Car guys love old traffic photos because they are a time warp back to an era when cars had distinct personalities.
Old traffic photos are also a car show frozen in time–that’s a big draw for gearheads.
These photos also tell stories about urban society versus rural society and cross border differences.
Jerry Sutherland
The first one is from 1950s Los Angeles.
This photo tells you all about life in a major city back in the 50s. There aren’t many trucks in the lineup; you can see a few convertibles and a Cadillac. Most of the cars are functional sedans, but this is 50s California, so you’re going to see mega traffic numbers, convertibles, Caddys, and smog.
There’s a completely different vibe in the second photo.
This is another photo from the 1950s, but it’s taken in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. Moose Jaw was a smaller prairie town in the late 1950s—and set in the middle of grain farming country. As you can see, the cars are primarily functional sedans, and the pickup truck came straight from the farm. The sky is blue and there are no traffic jams—it’s opposite world to LA.
This Miami Beach photo from the 50s tells another story.
You can see a traffic jam on a palm tree-lined street full of sedans. The rain is falling, so the convertible in the background has its roof up. The cars are higher-end models, and the traffic is moving slower than Los Angeles. The fancier cars and the rain tell you this isn’t Moose Jaw.
Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada is in the northern region of BC at the start of the Alaskan Highway.
This is oil and cattle country, and it also has world class hunting venues. That explains the rack of antlers on the roof of the VW Beetle instead of the surfboard you’d see in California. The dusty, functional, barebones sedans explain why there weren’t any Lincolns or convertibles in Fort St. John back in 1963.
There’s a different plot behind this picture of Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1964.
This is a big-city traffic jam, and you see some compact cars in the photo because a smaller car made sense in a city with a major rush hour. There are a few upper-scale cars in the shot, and all the trucks are commercial vehicles. That’s the difference between country and city life.
This photo from Wyoming was also taken in the 1960s and it tells yet another story.
The gas station is full of station wagons and deluxe cars on vacation runs. Most of them are Chevys so this was either a ‘See the USA in your Chevrolet’ moment or a GM ad. Either way, it’s a far cry from life in 1960s Fort St. John, BC.
Los Angeles in 1968 was light years away from Wyoming.
This is what you saw in ’68 LA—a traffic jam. The photo is pure California because there’s at least three lanes of cars not moving very fast. The cars are flashier because this is big-city USA—not small-town Canada.
New York in the 1970s is a lot like New York in 2026.
Half the traffic is comprised of B-body Mopar taxis because that’s how New Yorkers roll–then and now. The other cars are nothing special because driving wasn’t a way of life in New York, so those yellow cabs are far more important to them than a cool car.
Portage, Wisconsin in the 70s is more familiar to most people on both sides of the border.
There are no soul-crushing traffic patterns because the photo is a textbook example of 70s life in a small town. The street is clean; the cars are higher end…and clean too. This is how life should be—New York and L.A. and Toronto should take note.
The last photo comes from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in the 1970s.
Vancouver is one of the biggest cities in Canada and it’s located on the west coast. This shot was taken in the rain—not unusual in Vancouver. Cars last longer there, so the first-gen Valiant makes sense. So does the Mustang because Vancouver was also a flashy city back then. The taxi also makes sense because the city is full of them thanks to tourist demand.
Cars can tell a story—so can pictures of old cars.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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