Model T’s and changing times

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John kuehn
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Model T’s and changing times

Post by John kuehn » Sun Oct 02, 2022 9:42 am

Here’s another auto changing times photo taken in 1930. Howard Hughes movie Hells Angels movie had just came out in the depression era. It was in Waco,Texas being advertised at the Waco theater.
This is 1930 and there are no T’s around even in 1930. Model A’s , and a few other 30’s cars but no T’s that I can see. I guess peoples tastes were changing.
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TXGOAT2
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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by TXGOAT2 » Sun Oct 02, 2022 10:03 am

That looks more like Chicago than Waco. We drove through Waco in 1958 and stopped to eat. About all I remember about it was a restaurant that had fake palm trees inside, where my dad somehow lost his watch, and a brand new Edsel dealership out in a grassy field.


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by Wayne Sheldon » Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:18 pm

Nice to see this photo! Another great look at changing times.
Judging by the cars, and the movie showing at the theater, the photo was likely taken in 1931. "Hell's Angles" was released to theaters on November 15, 1930 (according to IMDb), and would have been showing for some time.
Interesting that there doesn't appear to be a model T in sight! So this picture's model T relevance is the fact that there are no model Ts!
Two interesting model As parked by the front of the Waco theater. One at the near corner of the theater is a blind or leather back sedan. Several variations of those sedans were offered on and off through much of the model A years. The detail in the photo isn't good enough to tell which variation or even what year it may be?
Down at the far end of the theater, appears to be a model A sport coupe (could be a soft top business coupe?).
The car parked out from the curb front and center of the photo appears to be a 1930 Chevrolet.

The movie "Hell's Angles" was a war and romance film, a popular genre at the time. It co-starred a young actress that went by the name of Jean Harlow. She was considered to be the first platinum blond, a Marilyn Monroe before there was a Marilyn Monroe! She got into acting before she was twenty, and had roles in a couple Laurel and Hardy films (another model T connection?), and bit parts in several other films including Charlie Chaplin's silent classic "City Lights". Her career skyrocketed to top level stardom almost overnight from that point! She co-starred sharing top billing in nearly a dozen major films with the likes of William Powell (okay, you may not recognize that name unless you are into early film history!), Cary Grant, Clark Gable and others. She died tragically shortly before finishing her final film at the age of 26.
Mystery still surrounds her death. Several legends are known to not be true, while others speculate about possibilities. Louis B. Mayer gave her one of Hollywood's biggest sendoff funerals, which it has been said she did not want.


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by John kuehn » Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:04 pm

This was in the depression era and when I saw this the first thing I wondered was where are the cheap, wore out and humble Model T’s. Maybe Waco wasn’t like the bigger northern cities where the soup lines were. I guess like the other changing times picture I posted Model T’s were becoming obsolete in the early thirties fairly fast. It took Edsel Ford to see what was coming as Henry couldn’t understand why it was happening.

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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by TRDxB2 » Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:12 pm

Its the WACO Hippodrome 729 Austin Ave Waco TX
Waco hipod.png
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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by kmatt2 » Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:44 pm

Wayne, A interesting side light to the Jean Harlow story, she owned several big cars over the years but her everyday car was a 1926 Chevrolet Coupe that the Studio had customized for her with extra trim. In 1971 a friend of mine bought the Harlow car from the Studio at the Studio auction. I got to drive that car around for a few days when he was going to sell it to me in 1973, but I could never put the deal together as I was still in collage.


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by Norman Kling » Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:47 pm

They must have had a lot more money in Waco than we did in the Los Angeles area. My first memories were in the late 1930s and early 1940's and there were T's driving along every day and even in the night. I remember laying in bed with the windows open in the summer and could hear the cars stop at the stop sign about 2 blocks from our house. I could tell what kind of car it was by the sound. The Model T had a very unique sound with the two speed transmission. It wound up in low and then just putted along in high taking a while to pick up speed. There were at least two tourings which went down my street every day and one looked very good and the other had a raggy top which flopped in the breeze. Our next door neighbor had a Dodge Roadster which looked very much like a Model T. I used to see center doors and tudors almost every day. Even some of my friends at high school had Model T's in the 1950's.
That picture does look like Waco Texas, however I think the cars were staged. There would have been many other makes of cars and years parked on the street. I think they got the latest model cars they could find for the movie.
Norm


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by Wayne Sheldon » Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:49 am

Kevin M, Very interesting about that Chevrolet! I had read about it at some time in my reading film history. I did not know that it still existed! Not all stars were reckless and flamboyant. One of Mary Pickford's cars was a model A coupe! If I recall correctly, it is currently in the National Automotive Museum in Reno Nevada. There are numerous photos of her driving the model A, and she has been quoted as saying she liked the way it drove better than the larger and more expensive automobiles.

Too bad you couldn't have made the deal on that car. I don't generally go gaga over star's cars. But a few stars would interest me a little bit.

Norman K, I too remember model Ts still being driven as just old cars while growing up during the 1950s. There were a few other 1920s cars still in daily use also. But the non-Fords didn't fare too well when certain maintenance items were needed.

The Waco photo could have been staged? However, in many parts of the country, model Ts did fade out quickly. Larger cities had through shear numbers of people a lot of need for cheap transportation. Model Ts were cheap, available, and easy to maintain with parts still readily available.


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by ThreePedalTapDancer » Tue Oct 04, 2022 2:03 pm

Look at the giant in the corner of the photo.
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John kuehn
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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by John kuehn » Tue Oct 04, 2022 2:56 pm

The guy at the bldg corner has to be 6’7” or up comparing him to the car that’s stopped at the corner. He’s pretty good sized. Interesting details in old photos of daily life.


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by Luke » Tue Oct 04, 2022 4:07 pm

I wonder why the three or four cars in the foreground are parked away from the kerb?

There doesn't appear to be anyone in the front vehicle at least, and they're perfectly in line, so I don't think they've just pulled up and stopped at the intersection as per what you'd usually expect. Given there also doesn't seem to be letters/numbers on the plates (although it could be there's just not enough resolution to determine) it does give credence to Norm's thought that it may be staged to some degree.

Not sure about the 'big guy' though, he seems a similar height to the blurred person nearby him, and it does look as if the footpath (ok, ok, 'sidewalk') has quite a slope to it, making him appear taller with reference to the vehicles.

Either way, it's a great talking point, and great reminiscences, thanks!


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by TXGOAT2 » Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:33 pm

I'd guess the cars in the street are waiting on a red light. The signal could be overhead on on a post across the intersectionand out of view. I can't tell if there is a driver in the front car, which looks like a 1929 Chevrolet. There seems to be a reflection on the glass. Maybe T folk couldn't afford the movie, or maybe it's a weekday matinee presentation and the working age people are still at work. You'd think there'd be at least a few Ts in the picture. It looks like there might be a trolley track down the middle of the street.


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Re: Model T’s and changing times

Post by NY John T » Wed Oct 05, 2022 11:32 am

Interesting to me is the "seemingly" different width of the street in the two pictures. The original looks much wider than the current image. Guess that's what a wide angle cellphone lens does.

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