn't mauve-wall tires ever catch on?

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

How iconic is that two-tone station wagon, but of course, I have to ask our car experts, what exactly it is?

 

[Fading Fast]

The mystery car is a 1960 Plymouth--last year for the fins.

Looking at this car this morning, I think, it's both stupid-ugly and crazy beautiful in an over-the-top way. It's an out-there mess that works, kinda. I don't know - it's ridiculous, but I think I like it (and am not proud of that).

 

[2jakes]

How iconic is that two-tone station wagon, but of course, I have to ask our car experts, what exactly it is?

I don’t know about the red & white station wagon.
But my folks owned a two-tone green & white by Ford (’58)
Ours was an automatic and was the car I learned to drive.
Later I learned manual driving on my beetle.

 

[Fading Fast]

I don’t know about the red & white station wagon.
But my folks owned a two-tone green & white by Ford (’58)
Ours was an automatic and was the car I learned to drive.
Later I learned manual driving on my beetle.
View attachment 86748

Wow, how much do those cars echo each other. I learned, in 1979, to drive on a '72 Buick LeSabre that was as big and long as a football field - if you could parallel park that thing, you could parallel park anything.

 

[2jakes]

Wow, how much do those cars echo each other. I learned, in 1979, to drive on a '72 Buick LeSabre that was as big and long as a football field - if you could parallel park that thing, you could parallel park anything.

Biggest fear was the oncoming traffic. But I eventually got over it.

During my senior year in high school (I don’t recall how it was possible or if my dad
drove a company car) but I drove my folks ’55 two-door Bel-aire to school during
very cold days. Mostly we walked to school.

But I had to chauffeur my five sisters to school as well.
They were a pain...telling me how to drive or to hurry up (we were always late)

This was when girls wore the big pompadour Sandra Dee sprayed hairdo.

I would retaliate by slamming on the brakes causing their hair to mess up!

My way of getting back at them!

But we never had an accident!

 

[Ghostsoldier]

How iconic is that two-tone station wagon, but of course, I have to ask our car experts, what exactly it is?

It looks like a 1956 Ford.

Rob

 

[2jakes]

Ghostsoldier
A classic station wagon at an old gas station in a ghost town in Arizona.

 

[2jakes]

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[2jakes]

These things not only looked but were built heavy.
Good thing we had power-steering!

 

[GHT]

Not so much a fuel stop as a car showroom. Charles Clark & Son. First the early years, then at the zenith of British Motor production, today it's still there, selling Toyota & Lexus.

 

[Fading Fast]

Not so much a fuel stop as a car showroom. Charles Clark & Son. First the early years, then at the zenith of British Motor production, today it's still there, selling Toyota & Lexus.
View attachment 86769 View attachment 86770

Is it in the same building?

 

[BobHufford]

These things not only looked but were built heavy.
Good thing we had power-steering!

Except the power steering was a little too powerful and you tended to overcorrect and bounce around in the lane.

 

[2jakes]

Is it in the same building?

Yes.
The business was established by Edward Clark in 1843 to
produce carriages and carriage wheels.

The business moved to Bilston Road, and is still there today
as Charles Clark Motors Limited, Toyota and Lexus dealers.