Cars and Trucks in Vintage Photos

Written on the back of the photo: "The family. All four of us. The doll goes everywhere."

"Rainbow Cabins, Newcastle, Ont., Canada. 50 miles east of Toronto on No. 2 Highway." A real photo postcard advertising the Rainbow Cabins. Postmarked 1952 on the back.

"Kaiser-Frazer presents your invitation to see the new car. DeCola Motor Sales, Newark, Circleville." The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation manufactured automobiles in the 1940s and 1950s. I believe that the car pictured on this real photo postcard is probably a Henry J , a compact car produced in the early 1950s. DeCola Motor Sales was a car dealership located in Ohio.

A ships/boats photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This slide, taken in the 1950s by an unknown photographer who was visiting Bolivia and other South American countries, shows a sailboat transporting a pickup truck across Lake Titicaca , which is located high in the Andes mountains on the border between Bolivia and Peru.

Three signs with slightly different wording are visible on this real photo postcard: - "This is Mrs. Campbell's Bar-B-Q." - "This is Mrs. Campbell's Home of the Bar-B-Q." - "This is Mrs. Campbell's Home Bar-B-Q." Judging from the few newspaper advertisements that I was able to track down, Mrs. Campbell's Bar-B-Q was in business near Tyrone, Pennsylvania, during the late 1920s and early 1930s. One ad in the Tyrone Daily Herald , Dec. 22, 1927, p. 8, provides the following information: "Chicken and Waffles Sunday. At Mrs. Campbell's Barbecue. Come and eat all of Mrs. Campbell's famous waffles you can eat. 5 miles west of Tyrone, near Bland's Park. Phone 9756-R." Bland's Park is now known as DelGrosso's Amusement Park and is located along Pleasant Valley Boulevard (also called Old U.S. Route 220) between Tyrone and Altoona. Although the park is still in existence, I haven't been able to determine what happened to Mrs. Campbell's Bar-B-Q. The latest mention of the eatery that I was able to find was an announcement in the Altoona Mirror newspaper for April 10, 1934, p. 20: "The Ladies' Aid society of the Methodist church will meet at Mrs. Campbell's barbecue on Wednesday evening, April 11."

Caption on the front: "Nicollet Bay Camp Ground, Peninsula State Park , Wis. E-764." Postmarked: "Fish Creek, Wis., Sep 7, 1949." Addressed to: "Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Potter, Woodhull, Ill." Message on the back: "Labor Day. Dear folks: This is where we located--lovely weather, fine time. Everyone swell. Bye, Hilda & M."

A 1950s photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This 1956 photo shows a diner on "Brookline Avenue," as indicated by the pole-mounted street sign that's visible in the center of the photo (mouse over the image above for a close-up view of the diner and the sign). The letters on top of the diner's roof spell out the words "GOOD FOOD," and the name "Federal Diner" is barely legible on a circular sign situated above the entrance at the middle of the building. Four or five men are standing around the cars near the front door of the diner, and they appear to be looking in the direction of the photographer, perhaps waiting for him while he takes the photo. Or maybe they're watching the woman wearing a dress and high heels who's walking past on the sidewalk. This eatery was the "Good Food Federal Diner," formerly located at 410 Brookline Avenue in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. For another 1950s view of this diner, see Good Food Back in the Day on Boston's Universal Hub site.

For more information, see the full version of this photo:

Signs: "Blossom Hill Peaches." A vintage photo showing a man at a roadside fruit stand selling peaches from Blossom Hill Fruit Farm. The farm was located a few miles north of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the area around it had so many orchards at one time that it was known as Fruitville. Today there are housing developments where peaches and apples once grew, but some of the road names--Blossom Hill Drive and the Fruitville Pike--reflect the earlier uses of the land.

Handwritten note on the back of this tinted photo: "Carole with McGuffey Ann on the DeSoto, October 1949." A 1940 newspaper ad described the McGuffey Ann doll (it's name was actually "Ana" rather than "Ann") as "a real American beauty with pigtails and straw bonnet."

"Dear folks, We are having a fine time. It was too hot to come the 12th. Joe left the 10th (Saturday) for Denver. Will be away 2 weeks. A party of 4. I know they will have a fine time. Where is Mable." Additional note on the back of this real photo postcard: "7/21. Too hot to move. Go to work, come home, and lay around. You folks come up. Ed."

A photo in colour for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A boy and his toys--a pedal car and teddy bear--in a hand-colored Christmas photo, circa 1930s, from the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area. Also worth noting: the small wicker chair that teddy's sitting on, the decorations on the Christmas tree, and the nativity scene below the tree. This is the same little fellow driving this same car out in the yard in the Sonny, Bunny, and Dummy photo:

A boy and his toys--a pedal car, tricycle, wheelbarrow, stuffed bunny, and ventriloquist's dummy. Circa 1930s, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area.

A 1909 real photo tall-tale postcard by William H. Martin. For a similar postcard with an automobile and oversized apples, see Apples–How We Do Things at Fearnot, Pa. :

A photo for the theme of photographic tricks and amusements during the free-for-all week of Wild Card Month in the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See also the full version of this real photo postcard:

See also a cropped version of this novelty real photo postcard:

Number(s) in a photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. The "23" that appears on the painted automobile prop in this novelty photo is a reference to the "23 skidoo" fad that became popular in the United States beginning in 1906 or 1907. Back then, telling someone "23 skidoo" meant "scram" or "beat it," and placing "23" in an unexpected place like this was a humorous way to let others in on the joke. For similar sightings of "23" in photos and postcards, see the impressive compilation of images on the 23 Skidoo Postcards Web site, especially the pages for Automobiles and Real Photos . For other examples, see my 23 Skidoo and Lemons Too album. The message written next to the image on this real photo postcard reveals that this couple lived in the state of Iowa but were visiting fellow Iowans in California at the time they had their picture taken. To read the message and see the entire card, take a look at the full version :