Washington, D.C., and Vienna, Virginia, 1942

Several readers sent along the link to the above photo that Shorpy recently posted, taken in 1942 by Albert Freeman and depicting a full parking lot in Washington, D.C. The Shorpy headline, “Parked for the Duration,” makes it seem as if these cars were in long-term storage as part of the war effort, but commenters on the post have pointed out that that’s likely not the case – the photo probably just depicts a full parking lot on a regular work day. However, at about the same time, we came across the photo below, also from 1942, taken by John Collier and depicting what appears to be a Chevrolet dealership’s stock of new cars and trucks in a farmer’s field near Vienna, Virginia, kept off the road by gas and tire rationing and by government orders to freeze new car sales. What do you see here?