What's in the glove box and trunk of a 50s car?

[Mr. Reed]

I enjoy looking at maps and advertising from rest stops and those books you get at the turnpike stops that have small stores and gas stations.

[Pfeil]

My Dad also carried a small Wisk broom ( still have it) in our 50 Pontiac. He did not carry it in our 59 Pontiac. Any Ideas why? John348 should know the answer.

[Mr. Reed]

Did some polishing of the moldings tonight. Does anyone recognize these accessories around my door handle and vent shades? How old are they.

[Bloo]

They are probably the same period as the car I think. I doubt you would have found them a lot later, especially for a sedan. That is wild speculation. Lets see what everyone else says.

 

1 hour ago, Pfeil said:

My Dad also carried a small Wisk broom ( still have it) in our 50 Pontiac. He did not carry it in our 59 Pontiac. Any Ideas why? John348 should know the answer.

 

I'm not him, but probably the 50 had flat floors and maybe even a rubber front mat, and the 59 had sunken floors and carpet. I recall my mother always referred to vacuuming out the car as "sweeping out the car", even though it made no sense due to the sunken floors. Years later it finally dawned on me that it would have been possible on older cars to sweep them out with a whisk broom, and that's how they probably did it. I have one of her whisk brooms in the glovebox of the 36 Pontiac now.

 

"Step down" Hudsons were so named because of the sunken floor, and may have been the first. The newest car I have owned with flat floors was a 66 Studebaker. I wonder if those were truly the first and last?

 

 

[John348]

1 hour ago, Pfeil said:

My Dad also carried a small Wisk broom ( still have it) in our 50 Pontiac. He did not carry it in our 59 Pontiac. Any Ideas why? John348 should know the answer.

 

I still have my Dads as well, I also think it has to do with the pre-carpet rubber floor mat cars. It is still under the seat of the 53 Chevy 150 that my Son has that was my Dad's which is a rubber mat, non carpet car. This is a cool thread ! great idea Mr. Reed 

[Bloo]

  

I saved this from one of @trimacar's posts long ago:

 

Quote

There was a story about a small service station in Lecompte, Louisiana, and of course in the 50's and 60's great service meant not only pumping gas but other service.  The owner of this station would use his pocketed whisk broom and sweep out carpet if you asked him.

 

One day, someone borrowed his whisk broom, then drove away with it.  Soon after, an older lady pulls in, and while he's fuming internally about the stolen whisk broom, she asks "Do you have a rest room?"  Thinking she said "whisk broom", he told her "no, but get out of the car and I'll blow it out with my air hose".

 

She quickly departed, and never came back....

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Bloo (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

Anyone notice those VentShades appear to be adjustable for length?

 

I think the shades and door handle guards are probably aftermarket instead of factory authorized. I can't see GM using a handle guard that didn't completely surround the door handle. But that adds to car and accessories history.

 

I miss metal vent shades. The plastic ones now work ok and allow you to leave the side windows cracked in summer, but the things look cheap (though I assure you they aren't!).

[John348]

2 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

Anyone notice those VentShades appear to be adjustable for length?

 

I think the shades and door handle guards are probably aftermarket instead of factory authorized. I can't see GM using a handle guard that didn't completely surround the door handle. But that adds to car and accessories history.

 

I miss metal vent shades. The plastic ones now work ok and allow you to leave the side windows cracked in summer, but the things look cheap (though I assure you they aren't!).

 I noticed that on the vent shades as well, and the finger shields also look aftermarket,  does not mean that the dealer did not put them in. dealers would make a buck anyway they could. I never saw the adjustable vent shades before

[8E45E]

So far, no one has mentioned small trim items that have fallen off the car while in possession of the owner.  They usually end up inside the glove compartment.  It could be a piece of chrome trim that got knocked off in the parking lot, or while washing the car, a window crank where the clip or screw came out, or a dashboard knob that won't stay on.

 

Craig

[Mr. Reed]

I never thought of that. It makes sense though. Im liking all the input here.

[Mr. Reed]

The car has these dual fake antennas on the back. They look cool I think. Anybody seen these before. I found them on eBay and they cost a pretty penny.

[Bloo]

Those look like they could be off-the-shelf antennas intended for the front fender or whatever.

 

Dual antennas on the back fenders were a thing on some cars in the late 50s, usually on a base that pointed the antenna back.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Mr. Reed]

I think it makes it look like a police car from a distance haha

[rocketraider]

The factory Buick antenna was a pretty cool piece in itself. Mounted above the windshield and could be rotated for best reception. My Uncle Malcolm used to keep the one on his 51 Roadmaster pointed down. Apparently a low hanging tree limb took it out and after replacing it he decided that  wouldn't happen again.

[Pfeil]

19 hours ago, Bloo said:

They are probably the same period as the car I think. I doubt you would have found them a lot later, especially for a sedan. That is wild speculation. Lets see what everyone else says.

 

 

I'm not him, but probably the 50 had flat floors and maybe even a rubber front mat, and the 59 had sunken floors and carpet. I recall my mother always referred to vacuuming out the car as "sweeping out the car", even though it made no sense due to the sunken floors. Years later it finally dawned on me that it would have been possible on older cars to sweep them out with a whisk broom, and that's how they probably did it. I have one of her whisk brooms in the glovebox of the 36 Pontiac now.

 

"Step down" Hudsons were so named because of the sunken floor, and may have been the first. The newest car I have owned with flat floors was a 66 Studebaker. I wonder if those were truly the first and last?

 

 

 

Bloo you are correct ! The floor on a 50 G.M. "A" body, and probably "B" and "C" bodies as well are flat and you can whisk out the car in no time. A 1959 Pontiac has deep wells in the floor and the job is harder - so those cars are vacuumed instead.

 As far as carpet and rubber mats go; a 1950 Chieftain standard gets rubber mats all round. A Chieftain Deluxe gets carpet un the rear seating area only and rubber mats in the front, only the convertible and the Catalina Hardtops get full carpeting.

 On 59 Pontiac's, the Catalina get rubber floor mats / Carpet combination or mats sewn together, or the transmission hump gets the carpet part. Bonneville's / StarChief get full carpet with "Lurex aluminum thread" woven into the carpet. There are exceptions, my Dad ordered a 59 Catalina hardtop coupe out of the zone office with a NASCAR prepped engine, Police/Taxi HD 4 speed Hydramatic with a Bonneville tri color leather interior and a Bonneville only exterior color.

 

About those window shades; They are a factory accessory for a 1950 Pontiac. They were in the accessory book for VW cars of the 50's 60's and 70's and They are in the Accessory book for 2021 NISSAN.  I had to drive down to Phoenix yesterday from my house in Prescott and I saw a set on a new car.

 

[Bloo]

2 minutes ago, Pfeil said:

There are exceptions, my Dad ordered a 59 Catalina hardtop coupe out of the zone office with a NASCAR prepped engine, Police/Taxi HD 4 speed Hydramatic with a Bonneville tri color leather interior and a Bonneville only exterior color.

 

What floor covering did they give him with that special car?

 

I didn't pick up on the fact that the shades on the 50 Buick posted earlier were adjustable universal-fit ones until rocketraider pointed it out. I guess that means they could be from about any era. If they were custom fit, the availablity would probably disappear fairly soon after the bodystyles changed. Adjustable ones could go on in JC Whitney for decades. I too have seen plastic versions on newer models, but nothing quite as recent as that Nissan.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

21 hours ago, Mr. Reed said:

Did some polishing of the moldings tonight. Does anyone recognize these accessories around my door handle and vent shades? How old are they.

 

 My 1950 has the vent shades. They are not adjustable.

 

  Ben

[Mr. Reed]

I didn't know mine were adjustable until rocket raider pointed it out thank you.

[Mr. Reed]

On my car still has the rubber mat in the front. It holds moisture and is going to be taken out and the floors wire brushed to clean the rust. Anyone still retain their factory mat up front?

[8E45E]

1 hour ago, Pfeil said:

 On 59 Pontiac's, the Catalina get rubber floor mats / Carpet combination or mats sewn together, or the transmission hump gets the carpet part.

That was also true on 1959 & '60 Pontiac Laurentians sold in Canada.

 

Craig

[rocketraider]

58 minutes ago, Mr. Reed said:

On my car still has the rubber mat in the front. It holds moisture and is going to be taken out and the floors wire brushed to clean the rust. Anyone still retain their factory mat up front?

Be careful with that mat as it's likely to disintegrate. Make sure there's a replacement available.

 

It shouldn't hold moisture unless you have a leak somewhere or your storage is very humid.

[Mr. Reed]

I had the car outside in the rain and found it wasn't waterproof. It's cracking as it is and is brittle in places.

[John348]

I know the Chevy mats are reproduced, most likely they are much smaller. 

[John348]

Back to trunk stuff, saw this today and took a picture of it

 

 

[Pfeil]

4 hours ago, Bloo said:

 

What floor covering did they give him with that special car?

 

I didn't pick up on the fact that the shades on the 50 Buick posted earlier were adjustable universal-fit ones until rocketraider pointed it out. I guess that means they could be from about any era. If they were custom fit, the availablity would probably disappear fairly soon after the bodystyles changed. Adjustable ones could go on in JC Whitney for decades. I too have seen plastic versions on newer models, but nothing quite as recent as that Nissan.

 Our Catalina had a almost full Bonneville interior including the Lurex threaded full carpet. The things my Dad deleted off that was a aluminum strip across the center of the dash. the dash grab or assist bar on the dash and the most important part according to my Dad and he  was adamant that the dash was steel - because my sister's 57 Ford Fairlane 500's padded dash sagged after 2 years.

 Although the car was raced in "A" stock in 59-60, my Dad did a lot of street racing and our car was a Tri-Power 389 so My Dad deleted the Tri-Power front fender badges when he ordered the car. The car came with a 3.08 Safety track for the street and a 3.90 and 4.10 for racing.   

Edited October 23, 2021 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[John348]

I was surprised to see that the interior garnish moldings on the 60' Catalina coupe were painted and not polished aluminum like the Impala. My 60' Impala was parked next to one belonging to a fellow AACA members at a Concourse in Virginia in September it was amazing how much bigger the Pontiac's presence was in every dimension. 

[avgwarhawk]

I keep a small floor jack in the trunk.  I don't fool with the widow maker if I get a flat. 

[John348]

4 minutes ago, avgwarhawk said:

I keep a small floor jack in the trunk.  I don't fool with the widow maker if I get a flat. 

Don't forget one of these as well!

[avgwarhawk]

1 hour ago, John348 said:

Don't forget one of these as well!

Yep! Mine was my dads. 

[John348]

Sad part I scraped about 30 of those "T" bars about two years ago nobody really wants them that bad to ship them.

Edited October 23, 2021 by John348 (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

11 hours ago, John348 said:

I was surprised to see that the interior garnish moldings on the 60' Catalina coupe were painted and not polished aluminum like the Impala. My 60' Impala was parked next to one belonging to a fellow AACA members at a Concourse in Virginia in September it was amazing how much bigger the Pontiac's presence was in every dimension. 

 Although our 59 Catalina had the polished aluminum ( Because it had a Bonneville interior ) All regular production Catalinas had painted ones. Evidently many people complained about Catalina interiors, for 1960 Pontiac came out with the Catalina Ventura, ironically the Ventura interior lacked those aluminum garnish moldings, but it's interiors were much better than the Catalina. The run of a stand alone Ventura model was short ( 1960-61 ). The 1962 Grand Prix took over where Ventura left off and it did have all that stuff including a console. Later, Pontiac did come out with a Ventura option again on the Catalina ( as a interior trim option) see below on a 68.

  

[Pfeil]

Mandatory in every car in Germany;

• Warning triangle (compulsory in all vehicles with four wheels or more)
• Reflective safety jackets.
• First aid kit.
• Beam deflectors.
•  

[PONTIAC1953]

here's what will be in the glove box of my 1953 Pontiac Chieftain Custom Catalina.

[Mr. Reed]

I like that. Very nice

 

[Pfeil]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:31 PM, John348 said:

I was surprised to see that the interior garnish moldings on the 60' Catalina coupe were painted and not polished aluminum like the Impala. My 60' Impala was parked next to one belonging to a fellow AACA members at a Concourse in Virginia in September it was amazing how much bigger the Pontiac's presence was in every dimension. 

Forgot to mention, the Dynamic 88 Oldsmobile and some Buick  LeSabre garnish moldings were also painted.

Buick-

[Bleach]

On 10/23/2021 at 6:05 AM, John348 said:

Don't forget one of these as well!

 

I have one too. It was my grandfather's and I have been using it with most of my cars since the late 70's.

[John348]

1 hour ago, Bleach said:

 

I have one too. It was my grandfather's and I have been using it with most of my cars since the late 70's.

 

I think if I used one now I would end up in the ER

[8E45E]

On 10/22/2021 at 10:31 PM, John348 said:

My 60' Impala was parked next to one belonging to a fellow AACA members at a Concourse in Virginia in September it was amazing how much bigger the Pontiac's presence was in every dimension. 

Pontiac's advertising line of the day was "Wide Track in a Pontiac!", and it was way wider than Chevrolet's.  Proof of this is to look at the wheel wells on a Canadian Pontiac (Parisienne, Laurentian, Strato Chief) which used a Chevrolet chassis.

 

Craig

[John348]

44 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Pontiac's advertising line of the day was "Wide Track in a Pontiac!", and it was way wider than Chevrolet's.  Proof of this is to look at the wheel wells on a Canadian Pontiac (Parisienne, Laurentian, Strato Chief) which used a Chevrolet chassis.

 

Craig

 

I was well aware of that, even the height was noticeably different, what would be odd what you mention the Canadian Pontiacs sat on Chevrolet chassis  

Edited October 25, 2021 by John348 (see edit history)

[John348]

Just in case you need to figure out your miles MPG this handy calculator in your glove box will assist