MTFCA Forum

Several accessory wood wheels in this batch, 5 and 6 lug demountable. And the 3 pin Hayes wire wheels sure are obscure. Still baffled by the over head valve cylinder head on the speedster tho. Can clearly make out the exposed rockers, but the port arrangement is unique…?

The first photo is interesting. I generally like original era 1915s and 1916s, as I had a 1916 center-door many years ago, and have a 1915 runabout now. However this "1915" is not an "original era" photo. Just when it may have been taken is open for debate. The many people's clothing and the "H" headlamp lenses clearly state that it is NOT 1915, and is however some years later. The car is very nice, so likely being a couple decades or more after 1915 has likely been restored.
The clothing styles could be late 1930s, maybe? I suspect they are more likely postwar years, late 1940s or early 1950s.
The license plate looks badly restored, and I can't identify it other than being a "Dealer" plate. What the writing on the can/tank or whatever that is on the running board is about I have no idea.

Regardless, a nice looking 1915. I wonder where it is today?

I’m puzzled by the 2nd photo of an obviously flipped - ‘11 tourabout ? Judging by the radiator, body and top damage it appears to have turned over but the steering wheel and column escaped damage. Interesting repaint and spare tire carrier on the only centerdoor. As always, many thanks Tom for your efforts at our entertainment…

The can on the side of the first pictured reads:
"Frozen light from General Electric ***** below zero"
They have either developed an interior frosted bulb (1925) or have a bulb that works in very cold temps.

perry kete wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:12 am

The can on the side of the first pictured reads:
"Frozen light from General Electric ***** below zero"
They have either developed an interior frosted bulb (1925) or have a bulb that works in very cold temps.

The canister on the running board looks like a dewar flask, made for holding liquid nitrogen. Maybe they had a lightbulb that would operate at -320F. You know, just in case you needed something like that

Wayne:

The driver of the 1915 touring looks like Judy Garland, hence the title.

Who knows if it is?

The woman on the passenger side looks familiar, like another Hollywood actress.

The clothing is definitely late 1930s and into the 1940s.

If it is Judy, I would say the photo is no earlier than 1942.

On that second picture I suspect the car was moving and the windshield and top caught on a tree branch or something overhanging and got pulled off. I even had something like that happen on an open trailer when I was only going to pull it a few miles to an area off the freeway where I would unload and join a tour. I was going about 55 on the trailer into the wind and the top got pulled off. However it didn't damage the windshield. Now I always put the top down when on the trailer.
Norm

License plate not poorly restored.
"Antique Photo World" is stamped on top of it.

First photo of the '15 seems to have a 1940 New Jersey Dealer plate.

Norman Kling wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:20 am

On that second picture I suspect the car was moving and the windshield and top caught on a tree branch or something overhanging and got pulled off. I even had something like that happen on an open trailer when I was only going to pull it a few miles to an area off the freeway where I would unload and join a tour. I was going about 55 on the trailer into the wind and the top got pulled off. However it didn't damage the windshield. Now I always put the top down when on the trailer.
Norm

I don't know, Norm. Even the radiator neck is bent backwards.

Judy Garland, thermos flask, I bet its part of a GE ad campaign

https://www.newspapers.com/article/alto ... cale=en-US

The wrecked car might be a 1912 commercial roadster. It looks like it ran into something but what? A slow moving wagon? The chute from an ore bin?

The sign behind might refer to CN Jackson, a commercial photographer based on Colton, CA. He was in Brawly in 1916 and in 1917 he photographed the Arrowhead Trail as far east as Kansas City. This photo might have been taken during these trips, or an earlier one. The background has a Nevada or Utah look.

That eighth picture shows a center door going through a tunnel tree. I wonder where that was? It doesn't look quite like the Wawona Tunnel Tree in Yosemite. I think there was another one in the coastal area north of San Francisco?
Norm

Some great discussion here! That is what I like to see on these photo threads!
Thanks to all of you.

I particularly like the side view mirror and mount on the 2nd to last photo of the ‘14 runabout. I wonder if those drive thru giant redwoods are still alive Norman. Whoever had that ‘bright idea’ of lacerating those gorgeous trees certainly predate tree huggers of today.

They actually have a lifespan of hundreds of years. That is why the grow so big. And the wood is actually is resistant to insects. The tunnel tree in Yosemite blew over in a storm about 20 years ago. Not because of old age but because the the trunk was weakened by the tunnel.
Norm

Hi Norm, there are (were) at least 2 tunnel trees in Yosemite (Wawona tree before, later and after), and another one still there. Our son works for the National Parks Service as a firefighter/paramedic in Yosemite. The last one isn't the Wawona tree, but doesn't look like the tree you're talking about.

I think the picture with the Center Door going thru a tree is possibly the stump tree in Washington.
There are at least 3 drive thru trees left in California. I was in a car that drove thru the Wanona tree in 1966 with a Horseless Carriage Club Tour. (It was also a Center Door Sedan)

Love the sign in pic#6 "New Fords on the Way, place your orders now"