22 Mar 1954, Frankfurt, Rhineland, Germany --- Original caption: 3/22/1954-Frankfurt, Germany- This model of the new Mercedes was displayed recently in Frankfurt. Shown is the new Mercedes 300SL, built as a racing car, but which the makers say can be used for pleasure driving. It has a 240-hp engine and can attain speeds of 160 miles per hour. It sells for approximately $8,500. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
Detail of a rusty Wartburg 312 car standing at the kerbside in an eastern Berlin district. A sticker with the letters DDR as the German Democratic Republic (DDR in German and GDR in English) as East Germany was called during the Cold War. Any car was a highly-prized possession when ownership of luxury goods like vehicles aroused suspicion for other than Communist Party officials. This car may have been someone of rank or influence. The GDR was a self-declared socialist state, referred to in the West as a "communist state" in the Soviet Sector of occupied Germany created after the second world war and partitioned when DDR leaders built the Berlin Wall that eventually segregated Germany and Europe. The East Germany state existed from 7 October 1949 until 3 October 1990 and was a potent symbol of a divided Europe during the Cold War.
25 Jan 1946, New York City, New York State, USA --- This is the radio transmitter, receiver and selector unit in the trunk compartment of a car equipped with a radio dial telephone system which was first publicly demonstrated Jan. 24th. It will be several years before the systems will be available generally, said engineers of the Link Corp., who staged the demonstration. --- Image by © Bettmann/Corbis
29 Mar 1983, Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA --- Wade's Barber Shop, business of Mr. Wade Walton, an internationally known Mississippi Delta Blues musician who lived in Clarksdale, Mississippi most of his life. A 1959 Chevrolet Impala automobile was usually parked in front of the shop. Born on a plantation in 1923 as one of 17 children, his day job for 55 years was as a barber and in in 1972 he opened Wade's Barber Shop "cutting hair and slapping out the blues and rhythm.". --- Image by © Nathan Benn/Ottochrome/Corbis