There’s a lot I don’t understand about that picture. I’m so old I remember window trays at the drive-in in the 1960s, and they attached differently, with the window fully open and the bumpers against the door. With the one in the picture I don’t see how you’re supposed to get your drink past the opening without spilling it. Even the cherries on the banana split would scrape off. Also, it looks like they have the hood up? Which makes the rest of the scene hard to see but the girl with the balloon animal and the car behind her are from at least 20 years later than the orange car. So maybe it’s vintage and they’re being careful about the orange paint.
Wild guess here because I don’t know anything about vintage cars or drive in trays or america in the 60s. But could it be that this tray is designed to sit on the inside of a car, on the passenger side, so that someone in the driver’s seat can use it? This would be convenient in bad weather but totally useless if you do have an extra passenger with you.
I’m not as old as you, but I remember window trays at Dog n Suds (and our local, the Mug-n-Bun) in the 90s. They did actually clip on the window, and if you had your window fully open they had you roll it up an inch or two so it could attach. I assume that wasn’t new technology at the time. They didn’t look quite like this, though; they were cantilevered on rubber pads so that the top of the tray lined up with the top of the window. By then they had moved away from glass serving dishes to Styrofoam with lids, so it wasn’t really a problem to get things into the car, height-wise.
I mean, this is almost certainly a staged display for a car show, but I’m just verifying that these trays (well, ones kind of like these) do exist and were (are?) used.
There are at least two drive-in restaurant chains near me (Sonic, which has lots of locations nationwide, and The Varsity, which claims to be “the world’s largest drive-in”), but AFAIK neither does the car window tray thing. 😠
No mention of the small table that seems to be attached to the car window
It’s a serving tray that hooks on to the window. The other guy is carrying one that he will bring to a different car window.
Yup we used to get those at Stuarts!
It’s a drive-in tray:
There’s a lot I don’t understand about that picture. I’m so old I remember window trays at the drive-in in the 1960s, and they attached differently, with the window fully open and the bumpers against the door. With the one in the picture I don’t see how you’re supposed to get your drink past the opening without spilling it. Even the cherries on the banana split would scrape off. Also, it looks like they have the hood up? Which makes the rest of the scene hard to see but the girl with the balloon animal and the car behind her are from at least 20 years later than the orange car. So maybe it’s vintage and they’re being careful about the orange paint.
It’s a display for a car show.
Wild guess here because I don’t know anything about vintage cars or drive in trays or america in the 60s. But could it be that this tray is designed to sit on the inside of a car, on the passenger side, so that someone in the driver’s seat can use it? This would be convenient in bad weather but totally useless if you do have an extra passenger with you.
I’m not as old as you, but I remember window trays at Dog n Suds (and our local, the Mug-n-Bun) in the 90s. They did actually clip on the window, and if you had your window fully open they had you roll it up an inch or two so it could attach. I assume that wasn’t new technology at the time. They didn’t look quite like this, though; they were cantilevered on rubber pads so that the top of the tray lined up with the top of the window. By then they had moved away from glass serving dishes to Styrofoam with lids, so it wasn’t really a problem to get things into the car, height-wise.
I mean, this is almost certainly a staged display for a car show, but I’m just verifying that these trays (well, ones kind of like these) do exist and were (are?) used.
People knew how to prioritize back then.
What good is it for your car to be aerodynamic if it slightly hinders the ease with which a man in what looks like leather shorts serving you?
I think Seattle still has one. I’ve never done it though. I’m not sure if they still do the trays, but they do take it to your car (I think):
https://burgermaster.com/about-history/
There are at least two drive-in restaurant chains near me (Sonic, which has lots of locations nationwide, and The Varsity, which claims to be “the world’s largest drive-in”), but AFAIK neither does the car window tray thing. 😠