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Another mirth-provoking look at the clothing, footwear and vehicle choices of the 70s, just a bit down the street from a similar scene three years earlier. This time, in January 1974, I join my brother and sister-in-law in a pose by their now different green foreign car, a Fiat station wagon. I'll leave it up to the chorus of commenters as to whether the various changes overall represent progress or regression. I'll only say that once again, my sister-in-law is the most stylish. Kodachrome 64 slide from my brother's camera. View full size.
Here's the version that didn't make the small screen featuring Re-Pete, (Missing) Linc and Juliette (as in brunette). As a further sign of the times, the Woody has been replaced by a Japanese import in consideration of soaring gas prices. The team basically stood around, appearing in random photographs wearing 'period' clothing. The concept, or Pilot, though cutting edge, wasn't received well by focus groups and therefore never aired.
I had a 1967 Fiat wagon that I purchased for $900 in 1970. It was my first car, and I named it Alphonse. It was a wonderful car until it needed a clutch. Then I found out that my dad's mechanic friends had no clue how to repair it, but gamely tried anyway. I sold it a year later to my brother for $250, and at that time he was shifting with a screwdriver. He in turn sold it to someone else. One very cold day I got in, sat down, and the vinyl seat shattered like glass. NOT designed for New England!
Mauve walls, tterrace? That's so 1987.
I just realized who these two guys are: The Smothers Brothers.
Thank you tterrace!! You are just as handsome!!
It's so nice to see you're still FRIENDS as well as brothers. I'm the same age as you are and nearly everyone I know has a sibling from whom they're in some way estranged. I have only one older brother and we still talk on the phone every day & live within a mile of each other.
A appreciate all of tterrace's photos and stanton_square's news clippings. But as far as the recent lovefest of self-referencing comments, all i can say is "get a room."
[All I can say is, this self-referencing commenter has a familiar IP address. - Dave]
looks like my fifth grade teacher!
Fiats? ICK. I am soooo sorry your brother and SIL had to endure one of those!
First, thanks to stanton_square for getting my humor, thereby earning a place in my list of all-time favorite people. Secondly, I give up; here's my brother and me last Thanksgiving at his place:
I agree that a present-day photo of tterrace with brother and sister-in-law would be fantastic. In the meantime we can all enjoy a relatively recent then/now photo of tterrace at the top of one of my all-time favorite Shorpy comments - a de-colorized Louis Hine interpretation: the caption makes me laugh every time I read it.
If it were not for Kodachrome, the kids would never believe it happened.
Indeed, it would be fun to see the old photos reposed with current vehicles, clothes, etc.
It's my new screensaver at work. You're a celebrity...in my office.
You were sooooo cute!! Where do I join your fanclub?
tterrance,
When are we going to see a "present day" photo of you, your brother and sister in law? You know we all want one!
Any more photos of the time spent in Santa Cruz?
I knew a guy who had a Fiat 128 2-door, raced it in parking-lot rallies.
I bet she was an early proponent of women's lib. Very open and free.
Why do some of us survivors of the 1960's/1970's feel the need to apologise for the fashions & styles of that period? Then was then and now is now and we had no more control over it than did our parents in their youth, or their parents before them, ad infinitum.
As a 65-year-old, I look back on my teenage/young adult years with some affection and not through rose-coloured glasses, either. There were sad times and glad times, just like the present.
So when I see photos such as these from tterrace I don't cringe with embarrassment but smile as I recall my days in clothing and cars exactly the same as pictured.
Great stuff!
Is your sister-in-law Native American?
This is just how I remember you all!
Mary
Love those hippie chicks!
Totally forgot about the Minor ... there were a few running around when I was a kid.
BUT ... if you fancy Fiat trivia ... A close look at the picture shows that the car came with Pirelli radials. If you were really lucky, Fiats sometimes came with Michelins. They lasted longer. In my case, the tires lasted longer than the Fiat!
Don't forget that Cord produced a FWD car back in the 1930's, though most credit the '66 Olds Toronado as the first FWD American car.
Earlier production cars boasting front wheel drive would be the Olds Toronado (1966), the Austin and Morris Minor (and later Mini Cooper)(1959), Citroen Traction Avant from near or beyond a decade before that. The 128 could be a good little car but mostly it was a troublesome beast.
Almost the worst car I ever owned. Believe it or not it was beat out for the title years later by a Ford Windstar.
Looks close enough to my old pictures, that this could be me, my roommate and his new wife. The only difference was that HIS Fiat wagon was blue and HIS wife had shorter hair! I had a Green 128 SL that was wonderful ... when it ran!
If I remember right, the 128 was the first front wheel drive car in general production. It was ahead of its time by years. Of course Fiat had serious problems with the car and left the American market not long after.
This photo took me back to 1974! Sitting in my pad, listening to my brand new copy of Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" with my friends. All of us clad in a similar fashion to the people in this wonderful photo. Thank you for posting tterrace, and thank you for providing the catalyst that helped me conjure up some fond old memories.
I had a 1975 128 sedan, handled like it was on rails. Was a lot of fun losing the muscle car guys on the twisty roads. The Fiat and my leisure suit are long gone, but not the memories. Great pic.
Those look like Navy Dungarees (on the guy on the left)...they have the square pockets in the front like our old dungarees. Sweet fashion statement!!
I'm diggin' the FTD shirt your brother has on man.
1974 Fiat wagon--one of the worst vehicles ever to hit the American road. Don't ask me how I know.
Why does your brother have grey hair in the 1971 photo, but natural color hair in this one from 1974??
The clothing and hair of the man on the left (is that you or your brother) has not gone out of fashion. You/he could pass unremarked today.
that the "60s" did not end in 1969.
Your sister-in-law's sweater is stylish by modern standards, though nothing else is, of course. She's a hot one to boot!
It looks like a Fiat 128 wagon. Nice cars that just weren't designed to cope with the American mystique. Who knew that in less then 40 years Fiat would be taking such a large role in the survival of Chrysler!
Dig the threads though. A bit of Sgt. Pepper in there as well. Who knows, in time, it might all come back into vogue!
...or slaves to corduroy? I swear I owned that gold jacket.
I remember an ensemble I used to own, a beige polyester leisure suit, white shoes, white belt.
I didn't smoke when I had it on. Cigarettes, anyway.
Dig my groovy threads. Or is that beatnik lingo?
Great photo. Where have all the hippie chicks gone?
A certain John Denver influence here.
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