Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
July 1941. "Parking lot, Chicago." This would look nice in color. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Here I go....
Starting from upper left,
1941 Chevy
Middle left
1940 Chevy,1939 Chevy, 1941 Pontiac Streamliner, 1940 Chevy, 1941 Olds,1941 Chevy, 1941 Dodge
Lower left,
Appears to be 1940 Olds, 1941 Olds, 1940 Buick, 1941 Plymouth, 1940 Dodge, 1940 Hudson, 1940 Buick, 1940 Chevy,1940 Buick
Next row,
1941 Pontiac Metropolitan (Beautiful), 1940 Olds, 1939 Studebaker, 1940 Chevy, 1941 Chevy Fleetline, 1941 Buick, 1940 Buick, 1940 Mercury, 1941 Ford
Next row,
1940 Dodge, 1940 Chevy, 1941 Pontiac, 1941 Plymouth, 1940 Pontiac, 1940 Chevy, 1940 Hudson
Wish I knew why these cars were parked the way they were, but oh well.
Would welcome any corrections or comments.
Current value of any one of these cars in their condition as shown, $20,000 to $50,000 from low end models to high end models.
While visualizing the process of extracting these cars at quitting time, it occurred to me that external running boards had an advantage in that the doors are setback into the body. If modern cars were parked this closely, cheek to jowl, their doors couldn't be opened.
I don't see anything older than 1939 here. Must be the parking lot of the rich.
And all I can do is panic at the thought of being in the middle of the parking lot trying to get out. If you guessed that I am claustrophobic, you would win the prize. After I could breathe again (slight exaggeration) I had fun looking at the cars. Good photo, Dave!!
Excuse me, that's my '41 Olds on be bottom left. Can you let me out please? I have to go now.
This would be an interesting challenge for car spotters. I cannot get as many as I should, '48 Ford Tudor next to a '40 Mercury coupe at the top right for starters. I think that pair of two-toned cars to their left are both '40 Buicks. Also a nice late '40s Pontiac Sedanet (today we would call it a fastback) on the left.
Also interesting, any grouping of 30 cars of this era today would include a preponderance of convertibles, not a soft top in the bunch here!
[This photo was made in 1941, so we don't see late-'40s anything. - Dave]
Without a doubt this parking lot is operated by attendants whose job it is to utilize every square inch of available real estate.
All these wonderful cars aside, thanks for slipping the Shorpy badge into the empty parking slot. Well done. Vachon really like these high angle shots. It would be interesting to see these gems in colour and to see how many can be identified.
Not a curved piece of glass in the bunch, nor a single one-piece windshield. A transition point. All windshields are split, two angled pieces of flat laminated glass. Sexy curves still restricted to the sheet metal.
[Several of these cars have curved backlights. - Dave]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5