Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos with the keyword: cars

It's hard to remember that whitewalls this prominent were once popular. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

The only new car we had in the 50's was a Nash Rambler wagon, an earlier version of this car. Looking at this now, I imagine it must have been torture for my mother when we took long trips with four boys aged 5 to 14 in the back -- luckily we were all small. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

The only GMC cars owned by the family in the 60's were Corvairs. My oldest brother had a 2-door coupe version of this body style and the first car that I bought for myself (instead of inheriting from a brother) was a 1965 Corvair that was the next generation body style. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

Though we never owned one, in keeping with the family preference for unconventional cars, we always hoped to one day move up to a Rambler Ambassador. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

Fond (well, 'fond' isn't quite the right word) memories. Pontiacs were looked down upon by my family, as something that 'country hicks' used to drive fast. Maybe that's why my first crush was on a classmate who had a Pontiac just like this, except green not yellow. Physically he did fit the image of a hoodlum who drag raced, but, for some reason, he liked taking bookish me to the beach. Of course, since it was Jacksonville with high humidity and 80-90 degree days, we always drove to the beach in just our bathing suits, something that teens weren't supposed to do in our own family cars. Running around with him in that car definitely felt like rebellion. Photo taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

My family always seemed to lean towards the less popular, almost esoteric cars. Each of my older two brothers had Studebakers like these when there were in their late teens; my primary car in high school was a somewhat later model Studebaker passed on to me through a brother. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

To me, the early 50's Packards were the definition of quiet elegance. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

Quite a contrast. 1957 English Ford: appearance of practicality, seriousness, continuity with history. 1956 Buick: wealth, glamour, frivolous body style changes every year, power. Taken at an auto auction at Spa Casino Resort, Palm Springs.

A collection of abandoned French vehicles on a lot in Bisbee.

An abandoned Citroën 2 CV, in Bisbee, AZ

Abandoned Citroën 2 CV van. I often wonder how such things ended up in relatively remote place like Bisbee.

Eric, in the comments below, and a friend who owned one once both identified this as the Citroën Méhari . Per the Wikipedia link below (English, French link it is in the comments), it was used for off-road in general and also by both the French and Irish military. The name, méhari, comes from a camel of the same name that was used both in racing and in transport. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_M%C3%A9hari

A collection of abandoned vehicles on a lot in Bisbee, this is a Citroën Type H van, I've no idea what age. The only word on the van that I can make out is "Cheval", which is French for "horse".

Renault Caravelle, built by Renault for the U.S. market from 1958 to 1968. Roughly based on the Renault Dauphine, the early models had a rear engine with 40 HP (similar to a VW bug at that time.) The vehicle was originally named "Floride" but that name was not used in the U.S. due to fear that people would assume the car was made for Florida. For some odd reason I had a fascination with French cars when I was young, probably because Renault's were much smaller than U.S. cars and seemed more refined than VW's.

In Bisbee, a Renault Caravelle (see box), where once there was a Chevrolet (see picture linked to comments).

Pictures from childhood. The first car I can really remember is this Nash Rambler that we had, I believe it was a 1952. This is taken on the beach probably near what was where Mickler road extended to the beach (see map). In the 50's the beach area had no housing and you could drive on the beach. My family loved fishing (I didn't) and that was what we did on Sunday afternoons. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

1959 Chevrolet in a garage above Bisbee.

Ford Thunderbird, from the 1961-1963 series. Seen on the street on the west side of Mt. Washington.