Striking Portraits of Lonely Cars in 1970s New York

December 1, 2016 5:13 PM

Nighttime scenes of parked cars and deserted streets, photographed by Langdon Clay (1974-76).
posted by philip-random (47 comments total)

These are so good!
posted by nikoniko at 5:24 PM on December 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

Remember when everyone thought that the 70s were bad?

Now they'll be remembered as the high point of American culture.
posted by allthinky at 5:24 PM on December 1, 2016 [13 favorites]

This is amazing work for a two-year-old. Imagine what he could have achieved if he'd reached the age of, say, five.
posted by No-sword at 5:31 PM on December 1, 2016 [39 favorites]

Gawd those cars were junk. Nice photos though...
posted by jim in austin at 5:32 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

The book that's at the top of David Fincher's Xmas wishlist this year...
posted by ChickenBear at 5:38 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Remember when everyone thought that the 70s were bad?

That's because they were bad.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:43 PM on December 1, 2016 [6 favorites]

And those cars were bad.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:43 PM on December 1, 2016 [4 favorites]

And you should feel bad.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:44 PM on December 1, 2016 [14 favorites]

Well, *now* I feel terrible.

Oh, wait, that's because it's fucking 2016.
posted by allthinky at 5:49 PM on December 1, 2016 [18 favorites]

When I was a kid, we had a '65 Valiant. My Toyota is about the same age now (15 years) and it seems almost new. Old cars sucked. They looked old even when they were new and they were always either broken down or trying to kill you. But they did have flair, I give 'em that.
posted by klanawa at 5:50 PM on December 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

Well, *now* I feel terrible.
Oh, wait, that's because it's fucking 2016.

True. But at least my car runs rings around those - and with far better mileage.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:53 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

There was an ad for K-mart Christmas stuff on that page. It hit the same note of desolation and ennui so precisely that it took me a second to realize it wasn't part of the photo collection.
posted by selfmedicating at 6:09 PM on December 1, 2016 [8 favorites]

For some reason, these pictures remind me of this, which is one of the most brilliant ad parodys SNL ever did.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:16 PM on December 1, 2016 [7 favorites]

When I think of the seventies they don't seem that long ago in my head but when I see pictures like these it seems like some far and distant ancient time.

Awesome photos anyway. I've just been getting back into film photography and getting the exposure right on night shots like these is so hard.
posted by octothorpe at 6:28 PM on December 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

I was thinking I would need to know "old" cars for this but I actually learned things about "old" cars. Thanks for the link.
posted by bendy at 6:38 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Duster is the best looking of the bunch. MOPAR!
posted by humboldt32 at 6:44 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Sometimes I really miss my mom's '73 Cutlass Supreme.
posted by freakazoid at 6:47 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

You used to be able to identify a car's year by just looking at it because they changed them every model year. Now my 2009 Honda looks just like every other Fit until last year when they finally revved the design.
posted by octothorpe at 6:51 PM on December 1, 2016

In or around 2001 I bought a 1978 Olds Delta 88 Royale for 150$ because the owner was in prison and his wife really needed money. Ignoring the morality of the purchase (which I really only considered after about ten years of hindsight), that car was so sweet. It had power everything and velour seats! It also ran for several years of me beating the hell out of it.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:24 PM on December 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh, and CARZ-A-POPPIN!
posted by Literaryhero at 7:25 PM on December 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

70's cars will always remind me of racism and plastic covers on sofas, two things you could count on finding in my stepmother's mother's house in Hope Mills, North Carolina. There was a 74 or 75 Impala in the driveway, and I could never look at a 70s car after that without thinking of her and the way her mouth wrinkled in disgust when she used the n word.

We all have our formative moments, but I credit her for making me hate racists a long time before I realized that's what I hated.
posted by Mooski at 7:55 PM on December 1, 2016 [7 favorites]

There was a 74 or 75 Impala in the driveway,

One good thing the 70's did give us.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:02 PM on December 1, 2016 [6 favorites]

They looked old even when they were new and they were always either broken down or trying to kill you. But they did have flair, I give 'em that.

Are you talking about me or the cars?
posted by bongo_x at 9:01 PM on December 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

For some reason, these pictures remind me of this, which is one of the most brilliant ad parodys SNL ever did.

People actually did (do?) that with bikes. I have a nice custom frame that I spray painted flat black, letting some of the old paint wear through.
posted by bongo_x at 9:04 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

The cars themselves were certainly junk compared to just about anything I've driven in the last decade at least.

But say you're walking down the street and one of these rolls up with like three or four guys in it. Suddenly your brain goes all Scorcese movie in a way it doesn't if those same dudes are in a Corolla, right? They've been imprinted on my brain that way, anyhow.

That Duster, though...if it were appointed with the same safety equipment, motor, etc as my current car, I'd give it a serious look. It's a very clean design, to my eye.
posted by Caxton1476 at 9:07 PM on December 1, 2016

If you look in the window of each one of those cars, you'll see the body of a mobster killed by Robert DeNiro's character in Goodfellas.
posted by Kibbutz at 9:12 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Google street view for the "Subway Impala" shooting location.

I hate gentrification, but I'd rather take my chances at "CAFÉ" than sample the steak & onions behind those dingy curtains.
posted by PlusDistance at 3:44 AM on December 2, 2016

Here's a New Yorker article about the same photo series with a more varied set of cars and a nice write-up
posted by octothorpe at 3:58 AM on December 2, 2016 [4 favorites]

LOVE. THIS.

Pat's Hot and Cold Heroes, indeed.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:00 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

I MUST KNOW- did Charlie Roberts get elected??
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:06 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

The New Yorker selection of images has a Bug, a Karmann Ghia and an AMC Gremlin which automatically makes it better.
posted by octothorpe at 4:09 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

These look like stills from a lost Jim Jarmusch movie.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:15 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

That is not a Plymouth Duster though it's from the same Valiant platform and shares a lot of parts and front end. It's probably a scamp but they were sold under a few names. This is a Duster. I'm biased because I have a '73 Duster but they're both fun cars. That makes me wonder if others are mislabeled as well. I wouldn't know about the GM stuff because I'm a Mopar guy. They're still really nice pictures.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 5:58 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

When did Japanese imports start?
posted by latkes at 6:24 AM on December 2, 2016

They started in the '60s but really took off in the early seventies during the energy crisis.
posted by octothorpe at 6:25 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would drive that Galaxy. No, I would gleefully drive that Galaxy. Giggling the whole time.

But then, I still think the best two cars I've ever built and owned were my 64.5 Pony and my 1970 Buick Skylark. I love old cars, I love 70s cars, but if I had a dream old car; I would be rebuilding a 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk in my garage right now.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:34 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Too bad there are no photos of the produce trucks with loading ramps at the back that all these cars eventually drove up and over.
posted by Kabanos at 8:10 AM on December 2, 2016 [4 favorites]

These are gorgeous. They make me a bit nostalgic for my '73 Dodge Charger. It was an excessive quantity of automobile, but the pistol-grip 4-speed was a treat to drive, it looked amazing, and that backseat was practically a sofa. Sigh.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 8:15 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ugly cars in ugly colors that were pieces of shit mechanically? That's the 70s I remember.
posted by tommasz at 8:29 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

I would drive that Galaxy. No, I would gleefully drive that Galaxy. Giggling the whole time.

My mom had a royal blue 1970 Ford Galaxy that she ran until about 1987. I'm 6'2" and could lie down in the back seat. It couldn't handle worth a damn but that 351 Cleveland V8 could haul that beast.
posted by octothorpe at 8:44 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

When I was a child my grandfather had an early- or mid-60's VW Beetle in Tonka-toy green; my mom put a few flower decals on the back of it, which was the style at the time. I loved that car and hoped to inherit it when I got old enough to get a driver's license. Sadly, when I was 12 or 13 he got rid of it in favor of a Datsun B210...believe it or not it was even more underpowered than the Beetle! It was a nasty ugly low-rent POS and I hated it.

My point being, not as much as I loathed the vast unmaneuverable barges that American car companies were making in the 70's.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:21 AM on December 2, 2016

I grew up in a Datsun B210, which, by the time of my memory, had a massive crush wound on the back right side. I'm surprised we even survived whatever caused that since we only had lap belts in the back seat.
posted by latkes at 9:38 AM on December 2, 2016

Three words: big bench seats.

Anybody who grew up with a big ol' 60s or 70s sedan must surely have some fond memories of bench seats, if only as a place rear passengers could nap fully stretched out on a long trip. Also, if they were brocade or plastic everyone slid back and forth on winding roads (this is before seat belts were required). Good times.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:19 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

And those plastic bench seats heated up to about 10,000°F in the sun during the summer months.
posted by octothorpe at 11:57 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]

Also the metal seat belt clip could burn you nicely.
posted by JanetLand at 11:59 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]

Thanks. I needed that.
posted by mazola at 1:55 PM on December 2, 2016

The Subway Impala reminds me so much of the Impala my parents had when I was a kid. Same color and everything. I always felt important when we took it.
posted by SisterHavana at 2:24 PM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]