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The latest from hot-rodder-photographer-skier Don Cox is this 35mm Kodachrome dated February 1961, starring yet another Lincoln Capri. View full size.
Not meant to be published. But the search engine requires more than three letters.
[Don't search for his name. Click on his tag above the photo. - Dave]
Perhaps the colors of the two Capri pictures do not appear to match because of how the sunlight or reflections shines on the black paint.
[I doubt it. - Dave]
Truck drivers always head in, car drivers invariably back in. Except for Jeeps. You can never tell about Jeeps.
Hey Dave, I'm really enjoying these photos by Don Cox, and especially this one by his brother Dox Cox, who got the much better name.
[Oops! - Dave]
They apparently were a thing. Image is associated with a 2018 eBay auction listed by a resident of Mariposa, California, reading in part:
"... 1950's Yosemite National Park license plate, found in a garage at a local estate, here on the outskirts of Yosemite. I've never seen another one ... a ranger for many years in Yosemite tells me that these license plates were issued only in very small numbers and destroyed by the Park Service after their use."
This was taken when a pickup was a pickup and not a $65K luxury vehicle with leather seats, electronic navigation, and four outside cameras. Ah for the days when the tailgate could be held open with a chain!
The turn signal is next to the headlight. After 57 they moved to the top of the fenders
As for which National Park in California could be represented by the acronym YNP, that would be a Jeopardy question that even I could answer.
Regarding the Lincoln's paint color, it sure seems more likely that there is simply an illusion or photographic artifact of some sort causing the car to appear to be two different colors than it would be that he bought a slightly different car (or had it painted black) on the way to the ski lodge.
[Or it's the same tag on two different cars. - Dave]
The three older trucks next to the Olds all have US Government license plates, the closest has the number YNP (or TNP) 042. What parks are in California beginning with either of those letters?
Two of the three pickups are GMCs the same color, the third on the left looks like a GMC as well. Belonging to facility? Then a '56 Lincoln, a GMC or Chevy Suburban, a Volkswagen headlight, the aforementioned '60 Olds, a '52 Lincoln, a '58 Plymouth, and a Jeep Gladiator.
Judging by how dramatically car styles changed in the early '60s, owners of late '50s models must have felt a good amount of pressure to buy new or look completely out of style. Today you can barely tell the difference between a brand new car and a clean 10-year-old one.
First-time post here. My parents had 1960 Olds wagon also. It managed to fit all 10 of us on at trip to Pennsylvania from Wisconsin. We also had a Willys truck like the one in the far background. Five-slat grille put it no newer than 1953. That Capri you speak of is the same car as the earlier pic. The plate matches.
[Although the paint colors don't. - Dave]
RSY prefix on the license plate indicates the same car as in the earlier photo taken along the new freeway near Truckee. Car looks blue in that photo but is clearly black here.
When this was a typical carscape on the streets. My attempt to identify most of the cars from left to right: 1956 Lincoln, 2 GMC pickups, unknown (to me), unknown mini-foreign car (mostly hidden), 1960 Pontiac Oldsmobile, 1953 Lincoln, 1958 Plymouth, and some sort of Jeep.
If this is a ski lodge I would expect to see ski racks on the top of most of the cars. The green car by the man and the boy might have them. When did car-top ski racks become popular?
My folks had a 1960 Oldsmobile station wagon, like the one by those two people. Arctic White, the one used in a golf tournament. What an aircraft carrier! Was a pleasure to drive cross-country to Mississippi in the summer. My sister and I would call dibs on the rear-facing jump seat. Good "Olds" times!
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