Ah, the Innocence of Bygone Days..

[Guest 1964 225 Roadster]

I was looking through some of my old Buick Sales Catalogs the other day, and found the picture below.

In the 1958 catalog, this background illustration appears very small, on page 24 of the big (really big!) catalog. It is maybe 1" high in the catalog, so as a result of blowing it up big enough to see here, it is pretty grainy. Through-out the catalog, there is kind of a theme of "See the USA in your Buick-(rolet)" in these little background pictures.

Anyway- long before it had reached it's current legendary status as an American Icon, but rather back in the day when it was still earning that status- they chose to stick a road sign of - what else but Route 66 !!!!

It's admittedly hard to see, but there it is.

[Guest]

Don,

That's what I like the most about old auto ads, especially the painted non photographs. Some are framed at my house. I get very nostalgic looking at them. I think Route 66 should be "restored" like we restore cars or homes. America is moving too fast for me. What a cool vacation it would be to travel a restored Route 66 or in my part of the country - the old Lincoln Highway.

I have traveled portions of Rt 66 in Missouri.

Bryan Moran

BCA 28571

[page2171]

Route 66 was before my time, but I think it would be awesome to be able to take a trip in my 62 Electra down a restored Route 66.

[55PackardGuy]

There are places along the new highway that replaced most of the pavement of Route 66 where you CAN find some remarkably well-preserved sections of the original road if you watch carefully. I drove down about 100 yards of it back in the early years of this decade with my pickup, and got my kicks! It's really something to stand on that old portland cement, poured by HAND one section at a time, and realize it's the very same pavement that the "Oakies" travelled in the Depression--and millions of other people between then and when the road was "improved." It runs right alongside the railroad tracks in the section I found, and you can almost hear someone jacking up an old beater and changing a tire in the narrow ditch by the right-of-way. Truly a great experience and one that you can have for yourself. West of Clinton Oklahoma was the spot I found.

Clinton OK also has a great Route 66 museum which has a lot of memorabilia including one of the original cement mixers. They also had a little newspaper with guides to finding sections of the old road. I really think they should open a museum right ON a piece of the old unused roadway, put up a pole building covering a section and have people walk right in on the original road. It might make a great little retirement project for someone who wanted to just run it for tourist dollars and fun.

Be aware that the Clinton museum is open on a seasonal basis, I believe between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

[our51super]

If you like old ads (cars and others) check out this site:

http://www.ephemeranow.com/

Cheers!