[I presume this is a circa 1928 Peerless(??).]

I presume this is a circa 1928 Peerless(??).

 

 

 

 

[1927 Studebaker Model EW Commander Big Six]

10 hours ago, 30DodgePanel said:

This one is a 1927 Studebaker Model EW Commander Big Six fitted with a 1927 Erskine radiator mascot.

[Is driving across Nebraska and Minnesota on I-90 these days still like riding a bucking bronc?]

22 hours ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

Just drove across NE.

Just curious - what sort of economy does a rig like that do? I happened to watch a you tube video posted by some folks - coincidentally in Nebraska - driving their similar Ram diesel pickup on a trip of several hours. No trailer though they did have an engine on a low stand in the bed. Their dash readout was showing around 17 mpg at a 70 mph cruise. At around $6/gallon it wasn't cheap travel. "Cheap' is relative though. In this part of the world diesel is currently around $2.20/litre (figure the NZ dollar to be worth only 2/3 the US dollar). For diesel vehicles there are road user charges on top of that. I don't own a diesel but I see from the relevant website the base rate for a vehicle no more than 3.5 ton is 7.6 cents/kilometre (around 5c/mile).

[Period images to relieve some of the stress]

18 hours ago, keiser31 said:

I wonder why they added a bolt to the frame rail. In the old photo there are two bolts below the S & T. In the new photo there are three.

It had a fairly hard life even after it ended its racing days - spending some time as a farm tractor. Just exactly how much of the original is left I am not sure. I know it had a new bronze crankcase cast in NZ after it threw a roid back in the 1920s.

[Period images to relieve some of the stress]

On 1/16/2023 at 3:26 PM, 30DodgePanel said:

One old racer that is extant - in New Zealand, where it had a very successful racing career in the 1920s.

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

19 hours ago, 8E45E said:

I don't particularly care for this era of styling but the designers at Jowett in England obviously did in the late WW2 years and put the Javelin into production in 1947.

 

 

[Can anyone identify this car please?]

From what I have seen a lot of the production of American open touring cars in the middle price brackets (like the G-P and also Studebaker) found their way to export markets mostly in 'hot countries'. In Australia - a hot country - Holdens, and no doubt other body makers, continued to build tourers on various chassis for several years after their parent makers stopped making them.

[Help ID cars from the 1930's]

Did this but can't seem to save a 'zoomed' version. You might be able to save it to a file and then zoom into it.

 

I reckon the roadster is more likely something Mopar. Maybe a '37 Plymouth sedan at the back. Can't be sure with the Willys.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

9 minutes ago, alsancle said:

The post war cars are practically identical. And a left hand drive 3.5 L stick with his body is always been on my want list.

George Cole in Florida, who has posted on this forum, has one of those, though it is rhd. It was sold new in NZ and exported to the US in the 1980s. Weirdly enough the registration plate on it is only ten numbers away from a car I owned at one time (not a Jaguar). George has been trying to trace its history but the trail ran cold. I think it was exported from NZ so long ago that anyone who may have been involved is likely no longer with us. 

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

6 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

If you have time to kill type in Four Door Saloon and some great cars will turn up, yes the last Jaguar is a two door, but too attractive not to look at. 

The two door is actually an SS1, built before the Jaguar name came into use.

 

As I noted in my Rover post Jaguar was another British maker that continued its prewar models into the postwar years. This is a 1947 2 1/2 litre.

 

 

 

As an aside the local Jaguar dealers who are still in business and have recently moved to new premises a block away were also Jaguar enthusiasts. Ray Archibald, a WW2 fighter pilot, raced a Mk2 sedan with some success. The family fleet included a 1936 four door sedan - seen at far top left in this 1960s photo - along with an SS100, a factory XK-C, and an XK120, among other things.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

Big sedan, or limo, call it what you like. This 1939 Buick 90, right hand drive from new ex-Australia, is currently for sale in NZ. It has no divider window but does have jump seats so I guess is a Model 90 Touring Sedan.  According to the seller one of two known, mostly original paint and upholstery but has a 1941/42 engine.

 

1939 Other Buick 90 Ltd, Limo | Trade Me Motors

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

In the UK, and here in NZ, Rover was a very middle-class car with a similar market position to Buick or Pontiac in the US.

 

This 1937 Rover 12 sports saloon was owned from the 1940s to 1970s by my wife's grandfather. The next owner, who I know, still has it. It was used in the 1994 Peter Jackson movie Heavenly Creatures.

 

I did ride in it once and found like many of its contemporaries to be cramped in the back.

 

IMCDb.org: 1937 Rover 12 hp Sports Saloon [P2] in "Heavenly Creatures, 1994"

 

 

Rover continued production of the pre-war styling until the 1948 introduction of their P4 75 'Cyclops' model.

 

Most British makes did the same thing, many retaining cart springs, tall skinny wheels, and non-hydraulic brakes etc until their new models were ready.

 

This car is from 1946 - 

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

A couple of Bentleys, from 1935 and 1939.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

There are those that might argue the Citroen traction avant is one of the best looking pre-WW2 sedans. Good enough that it remained in production until the mid 1950s.

 

In the first photo is a 1938 example wearing a mix of post WW2 wheels. photo taken just a few months ago at our club grass gymkhana.

 

The silver/grey car dates from 1939.

 

The third photo illustrates the difference between the post-war model (the car in the foreground dates from 1952) and the pre-war models (this one is from 1938).

 

All of these cars will have been built in the British Citroen factory.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

This Rolls-Royce PIII lives local to me. The owner who has several R-Rs rebuilt it himself from a 'wreck'.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

Just throwing in something from left field. I am not a particular fan of British cars - so many of their sedans (saloons) have what to me is 'awkward' styling. Most have restricted space in the rear seat, even the more expensive ones.

 

Here are a few Rileys.

 

I knew the owner of the first one, a 1934 12/6 (1500cc six) Mentone, restored in the early 1970s.  I see its registration was cancelled in 2015 and I think it has been sold overseas.

 

The others are all Riley Kestrels of various years from circa 1934-39.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

20 hours ago, edinmass said:

Gentlemen, sedans have four doors………not trying to be critical, but unless it’s a Brunn double entery saloon, it must have four doors to be a sedan.

Reminds me of recent discussion on a local facebook page where some were quite vociferous in their contention that coupe HAD to have only two doors. Try telling that to the various, mostly European, makers in recent years who have produced four door coupes. Coupe simply comes from the French word cut - it has nothing to do with door numbers. I guess you could argue the same with sedans, unless as you have now done, specify four doors.

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

7 hours ago, Gunsmoke said:

A friend has this wonderful 1934 Buick Club Sedan, very low mileage, 100% original car including original paint and interior, purrs like a kitten.

The 1934 (and '35) Buicks had the best looking front end of all of the GM makes at the time.

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

A new era but the late pre-WW2 Cadillac 60s are good looking cars.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

Arguably not a sedan but the ex-Marlene Dietrich Cadillac 16 that lives in the Southward collection is a good looking car. 

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

Oldsmobile was another that didn't quite match the 1934 Buick's front end styling. As far as I know there are two of these 1934 Olds 8s in NZ that were sold here new. I think they share their bodies with the Buick Series 50 or 60.

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

2 minutes ago, Gary_Ash said:

Here's a 1933 Studebaker Victoria coupe that looks good to me.  I'm currently partial to the 1941-47 Packard Clipper Super 8's.

 

 

 

The Studebaker Victoria coupe is more correctly called a St Regis Brougham. Due to them being a little 'different' several have survived, from both 1932 and 1933.

 

 

 

[What are the Best Looking Prewar FOUR-DOOR Sedans? Custom and Production.]

25 minutes ago, alsancle said:

For a production model you can't go wrong with the 33 or 34 Buick 90 series.

I agree that the big Buicks look good. I am biased because I grew up with one of the smaller ones. I reckon Cadillac didn't get it quite right with their front end styling in 1934. I like the big 'squarer' stuff from 1930-31 but they would have been styled (designed) in the 1920s.

 

 

 

 

[Vintage Hearses, Funeral Coaches and Flower Cars On Main Street Anywhere: A Pictorial]

Here is something which would be unlikely to be seen in the US.   New Zealand imports large numbers of used cars from Japan though most are near new.   This one is a hearse built on a 1993 Toyota Crown wagon. To give and impression of its size the wheelbase is 108".  Around this time the Crown sedans went to unibody construction but the wagons retained the 1980s body-on-frame, with leaf springs at the rear, until replaced with a new model in 1999. This one is a base model Deluxe (the more expansive models were Super Deluxe and Super Saloon) with a 1G two litre six and three and o/d on the column and a bench seat. This one is for sale at NZ$18k.  It has quite low mileage for its age - 83,000 km (circa 50,000 miles).

 

I have owned an earlier one of these (from 1987) since 1991 - it was never a hearse though - and being a Super Deluxe has separate front seats and five on the floor and carpets rather than rubber mats. It is technically a van as it has a V in its chassis code. They were built in relatively small numbers - around 150 a month. Total production over the four-year run of my model (1984-87) was just less than 10,000 including both wagon and van, in both gas and diesel variants.

 

 

[Vintage Hearses, Funeral Coaches and Flower Cars On Main Street Anywhere: A Pictorial]

In NZ, once large American wagons became available in the 1960s and 1970s they were usually imported privately for funeral use and most of the surviving wagons of the era likely began life as hearses, leading a sheltered and well-maintained, life. The only modifications were to the interiors, with the exteriors left stock. Since about the 1990s hearses have usually been constructed from extended Australian models - mostly Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons. Some can be seen in the earlier links I provided.  Since production of those cars ceased a few years ago I am not sure what the next generation of hearses will look like.

 

These two 1975 Catalina Grand Safaris are survivors. Both were imported new and spent probably more than 20 years as hearses before going into private ownership. Decoding them from carjam - Report - FDQ941 - 1975 PONTIAC CATALINA in Black | CARJAM - both are Kansas-built cars but FDQ941 has a 400 and GUC68 has a 455.