What's wrong in these photos?

[Erik Johnson]

In 1948, my sixteen-year-old father took photos of fifteen or sixteen-year-old Darel Leipold's 1910 touring.

Darel is sitting in the car in the first photo, but the windshield is "schmootzy" so he's not very clear.

The first two photos show something that is glaringly wrong yet easily correctable. It is most noticeable in the second photo.

Hint: it is not the electric lamp conversion or the MotoMeter.

What is it?

[Hudson29]

The first thing that comes to my mind is that the car is not sitting in my driveway right now.

[TXGOAT2]

Re: "Not in my driveway"... my thoughts exactly! At that age, I had to settle for old bicycles and a very worn out cast iron B&S lawnmover engine.

[ThreePedalTapDancer]

It doesn’t have one piece spindles and early front axle?

[Erik Johnson]

It's actually very trivial and not meant to disparage Darel's car (he knows what it is).

Here is a hint:

[speedytinc]

windshield backwards?

[Erik Johnson]

Nope - nothing to do with the windshield.

[halftracknut]

the wheels and tires are two different sizes.......

[Erik Johnson]

Nothing to do with wheels and tires.

It can be seen only in the first and second photos but not in the third photo/full side view of the car.

[AandTman]

Well, there is only one side lite, and the headlight's rims are different side to side.

[John iaccino]

Script on radiator is not 1910

[Erik Johnson]

True about the radiator, but that is not what I'm looking for.

Refer to my hint above, "The Dating Game."

[Michael Peternell]

Gas tax sticker in the window?

[John iaccino]

License plate reads A 1909. Car is a 1910

[Erik Johnson]

Another hint.

This obvious "problem" is unique to the year in which the photo was taken, 1948.

[tmagill]

license plate has 1909 on it

[tmagill]

dang John beat me by 4 minutes

[kmatt2]

On my phone's small screen it is hard to see anything clearly in picture one, but in picture two it looks like the car has the later 1919 spindle arms. The wishbone looks like the correct above axle pre 1919 type. Did the car have the wrong lenght steering drag link also ?

[67pontiac]

I saw the missing side light, the right door latch handle is horizontal in the first picture, but vertical in the second photo. It appears to have the one piece spindles, but a later front axle, notice the amount of clearance between the spindle and the axle. I don't know what that would have to do with the photo being taken in 1948 though. I guess I'm just not very good at this kind of "game".

[Erik Johnson]

When I was typing my last post, John posted the correct answer.

The license plate says "A1909."

Years ago, Minnesota allowed car owners to request specific license plate numbers when registering their vehicles.

The "A" is passenger cars weighing less than 2,000 lbs.

Darel originally thought the car was a 1909; therefore, he requested plate number "A1909" when he should have requested "A1910."

[67pontiac]

The only other thing I can see that is "wrong" is the starting crank engaged in the crankshaft and not hanging straight down, again, that has nothing to do with the photo being taken in 1948. There is a fairly new 1946 Ford in the first photo, but not noticeable in the second picture.

[67pontiac]

OK, here's my last "guess". The photo is taken in a residential setting in 1948, but I don't see any power lines or telephone poles in the background. By 1948, most neighborhoods had visible power lines. This could be a rural neighborhood that is still "off the grid".

[Erik Johnson]

I posted the correct answer above.

[Erik Johnson]

William Bennett:

The photo was taken in Richfield, MN which is a first ring suburb of Minneapolis. There was still some farmland in Richfield after WWII but it was steadily developed into residential into the early 1960s.

The reason that you don't see utility poles in the street is that the power and phone lines bisect the middle of the blocks; the utility poles are in the backyards or along the alley if there is an alley. Also, Richfield did not have street lights in the 1940s in residential neighborhoods so there were no light poles along the streets.

I grew up and still live in Minneapolis a couple blocks north of Richfield.

[Susanne]

Darn! Using the "Dating Game" picture clue, I was going to guess he didn't have a cute blonde next to him in the car.

in 1948 I wasn't even a gleam in my daddy's eye yet, not by a long shot, and my in-laws had just PCS'd from Trinidad to London...

[Erik Johnson]

"The Dating Game" is what the late Minnesotan Tom Reese, who was very active in the AACA and HCCA and wrote a number of articles for both clubs' national publications, referred to the misrepresentation of model years in the antique automobile hobby.

Darel and my father attended Minneapolis Washburn High School. They were in the same homeroom - the "Sound Crew" which served as both the A/V and stage crew.

Darel and my dad are standing next to each other (back row, second and third from left) in this 1949 Washburn "Wahian" yearbook page. My dad was a senior (he graduated in 1949 at age 17). Darel was a junior.

Darel bought his first Model T in 1946 (the 1910 touring that he still owns) but my dad didn't buy his first T until 1948.

Second photo is of the same two "Washburn Millers" taken in May 2010, at the 100th birthday party for Darel's Ford touring in Excelsior, MN - my dad left, bearded Darel right.

On a side note: Royce N. Peterson's dad, Royce D. Peterson, lived near Washburn High School and my dad would occasionally stop by his house on his way home from school to discuss Model T Fords. Royce was in his early thirties at the time.

[George House]

All y’all missed it. Erik said “glaringly wrong but easily corrected”. The left side Cowl lamp is ‘black and brass’.

[It's Bill]

Missing cotter pin in the drag link, driver side. I'll show myself out.