I can't remember the last time I rode in a car with a bench front seat.
Photo credit ?Joyce Johnson via 40s, 50s, 60s.
Reposted from 2013 to add some information about what everyone noticed before the bench seat. What she was wearing was called a "bullet bra."
Here is the relevant infrastructure:Bullet Bra is a full-support bra with cups in the shape of a paraboloid with its axis perpendicular to the breast. The bullet bra usually features concentric circles or spirals of decorative stitching centred on the nipples.
Invented in the late-1940s, they became popular in the 1950s, and worn by the Sweater Girl, a busty and wholesome "girl next door" whose tight-fitting outergarments accentuated her artificially enhanced curves.
Dozens more examples (gallery SFW) at Vintage Everyday, via Bored Panda.
Great image, sad passing of an auto design icon. My first car in 1972 was a '57 Chevy 2-door with bench seats front and rear, that model was also voted by HOT ROD Magazine as one of the 'Ten Best Make-Out Cars of All Time'. I can attest to that award, heh heh heh. Best part was cruising Whittier Blvd. on SoCal on a Saturday night, my girlfriend sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME on that slippery bench seat while I power-shifted from stoplight to stoplight, the shifter winding up between her knees in 2nd and 4th gears YES! The band Cake has a great song that rhapsodizes on this issue titled 'Stickshifts and Safetybelts'. Muchismas Gracias!
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Delete...or a stick shift on the column.
ReplyDeleteOh my...
ReplyDeleteThere is much in this photo that aren't made the same way anymore.
Those LEGS!
It should be noted: barefoot is better than heels for clutch pedal usage.
My old '78 Bonneville was nice like that. I miss that car!
ReplyDeleteIt's the bra that caught my eye. And I'm a woman. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteThree on the tree in heels. Big ol steering wheel and I bet that thing floated on a cloud.
ReplyDeleteBrings back great memories of a bench seat and a pretty young lady with extrordinary legs / doubt she can drive in the heels
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteYes, I was a teenager in that era..and the bench seats were the best, loved sitting next to my boyfriend, and he would have me do the shifting of the gears....such fun. He had a 57' Chevy....life was good. I also remember those terrible "pointer" bras, we had to iron them that way...hated the look, but....it was the "look" back then.
ReplyDeleteLOVED THE 50's GREAT TIMES ! I am nearly 80 now and still remember them. GREAT MUSIC THEN TOO.
Stickshifts and Safetybelts
ReplyDeleteby Cake
Stickshifts and safetybelts /
Bucket seats have all got to go /
When we're driving in the car /
It makes my baby seem so far /
[Chrous]
I need you here with me /
Not way over in a bucket seat /
I need you to be here with me /
Not way over in a bucket seat
But when we're driving in my Malibu /
It's easy to get right next to you /
I say, "Baby, scoot over, please" /
And then she's right there next to me
[Chorus]
I read a story decades ago (in the era of bench seats) about a student who had given his teacher a ride home in his car. As he drove around a corner, she slid toward him. When she asked, he was embarrassed and admitted "I wax the seat."
Delete"I wax the seat."
DeleteI am ... without words. It is simply unimaginable what the testosterone-fueled mind of the horny teenager can come up with. I must admit, that was actually rather clever ...
Lurker111