Wagons in vintage Street scenes

A small roped-off section of the special imported-car display area in the McCormick Place lobby holds a variety of makes. At left is a British Ford Consul Capri hardtop. At right is a DKW AU1000 station wagon, with a three-cylinder, two-stroke engine.

 

Mercury's Palomar two-door hardtop station wagon featured a roof with an opening rear section. When open, the rear seat rose and a small windshield popped up allowing the passengers to see over the roof. The concept car was named in honor of Mt. Palomar Observatory in California.

This car is so freakin cool! Dam I miss the 60's!

 

Pontiac shortened the 112-inch wheelbase of a compact Tempest coupe by 15-inches, shaved the roof completely off, added some custom touches, and created the Monte Carlo show car. Notable features added to the car were the cut-down windshield and side windows, along with dual aerodynamic fairings behind the bucket seats. Powering the rear wheels was a 194.5 cubic inch slant four-cylinder engine. Double racing stripes flowed between the traditional Pontiac split grille design, continued over the hood, across the trunk lid and into the concave rear panel. Though Pontiac never used the name again, Chevrolet did have great success with the Monte Carlo moniker on production models.

Poncho Monte Carlo:

 

Chicago Auto show 1963

Photographed outside the brightly lit Rambler exhibit. On the left is the compact American convertible, with a Rambler two-door sedan directly behind. In the foreground is a display for the 327 CID V-8 engine. On the right, is a 3/4 front view of the full-size Ambassador 990 station wagon.

 

Chicago Auto show, 1964:

The stage revue was still a part of the 56th Chicago Auto Show, during which The Chicago Automobile Trade Association celebrated its 60th anniversary. The 50-strong cast in "Motorevue of 1964," brought familiar auto ads to life. Performance was a dominant theme for the 1964 event, with Pontiac's Tempest GTO and Ford's Mustang II concept commanding attention. The Mustang II concept evolved into the Mustang, launched in late spring of the same year. After trying out its turbine engine in a nearly-stock Dodge and Plymouth, Chrysler created 50 specially-bodied Turbine cars. Though experimental in nature, they were driven for about three months each by 203 "consumer representatives." On the right is one of dozens of courtesy bus that brough groups of people to the Burnham Harbor entrance to McCormick Place East. The car on the far right is a Studebaker GT Hawk.

 

In this outdoor view of the large exposed parking lot on the south end of the original McCormick Place (1961-1967). The exposition center was located along the lakefront at 23rd Street, and offered more than 300,000 square feet of exhibit room. The annual Chicago Auto Show was held there until a massive fire destroyed the $35 million structure in 1967. Classic automobiles from the 1950s and '60s are visible in the photograph. In the foreground is the rear trunk of a 1960 Chevrolet, with a 1962 Ford rear fender on the right. Across the parking aisle is a rear view of a two-tone 1957 Mercury, front of a Chevrolet Corvair, rear of a 1962 Pontiac station wagon, rear of a 1964 Dodge two-door hardtop, a Dodge station wagon, open space and then a 1962 Cadillac convertible.

 

Close-up of the special exhibit at the Mercury Comet exhibit space features one of the actual Caliente 2-door hardtops that completed an arduous African safari run. Comet was the first American entry to compete in this event in a decade. The car sits on a raised platform, but the sign in the foreground is blurred.

Awesome! Of course, there would have been way more room for gear in the wagon in the background.

 

No people are in this scene outside the Checker exhibit. On the left, facing toward the camera, is a Marathon four-door station wagon. Several Marathon four-door sedans fill the rest of the small area.

Not just Taxis remember?

 

Three boys are looking through the selection of kits at the Scale Models display booth, while the female attendant/owner smiles for our camera. Model kits sold for 98 cents to $2.00, and friction-powered cars went for $1.97. Several of the cars--finished promotion models--are sitting on the counter, while others are boxed, on shelves at the rear.

Wagon Models at the 64 Chicago Auto show. Dang, I wish I could get one for $1.97 now.

 

American Motors exhibited the Rambler Cheyenne show car, which was based on the Classic Cross Country station wagon model. Gold-tone anodized aluminum trim graced the full length of the vehicle, and was spread between the taillights. The "Carrousel" signage in the background was for another Rambler show car.

 

Chicago Auto show 1965:

British-built Griffith Series 200 sports cars were featured in a small, three-vehicle display booth next to the larger Datsun (Nissan) exhibit. Both were located on the lower level of McCormick Place East. In the foreground, an exposed chassis and power train show off the Ford 289 CID V-8 and all synchromesh, four-speed manual gearbox that were installed at the Syosset, New York plant prior to sale in North America. In the middle of the display is a Griffith Series 200 painted in a non-standard plaid-patterned scheme.

 

Oldsmobile’s dream car in 1965 was a one-of-a-kind 4-4-2 convertible equipped with a 400 cubic inch engine. Other performance goodies include large four-barrel carburetion, twin exhausts with chambered tonal tail pipes and other heavy-duty components. A restyled grille and front end devoid of bumper, along with “dished” chromed wheel discs distinguished the custom Olds from production models. The show car was finished in a deep-lustre bittersweet red with matching leather upholstered body-contoured “ astronaut” seats.

 

Chicago Auto show 1966:

Photographed at the Dodge exhibit during the 1968 Chicago Auto Show is a Coronet 500 convertible in the foreground, and highlighted on a raised platform was the Charger fastback coupe. Dramatically shaped, with concealed headlights, the Charger was a new production model for 1966.

 

A ¾ rear view of the front-wheel drive Toronado is seen on the left in the 1966 Oldsmobile exhibit. Not since the 1930s had a front-wheel-drive American car been produced in substantial numbers. Other Oldsmobile models also are visible, including a Delta 88 convertible at right, behind the ropes, and an Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon in the background.

 

Scene at the Citroen exhibit. In the foreground is a Citroen DS19 sedan, still futuristic in appearance after more than a decade on the market, with an air-oil suspension and other technical innovations. At left, behind ropes, is a DS19 station wagon. The French automaker also marketed a lower-priced ID19 sedan and a supermini called, Ami (French for "friend).