Feb. 13 Weekly Open Thread
by Cookie the Dog's Owner
on February 13, 2012
Here at the Car Lust Supper Club Lounge & Coffee Shoppe out on old US 39 west of Hafner Road, we serve steaks, chicken, coffee, cocktails, and conversation. (We also stock washer fluid and 10W-30 in the gift shop.) It's the place to talk about whatever's on your mind.
If you're looking for a discussion-starter, there's this collection of old iron:
How many can you identify?
--Cookie the Dog's Owner
(Illustration from the "Restaurants" postcard collection at Lileks.com.)
Anthony Cagle on February 13, 2012 at 08:28 AM
You forgot the chops!
John B on February 13, 2012 at 09:25 AM
Check out the wagons...a 57 Chevy, 58 Ford, Studebaker lark, and Dodge...or is it a De Soto?
Great cars.
BTW: the Studebaker Drivers Club Forom regularly has photos like this of Studebakers in their prime. The old photos are always fun to look at..and a bit of nostalgia for some of us.
Bill T. on February 13, 2012 at 09:29 AM
Two-tone green on far left, Buick. Pastel blue and white station wagon, Edsel. Dark green and white, Oldsmobile. White station wagon facing the camera, Studebaker, probably a Lark. Red and white station wagon, Plymouth. Most are 1955 models. I am not sure abut the Edsel or the Lark.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on February 13, 2012 at 09:42 AM
Excellent work, car-spotters!
I'm pretty sure the Lark wagon is a '60 (four doors and single headlights); the Edsel is a '58 (only year for the "scallop" on the rear quarters; a 4-door with no woodgrain makes it a Villager); my best guess is that the Plymouth is a '56. I'm still stumped by the white over brown two-tone wagon behind the Buick--and is that a '58, '59, or '60 GM sedan hiding behind the phone booth?
Al on February 13, 2012 at 12:48 PM
That is indeed a '56 Plymouth, if it were a '57 it'd look like Christine.
Marve Harwell on February 13, 2012 at 01:06 PM
I'm geeking out over the wagons! Love the Studebaker Lark! Hemmings had this link to the "new" Stuebaker company.
http://www.studebakermotorcompany.com/home/home/
They basically have no products, only some sketches, but they do sell commemorative certificates . "Nothing to see here but please stop by out gift shop on the way out." The question is, if you were going to start or re-start a car company today how would you do it?
CJinSD on February 13, 2012 at 04:59 PM
I think the brown wagon behind the Buick is a 1957 Chevrolet 210.
That Car Guy (Chuck) on February 13, 2012 at 07:24 PM
If that was 1955, I would have sworn I'd just seen a DeLorean pass by.
Ralph Kinney Bennett on February 14, 2012 at 02:07 PM
I'm thinking that "GM sedan" behind the phone booth may in fact be a Mercury of the 57-58 "Turnpike Cruiser" vintage. And that is definitely a '57 Chevy wagon behind the '55 Buick.
The cars are great but what this picture evokes for me are those wonderful roadside restaurants that were OPEN ALL NIGHT! When this picture was taken, the still-abuilding Interstate Highway system was about to change all that. Back then, many small communities had all-night diners or restaurant/service stations because the truckers and the over-the-road bus drivers were still on those roads. That meant there were places were you could stop at, say, 3 a.m. and have a cup of coffee and hear the bacon sizzling on the grill and see the cigaret smoke curling up from the cupped hand of the slightly inebriated guy with the sports pages spread out on the counter before him. You could hear a diesel idling out back and the banter between the cook and the dishwasher. There was a waitress named Marge down at the other end of the counter, leaning on one elbow and chatting with the guy who had just made the early bakery delivery. For a while, as you nursed your coffee and contemplated that last piece of carrot cake under the glass lid on the chrome pedestal nearby, it seemed that time stood still.