Uncommonly Vintage

On a short road trip with my wife going to visit her father about an hour’s drive from our house, I discovered something that you just don’t see very often. In the small town of Seymour, Missouri (USA), stands one of the most unique car dealers I have ever encountered. Sure, you can look on eBay and go to car shows to find classic collectible cars. But never, in my entire life, did I think I would ever encounter a free-standing showroom that sells nothing but classic cars. We passed by it on the highway and saw the old cars on display, and I said to my wife “I have got to go to that place and take pictures.”

And so, in traveling to what seemed like the middle of nowhere, I ended up going somewhere. It was as if I had just stepped into a time warp and gone all the way back to the 50’s. Granted, there were a couple of “modern day” cars for sale, one of which was a 2006 Ford Mustang. Everything else was made long before I was ever born. The place? A dealer with a fitting address on a street called “Memory Lane” with the name of Drivin’ Dreams.

The place was run by an elderly gentleman with all sorts of stories about the cars. The business has been there for 40 years and he hopes to sell off everything in the next couple of years. There were cars that were totally original and cars that had been restored. There was a 1940 Ford that arrived in pieces that ran after it was all put back together again.

In the case of this picture, I am sitting in the driver’s seat of a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air in the iconic turquoise color that every auto magazine and car calendar has shown for generations. This particular car was all original with 83,000 original miles. Except for emissions updates to comply with modern day laws, it has changed very little since 1957. It felt very heavy to me. It was a solid piece of metal with no plastic to be found.

To make it even more interesting, I only shot a small handful of digital pictures. Most of what I shot was on two rolls of 35mm film. Look for more photos from this place later on as I scan them and edit. It was an irreplaceable experience that I am happy to have gotten mostly on film that I will bringing to you in multiple parts throughout 2024. You will notice that many of the pictures are very grainy looking. I suspect this is because when I developed them, the water I used to rinse the film was too cold. Then again, considering the content, the film grain is actually rather appropriate.

Happy New Year!

Shoot photos, not each other!