Vintage shots from days gone by!

This was a Lincoln Mercury dealership located at 6116 Natural Bridge Avenue St. Louis.





Dickerson by day…




Dickerson by night............



A big day for Dickerson Motors was when actress and icon Debbie Reynolds stopped by the dealership in 1955 to buy a car. She was on her way back to California to marry singer and actor Eddie Fisher.



Above, Bill Dickerson hands Debbie Reynolds the keys to the car she chose. To put it in historical context, Miss Reynolds had just completed filming of the movie The Tender Trap, with Frank Sinatra. It would release in November of 1955.




And Debbie gets inside her new ride to zoom off and marry Eddie Fisher. The marriage would produce actress/author Carrie Fisher, and end tragically when Eddie left Debbie for Elizabeth Taylor in 1959. This is just how her history played out and in no way infers her car from Dickerson Motors played any part in future marital dramas.



Don Dickerson (son of co-owner Tom Dickerson) shared the photo above, depicting the “Hot Rod Lincoln” that was part of the dealership’s racing team. In conjunction with the racing team, Don recalls:

“Before a race, my Dad was out zooming around Missouri to see what the Lincoln could do. He came over a hill at a very high speed and found that at the bottom of the hill was a buckboard with two horses pulling it. He slammed on the brakes but was going too fast to stop, killing two horses and totaling the car.”




To the best of Carolyn Dickerson Zerman’s memory, the car dealership closed around 1957-58. “I know my sister Julie was born around that time and was a “saving grace” to my Dad (above left), who hated to see the dealership close.”

 

Make sure you put it together right....


or else....

 

believe it or not this is the UK 2013

 

That was my "go to" dealer for emergency parts purchases when I was a parts manager in rural New Mexico in the late 70's through the late 80's. Close enough to "hustle to Trailways" for me.

 

Is this a setup?

I don't know who Whitey is, but I like his ride....

 

Which one?

 

These early efforts are just so soul-satisfying!

 

Looks like the instructor he a 'death grip' on that vent wing

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

This is bare bones racing, rides stripped of all the the unwanted weight and embracing the odds of life and death. The true meaning of brass balls.

 

Linville, NC

 

From whence came the term Rail Job, eventually shortened to simply Rails.

 

…. So what can we say, yet another example of just how history takes it's tack n course but many times without the use of rudder, map or compass … it must of all started here at this 49 show with the Times morning edition captioning "Columnists Discovered Everywhere At New Show Opening" … Now with ol Joe and Dick being the astute statesmen's they were, misunderstood the headlines and thought it said … …."Communists Discovered Everywhere …" and so well you know how the rest of the story went after that …


… As seen here, just yet another ingenious use for Duct Tape and Astro Turf proving to be a winning combination here as where else could one ensure both a quick and sure source for fast sealing and a clean work surface at the same time for that tranny valve body ? ……

 

At least it doesn't say "Drag Queens."

 

Duct tape and Astro Turf ? WTF

 

What's at the original site now? Trying to picture it

 

...not quite sure about that either ??

 

I think this is it ....

 

All these are from the FIRST nationals the 1957 National Championship Drag Races. held in Oklahoma City OK,

Sorry for the small photos but that is how they were posted.

Don't know who they all are except for the one.

Somebody might remember this deuce roadster. It's the same #123 that won the A/Roadster class at the 1959 Tennessee State Championship in Halls TN. This race was an event that the was on the home turf of the Memphis Rodders. I don't know whose car this is, but it's a car that apparently made the rounds at NHRA races during the later part of the 1950's, and was a tough customer on the track.













A couple of customs that were in the parking lot.

 

An where the new building on the left is used to be the British Auto Center where my dad worked for a time, then became Speedway Motors.

 

Thanks a lot. I think I'll drive by next week and get my bearings. I live in Sidney. I was a block off. Thought it might have been were Ensign motors is now.
...Jay