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.
October 1964. U.S. 101 above Sausalito, Calif., the Waldo Grade approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. Similarities after 44 years: same number of traffic lanes. Differences after 44 years: many more cars, but none of them have fins. My color slide with Montgomery Ward brand film. View full size.
Noticed the '59 El Camino right away. I owned one for about four years but had to sell it in 2005. Dang I miss that thing. Nice Photo!
Yep, the Google street view from the overpass matches; those trees in the '64 shot have now grown so you can't see the tunnel from there. BTW, I remember when that southbound bore was the only one, with both directions, four lanes undivided, going through. An exciting ride, especially on rainy winter nights. And noisy because those were the days when you were expected to violate the no-horn-blowing-in-tunnels stricture. Sometimes I even could pester my father into a beep or two.
tterrace, were you standing on the Wolfback Ridge overpass when you took this?
Chryslers didn't have that pattern of two-tone (sides one color, top different).
[If I may interject: There's no two-toning on that car. And I'm pretty sure there were no 1961 DeSotos with the two-tone paint scheme you describe, either. - Dave]
I should be able to identify the first car on the left, but I'm not sure -- the strake-fold above the rear wheels should be distinctive. After that:
The aforesaid Desoto;
Black '57 Chevy Nomad;
VW Karmann Ghia convertible;
'63 Chrysler;
Pre-1950 Ford pickup;
Another black '57 Chevy, this one a sedan;
'52 or '53 Mercury.
The black blob just before the curve is unidentifiable, at least by me.
Going the other way:
The blue pickup under the lamppost -- ??
Red '59 Chevy El Camino -- if you had that car now, you could sell it and buy a house;
The others I can't do. I think the white car on the right is a brand-new Pontiac Le Mans.
Regards,
Ric
About 7½ years earlier you might have caught our brand-new, highly-finned, White-over-Turquoise '57 Chevy Bel Air along there as we trekked to SF from Novato to show Golden Gate Park etc. to my maternal grandmother visiting from Australia. It seemed that half of the time the GG Bridge
towers were enshrouded in fog!
Can you blow up that gray car on the left? At first I thought 1961 Chrysler but it looks a little like it has the 61 DeSoto's weird oval upper grille.
[I was wondering the same thing. - Dave]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5