LCK81403

For those who like the stream lined look -- the 1937 Lewis Airomobile

IMHO side mount fenders is a design feature that should be on an automobile. I know this is a different strokes for different folks thing, but my preference and vote is for side mounted fenders. Two cars, the same general configuration and year, one with and one without side mounts, in my opinion the car without side mounts looks less complete and less interesting. I think my impression is both visual and subliminal because the side mounted tires are beside the engine compartment. Often a car is about the engine, how large, how much horse power, and for a V-8 how it sounds. My mind focuses on the front of the car, and perhaps the presence of more "stuff" in the form of side mount spares increases the largeness of the engine and power of the car. It is no secret that much of the glitz is in the front of a vehicle, such as the radiator shroud, radiator ornament, hood louvers, head lights and driving lights, bumpers. There isn't much glitz on the cars from the cowl back to the rear. Except for a well crafted boat tail. There are a few boat tails that make my heart race, but a number that also look pathetic and amateurish. I appreciate flowing lines and blending contours, but there is also a place for bold architecture blended in to make an overall statement. For me the attached '34 Buick 60, '33 Buick 90, and the 31 Cadillac 355A are beautiful, stately and with timeless design.

Interesting excess. Looks like it has a Straight-16 under the hood, and has a turning radius of North Dakota.

Hmmm. So how did the engineers arrive at their solution of the peculiar windshield in a closed car? None of the open cars, touring / roadster models have the peculiar windshield. Although the two-piece windshield of this 1924 Locomobile 48 Limo suggests it has parentage in the split windshields of the open cars, such as the '24 Buick touring.

John, I love this photo. It surely demonstrates the problem.

Somewhere lurking in my files are factory photos showing this unique style windshield being built up as the body is produced. I have been searching for those photos without luck. From what I could discern in the photos, building out the unique windshield was perhaps a "show stopper", in that probably nothing more was done to complete the body work until the windshield was finished. But returning to Auburn, the 1925 6-66 and 1926 8-88 had this type windshield. A 1927 Auburn ad shows three of their models with the peculiar windshield. Photos of the 1928 four-door sedan show the unique windshield while the Model 6-80 Victoria does not have it. Also in 1928 the Model 76 has the peculiar windshield but the Model 115 Phaeton sedan does not. Hence I am left with a question if the peculiar windshield was a special order option. It seems that to build the special windshield would have been more labor intensive and costly than simply supplying a normally mounted, vertical windshield.

Yes the Brewster also had such a unique windshield. Here are five photos of a 1921 Brewster.

So is this coupe a Packard? I see in the photo's background a Great Lakes iron ore boat; boats that were very common loading out of several ports in Minnesota and transiting to steel mills in the east. The presence of the iron ore boat tips off that the car is somewhere beside one of the lakes. More interesting is how and why the bizarre looking car windshield was built that way. I have other photographs that show this type of windshield under construction in the factory, and other photos that show details inside and outside. It seems that in most cases the windshield's architecture was meant to shed rain water and perhaps afford shielding from the sun. I have seen only one example of a windshield wiper attached to a windshield built in this configuration. It may have been an after market wiper installed by the owner.

In 1923 The Tarkington Motor Car Company, Rockford, Illinois advertised their product. The advertising speaks about a "car" but the only photo shows a rolling chassis. Although the ad does not explain, perhaps the customer would order a custom built body.

Front wheel drive was not a common feature in cars, but the Gardner had it in 1930.

1924 Heine-Velox Special, one of the first cars to use hydraulic brakes.

The new 1922 Ogren kind of resembled a Kissel and/or a Daniels. The Ogren Motor Car Company was located at 602-698 National Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1927 advertisement for the Auburn Sixty-Six, the Eight-Eight, and the Forty-Four.

1911 Cunningham

1920 Cunningham eight cylinder speedster, Clymer Scrapbook Number 6, page 193

1915 Luverne speedster model, manufactured in Luverne, Minnesota.

Seeing this photo really made my day. The man with the derby hat and great looking accordion adds a touch of high class. I have been playing accordion for 70 years and have had to endure good natured humor about the instrument. Now I feel vindicated by this photo documentation and high class association with the stage prop Packard, relegated to the background. How did that trombone get into the picture?

The 1916 Hackett. The slanted four louvers of the hood's side is seen on other vehicles. Was this an "assembled" car?

1913 De Tamble speedster. Eye goggles and even a windshield might be recommended for speeding.

Part of a 1914 Rauch and Lang advertisement. The banner says they have built coaches for over sixty years. That claim places their coach building experience back into the 1850s.

'15 Pullman

1908 Holsman highwheeler. Highwheelers were popular and important in the days of rural dirt roads in the American midwest. My grandfather had an International highwheeler back in the day, in Minnesota. According to my father, a trip in the highwheeler to visit family 52 miles distant took an entire day. His dad would stop about every 15 miles to check the amount of crankcase oil. And, he said, his dad could cuss a blue streak under his breath because of the slick hard rubber "tires" working in the mud.

'16 Lexington Minute Man

'15 Flagler

This advertisement from 1916 for "The Lad's Car" is interesting. The ad shows that the Niagara Motor Car Corporation, in Niagara Falls, New York built the vehicle. It resembles a Franklin in the hood and is a one-place speedster. Information is virtually non-existent about this vehicle. A Wikipedia article about the Wilson Automobile Manufacturing Company says that company operated between 1903 and 1905, and sold their vehicle as the "Niagara". Further, the 1904 Niagara runabout had a single-cylinder engine, could seat 2 or 4 passengers and sold for $850. The company was purchased by the La Salle-Niagara Company in 1905 and cars were built until 1906. There is a 10-year gap between the end of production in 1906 of a Niagara car, and this 1916 offering of Niagara Lad's Car. It is unclear from the ad if the Lad's Car is a pedal car or a motorize car.