Car ID from small picture

Trying to date a street scene photo for the Atlanta History Center. I know it's a small image, cut from a much larger street scene.

Can anyone identify the year (and model) of the car in the center of the photo?

Maybe a 1940 Oldsmobile?

Keiser,

Thanks, but I don't think so. Grille on the Olds doesn't match up with the pic I posted. Nor to my eye do the headlights or does the pointed "nose" of the hood.

But my old eyes are getting so bad that you could be right anyway...

I can't get a very clear picture, but I'd say '40 Olds, based on the bumper shape..

Fair enough. Anyone else have an opinion?

See if this will help....here is the four door sedan version....

1940 LaSalle?

http://www.motorera.com/lasalle/1940.htm

Edit

1940 nash

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1939-1940-nash-ambassador1.htm

But it has a GM look about it

I don't think LaSalle or Nash as the grille does not go that far up. The body looks GM style.

Thanks for the help, gentlemen.

Well then, maybe 1940 Chevrolet. You need a date, I would say 1940.

It appears to have the GM "B" body used in '39 and '40. None of the other GM cars using that body had a bumper like this car's. Granted, it's necessary to strain hard and use a little imagination to accept that the picture is too fuzzy to reveal the true outline of the lower portion of the grille, which is rectangular. 40 Olds !

Keiser,

Thanks, but I don't think so. Grille on the Olds doesn't match up with the pic I posted. Nor to my eye do the headlights or does the pointed "nose" of the hood.

But my old eyes are getting so bad that you could be right anyway...

There were only a couple of cars with the flared bumper ends in the era...1940 Oldsmobile and 1942 Packard. Plymouth had a similar flare, but I would say that the car in question has all of the features as the 1940 Oldsmobile. Split windshield, running boards, cowl vent and horizontal ridge around the middle of the fenders. I am sticking with the 1940 Oldsmobile identification. I would date the photo no later than 1940.

Again, thanks for the help, gentlemen.

Just for jollies, here's the complete picture. The Atlanta History Center posted "Looking north from Spring St. and Marietta St. c. 1935" and of course, that dating is cannot be accurate.

If anyone sees something else that will help date this image, please let me know. Wish I had access to a larger copy...

Is that Chrysler a 41? I know you will be on this like good cookies John!

Is that Chrysler a 41? I know you will be on this like good cookies John!

Third one up from the bottom in the far right lane looks to be a 1940 or 1941 DeSoto sedan with the trim around the taillights going down to the bumper.

Is that a 1940 Packard at front right?

Is that a 1940 Packard at front right?

Sure does have that look to it.

The car on the left is a 36-37 Hudson/Terraplane in the 1st pic.

The car behind the GM car looks like a 35 Ford

Surely someone can enlarge it for us (or knows how to)

Manuel in Oz

i'm guessing that '40 is too new for the Packard, based on it having a luggage rack. I'm not a Packard authority, but oem racks for most cars were almost all gone a few years before that. For example, '37 was the last year they were available for Fords, and few others had them because trunks became integrated into the designs. Ergo, I'm thinking it's a '38 or '39, but not earlier.

i'm guessing that '40 is too new for the Packard, based on it having a luggage rack. I'm not a Packard authority, but oem racks for most cars were almost all gone a few years before that. For example, '37 was the last year they were available for Fords, and few others had them because trunks became integrated into the designs. Ergo, I'm thinking it's a '38 or '39, but not earlier.

When you Google "1940 Packard photo", a lot of them come up with the luggage rack. They were probably a rare accessory by then, though.

Good sleuthing Keiser. I guess the reason Packard still had them while Ford didn't was because Packard owners were wealthier and had more stuff to cart around.

A couple of 1940 Packards....

I think the car behind the Olds is a 35 Dodge, not Ford. Possibly a 39 LaSalle behind it.

There is a car behind the Standard Oil station , looks like a horizontal grille? 1940 ?

'35 Ford, '35 Dodge or? Like Manuel my first impression automatically was that it was a Ford, same "fat" fender look the '35's had, as opposed to the leaner looking Dodge's. But a Ford should have one more horizontal grille trim bar showing, and there should be 1 or 2 external horns tucked up closer under the headlights, but there isn't. What there is farther down are probably horn covers which a Dodge would have had there. But, and maybe it's just the photo, the grille looks too wide for a '35 Dodge, and the general impression has that '35 Ford look. .Hmmm, could it be that it's a FORODGE??

The car behind it could be a '37 Pontiac.

Isn't that an American Austin to the left of the "Forodge"?

I think you are right Dave. It does look more like a Dodge now.

Manuel in Oz