Date on car?

[BosnMate]

This is a picture of a family picnic, but I'm not sure on the date. In the background is Soda Lake on the Carrizo Plain <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrizo_Plain> in eastern San Luis Obispo county, CA. The reason we were there was a visit to a historic place called "Painted Rock." <http://www.petroglyphs.us/photographs_painted_rock_pictographs_carrizo_plain_california_PR.htm> This is still an isolated area, but when we were there for the picnic it was much more so, and there were private ranches, but no California Valley sub division, no nature conservancy, or national monument. In fact, during WWII Soda Lake was a target for airplanes to practice strafing and bombing. From the left, the man is my Uncle, a former marine who was on board the Navy Base at Pearl Harbor 7 Dec. 41, and a veteran of Guam and Iwo Jima. He was my 100 % absolute , real life hero. Then there are my two cousins, my Aunt, me, my brother and mom. Dad took the picture. After lunch us kids were allowed to run around, and we were picking up empty .50 cal brass. Then my uncle stirred up a rattle snake, my Aunt and Mom went bonkers, and us kids were gathered up and we left. I don't remember the fate of the snake, but I don't expect it lived. Can anyone tell me the year and make of the car? I know my parents never owned a new car, and I went in the Navy in '55, so it's should to be around '50/51, but the car would date it better than my tired old memory.

 

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[ronwoodcraft]

Not sure...I did a quick google search and came up with these. They are 56 Fords. Just realized yours is a 2 door. ( Just revised with a 2 door. )

 

[outdoorfunblonde]

Not sure...I did a quick google search and came up with these. They are 56 Fords. Just realized yours is a 2 door.

Looks closer to a '50 to me... because the wing windows arent the same... not that I'm an expert or anything...
just my estimation...

 

[Mackaydon]

1955 Ford Customline Country Wagon--or close to it

Don..

 

[BosnMate]

I went in the navy in Jan. '55, so this is really throwing me off, because my folks never owned a new car, and in 55 I wouldn't have been in the picture. Perhaps it was my Uncles
car that he bought new and I don't remember, but I'm thinking it has to be 53 or 54, can't be later than that. When do the next year models come out, would a 55 come out in
54?

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

I would say it is a 1954 Ford Station Wagon.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Nope! It IS a '56 Ford

I totaled a '55 back many years ago. '55 has round parking lights on the front, and '56 has the oblong ones.

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

1954 Ford V8 is the first over head valve train that Ford had on the market.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

1954 Ford


1955 Ford


1956 Ford

 

[l.cutler]

Yes, it is absolutely a 1956, no question.

 

[tamrock]

I remember having picnics with a blanket on the ground like that with the family. I was once whining to my mom about the gnats at one and ask my mom why in the heck did God create gnats. She said, so I would lean to notice and be grateful for "the good things in life, like a picnic without gnats". Back then I thought,your just to damned easy going mom. Later in life I figured out how to see more of the good things going on around me, but still forget at times, but remembering what mamma said so long ago can help a little in the situation. A can of pik nik shoestring potatoes always takes me back to those days. We had a brown 1958 Chevy station wagon.

 

[texasred777]

Yep, all that said '56 were right. I've had both '55 and '56 Fords. As Deepseeker said, the '55 has round parking lights, while the '56 has rectangular ones.

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

I believe that it is a 55 or 56. The last of the 55 cars some of them had 56 parts on them because the Ford part plants changed over early that year from 55 to 56 because they were worried about what was going to happen in the auto market with the hot V8's that chev started designing and using in 1955.

 

[BosnMate]

I've learned something. That car has to have belonged to my Uncle. I turned 17 in May of 54, and joined the Navy in Jan. 1955. I remember my brother and I out in the brush finding
.50 Cal brass, and my Uncle finding the snake. The idea behind the trip was probably to go for a drive in the new car, and we drove out to Painted Rock, and had a picnic lunch. What has me
scratching my head is in the summer of '55 I was in the Arctic, and by Jan. of '56 we were underway for WesPac -- plus, that's not a navy hair cut. It's entirely possible that the picture
could have been taken in Dec. 54 with weather like that in that part of Calif., but odds are it would be more in he fall. It's a real head scratcher, how can I be in a picture in 1954 sitting
in front of a 1956 car. The picture is off a colored slide, so there is no info written on it.

 

[austin]

Yes, it is absolutely a 1956, no question.

Had a 1956 Forrd, in fact had 2. You are dead on.

 

[BosnMate]

I want to thank everyone for the help on dating the car. The only answer to the mystery I can come up with now is that's not me in the picture, I was already gone off to the navy and
the other person must be a friend of my brother. So I'm probably remembering another time when we were out there, it wasn't close by, it was a long drive so would have been a
special trip. I vaguely remember being to painted rock when I was younger than 17, and climbing around on the rock, the Indian paintings, and my main memory is the rattle snake
and picking up empty .50 cal brass. I went out there one other time, but that was when I was out of the Navy, in college and none of my family was with us, and by then both my
Uncle and Father had passed away. I'll have to root around for more pictures and see what I come up with. Thanks again for the help.