Be
sure to enlarge this pic and examine the detail. As you can see the
designers had no precedent and were still heavily influenced by the
Horse and Carriage days as this is truly a Horseless Carriage.
The windows went up and down by pulling down on a leather strap and I'll
bet there were no heaters to ward off the winter chill but this was
very hi-tech for the day (I love this picture). Look at the etched glass (not tempered),
the rotating door handles, headlights and all the hand crafted
workmanship. The poor driver and doorman were left out in the elements!
As you can see the designers were still heavily influenced by the Horse
and Carriage days as this is truly a Horseless Carriage. The
windows went up and down by pulling down on a leather strap and I'll bet
there were no heaters to ward off the winter chill but this was very
hi-tech for the day (I love this picture). Look at the etched glass (not tempered),
the rotating door handles, headlights and all the hand crafted
workmanship. The poor driver and doorman were left out in the elements!
O of my favorite cars. I'm sure everyone recognizes Senator GEORGE P. WETMORE from Rhode Island and his lovely wife Edith in 1906 (just kidding)
simply because of their ride. Wouldn't it be fun to pull up for work
everyday in this fab convertible? Of course only a politician or maybe a
Supreme Court Justice could pull off the dignity and austerity of this.
It wouldn't look the same if I arrived in jeans and a T-Shirt like I
normally look!
Of course there were no CD players or even a radio much less air conditioning or a cell phone to distract from the ride. It was obviously meant for transportation and to be seen enhancing your dignity and stature (...and having some fun...). That's not to say there weren't distractions or even a drunk driver. This was of course BEFORE all such laws designed to inhibit such things. Even the thought of seatbelts was still many years away.
Harvard graduate Senator BOIES PENROSE could have used a bit more attention on the road in 1920 as you can see from his car that just took out a lamp post, mail box and stopped at the tree above. Of course we hope this didn't happen during his campaign and it does look like a slick rainy day, so it probably wasn't from partying all night.....
I've actually stayed at the Broadmore Hotel, the hotel he built in Colorado Springs in 1918!
Best
available data on the left shows this as a 1914 Marmon Seven Passenger
Touring Car and one fabulous ride. Click the Pic to enlarge it and look
at some of the detail. Fabulous! This was the "Family Car" of
the day for the wealthy and again it looks like lots of handmade parts.
So if something broke I would imagine you would have to go to some sort
of machinist to get another part made from scratch.
On
the right take a look at this 1917 side impact of a car at a corner
with no apparent stop signs and there seems to have been a disagreement
over who had the "Right of Way". As most of these things were
handmade and the designers did not have safety in mind. The seats seem
to have come loose and I don't see a steering wheel. Hmmmm....... (Check out the wooden wheel rims!).
They
didn't corner very well and the speeds were quite different but it was
more or less the transition of our entire society to a more mobile state
when those farm boys could get into a city and the girls weren't
trapped in one place. That's Mrs. Guy Henry on the left sporting her
1908 Maxwell Tourabout (Click her to Enlarge the Photo). Look
at that crank handle on the front. I'll betcha that puppy caused
problems when it kicked back and the tires have NO tread!
One of the good things about these vehicles was their versatility. If something fell off or broke or was otherwise damaged you could always improvise which has since become an American way of life. For example if you lost the convertible top on old "Betsy" like George and Joe did (George R. Wharff and Joseph Fossard of Old Orchard Beach, Maine) on their way back to Maine from Florida in May of 1922, well you could just pull over and improvise with some of those plentiful palm fronds. (Photo just below) Don't laugh! It kept the rain out and the sun from cooking'em. Pretty darn clever. The speeds weren't great and Old Gyp the wonder dog found solace on the bumper all the way back. Jumping off from time to time to relieve himself and catch an occaisional snack he could catch up and jump back on that comfortable bumper....
Looks like Joe had HUGE nuts! Coconuts that is.... ;) and "Gyp" really was the dog's name!Looks like plenty of folks had nothing better to do and stopped by to get in the picture. I love that young soldier trying to look older with more authority with his pipe! There was quite a bit of equipment involved to take a picture like this so I imagine it drew a lot of attention, especially in front of a Vaudeville Theater with "Continuous Showing" of whatever was playing.
Of course one had to get these things repaired quite often and their complexity of operation was quite new to the American psyche. So the much revered and expert FARRIER evolved into the local neighborhood mechanic with a skill set that could build a wagon wheel for cart or car and still explain the turn signal like arm on the steering column that would retard the timing for starting with a crank and advancing the timing when you were ready to roll. Here they are just below at Semmes Auto Garage in Wash. D.C. 1926.
I'm a Truck-Man myself and am always willing to take a look or a ride on anything that remotely claims to be called "TRUCK". Throw in "Four Wheel Drive" and we're friends for life....
Here he is Mr. COOL himself, Bogey and Veronica Lake on the set of one of the Sam Spade productions with a Chevy convertible. The designers had made the transition and production lines were all the rage for manufacturing for the masses. I loved that Sam Spade character!
I'm getting ahead of myself there with Bogey, let's jump back a couple of years to 1934 and actor CARL BRISSON and his very important imported and elegantly Italian designed ISOTTA FRASCHINI.
Just
on the left here and to give you an idea on how elegant these vehicles
were is a beautifully restored 1928 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A S LeBaron
Boattail Roadster from the Imperial Palace Auto Collections in Las Vegas
(Click Photo to Enlarge). While I certainly appreciate such a
fantastic design there is no way most of us could afford just to
maintain such a thing. Just thinking of the cost of insurance gives me
the willies!Of course whenever you mix the words Hollywood and Car you are bound to wind up showcasing the flashiest and latest designs. Personality makes a big difference and the more conservative and level headed kept their cool. Here's a few examples:
On the left just above you can Click on Mr Gary Cooper with his 1950 Mercury and on the right is Tarzan himself, Mr Johnny Weissmuller with his 1932 Chevy Convertible (Click Photo to Enlarge). While just below is the flashy playboy ERROL FLYNN in his Super Charged Auburn Speedster Convertible.
Not to be outdone by us puny men those fabulous ladies of yesteryear were no strangers to the leadfoot lifestyle with the new found freedoms of mobility and Flapper influences such as actress Miss ELEANOR BLIVENS doing some serious speed shifting with a huge grin (Click her Pic to Enlarge). A remarkable woman that raced cars, flew planes and starred in movies!
No roll bars or flame retardant here, safety was not a big consideration. Just below is Miss Rita Hayworth proudly showing off her 1941 Lincoln Continental.
Just
above is Miss Marlene Dietrich and her gorgeous 1935 Cadillac Custom
and she is also reputed to have owned this 1935 eight cylinder Phaeton
just to left here. Give it click and take a close look, it's fabulous!One of very favorite actresses of this period was Miss Marion Davies. Her association with William Randolph Hearst is well known and of course she was portrayed as a complete bimbo in "Citizen Kane", but nothing could be further from the truth.
She was quite a well known and successful Hollywood star and became a millionaire in her own right, which was quite an accomplishment in those days. When William Randolph began to go bankrupt she offered all the money she had earned on her own to support him. A very interesting woman and here she is just below on the set in four different vehicles of the day.....
Click Pic to Enlarge
The four Pix just above are all of Miss Marion Davies on various sets (Mouse over the Pix for Descripition) and all are clickable to enlarge. I LOVE that Boat Tail number in the top left photo of Miss Marion on the set of "Cardboard Lover 1928"! There she is again getting pulled in common Ford (above right) in "The Patsy 1928". On the above left she is appearing with The Keystone Cops in another Ford Convertible.
We can't really finish up with the ladies without including the Joan. Miss Joan Crawford that is.
Mr.
Clark Gable was a motorhead! On the left he's proudly sitting atop his
beautiful 1935 Dusenberg while on the right sporting his 1938
Supercharged Ford V8 Speedster (I feel like an announcer at a fashion show).
Obviously a man who enjoyed the manly mechanized arts of a motorhead!
Cars of today have lost all that appeal of individual expression of
character. Of course they run a lot better today and are much more
efficient but have lost many of the design elements that made these old
cars real works of art. Along with the architecture of the grand old
victorians compared to the houses we all live in today, it's hard to
tell one car from another today.From a distance I couldn't tell the difference between a Honda and Toyota or even a Ford and Chevy today. They all look pretty much the same. I think this is the appeal. At this stage of my life I've become very interested in perhaps building a 1931 Dusenberg reproduction car out in the garage this winter.
Here's the one I would love to build.......
