Post cards from Karel

An ‘Auto’biography of History

This postcard, from Knokke in Belgium, has a MGA Coupe in the lower left corner. The dark license plate probably indicates that the car is not from Belgium. Knokke is a popular beach resort town on the North Sea coast of Flemish speaking part of Belgium and within about an hours drive from The Netherlands, France and the ferry docks to England. Right behind the MGA are a V8 Buick and ‘Ponton” Mercedes with white wall tires. Ponton is the Dutch and German word for pontoon and it refers to the integrated design style of that era. Although most cars of the late 50’s and early 60’s have a similar style, I don’t remember calling any other car model of any other manufacturer by that name. But we always called this particular Benz the Ponton.

~~ Reinout Vogt