Today’s circa 1962 feature image taken in an industrial area in an unknown location contains a view of a used car sales lot in the foreground with the front row filled with 1950s cars. Passing by on the street is a finned 1960 Plymouth, and in front of the Super Market Distributors building in the background is the newest car in the scene that appears to be a 1962 Chevrolet.
Share with us what you find of interest in this photograph found via This Was Americar. Hopefully, a resourceful reader can identify the location.
Across the street, looks like a 1961 desoto or Chrysler.
Pat, I’m pretty sure the car across and on the street (in front of the black Ford) with the two-tone paint job is a ’60 Plymouth. The tail fins were drop in ’61. My mom had a ’61.
it’s a 1960 Plymouth
Third car from the left, in the lot, is a two-door 1956 PONTIAC Chieftain Catalina.
A study in contrast: the slick ’58 DeSoto Firesweep Sportsman next to the frumpy-lumpy ’54 Dodge Coronet. Can’t help with location.
58 Desoto Firesweep in front next to a 54 Dodge Royal Sedan.
mid 60s Greenbriar-Corvair van parked against the wall
That Plymouth in the street has its front end up, must be building a head of steam
Or, could have a trunk load of canned food in the trunk.
In the lower left corner of the photograph is a two-door 1958 DeSOTO Firesweep hardtop Sportsman.
The 58 DeSoto, parked next to the 54 Dodge shows just what a revolution the Forward Look was. (Also when compared to the 57 Chevrolet.)
You can also tell which one the dealer drove home at night. It has the dealer plates.
Massachusetts Dealer Plate…with a “C” at the end, so there are at least 3…A, B, and C.
Looks like an AMC Rambler parked across the road right behind the sign for the dealership, with a late 50’s Lincoln parked directly in front of the Rambler.
From what I could find on the internets, there was a Melmar Investment Corporation in Providence RI at about this time.
There’s a Melmar Corp. listed in Randolph, Mass., but not at this address. They make curtains for hospital cubicles, and their company motto is “We Leave Nothing Uncovered.”
In the lower right corner of the photograph is the front-end of a 1954 CHEVROLET.
What I find interesting in these old photos is how different looking from each other the various makes of cars were. Today, one would be hard pressed to identify the different makes and models.
This unknown location is actually Springfield, Massachusetts. The 1959 city directory shows all of these businesses on St. James Avenue.
Superior Electric Co, Inc., 501 St. James Ave.
Super Market Distributors, Inc., 525 St. James Ave.
Federal Tea Co., 528 St. James Ave.
Melmar Corp., 528-532 St. James Ave.
The used car lot MAY be Joe’s Motor Sales at 546 St. James Ave., but there is not enough signage here to confirm this portion of the photo. I found this name in the 1965 city directory.
All of these buildings still exist, but the used car lot is now a parking lot. On the other side of the Melmar Building a used car dealer now exists, and there are other automotive related businesses farther down the street to the left in the photo.