Pontiac Road Trip, 1957
Back in the days when I used to actively collect boxes and boxes of vintage slides, I got the impression that the BIG SUMMER ROAD TRIP was something that many Americans aspired to every year. Pile the kids in the car, and schedule at least a week (maybe two) to see the USA. If you didn't see the Grand Canyon, you were a putz. Thinking about it makes me nostalgic for my own family's road trips (though I still have never been to the Grand Canyon - partially due to my allergic reaction to sedimentary rocks).
I have a series of four photos featuring a delightful 1957 Pontiac Star Chief Safari station wagon (I hope my ID is correct, but if not, go ahead and humiliate me on my own blog). I'm pretty sure this one had the dash-mounted gizmo that made frozen daiquiris while you drove. This wagon has a Connecticut license plate, and the neighborhood sure looks Connecticut-ish. The car could use a wash, but hey, so could I.
They've pulled over to a wooded roadside rest area. Just the place to stretch our legs, and have a picnic lunch. I would expect a bigger bundle on the luggage rack; my dad was an expert at efficiently arranging everything (he would have been great at Tetris), including multiple tubes containing fishing poles.
I'll have salami and cheese, and you can have a tuna sammich. Potato chips on the side (not those ruffled abominations!), and a thermos of iced coffee for the grownups and Hi-C for the kids. Maybe a nice home-made brownie for dessert. Judging from the coats, this was no summer vacation. Did they do Spring Break in 1957? My theory is that the family was heading south towards a warmer climate.
Well, they've done it! They're finally at their motel. Is that a Pindo Palm tree? Maybe they are in Florida. Sure beats 20-degree nights, I'll tell ya what. I hope this family had a wonderful vacation!
15 comments:
Major, I have never been to the Grand Canyon, either. Unless you count the one alongside the Disneyland Railroad.
The windows of the station wagon are steamed up in that last pic, and somebody has been writing on them with their finger!
Thanks for the vintage trip, Major!
Major-
Excellent job on the car ID. And it might be a 'Star Chief Custom Safari four-door station wagon', later dubbed the 'Star Chief Custom Transcontinental Safari'-! It's painted in Fontaine Blue with Kenya Ivory trim-! AND NOTICE... the Pontiac has a pair of 'curb feelers', or 'curb ticklers'-! preventing those über-wide whitewall tires from scuffing along the curb. Such luxury.
Peaking-in from the far-left in the 1st image is a 1949 Chevrolet.
Thanks, Major, for this impromptu road trip.
I'm thinking maybe this station wagon was brand new, and that's why Dad took several pictures of it, sans people. He was a proud papa. Of course, he had to throw in a few photos of his pesky family, too. but the car was the focal point. ;-)
In the last photo, as Tokyo! points out, there's something written on the dusty window of the car. It looks like "ate" with some other letters to the left. The family is still dressed for cold weather, despite the palm trees. As we know, Florida can get some freezing temps. But maybe this is Georgia or South Carolina?
Little Sis is holding a camera by its strap with her right hand. But what is she holding with her left?
Thanks for the road trip, Major. (I have been to the Grand Canyon.)
I’ll give them a pass for the dusty car since they park on a dirt driveway. I lived in an apartment complex in SW Oklahoma with a large, gravel parking lot for a couple of years, and I just gave up washing my car after a month or so. Besides - a nice layer of dirt protects the paint from fading in the hash sunlight.
I agree - this could be South Georgia, or Florida. And it looks like winter to me.
Note the rail line in the background of the picnic photos.
TM!, which Grand Canyon alongside the Disneyland Railroad are you talking about, the one in Anaheim or the one in Paris?
After so many trips to Disneyland, when I took Mrs. Chuck to the Grand Canyon, she was really surprised there was no rail line along the South Rim.
Neat side trip, Major. Thanks!
Let me try that again.
This could be South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida. I defy anyone who would try to drive from Connecticut to South Georgia.
TM!, which Grand Canyon alongside the Disneyland Railroad are you talking about, the one in Anaheim or the one in Paris?
Chuck, I've been to both!
TM!, sadly, I cannot say the same. We were unaware of the diorama at DLP on our one-day visit and only rode the RR from Frontierland to Tomorrowland, totally missing it. We might have had a different experience if we hadn't lost nearly four hours eating lunch in the restaurant in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Chuck, four hours eating in the Blue Lagoon Restaurant? Were Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins appearing live, and reenacting the movie scene by scene.....in shadow puppets, and with volunteers from the audience?
Brooke Shields has the look I want to know better. She’s got the look that’s all-together. Working….., playing…., day or night her Jordace jeans have the look that’s right!
….. the JORDACE look.
Oh boy, photo 3 sure brings back memories.
We had a ‘62 or ‘63 Buick wagon and Dad loved camping. We would run up to the Sierras 3 or 4 times in a summer, and various day use parks in lower elevations in the winter. Picnic lunches under the pines.
One summer we made a long drive to Yellowstone via Salt Lake and came back through Carlsbad NM. Good times.
Our daughter asked us recently why we never went on a road trip like this with her and brother. Mrs G responded that “both of you were pills in the car”, which was not diplomatic but no less true.
Major, I have been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and narrowly missed falling in the river. I did hike out on my own, but I am a Rim Rover henceforth. The Disney diorama Is plenty for me.
Which reminds me, how was the GC selected for that diorama and not, say, Niagara Falls, or Pikes Peak?
JG
TokyoMagic!, I’ve flown over the Grand Canyon a bunch of times, maybe that counts. In a way, I’ve seen it better than those dopes on the ground. Is it possible that the writing on the window says the classic “Wash Me”? I can turn that one word into “Me” if I stand on my head.
Nanook, “Fontaine Blue”. Was Frank Fontaine a lovely blue color? My grandpa’s old Buick had those “curb feelers”, as little kids we could not resist “boinging” them, which annoyed him to no end. I wish I could see that 1949 Chevrolet better.
JB, it would make sense to take photos of one’s brand-new car, but it already looks pretty dusty. Of course a new car can get dusty. I dunno. I still think maybe the word that we can see on the window is “Me”, though it has some random bits that might prove me wrong. I can’t tell what li’l sis is holding in her other hand, maybe it’s a little purse?
Chuck, yes, sometimes you just have to give up keeping your car looking shiny. I love it when I take my car to the car wash and get it looking good, only to have the nearby gardener come by with his blower, where he blows all of the dirt on the ground (that wasn’t hurting anybody) up into the air, only to settle on my nice clean car. Arg. I’m not sure I knew that Disneyland Paris had their own Grand Canyon Diorama, I wonder if it looks as good as the Anaheim version?
Chuck, challenge accepted!
TokyoMagic!, do they play the same music in the Paris diorama?
Chuck, you shouldn’t have taken four hours to eat lunch. That’s my useless advice!
TokyoMagic!, is it really called the “Blue Lagoon” in Paris? Jeez. I mean, it’s a great movie (possibly the greatest movie), but surely the French can appreciate a “Bayou”.
Mike Cozart, what? You don’t want the look of Gloria Vanderbilt??
JB, somehow that third photo makes me think of mosquitoes. Buzzing around through the air, trying to crawl into my ears so that they can control me (you know, like driving a car). Whoa, going to the Sierras 3 to 4 times in one Summer! You must have known some areas like the back of your hand. “Hello tree, looking good this year”. It does seem like the old road trip has fallen out of fashion, maybe due to overdevelopment in so many places, maybe due to high gas/food/lodging prices. Years ago a buddy of mine suggested that we do a big road trip that would have included the Grand Canyon, but neither of us was that confident in our rusty cars at the time.
Chuck, just use one of those amphibious cars to drive to South Georgia; easy peasy.
Babushka, cats-eye glasses, AND plaid pants? STYLE ICON!
We only did a couple of big road trips, but we did lots of day trips on weekends or school breaks. When I was little, the family car was a big old Plymouth Fury, and my sister and I could both lie on the back seat and sleep when we got tired.
All of this talk about picnics on road trips and Brooke Shields makes me think of the "picnic scene" in National Lampoon's Vacation.
Major, I couldn't remember if they played the "Grand Canyon Suite" in the Paris version of the diorama, so I just watched a video of it. It was noisy, between the sound effects of thunder and lightning, and the clicking of the wheels going over the rails, but I think I could hear the music playing very faintly in the background. It's odd that they have a Grand Canyon diorama, but no Primeval World. And Tokyo Disneyland has a Primeval World, but no Grand Canyon. We're lucky that Anaheim has both, and that Disney hasn't painted everything in them pink, blue, and purple, with gold and silver sparkles.....or bulldozed them for a Star Wars Land 2.0.
And yes, the restaurant inside Paris' Pirates of the Caribbean is called the Blue Lagoon. I was also wondering why they didn't just call it the Blue Bayou. Tokyo's version is called the Blue Bayou. Disney is weird, that's all I have to say about it.
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