Killer History: We Unearth A Treasure Trove of 1964 American Automotive History – First Item of Many To Come

General News

October 4, 2012
 
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When my pop told me to grab the “old book” out of the cab of his truck the other day, I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was an official program from the 8th annual NY International Auto Show held on April 4-12, 1964. In this 200 book are hundreds of pages of ads and great photos talking about all of the new models, innovations, and technology hitting the road in ’64. Outside of the usual American suspects you’d expect, there are dozens and dozens of weirdo import cars that we had largely never seen or heard of. Simcas, Renaults, Skodas, Rovers, and Hillmans among a crowd of others. Ever heard of a Humber Super Snipe?!

We’re going to run a bunch of blog items of scans from this book showing you the ads and the cars that the world was buzzing about in 1964. Today we’ll stick to companies and models you have heard of, but we can promise you many surprises and cool twists along the way. It is an eye opener to see all of the options people had in 1964. The automotive landscape has vastly changed since those days in the early 1960s with companies folding up and consolidating over the decades to leave a mere handful in comparison to what there was when LBJ was in office.

Scroll down to see this first dispatch from the 1964 NY International Auto Show program!