identification needed

[Greg M.]

This photo was in my grandmother's album, unlabeled, butthe driver may be a relative.I have no good idea of the date, only early 1900s.  It would have been taken in northern New York State. The fenders seem distinctive...can any one help me with identification and a date? Thanks much, Greg M.

[nzcarnerd]

1907 Oldsmobile Model H Flying Roadster. 302 cid four cylinder engine. I noticed this one had fixed wheel rims. There are pictures on the the of similar cars with eight bolt demountable rims.

[Greg M.]

Great! thanks much! Another photo shows it as a right-hand drive, which I understand was common before 1908, so this one may be reversed. 

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by Greg M. (see edit history)

[lump]

LOVE old photos like this!

 

I note that this fuzzy old photo has been retouched, the old fashioned way. In my line of work, we used to retouch photos with an airbrush for clients quite often. This work looks a little bit amateurish. Notice the heavy dark lines outlining the right front fender and the radiator. Normally we tried to make it hard to be able to tell that we had "improved" a photo at all. It looks like a little better job has been done on the outline of the outer rim edge of the right front wheel. 

 

Notice how fuzzy nearly every part of the car is.  My guess would be that the photographer must have been shooting with a setting which gave him a very narrow depth-of-field (maybe a low-light situation?) Perhaps then he or she tried to focus on the driver's face, which would be a natural choice. Yet it looks like the trees and leaves in the background are much more in focus than various components of the car, so it's possible that the focus was off a bit. Anyway, the photographer wouldn't have known about that until he/she ended up looking at prints in the darkroom. 

 

What an awesome car. 

[nzcarnerd]

4 hours ago, Greg M. said:

Great! thanks much! Another photo shows it as a right-hand drive, which I understand was common before 1908, so this one may be reversed. 

 

 

Yes the photo must be reversed as most cars were rhd in that era.

 

[Leif Holmberg]

Reversed.

Leif in Sweden.

[nzcarnerd]

The driver must be quite small built as the roadster is not that big. Wheelbase 106", tyre size 34 x 4 at the rear and 34 x 3 1/2 at the front.

[lump]

Whether this neat old blurry photo is reversed or not, I cannot stop wondering what that odd-shaped blob is in front of the radiator, which blocks the view of the far-side fender? Is it a damaged headlight, twisted around and facing the radiator? Perhaps this car has been wrecked? On that note, check out the far-side frame horn. To my weak old eyes, it seems to be bent upwards. It seems to me that a line drawn between the front shackle-bolt holes would NOT be parallel to the rest of the car. I have been comparing it to the straight line on the brass radiator shell at the fins, and the line on that same plane at the base of the front seats, and those lines seem TO ME to not be parallel with those frame horns.

 

And there is something else blocking the camera's view of the radiator core, just behind the side port on the fire plug. Is that another headlight? Maybe both headlights are covered with cloth sacks or something? 

 

And what is that object on the side of the cowl? A brass horn, covered in a cloth or leather bag, perhaps? Maybe these are clues which should be telling us that this was a race car, or an adventurer's car, which spent much of its life on muddy country roads? Very cool! 

 

Finally, what is that interesting object above the (tool?) box on the running board? 

 

I'm glad this awesome-but-blurry old photo appeared on the AACA Forums pages, where there are some pretty sharp car nuts who can help me ponder these questions. (Most of my family and friends look at things like this, roll their eyes slightly, and TRY not to say, "Who cares?") LOL

Edited March 12, 2018 by lump (see edit history)

[Greg M.]

This is the 2nd photo of the same car and location, different driver. There are four headlamps with cloth covers, which are  blurry on the first photo. The small drivers no doubt make the car look larger. I thought that is a jump-seat behind the front seats, but maybe more likely it is just a place to stash your grocery bags etc. 

[nzcarnerd]

1 hour ago, Greg M. said:

This is the 2nd photo of the same car and location, different driver. There are four headlamps with cloth covers, which are  blurry on the first photo. The small drivers no doubt make the car look larger. I thought that is a jump-seat behind the front seats, but maybe more likely it is just a place to stash your grocery bags etc. 

 

That is a mother-in-law seat behind the driver.

 

The Standard Catalog says that the 1907 Model H roadster came with standard equipment including; a full set of tools, two acetylene head lamps, two oil tail lamps, a large horn and a luggage carrier. The car here also has a pair of side lamps. Not sure what that is beside the left seat. The horn would normally be on the driver's side.

 

With 35/40 bhp, and the torque of 302 cubic inches, to move only 2200lb, this would have been a performance car by the standards of the day.

[lump]

Greg M, 

Thanks for sharing this 2nd photograph. It offers a slightly different angle, and greater detail. 

 

Are there any more? Cheers! 

[28 Chrysler]

Beside the passenger seat  could be a spotlight that could be slid over the top edge of the seat. A tire pump standing on the passenger side floor but what is the second cowl shaped thing ?

[Greg M.]

That's all I have. There might be a side lamp under a cloth cover, as I see on  few internet photos. I wish I had this interesting auto in my garage! Thanks for the comments.

[lump]

4 hours ago, Greg M. said:

That's all I have. There might be a side lamp under a cloth cover, as I see on  few internet photos. I wish I had this interesting auto in my garage! Thanks for the comments.

LOL. That's something we can certainly agree on, Greg. We would ALL love to have that awesome car in our shops!