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Meet the Flintstones: 1962

The Manitou cliff dwellings west of Colorado Springs. This was taken on my grandparents' honeymoon out west in 1962. View full size.

The Manitou cliff dwellings west of Colorado Springs. This was taken on my grandparents' honeymoon out west in 1962. View full size.

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Yah, Dineah speaking, through my friend, Standing Dog.

Well, these cheesy tourist traps can be helpful when they teach real lessons about the indigenous peoples, but most whites go away clutching Eastern tribe tomahawks and faux eagle feather headdresses. The Anasazi were a very successful group that were undone by climate change. Local deforestation combined with radically changed rain patterns spelled the end to their advanced agricultural practices, and forced them to assimilate with the still successful Hopi and Dineah.

Mercurial

The second car from the left is our hardtop 1953 Mercury coupe. And Dave you are very close in your assumption -- Shawn was born in 1987.

Sixty-One

I was referring to the '61 Wagon. And i stand corrected, myself: '61 featured 3 wagons - all 4-doors, and all available as 6 or 9 passenger wagons: Brookwood, Parkwood, and the Nomad. (according to the Chevrolet bible).

It's no Brookwood..

If it's a 9-passenger, it ain't no Brookwood. B'woods came in 6 passenger models only, and the 2-door version (in a wagon! yes!) was the "Nomad". Only the BelAir and the Parkwoods would have had a 3rd seat.

[There was no two-door Nomad for 1959, only four-door. The only two-door Chevy wagon that year was the Brookwood. And there was no Bel Air wagon. No nine-passenger Parkwood, either. The only 1959 Chevy wagon with a third seat ("Lookout Lounge") was the Kingswood. - Dave]

Wagons Ho

I am going to suggest that the 61 chevy wagon is a 9-passenger Brookwood or Parkwood, but it really is impossible to tell which model only by looking at the back of it. I think it's a 9-passenger because you can see a step on the bumper below the outboard taillight. The 59 wagon is either a Brookwood or a Parkwood, because there are no bumper steps (Kingswood) and the tail light lenses are plain (Nomad). The 59 also has the optional back up lights under the bumper.

Chevy Nomad

The Nomad wagons had the same trim as Impalas, but Nomad badging on the rear fenders and tailgate. And four taillights, not six. They could be ordered with either a six or V-8, which might have surprised the Beach Boys.

Steve Miller
Tachin' it up someplace near the crossroads of America

1961 Chevy Bel Air

The second car from the left is a 1961 Chevy all right, but it's a Bel Air not an Impala. The Impala has 6 tail lights!

[There was no Impala wagon in 1961. Or Bel Air, either. The 1961 Chevy wagons (Nomad, Parkwood, Brookwood) all maxed out at four taillights. - Dave]

"Painfully Old"

I have to agree with the poster about feeling "painfully old." Aren't the laws of physics being bent here? How could there be an adult here who had grandparents honeymooning in 1962? My parents were married in 1962 at age 21 and had me a year later! My husband and I have small children and are trying for more - I didn't feel old before.

[So Grandma and Grandpa got hitched in 1962. They had a kid, let's say, in 1963. We'll call him Billy. Billy gets married when he turns 23, in 1986. Billy and his wife have a kid in 1988, and name him Shawn. Shawn is now 20 years old, posting away on Shorpy. Tempus fugit. (Am I close?) - Dave]

"Old Dude" Protest

The man referred to as an old cartoon character was probably under 40 and he was not wearing floodpants as that was the standard proper length in 1962, hems stopping above the top of the shoes (Think Beatles suits in 1964). Clothes were close-fitting and closely trimmed. Am I the only one who remembers the "Mod" look?

High School

I graduated from high school in 1962, and I would gladly sacrifice a finger or two for one of those cars!

Great resale value!

Years ago, a friend of mine had a '59 Chevy Kingswood (top of the line) wagon, which he bought for the princely sum of $150. A few years later, it was rear-ended while parked on the street. The only visible damage was a dented tailgate and rear bumper, but it also broke the engine and transmission mounts, and the second seat wouldn't fold down. The other guy's insurance company totaled it, and gave him $500. Talk about resale value!

As for bumper stickers, I can remember when Six Flags Over Texas would put a bumper sticker on every car parked in the lot -- if you didn't want one, you had to fold down the driver's side sun visor.

Bumper Stickers

Wasn't it common in the 50s and 60s for touristy places (notice I avoid the perjorative "tourist trap") to have an employee go through the parking lot and bumper-sticker every single car? That's always been the story about the Tommy Bartlett shows in the Wisconsin Dells. I suspect that's the case here.

Bumper Stickers

Back in the 50's and 60's many attractions hired high school kids to zip around the parking lot placing bumper stickers (signs actually) on every car. The signs were usually light cardboard with thin metal straps on each end. Since cars had real, stand-alone bumpers, it was a simple matter to bend the straps around the bumper. Visitors could easily remove the sign when they got home, but in the meantime -- free advertising. My dad would fume at the possibility of scratching the chrome on our beloved 1955 Packard Patrician and remove them before leaving the parking lot.

Nice.

This is a nice picture and all. The dwellings are cool, the cars are interesting, but, holy smokes, his/her grandparents' honeymoon, in 1962??? That makes me feel painfully old.

Bumper stickers of old

I remember leaving "Clyde Peeling's Reptile Land" in northern Pennsylvania when I was just a kid and finding someone had placed a bumper sticker on my Dad's big old Plymouth.

Dad went nuts! He stormed back into Reptile Land, presumably tore the heads off of several snake wranglers and reemerged with a razor blade to scrape the sticker off that fine chrome bumper.

I stood in the hot sun with Mom while Dad cursed and scraped and then cursed and scraped some more.

It's Called "Fit"

"Painfully thin"? That's normal. Maybe not the average these days with a McDonald's every 3 blocks, but that's fit and trim for any decade.

Love the '59 Chevy's taillights and gullwing fins. And bonus points for it being a wagon.

Bumper stickers

Of the six vehicles with their back bumpers facing the camera, it appears at least four of them have the same (rather large) bumper sticker. Black background, red text on the top line, white text on the bottom line. Considering that I almost never saw much in the way of bumper stickers until my later childhood (born in the '60s and grew up in the '70s and '80s), it makes me wonder what this particular sticker was about that attracted so many of these tourists.

The Manitou

Oh, that's just great. I suppose now you'll tell me that the North Pole attraction nearby was fake as well. I guess it's fitting that my only memory of the family vacation to Manitou Springs in the 1960's was my purchase of "real" Confederate banknotes at the North Pole gift shop.

Ford

Yes, that '62 is a Ford, not a Mercury -- it's a Galaxie.

What a great collection.

The real cartoon character

The real cartoon character is the painfully thin old dude with the high-waters and the hat perched on the very top of his head. Is he for real?

The Old Ones

High on the list of Anasazi priorities were a reliable water supply and convenient parking.

Faux Anasazi

When I lived in the Southwest about 10 years ago, one of my greatest interests was to visit the cliff dwelling of the Anasazi. The ruins at Manitou don't readily come to mind when thinking of such things, and indeed, a quick google search reveals why. While looking somewhat authentic (minus the foreground parking lot and built-in gift shop), the dwellings at Manitou are an early 1900s reconstruction built (somewhat faithfully) for the tourist trade.

[I've been to the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, which are pretty impressive. No parking lot full of Iron Age cars, though. - Dave]

Naming cars

From left to right: The tailfin of a 1958 oldsmobile, a 1961 Chevrolet Impala, 1953 Mercury, 1959 Chevrolet Impala, 1957 Mercury, 1954 Chevrolet, 1962 Mercury and hood of a 1958 Buick.

[Close, but. There was no Impala wagon in 1961. And that's a 1958 Mercury. The red convertible is a 1962 Ford. The car in the foreground is a 1959 Ford, not a Buick. - Dave]

Go Mustangs!

My mom's an alum of Manitou High. Go Mustangs!

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