Old Cars and Old Diners. Share your photos.

[Dandy Dave]

I have a love affair with old Cars and old Diners. This one in Sandy Hook, CT has been there since 1935. You can see my 1990 Chevy Squarebody Suburban to the right. Had breakfast there yesterday. I'll drive past 50 McDonalds type places to get to one of these old time Mom and Pop gems everytime.

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

None left in my area.

[dalef62]

Our local 50's diner, Dolly's Diner. They were in the process of making the entryway.  Used it and my dad's cars for our dash plaque.  Located in Apollo Pa.

Edited June 5, 2023 by dalef62 (see edit history)

[J.H.Boland]

I still have a hard time considering my '78 GMC Caballero an "antique" vehicle, even though we've been together for 45 years ! Photo shows it parked in front of the New Sarum Diner established in 1943.

[RetroPetro]

Wolfes Rt. 15 Dillsburg PA

Good food, good prices, clean place, nice owners and friendly waitress.

Stop in if you’re in the area for Carlisle, Hershey, etc.

[Buick35]

My wife and I just finished a jigsaw puzzle of one,it was a pita!

[28 Chrysler]

2 hours ago, TAKerry said:

None left in my area.

Non here, power and telephones weren't installed until late 1963.

The county now has a bit over 50,000 people in an area over 17 times the size of Rhode Island.

[60FlatTop]

Dwight Romberger visits the Bergen (Pronounced Burjen where the swamp is).

[rocketraider]

Not many left here either. Drive-in restaurants either for that matter. Most have been demolished in the name of redevelopment or because their real estate became more valuable than the business.

 

Original Mama Possum's which still has curb service:

 

And the second one built a few years ago:

MP used to host a monthly cruise night at the original but the catering side of their business keeps them tied up on weekends now. Original closes at 2 every day now.

 

The original started as one of a local burger chain called "Wimpy's" circa 1960. The other four Wimpy's have been demolished.🙁 Shame, because of their Googie design and signage.

 

Original Wimpy's sign, in decline:

 

Last Wimpy's building shortly before demo:

And the 1970s Mama Possum's update:

 

 

[Dandy Dave]

3 hours ago, TAKerry said:

None left in my area.

☹️ Sad that these local places that are more than a Diner to the local community have been sold off and often closed forever.

[RetroPetro]

Key City Rt. 22 Phillipsburg, NJ

Still hanging on.

 

When I was a boy used to stop there for breakfast with my Dad and George and Bea Jepson on our way to Hershey, before the I-78 bypass was built.

[Harold]

6 minutes ago, MetroPetro said:

Key City Rt. 22 Phillipsburg, NJ

Still hanging on.

 

When I was a boy used to stop there for breakfast with my Dad and George and Bea Jepson on our way to Hershey, before the I-78 bypass was built.

I've stopped there a number of times on various road trips.  Nice place.

[60FlatTop]

Here is where we go most Friday nights. Brockport Diner right on Main St where the old Diner Car was set next to the trolley tracks.

[CHuDWah]

The Chuck Wagon Diner, Howdy Folks 😁

 

 

It was in Champaign IL for 20 years and had one of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises - Colonel Sanders visited the diner and taught them how to fry his secret recipe.  It was sold in 1976 and then traveled around central Illinois, Michigan and ended up in NY.  The current owners found it in poor condition and restored it - like restoring a car, that required tracking down missing parts including the original sign.  And they're car people and host regular cruise-ins.  When I was a student at the University of Illinois, we often drank Chuck Wagon coffee and played 50s and 60s tunes on the tabletop jukebox while sobering up after an evening of imbibing.  I wish it could have remained in Champaign but I'm happy it was saved.  The pix are of its current appearance, not much different than I remember - more pix and links are here:

 

Champaign’s Chuckwagon and Elite Diner in good hands

Edited June 5, 2023 by CHuDWah (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

16 hours ago, CHuDWah said:

The Chuck Wagon Diner, Howdy Folks 😁

 

 

It was in Champaign IL for 20 years and had one of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises - Colonel Sanders visited the diner and taught them how to fry his secret recipe.  It was sold in 1976 and then traveled around central Illinois, Michigan and ended up in NY.  The current owners found it in poor condition and restored it - like restoring a car, that required tracking down missing parts including the original sign.  And they're car people and host regular cruise-ins.  When I was a student at the University of Illinois, we often drank Chuck Wagon coffee and played 50s and 60s tunes on the tabletop jukebox while sobering up after an evening of imbibing.  I wish it could have remained in Champaign but I'm happy it was saved.  The pix are of its current appearance, not much different than I remember - more pix and links are here:

 

Champaign’s Chuckwagon and Elite Diner in good hands

I know I've been past it before. It is now in Princetown, NY. Just West of Albany.

[Crusty Trucker]

We're lucky here in Spokane. We have two authentic antique railroad cars that are now and have been diners for decades. 

 

KNIGHT"S DINER:

"The history of Knight's Diner is rich indeed. The restaurant's rail car was manufactured in 1906 by the Pullman Car Company. Serving as Northern Pacific car No. 988, it endured two accidents on the Yellowstone Park Line before retiring to Spokane Valley to be converted into a classroom for soldiers during World War II. As the war neared its end, President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally arranged for No. 988 to be gifted to a Spokane resident who'd traveled cross-country as "Uncle Sam" selling war bonds.

Several years later, No. 988 caught the attention of Jack Knight, a head waiter at the Davenport Hotel. Knight purchased the passenger car for $600 (rumored with cash made from bootleg liquor sales), and in 1949, it made its official debut as Knight's Diner.

Since 2019, a 1907 Northern Pacific caboose was added to accommodate a food prep area. Windows were rehabilitated, handicap ramps were added."

Knight's Diner has been listed on the Spokane Register of Historic Places since 1991.

 

FRANK"S DINER:

"During the golden days of railroading, Barney-Smith and Pullman vied for supremacy of the elegant rail car business. In 1906, Barney Smith manufactured this car as an “observation car”. It remained unsold until 1909, when it was purchased by the Northern Pacific Railroad and remodeled to suit their needs as a private car for the president of the railroad and served as a presidential car until it was replaced in 1931.

Stranded in Seattle at the height of the depression, NO. 1787 found a new home. Frank Knight, the brother and sometime partner of Jack Knight of Spokane, bought the presidential car and converted it into a diner car in 1931."

[DrumBob]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:59 AM, MetroPetro said:

Wolfes Rt. 15 Dillsburg PA

Good food, good prices, clean place, nice owners and friendly waitress.

Stop in if you’re in the area for Carlisle, Hershey, etc.

I love this place, a real genuine 50's diner on the way to Gettysburg. I got past it all the time. I'm a big fan of vintage diners, and eat in them every chance I can get. 

[DrumBob]

On 6/5/2023 at 12:17 PM, Harold said:

I've stopped there a number of times on various road trips.  Nice place.

Love the Key City Diner. They had a fire there last fall, but have been rebuilding. Hope it's open soon. 

[Dave Mellor NJ]

[DrumBob]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:17 PM, DrumBob said:

I love this place, a real genuine 50's diner on the way to Gettysburg. I go past it all the time. I'm a big fan of vintage diners, and eat in them every chance I can get.