Vintage shots from days gone by!

In answer to the question re 2 doors the answer is no. Remember that the population of New Zealand was only a little over 2 million in the late 1950s (it is now nearly 4.5 million) and there were very tight controls on imports with the government of the day preferring people to buy from Great Britain so American cars faced heavy duties and were relatively expensive. Total sales were quite small - I think in the late 1950s there about 300 new Chevs sold each year and local assembly was restricted to one four door model in one trim level. I have seen some of the figures and for some Chrysler models around 1960 only a handful were imported each year. The locally assembly packs of Chevrolets were usually sourced from Canada and had McKinnon engines. The tri Chevies started with the '55 as a 'Deluxe' (I think somewhere between a 150 and 210) with a six and three on the tree but from '56 they were Bel Airs with V8s but still three on the tree. Local assembly of American cars petered out in the 1960s when the Australian makers began offering V8s - I think 1969 was the last year for Chevrolet. Small numbers of other models did find their way here but only in limited numbers and their survival rate is very low. My 1965 Pontiac Bonneville was imported when near new by a businessman who had spent some time in the US. In the 1970s many US servicemen based at the Antarctic support base in Christchurch found they could make a few extra dollars importing a few cars - mostly Mustangs and Camaros, and selling them on to keen, car-starved locals. The New Zealand economy was only opened up in the 1980s and nowadays imports of second hand older model (and even late model) American cars face little restriction and there are thousands of them here nowadays in all different models as can be seen at any 'American' car show.

The black licence plates on the cars in those pictures were issued in 1964 when permanent plates began. Prior to that all vehicles were issued with new plates every five years (from WW2) and before WW2 every two years. The Ford with the 'CY' probably came from the lower North Island. Here in the South Island all cars initially got 'A' plates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_New_Zealand

http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/jpglps/PA_NZEA_GI1.jpg

I think these stills are from a movie that was shot in about 1974. I have seen them somewhere else before but haven't yet remembered where.

 

fbi9cl. Is Was Crenshaw motors near there? My Fairlane came from there and I would love to have a dealership photo from back then.

 

I think Crenshaw motors was in L.A. as there is a Crenshaw Blvd there.

 

Shoreline, WA

 

There were a bunch of car dealers on Crenshaw years ago including Harry Mann Chevrolet which was our favorite Corvette Dealer. They were at 58th & Crenshaw and I remember a Lincoln Mercury dealer and others in the same vicinity. The Eastland Center in West Covina is way out to the East of L.A. right off the I-10.

 

I was flicking through an old Hot Rod magazine the other day and there was an article about improvements in safety. It turns out that lots of people got injured or even killed by clutch explosions throughout the 60s.
Looking at where the steering wheel is in relation to the motor on this Comet, I hate to even think about what might have happened to the driver if something went wrong. Not much chance it would have gone well.

 

A great comprehensive answer LGS. Most of the facts you have stated mirror exactly what happened here in Australia. The numbers are slightly different but the reasoning is pretty much the same.
Full-size American cars were present in the market here as luxury / prestige vehicles and two-doors were not included in the range. Even hardtop 4-doors weren't available until around 65 on Chevs (happy for someone to correct me if it wasn't until 67), but there weren't too many of those.
Chev and Pontiac stopped being sold direct by GM here after the 1968 model. Ford continued with the Galaxie (/LTD) until around 1972 and Chrysler finished selling their Furys or Phoenixs around the same time. Rambler Matadors were still being sold up until around 1976, along with Hornets.
A few specialists imported the odd Buick and Cadillac after GM stopped bringing their cars in - Flinkiers in Melbourne continued their business importing and converting to RHD for quite a while (... into the 80's I think). They had a loyal clientele who took a generation to accept larger German cars as a 'proper' alternative.

 

SA 1920009 by mactexas, on Flickr

 

Geez, I remember as a kid we had a pool similar to this! The plastic liner ripped and got holes in it in the 60's, but I think the metal frame finally got tossed in the 70's.

 

Endicott NY

 

In this case, the local Boy Scout troop's Air Scouts purchased it for $350.00 for educational purposes. My dad was a member and was there when the plane was flown into Howell Field by a couple local pilots:

(There's a car in the picture, so...) Despite what it says, this plane was a trainer based at Hobbs, NM and never saw combat. I'm trying to ID the serial number now so I can build a model of it for my dad - narrowed it down to six possible serials.

 

Guys, this is not an airplane site. Please do not cause this thread to get closed.

 

Here 'ya go ....... Philadelphia car show late 50's -early 60's ..