For about 25 years, I’ve had a random piece of newspaper car classifieds floating around in my collection of automotive artifacts. Most of the page is missing, including the date and the name of the publication.

However, I know that it was from somewhere in the San Diego, California area, and based on the model years of the cars listed for sale, I’m going to guess it was from late 1953. One of the dealership listings mentioned something about Labor Day weekend. So let’s say August 1953.

My favorite ad, of course, was for Tyson Pontiac.

From what I’ve been able to dig up, Tyson was located at 2829 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. It operated from the 1940s through 1957, when it was purchased by John Hine and rebranded as John Hine Pontiac. Here is a photo of the dealership in its glory days.

I was even able to find a postcard written by a salesperson named Harry Ward offering a free airplane trip to the Pontiac factory.

Anyway, Tyson was offering a few compelling deals, including a 1953 Cadillac Coupe deVille in two-tone green with Fleetwood interior, power steering, radio, heater, and Hydramatic for $4,195. The car may have looked something like this one.

Here are a few other clippings from the same paper. Wish I could snag that 1950 Buick for $794 today.

Check out the 1953 Ford Ranch Wagon below. “Formerly owned by the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Studios.” I wonder where that car ended up.

City Chevrolet was pretty careful about not over-selling itself: “Your OK Used Car Selling Center.”

And a few more deals to be had here:

If you could time-travel back about 73 years, which vehicle would you drive home?