Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
March 1941. "Houses near Navy yard. Portsmouth, Virginia." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Although I probably couldn't identify most of these old beauties, I'm quite amazed by how closely they are parallel parked to each other! You couldn't cram a piece of paper between some of them. How in the world did they get out?
Though no one at the time gave any thought to the variety of automobiles here, to see them all again together would make for an enjoyable car show, I think. Thanks in advance to the Shorpy antique auto aficionado who can identify the nice sedan on the far left. 1930s, at least?
Except for the DeSoto at the extreme left, the vehicles appearing here are predominantly recent or even current models. Clearly, for workers in the booming defense industry (as would soon be the case for all Americans), the Great Depression was a rapidly fading memory.
Houses? Cars! This is Shorpy, man. (Also, I can’t help noticing that paint can in the puddle.)
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5