MTFCA Forum

Something’s off with the “Boeing” photo. Proportions are off, body details wrong and the bystanders have blurred faces. Looks like AI.

# 2 looks very strange.....

hull 433 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:34 pm

Something’s off with the “Boeing” photo. Proportions are off, body details wrong and the bystanders have blurred faces. It looks like AI.

I agree. Weird Ford logo on radiator, eleven spoke front wheel, strange looking cowl lamps, improved windshields, etc. etc. There are certainly more unexplained things in this "photo".

I hate that these things are out there and that virtually nobody outside our community could spot the errors. The historical record is changing as we watch.

Keep crankin',
Eric

ewdysar wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 13, 2026 1:56 pm

hull 433 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:34 pm

Something’s off with the “Boeing” photo . . .

I agree. The historical record is changing as we watch.

Look closely at #2 - I think it needs a lot of explanation.
The “Boeing” photo is most certainly an AI pastiche.

Rich, i did, and it does!

Allan from down under.

The second I bet was hard on the ears!

Blow it up and look at the faces.
Not to mention several people appear to be missing legs/feet, but that's OK, looks like I found one of the missing legs on this lady....

When I looked at the Boeing photo I did notice it looked to clean. From the first look it does seem authentic and more than some of the other AI generated photos of old cars. But other than that it’s fairly authentic. Just don’t look to close!
Thanks again for posting the photos of the early speedsters as they were the hot rods in their day! Interesting to be sure!

It's a nightmare in close up.

the give away is the large size it's over 2.0 mgs all the others are only Kbs in size. Ai can improve the clarity of old photo's especially old newspaper dot images, BUT often it alters features which it doesn't need to do such as making disk wheels into wire spoke/large hub ones.
Here is a before from a newspaper and after from ChatGPT

Here is the Gemini version of the same photo

#2, the full elliptical springs has me baffled.

Mark Nunn wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 13, 2026 7:45 pm

#2, the full elliptical springs has me baffled.

Might be a set of these.

The original photo is too poor to show exactly what the front axle is but a discription of the vehicle says it has a standard Ford front suspension so the Ai has decided it should have dumb irons and half elliptic springs. Definately not a Hyde Fulcrum set up. That change shows how inaccurate an enhanced version by Ai can be, especially when you see it made the wheels wood spoke instead of disc. Its good at color versions of B&W photo's but details of objects can get messed up real bad.
One photo of a test for water and mud splattering off wheels was determined by the Ai process as being a " test on a dry dusty road"
Another good use of Ai is it removes the over lay of print in seconds sellers of photographs put on to discourage copying them easily, where I always had to spend a lot of time wiping them away.

I think #2 is a modified Model S.

There that’s better

hull 433 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 13, 2026 10:36 pm

I think #2 is a modified Model S.

On further scrutiny, you might be right. Certainly has some aspects of an S. Interesting, I don’t think I’ve seen a photo of an S cut down into a speedster, and the starter crank is in an interesting spot.

ThreePedalTapDancer wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 14, 2026 3:54 am

hull 433 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 13, 2026 10:36 pm

I think #2 is a modified Model S.

On further scrutiny, you might be right. Certainly has some aspects of an S. Interesting, I don’t think I’ve seen a photo of an S cut down into a speedster, and the starter crank is in an interesting spot.

Yes. An NRS chassis but with a modified Model T radiator and hood.

It looks like Ai can't handle windscreens with straight bottom edges, and cowls that match. The Duncan and Fraser built 1925 bodies on Australian cars had this feature. These bodies were built under contract to Ford because the Ford factory in Geelong was not completed until the 1916 models came along.

Allan from down under.

People who use AI to modify or enhance historic photos ought to put in some sort of plain language statement or marker to the effect that the image has been modified. Enhancing the old newspaper halftone images is a good thing, if done honestly. I don't mind colorized B&W images if they are labeled as such.

Altering History can be dangerous. It's never a good idea.

The Hyde outfit probably cost as much as a new Ford, and it apparently lacked any kind of damping, other than interleaf friction. Springs alone, no matter how elaborate, can't give good ride and handling on bad roads at anything much over walking speed.

A couple of Hyde Springs are on surviving cars, A friend had a NOS set in his accessory colection it was a well made system. It would be interesting to actually see what if any faults or advantages they have.
Often now, assumptions are made about the working of unusual old objects/technologies and the decision is more than not completely wrong. I would not have thought anyone would go to all the trouble to patent and produce and advertise their product unless when presented to purchasers it did basically appear to do what was claimed of it. From its ads it appears to be aimed at city dwellers using paved roads.
here is another ad from 1923.

Springs need damping when used on vehicles that move over irregular surfaces at any significant rate of speed, or that stop, start, or change direction rapidly. Leaf springs have some inherent damping ability due to friction between the leaves. Of course, if there is much friction between the leaves, the springs become stiffer. Various damping or snubbing devices, aka shock absorbers, for automobiles came on the scene early in automobile development. Hydraulic snubbbers/shocks /dampers, like pneumatic tires, were a great leap forward in automotive safety and ride comfort, and allowed for substantially higher road speeds than before.