Maybe it’s just the smell of old people and moth balls, but vintage items have a certain charm that new things will never have. Well, they might have it in 50 years, but that charm takes time to acquire. Whether it’s a hundred-year-old coffee table from a flea market or a wool sweater from the 1970s, vintage items are so special, and they help us reminisce on the “good old days”. Unfortunately, I cannot offer you a chaise longue that’s older than you to lay on or an ornate light fixture from my grandmother’s home, but I can provide you with a list of quirky photos from back in the day that might bring you a bit of joy.
We’ve gone through the Vintage Weird Facebook group and found some of our favorite images from simpler, yet possibly stranger, times to share with all of you vintage enthusiasts out there. So slip into that dress your grandmother gave you, get those Elvis tunes playing, and enjoy this list of some of peculiar blasts from the past. Below, you’ll also find an interview with Lisa Barrow, one of the creators and admins of Vintage Weird, where you can hear a bit more about the background of the page, and an interview with vintage expert and creator of the blog It’s Beyond My Control, Dominique de Merteuil. Be sure to upvote your favorite pics, and then if you’re interested in checking out some bizarre vintage ads, we’ve got the perfect Bored Panda piece for you to read next right here.
#1 In 1916, Sisters, Adeline And Augusta Van Buren Became The First Women To Travel Across The USA On Two Solo Motorcycles. They Made It Despite Frequently Being Arrested For Wearing Pants!!!
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#2 1939 Schlörwagen… Built By German Engineer Hans Schlör Von Westhofen Dirmstein To Resemble The Shape Of An Airplane Wing. This Car Was More Aerodynamicaly Efficient Than Most 21th Century Cars With A Cw Value Of Just 0,15!
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#3 17-Year-Old Bianca Passarge From Hamburg Dances On Wine Bottles In A Cat Costume, 1958
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#4 Air Conditioned Luxury Lawn Mower In The 1950’s
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#5 A Test Audience Reacting To The Chest Burster Scene In Alien, 1979
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#6 Late Victorian Mountaineers, Including A Fully Dressed And Corseted Lady, Cross A Crevasse In The Alps (1900)
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#7 A British Chamberpot With A Built-In Small Bust Of Napoleon Bonaparte, Ca.1803-05
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#8 Department Store Wax Mannequins Melting During A Heatwave In 1929. (Via Alex Eccleston)
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#9 From Circa 1975, An Ad For Men’s Business Attire. With Western Canada Breaking Temperature Records All Over The Place, This Might Not Be A Bad Idea
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#10 The Unbroken Seal On King Tutankhamun’s Tomb, Which Stayed 3,245 Years Untouched Until The Excavation In 1922
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#11 Up Until 1948, 7up Put Lithium In Their Soda. For Those Unaware, That Is A Mood Stabilizer And It Is Very Much Still In Use Today
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#12 Martin Claus 1892-1975
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#13 A Disguised Secret Witness Testifies In A Courtroom On A Drug Case. Washington, 30 April 1952
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#14 Ford Unsuccessfully Tried To Reinvent The (Steering) Wheel
Ford Unsuccessfully Tried To Reinvent The (Steering) Wheel By Replacing With A Pair Of Twisty Dials In The 1960s. Ford Pr Geared It Towards Those “Non-Technical” People That Are Commonly Referred To As Women, Who Are Apparently Hopeless At Parallel Parking. In All Their Cockiness Though, Ford Were Apparently Oblivious To The Fact That The System Was No Easier Or Better Than A Standard Steering Wheel Anyway!
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#15 A Lady’s Compact From The 1920’s
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#16 The Motormat Drive-In,invented By Kenneth C.purdy,where The Food Tray Was Sent Out On Rails (1948) Los Angeles
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#17 A Couple Gets Into Their Bmw Isetta, Through The Front Door, 1950
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#18 Luna Park, Melbourne. Google It. The Place Was (And Is) Amazing
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#19 Im Henson Helping An Old Lady ( Aughra) Cross The Street In 1982. “Aughra Is A Major Character From Jim Henson’s 1982 Film The Dark Crystal And The Deuteragonist Of The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Prequel Series. She Was Performed By Puppeteer Frank Oz, With The Late Billie Whitelaw Providing Her Voice. In The 2019 Prequel Age Of Resistance, She Is Performed By Kevin Clash And Voiced By Donna Kimball. “
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#20 Ge Walking Truck, 1969
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#21 Giant Studebaker. World’s Largest Vehicle Under Construction. Chicago, 1934
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#22 It’s True It These Weird Trousers Were The Mad Rage In The 1920’s
It’s True It These Weird Trousers Were The Mad Rage In The 1920’s. 2 British Men Who Are Cambridge University Undergraduates Photographed There Wearing “Plus 10’s”. 1926. — Plus 10’s Are Variation On The Plus 4 Golfing Knickers. The Number Increases For How Many Inches Below The Knee The Fabric Hung. These Pants Became A Huge Look For Fashion Forward Pioneered By The Prince Of Wales , Film Stars And Was Espoused Mainly By Elite University Students And Spread. “Plus Fours” Came In Tweed Wool, Linen, Corduroy, And Flannel. They Were Worn With Sweaters , Jacket And Tie, Dress Shirts And Were Also Worn By Daring Females Or Children. Jaunty Hats Were The Norm To Complete The Look
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#23 #8 Freckle Removal. A Complicated Apparatus Is Employed. Eyes Are Covered With A Special, Air-Tight Piece, And The Nostrils Filled In. Breathing Is Done Through A Special Tube. Sensitive Parts Of The Face Must Be Treated Separately, 1930
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#24 The Berlin Gold Hat (German: Berliner Goldhut) Is A Late Bronze Age Artefact Made Of Thin Gold Leaf. It Served As The External Covering On A Long Conical Brimmed Headdress, Probably Of An Organic Material. It Is Now In The Neues Museum On Museum Island In Berlin. The Berlin Gold Hat Is The Best Preserved Specimen Among The Four Known Conical Golden Hats From Bronze Age Europe So Far. Of The Three Others, Two Were Found In Southern Germany, And One In The West Of France. (…) It Is Generally Assumed That The Hats Served As The Insignia Of Deities Or Priests In The Context Of A Sun Cult That Appears To Have Been Widespread In Central Europe At The Time. The Hats Are Also Suggested To Have Served Astronomical/Calendrical Functions
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#25 Frank Zappa In The Background. Ringo Starr, Playing Frank Zappa, In The Foreground. From The Movie “200 Motels” (1971) Written And Directed By Frank Zappa And Tony Palmer
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#26 Back In 1956, Magician Robert Harbin Demonstrated One Of His Levitation Tricks On A Few Beachgoers. These Women Looked Pretty Impressed And At Ease, Especially The Woman ‘Levitating’ Over Rocks. This Is Definitely Not Something You Would See At Beaches Today
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#27 Pablo Picasso As Popeye. 1957. Photo By André Villers
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#28 Beauty Treatment For Women: 1941 The Glamour Bonnet Went Over A Woman’s Head, And The Attached Hose Was Supposed To Create Low Atmospheric Pressure Like A Vacuum To Improve Skin Complexion
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#29 Je Règle Mon Pas Sur Le Pas De Mon Père Friedrich Seidenstücker : In His Father’s Trousers, C. 1950
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#30 Philippe Halsman, The Versatile Jean Cocteau, 1949
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