Some color post cards you might enjoy:

[David Maxwell]

1. Shell's Super Store parking lot. Plenty of fat fendered beauties here!

2. San Francisco circa 1947. Nice Balfour Green P15 parked on the corner.

3. Orange Park in Orange, CA. Another Balfour Green P15 parked, I believe, next to a Blue D24. Wouldn't you love to cruise through that parking lot?

4. Another Balfour Green P15 cruising through Hemet, CA. A nice Chevron Blue Club Coupe is parked in front of the Coleman store.

5. Looks like a 1940 Plymouth parked in front of the Beacon Restaurant in Santa Maria, CA. I ate at this restaurant with my father in the late `60's. Around 1976 it was torn down to make room for an office building. I talked with the man that owned it from the early `40's until he sold it to the office developer. He regrets the decision and now serves on the local historical society trying to preserve old buildings in town. At one time, the Beacon was part of the Atlantic Richfield gas station chain. Most stations had a restaurant. This one actually had a motel across the street called the Ranch House. That building is still there and very well preserved although it is no longer a motel.

[Robin (UK)]

David,

Thank you for sharing these.

I always love to see old pictures like this.

Robin.

[Joe Flanagan]

Those are amazing pictures. Now I know what color my car is. I always thought it was an after market paint job but now I know it's Balfour green. Any idea where the name Balfour comes from? I'll probably paint it the same color when the time comes. The new VWs have a color that is very similar.

[Plymouthy Adams]

this is from a town south of here that hosts our bi-annual swap meet..the texture of the card is different and I guess I just flat out liked it so much I bought it..one can only guess to what cars are pictured..

[greg g]

Looks like a whole Bunch of MOPARS in front of the Shell's Store. I don't ever recallseeing them that common around here. This must have been a chevy and ford area as they were thick as fleas on a mangy dog, My dad had the only Dodge on the Street when I was a kid. One of the farmers had an early 40's Plymouth Pickup, and that was it in the neighborhood, the rest were ford and GM stuff.

Was the Shell store in California near the Assembly plant or were Plymouth and Dodges more popular there than in this neck of the country????

[David Maxwell]

...5800 - 5999 N.W. 7th Ave. in Miami, FL

Yes, it does look like a merry gathering of Mopars. I have several old post cards that show predominantly Mopars. Strange since we all know Ford and GM combined were more than 2/3 of the market.

[martybose]

...5800 - 5999 N.W. 7th Ave. in Miami, FL

I knew that it wasn't in San Leandro, CA, but I didn't know where it was. Interestingly, when Ma Mopar sold the San Leandro plant, it became an International Harvester assembly plant for class 8 highway trucks. I worked there until IH closed the plant; they sold it to Caterpillar, who built engines there for a while, then they closed it. It is a shopping mall now, and the original 2 story building is still there; if you know where to look, you can find parts of things left from it's earlier life.

Marty

[Young Ed]

Thanks for the little history of the San Leandro plant. My dads 51 convert was built there. It didn't come to MN until the early 60s.

[bob_amos]

The Hemet photo looks like Floriday St. The main drag through Hemet. I worked right down the street from the places in the photo at the local Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge dealership. If this is the same place that I am thinking it is, the buildings still stand. It isn't too far fromwhere I presently live. I will have to drop on by with the photo and take a photo some time.

[Don Jordan]

I think it's interesting - hard as I looked I could not find one Japanese made car on the street. I guess they must have air brushed them out.

1. Shell's Super Store parking lot. Plenty of fat fendered beauties here!

2. San Francisco circa 1947. Nice Balfour Green P15 parked on the corner.

3. Orange Park in Orange, CA. Another Balfour Green P15 parked, I believe, next to a Blue D24. Wouldn't you love to cruise through that parking lot?

4. Another Balfour Green P15 cruising through Hemet, CA. A nice Chevron Blue Club Coupe is parked in front of the Coleman store.

5. Looks like a 1940 Plymouth parked in front of the Beacon Restaurant in Santa Maria, CA. I ate at this restaurant with my father in the late `60's. Around 1976 it was torn down to make room for an office building. I talked with the man that owned it from the early `40's until he sold it to the office developer. He regrets the decision and now serves on the local historical society trying to preserve old buildings in town. At one time, the Beacon was part of the Atlantic Richfield gas station chain. Most stations had a restaurant. This one actually had a motel across the street called the Ranch House. That building is still there and very well preserved although it is no longer a motel.