Join a typical American family—Mom, Pop, Junior, and Sis—for this 1951 tour of one of America’s great highways, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, in their brand new Chevrolet Styline De Luxe Convertible.
Opened to the public in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was one of America’s original manmade wonders. Carved through 160 miles of scenic but challenging Pennsylvania countryside between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, straight through mountains in some places, it was among the nation’s first limited-access, divided highways. The Turnpike soon became not just a popular thoroughfare but a tourist destination in itself.
In the early 1950s, Chevrolet commissioned the Jam Handy Organization, its favorite film company, to produce a series of travelogue films called Roads to Romance. And naturally, one of the destinations chosen for the series was the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In this episode, entitled Highway of Tomorrow, we join an all-American family in their 1951 Chevrolet Styline De Luxe Convertible for a full tour of the Turnpike and interesting sights along the way. The automobile, improved highways, and postwar prosperity gave many Americans the opportunity to tour their country for the first time, and families often planned their vacations around these adventures. Here’s a genuine slice of mid-century American life. Enjoy the film.
Thanks for posting this Bill!
Not a Pontiac but close.
The original right of way and tunnels, from Pittsburg to Harrisburg, were dug by the Southern Pennsylvania Railroad. It was abandoned in the early 1900s and never completed.
The tunnels were finished by the Pa Turnpike. They were terrible. They were only two lanes, no ventilation, and no lights. There were many head-on collisions that blocked the highway in both directions for hours. In the 1960s some of the tunnels were bypassed and the rest had another tunnel added so east and west roadways had their own.
Also note that there was no guard rail of any kind between the east and west lanes.
Quite so but still a big advance over the conventional roads of the era. The interstate highway system was another great leap again.
By the way, race team owner Chip Ganassi purchased one of the retired tunnels, which the team uses for aerodynamic testing.