Don Wiss

Thanks. And nice ads.

Here's the original scan. A much larger image. http://jwissandsons.com/family/Mildreds-pictures/1917-1925/images/33d-f.jpg

Thanks for the response. I hadn't flipped the image, as the uncropped image has Arthur handwritten on the picture in the gravel. Though I suppose I could cut that off, flip, then reattach. Or just cut it off. I put Arthur in the caption.

What is this car?

What is this car?

What is this car?

I'm working on putting my grandmother's pictures on the web. You can see my work here: http://jwissandsons.com/family/Mildreds-pictures/1917-1925/ In the first batch I'm working on, there are five cars. One is a Moon, which we identified here a few years back. As I'm only supposed to put one item in a post, here's the first car. Picture taken 1917.

Okay guys. I like to program. With all the scans that my brother sent me. And all the information posted here in my three topics asking for help in identifying cars. I created a section on The Wiss Family Cars. There is a menu listing the 10 cars, with navigation between car pages. In reply to Jeff Brown: Yes, I would like to someday include ads for the cars. But only for the specific model. This constrains new feature expansion. Thanks all for your help and compliments.

Your recollection is probably correct. There was, and still is, the 2DA, called a florist and dental shears. I have no idea why it was called that. Here's a picture of an antique 1DA. It is also called multi-purpose high-leverage. Now, knowing the make of the car, I figured there had to be a Peerless dealer in Newark. And I found that James W. Mason, sold the Peerless at 982 Broad St. That is across and up the street from where our office building was under construction at the time of the car purchase. So I checked Google Streets: 982 Broad St. Sure looks like it was originally a classy auto dealer. I have not yet found any vintage picture. My brother is scanning pictures of my grandparents' 1940s cars. That is in the ""all cars were bought at DeCozen Chrysler" era, so that gives me enough that I can find them in Google Images. Eventually I'll have to make a page showing all the cars.

I studied the roof line, and determined that the car is the 1910 model of the Peerless limousines. Then just now I stumbled on another picture of the car: The chauffeur is leaning on the wall to the left. Now I can't be sure that this is my great-grandparent's car in the picture, but the picture, taken on April 28, 1911, is in front of our office building. Perhaps my great-grandfather was working in our realty company's office, which was in the building. Or my great-grandmother was shopping in our jewelry store, also in the building. The full picture is the fourth picture here: http://jwissandsons.com/wiss-building/Newark-Public-Library-pictures.htm

Hi Greg, Yes, but alas, the company was sold in 1976. Not having children, my legacy to the world will be my website on the company: http://jwissandsons.com/ There is a family section on the site. Some of the car pictures are already there. Eventually all will be. There are so many pictures around, I will be working on scanning and putting them up for years to come. We only have my grandparents' pictures, but I know where his brother's pictures are, and where his sister's and my great-grandparents' pictures are (those being together). The pictures of my great-grandfather's younger brother are someplace in California. That stash would include the pictures in this book: http://jwissandsons.com/family/during-my-lifetime/w031.htm The page I jumped to discusses my great-grandfather's brother's early cars. The first being a 1902 Knox, then two Packards. Move ahead a couple pages and the car pictures start. There were lots of road trips, including a cross country trip in 1912. By that time my great-grandfather's younger brother had died, so it was his widow that made the trip. The book writer was her daughter. And she ended up marrying the chauffeur.

The 1909 limousine catalog https://scripophily.net/peli19.html was issued in 1908. Could the 1910 models have been available at the end of 1909? We all know that in later years the models came out in the Fall of the prior year. Were they doing that back in 1909?

I checked -- or tried to check -- just what 1909 Peerless catalogs are in the AACA Library. My desire is the 1909 Peerless Limousine brochure I noted above. I didn't find that, but this: http://www.aacalibrarycatalog.org/opac/search.msp?db=LRC+Catalog.bib&style=basic&query=peerless+1909+limousine&iname=title&type=title&key=(Peerless+motor+cars+1909+_2F) It states it has been digitized. But where do I find it? Checking my local (NYC) library I find (which may be the same as the link above): 3-TOP p.v. 48, No. 3 Peerless Motor Cars 1909 Models: Model 19 4-cylinder 30 H.P. Seven-Passenger Touring Car [$4475 with top $4475]; Model 25 6-cylinder 50 H.P. Seven-Passenger Touring Car [$6000 with top $6175]; Model 19 4-cylinder 30 H.P. Close Coupled Touring Car [$4300]; Model 19 4-cylinder 30 H.P. Roadster [$4300]; Model 19 4-cylinder 30 H.P. Limousine [$5500]; Model 19 4-cylinder 30 H.P. Landaulet [$5800]; Model 25 6-cylinder 50 H.P. Roadster [$6000]; Model 25 6-cylinder 50 H.P. Limousine [$7000]; Model 25 6-cylinder 50 H.P. Landaulet [$7300] The Peerless Motor Car Company, Quincy & 93rd Street, Cleveland, Ohio - 220 West 41st Street, New York, New York 32 p.; illustrations The car is limousine, not a landaulet. This leaves us with two prices for this car.

The sidelights match up better with: https://scripophily.net/peli19.html I'd love to see the inside of that brochure. I went after 1909, as we know my great-grandmother's first car was purchased at the end of 1909.

My great-grandfather owned Wiss scissors. He took the company from a shop to a company with some 500 employees by the time of these pictures. Having these dates and models will help. And I will see if this model existed at the end of 1909, making it my great-grandmother's first car. My great-grandfather and his younger brother were very much into cars from early on. (They were active in the NJ Automobile Club.) The factory machinery was powered by steam engines. The early cars would not have intimidated them at all. And they had the money.

Also the fenders. Clearly a Peerless. It could be a limousine. If so, then they are in front of his mother's car. Maybe he didn't own a car until after he returned from the war. He was living in Newark, NJ, so presumably one could get around in those days without owning a car. And he could use his mom's chauffeur. Thanks for the lead. I will see if I can pin down the model. Though with no side view, it won't be easy.

My brother sent me pictures of another car. The pictures are dated Winter 1916. My grandfather is in one picture, and his fiance is in the other. He would have been a little over 20 at the time. He would have had a car for a few years by 1916. His father had a car from about 1900. His mother's first car was bought at the end of 1909. (We know when the chauffeur was hired. I periodically get together with his granddaughter.)

Yesterday I sent the club the picture, for them to use on their site. The webmaster was thrilled. Only two 1918/19 models are known to exist. He thinks he knows the model, but asked for a couple days to research the car. I will report the results here. I did see that many of the Moon cars shown on the Car Photos page had no bumpers. I mentioned the bumpers to the webmaster, and also told him the car was purchased in Newark, NJ. My grandfather's first child was conceived circa April 23, 1919. So we have a fairly small window of time for when he got back and the car was bought.

My guess is the car was given to them by my great-grandparents, as a present to their son upon his return from the war. I know in later years my great-grandmother gave cars to her grandchildren.

I have never heard of a Moon Motor Car. Most of the pictures I've found have the headlight rims circular, and not octagonal. It is always possible that the headlights you see in a web picture got changed along the way, possibly for brighter ones. I lifted this picture from: https://www.historicvehicle.org/the-moon-motor-car-company/ The caption is "Actress Clara Bow straddling the hood of 1919 Moon in a baseball uniform. Photograph, 1926. Missouri History Museum Photographs and Prints Collections. Transportation. N00690." What is different is this bumper has two strips, and the above pictures have only one.

This photo is dated 1919. It is labeled "our first car." My grandparents were married in 1917. But my grandfather did not return from the war until early 1919. We now know that their next cars were Cadillacs, but this one is clearly not a Cadillac. Being newlyweds, Cadillacs would likely have been out of their price range.

My brother sent me a couple more photos of the 1931 Imperial Eight. My grandmother is in front in one.

The first car had two pictures, front and rear. The third picture is the second car. It is a 1922-23 Cadillac Type 61 Five Passenger Sedan. Go to page 8 of 12: https://www.autopaper.com/1922-1923-cadillac-type-61-prestige-sales-brochure-touring-phaeton-roadster-limo.php

The third car is the 1931 Chrysler Imperial Eight Five Passenger Sedan. Mike in Colorado, got it. Of course, it helped that he owned one, with the only difference being his is the 7 passenger and my grandparent's had the 5 passenger. With three cars in one post it did get confusing. Maybe it should be one car per post.

All identified! The 1931 Imperial variants are shown here: https://www.autopaper.com/1931-chrysler-imperial-eight-prestige-color-sales-brochure-catalog-original.php The car is a 1931 Chrysler Imperial Eight Five Passenger Sedan. Mike in Colorado has the Seven Passenger Sedan. Next time I am trying to identify a car I should start with that site. Very useful. Thanks all for your help. I hope you don't mind posts like this.