lump

Hmmm...does anyone recall a song called, "The little old Ford just a rambled right along" ? Someone from the old car club gave a 45 rpm record to my parents in the 60's some time. The theme was something about big fancy and expensive cars breaking down or whatever, while the a little old Model T Ford just kept rambling on. Hmmph. Now I have the title phrase of that song stuck in my head again, after about 45 years of absence! Sigh.

So, kindly bring me up to date, gentlemen. Is it decided for sure that the car on the left is a Locomobile, and the car on the right is an Alco? I understand that the one in the middle is a Baker Electric. LOVE this forum!

Wow, I'll have to look one of those over, first time I encounter a Brush automobile. Thanks, Caddyshack!

WOW, Restorer32! I certainly hope that you saved all the patterns from that. You're going to NEED them, I'll bet. It looks fantastic.

I posted two photos, one having been shot from closer distance, and camera turned sideways. But I think if you look at the first (darker) photo, you'll see very little lens distortion. Also, as far as the "...hood length would be massive..." This MIGHT be right, and I think that the lower photo must indeed be slightly distorted. But look at the front tire/wheel behind the man in the FIRST photo (darker one). You see that the wheel/tire seems correctly round; not oval. So I doubt that there is much distortion at all in that first pic. Thanks for everyone's contributions on this neat old photo. I am learning a lot, and enjoying the process. Lots of sharp automotive collectors on this forum!

Caddyshack, please explain about those coil springs being "not compression type." Were they "expansion type" instead?

I just checked it out on Wikipedia, (for whatever that's worth), and it said the 57 Rebel came either with a GM Hydramatic auto trans (like Restorer32 said), or a manual trans with overdrive.

Hmmm...I checked out several photos of Chryslers of about that vintage. But I didn't find any with door flaps in the cowls, or cowl band with integral cowl lamp, etc. But I'm at a loss, so I certainly can't disagree with any guesses at this point.

LOL. You're better than me, Greg. I looked at this image several times before posting it. But until Jack said "fifth wheel," I was blind to that. I kept wondering what that odd-shaped blob was behind the spare tire.

I tried looking them up by name on a Google search, but no luck. Maybe they weren't very famous for very long...even around Lexington, KY?

Wow, Rusty. I frankly didn't expect that anyone would know so much about that interesting trailer. Thanks!

Of COURSE! You're right, Jack. I was trying to figure out exactly what I was looking at. I somehow assumed the coupe was closer to the camera, and obscuring the front of the trailer. But now that you point out that it's a fifth wheel, that part of the image is FINALLY in focus for me. Well done. Thanks.

While visiting a relative at a hospital in Lexington, KY recently, I came across this really-cool poster featuring an old coupe and some kind of trolley car or trailer, which apparently served as a mobile radio broadcasting remote unit. It appears to be in front of a theater, which features Cyril Maude reprising his famous role as "Grumpy." I note that it is apparently "Westinghouse Week," and there are ad banners for "Piggly Wiggly, for the world" and ("Lucky Strikes, they're toasted!"). I'm sure this will be an easy ID for you car detectives. The flap in the middle of the side of the cowl panel probably ID's the car perfectly, but I admit that I don't know what it is. The old photo must have been of very high quality, since this wall poster was blown up quite large, and yet the image was still very crisp. What you're seeing now is that blown-up image shot with a cell phone camera in a dimly lit hallway.

Keep in mind that for the very earliest automobiles, aka "Horseless Carriages," there really was no difference at all on my body and chassis components. The very earliest cars really were carriages which someone fitted a motor and drive train into. Indeed, I would think that some used horse-drawn carriages were used to create some of our earliest automobiles. So parts from those vehicles would fit into the "both" category.

Indeed, we car fanatics should thank heaven for wealthy car collectors and enthusiasts. How many of the rest of us could spend literally millions of dollars restoring or building the super cars? What does it cost to rebuild the engine in a Bugatti, Ferrari, or Duesenberg these days? What should you expect to pay for a pair of missing headlights for a Bucciali or Thomas Flyer? What does it cost to totally restore a top Hispano-Suiza today? Can you imagine having to pay to have quite a few one-off rare parts made from scratch...such as old superchargers, cylinder heads, brass headlights, or four fenders? My point is not to lecture or "correct" anyone, but to remind us all that it is way too easy to fall into the trap of resentment of anyone with more cash than ourselves. I can't tell you how many times I have heard car guys discussing something about Jay Leno's collection, for example, when someone in the group would say something like, "Of COURSE! He's got all that money!" as though having wealth was somehow dirty. I too have hob-knobbed with some very, very wealthy car collectors. Some are friends, and others are just nice folks. It is my experience that the amount of wealth someone has is not a good indicator of how genial that person may be. We are best served by assuming every car collector is a fine person and potential good friend, until they might prove otherwise, in my opinion.

Yes, and the word "BRUSH" stamped into the radiator shell. Neat car, awesome photo.

Wow. Very cool ID. Love it.

A wonderful old original car in nice condition can only be "unrestored" once. And nice examples of these are many, MANY times more rare than restored cars. For example, take a walk down a row of fairly common wonderful collector cars, like Mustangs or tri-five Chevy's at a big major car show. Nearly every one of them is restored nicely. Shiny paint, shiny chrome, reproduction parts all over them. After a LONG lifetime in this hobby, I must admit that I have seen so many of some of the more common models, that it's sort of getting hard to get terribly excited about many of them. But now and then I will be walking down a row of show cars and see something really really special. Like an early car which was stored away long, long ago with very few miles, in very nice condition. Such a vehicle is really a time capsule. It can be closely examined to see how the original assembly line workers applied body seam filler, or rubber flaps to fender wells, or how they ran spark plug wire looms, or how fasteners were installed, etc, etc, etc. I have owned many, many collector cars, and still own a couple. I have been to major car show events in most areas of our nation. I have ridden in super rare classic cars before I was old enough to drive, and sat in one-off super-rare factory "dream cars." I don't have any interest in changing the opinion of anyone else. But I can spend all day staring at a beautiful unrestored original car or truck...while enjoying casual glances at many nice restored examples.

Wow.

Wow, I would love to peruse that hubcap website, but all I see when I go there are rows and rows of words and codes. Is that website no longer working?

When I was a small kid, my parents found and bought a very rare old Grant Six roadster in a barn. After a failed attempt to get a renowned restorer to do the metal work on it, Dad finally sold the car to another guy. After my parents were killed in a car wreck, I found the now-disassembled car again, and bought it back. Later, I made the decision to sell some of the dozen-or-so project cars I owned, and focus on just one or two. So the Grant was sold again. Anyway, today I stumbled onto a Grant Six thread on Facebook, and one post featured a cool old photo of an old touring car. The IP stated that the car seemed to be a 1921 Grant Six touring. This caught my attention, since my parents and I had been under the impression that our 1921 Grant Six was the only 1921 model known to exist. But looking at the car, it quickly was apparent that this was not a 21 Grant Six at all. So, with that in mind, can my fellow forum members tell me just what make, model, and year this interesting touring car is?

With the short housings front and rear, I would guess farm tractor. Wish I could help better than that.

The photo with a single black fender is for a 32 Ford. The other photo is rear Model A Ford fenders.

'32 Ford pickup rear fenders had a notch added to the inside of the front edge, if I recall correctly. I had a 32 pickup a few years back. Indeed, Model A pickup rear fenders and 32 pickup rear fenders were kind of opposites in that way...the Model A had a notch taken away from the inside leading edge, to fit around the splash aprons. And of course, the 32 didn't have splash aprons, and a little notch had to be added to fill the gap between the lower leading edge of the rear pickup fender and the 32 frame rail.

Yep, they were called, "Porta-Walls," as I recall. Once they became scarce, hot rodders wanted them for the "nostalgic hot rod" look. I got a bunch of them in the late 1970's or early 80's at an estate auction, and assumed they would be hard to get rid of. But hot rodders bought all that I had. Those things could be a pain to work with. Unless they were well-made, and fairly fresh, they grew stiff and tended to stick out from the sidewall in places. And as someone else mentioned, they were prone to leak with tubeless tires.