Erska

A Merry Christmas to Ed, and to all the other antique car experts who contribute to this forum -- it's tremendously educational! And Best wishes to all from northern California -- may 2021 be better in every way, including more opportunities to get out with our cars!

I will plead guilty too. Back in the mid-1970s, the summer after college graduation, I totally disassembled my tired 1950 MG TD. That work was a great education in how a pre-war car was put together (TDs are basically a 1930s design). The plan was to restore it in my spare time the next few years. Hah! With law school, followed by law practice, it was decades before there was much spare time. So in the early '80s I sold the MG as a basket case. There is a happy ending -- the guy who bought it actually finished the restoration and sent me pictures a few years later. When I see an early TD at a show, I always check to see if it is #2038.

Our 1971 Volvo 1800E, lined up at the start of our only car event this summer, the "Ironstone Corona Tour" at the Ironstone Winery, Murphys, California. Other years there's a concours with around 250 pre-1973 cars (and a tour). This year, just the tour for 100 vehicles (which ranged from 1917 to 1972), with a "socially distanced" picnic at the winery grounds. Yes, that is a Pierce Arrow Silver Arrow behind us -- a wonderful rear view mirror view!

I will join in the lament for 2020 Monterey Car Week. Our plans to attend this year were sadly nixed by the pandemic. But here a few photos from 2018: a 1919 Franklin that was driven to Monterey from Florida (shown at the Rotary Rally); the 1956 Cadillac Hess & Eisenhardt Presidential Parade Car (at the Tour d"Elegance); automotive archaeology in guise of an derelict Cadillac convertible (at Concours d'Lemons); and a 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom II. an Indian "car of the raj" (at Pebble Beach). Here's hoping for better times next year! (Oversize attachments; the last two I'll have to put in a separate post).

When I was about three, my father bought a near-new '57 Thunderbird -- the color was "gunmetal gray" (he was a banker). He kept it to about 1970, and sold it to a guy who restored it (including a gray repaint). I've seen quite a few '57s at car shows, but never one in gray. Likely by now they've all been repainted more "festive" colors.

The sign says "Mayfield Car Company," and a quick Google search yielded this: "The Mayfield Car Co. was on Hollywood Way and Riverside Drive in Burbank, and it specialized in classics and oddballs, ca. 1950."

The California "blue plate" series started in 1970, and this one is original to my 1971 Volvo 1800E, as is the selling dealer's frame. I like originality, and details like these persuaded me to buy this car from its first owner.

And now a period shot of a mid-50s restoration of a Packard dual cowl phaeton.

Here's my dad with a late 1920s Packard "barn find" in Los Angeles, circa 1950. Amazing how rough it is though little more than twenty years old.

This has been a great thread, so many interesting photos. I'm late to the party, but can add a few. Here's a 1933 Packard Twelve convertible sedan, my father's daily driver in mid-1950s Los Angeles.

Turquoise, anyone? Here's my 1971 Volvo 1800E, in a color offered only one year of a ten year production run. This was not my first color choice when I was looking for an 1800 abut 15 years ago, but this car had all the other qualities I was looking for, so I bought it. I've never seen another one this color, and it gets lots of positive comments at shows.

Here are a couple photos of one of these 1958 gems, as seen at the Carmel Mission Classic show during 2018 Monterey Car Week. The owner told me it was a one-family car, recently repainted. He seemed really happy that I appreciated its oddity.

Great thread! Three current interests for me: (1) old Volvos (fits with Swedish heritage: I have two, a sedan that's been in family since new, and a sporty 1971 1800E), (2) pre-war American (my father was born in 1904, but was in his fifties when I was born, so I grew up hearing a lot about cars of the pre-war era; I don't have any right now, but do have a short list for when I retire and have more time/space -- likely a Model T and a late '30s Packard or Cadillac); and (3) auto books (hundreds, going back to early 1900s). This forum is a fabulous resource for learning about early cars and how to deal with them today. Thanks to all who share their knowledge!

My half-brother Larry en route by 1914 Model T from Ladd Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, to Los Angeles, in late summer, 1950. He mustered out of the Air Force at Ladd, then took the long way home, driving the Alaska-Canada Highway through the Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and finally California. The trip took 53 days. The car was reputedly one of the first Model T shipment to Fairbanks, and Larry bought it from its original owner and restored it in his spare time.

Back on the topic of long distance driving in early 20th Century automobiles, last summer a Florida couple drove one lap of North America in their 1919 Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. James Eby's destination was Monterey Car Week, and they participated in several shows there (Carmel Mission Classic, Classic Motorsports Lighthouse Cruise-In, Concours d'Lemons, maybe more). I spoke with Mr. Eby a couple of times, and he told me that to get to Monterey they'd driven a circuitous route through the inland, rural east coast, across the northern states and over the Rockies, and then down to California through eastern Washington and Oregon, traveling 5,500 miles that way. He said traffic really wasn't a problem until they were a day or so out from Monterey. I remember he also said the car was running well, and their comfortable cruising speed was around 40 mph, with overheating at 55. Maintenance included daily oiling of the "top end," and he said the brake (on the driveshaft) was the most worrisome aspect of driving the car. Also, the Franklin was a "one-family car" purchased new by Eby's great-uncle. Here's a photo from the Lighthouse Cruise-In:

Have a look at the book "Antique Car Wrecks," edited by John Gunnell, published by Krause in 1990. Over 200 pages of pictures of automotive disasters from the teens to the fifties. Multiple copies available on Abebooks (used book website) for about $7 and up.

Marty Roth, Thank you for posting photos of your beautiful 1930 Packard on tour. For those of us who haven't had the chance to drive a high-end car of that era, but are tempted by them, can you talk a little about what it is like to drive the car in modern traffic? Were you on any high-speed four lane highways ("freeways" out here)? Does the car have its original mechanical brakes, or have they been changed to hydraulic? Thanks.

Here's something different -- a "survivor" 1970 Volvo 144 sedan bought new by my parents. Only wear items have been replaced over the years, and despite its 104,000 miles it has the appearance of a car just a few years old. Its form-follows-function design (first production was 1967) attracts little attention in modern traffic. Volvos this vintage are solidly built, and fine rally cars. Someday I'd like to take this one on the Great Race.

Here is another classic Packard from mid-1950s Los Angeles. The story I was told is that my father owned this dual-cowl phaeton in original condition, then sold it to someone who restored it. The photos are after the restoration. Is it a 1932 model? An eight? Still around?

I'm glad to know some of these cars photographed in the '50s still exist and are known in AACA. If any of their current owners would like a high resolution scan of their car's old photo, please send me a private message through the forum system.

A further note on the Isotta photos -- the last three show what appears to be an eight cylinder engine. But the slope of the radiator seems to be just a little different than the Goodell car. So possibly these photos are of a different car's engine. For what it's worth, certain aspects of the photo prints (size, embossing, edges) are different than any of the other prints. Just thought I would mention this -- before the eagle eyes see these photos!

Great photo! You have hit one of my sweet spots with this IF as I have tried to trace the histories of all the extant cars. It was a U.S. car from new and the first time it pops up is with a Bruce Macy of Camarillo CA in 1948. Then it passed to Joe O. Goodell and a series of southern California owners until being sold seven years ago. This picture and maybe one other were published in Bowman's "Famous Old Cars", would love to see the others you have. - Jonathan Jonathan -- Here are more of the photos of the 1928 Isotta Fraschini, Engine No. 1414, Chassis No. 138. These are from the packet of photos of the car that somehow came into my father's possession, likely in the early 1950s. Enjoy!

Thanks you StanleyRegister for locating this information. The 2015 "News Press" article says that four 1933 Packard Twelve 1005 convertible sedans have survived, and you have accounted for three of them. Based on the information in these articles, I would bet that it is the Barrett-Jackson car that was mostly likely my father's -- because the B-J info says the car was originally sold by Earl C. Anthony, as I understand it the big Packard dealer in Los Angeles (as to the other cars, one was sold in Chicago, the other doesn't say). It would think it not surprising in that era that the car would still be in the L.A. area twenty years later. The B-J info doesn't say what the original exterior color was (my father's shows as dark, quite possibly black, in the photos I have), and the restorer went with black (certainly that could have changed). I don't know what the interior color was, and unfortunately don't have any documentation of the vehicle's serial number. Again, thanks!

Well, you and edinmass must be right. I don't have any documentation on the car (my father's in the 1950s), just several pictures, so somewhere along the line someone either mis-spoke or mis-remembered. At the Pebble Beach Concours last August I did see a 1934 - 1107 Convertible Sedan, to my eye identical to my dad's car (except for color and of course condition). I just went back to a photo of that car, and can see the front lip of the fenders is clearly lower. Amazing what the expert eye can see! Thanks for the information!

Here are a few of my father's photos of Los Angeles-area shows in the mid-1950s, at two, possibly three, different venues. Unfortunately I have no more specific information as to time or place. Does anyone know if cars were typically driven to shows in those days, or were some trailered even then? Road conditions would have been so different.