[It this radio control head from a 1935 Oldsmobile ?]

Thanks, pont35cpe. It's nice to also see what the knobs looked like.

[It this radio control head from a 1935 Oldsmobile ?]

My 79 year old friend is cleaning out his garage. He has some radios he salvaged back when he was a hot rodder in the 1950's

 

He thinks this is from a 1935 Olds, but I suspect it might not be.

 

Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[Wood mold]

Maybe Marmon? They had some cast bodies.

[Spring loaded hood hinges]

These came in the trunk of a 1986 VW Cabriolet parts car. The man who had it, worked on VW, Audi, and BMW, but also occasionally worked on Asian cars.

 

Anybody out there recognize them ?

[Trunk 1920's or early 1930's. Packard or Hudson ?]

I bought this trunk at  a yard sale in  a rural Maine town, at a  large railside building that had been a general store from about 1880 through 1960.

 

The sellers, who seemed to know little about old cars, said it was from a Packard. I suspect it isn't Packard, as it is of fairly light construction. I know from an old photo that this store sold Hudsons in the 1936.

 

  So, it might be Hudson, but I think it probably is an aftermarket item.

 

Its dimensions are 38 1/4 inches wide, 13 inches deep, and 16 1/2 inches high. Inside, it has a plywood insert on the bottom.  The latches are marked  "  USA  /    EXCELSIOR   /  STAMFORD   /   CONN. "

 

Any insight will be much appreciated ! 

[Cadillac Radio 1930's ???]

Thanks, drwatson, for your advice. It is a Wells Gardner 5X. 

 

Mr Google directed me to https://sites.google.com/site/identifyingcarradios/home/radios-1/cadillac.

 

This was for 1937 models of Cadillac and LaSalle. 

No mention is made if LaSalle had a different face plate.

 

This car radio site has a huge number of radios pictured, BTW !

 

 

[Cadillac Radio 1930's ???]

I guessing this from the 1930's, but not sure of the year.

 

My friend found this Cadillad radio in an old garage in downeast Maine. The top of the aluminum control unit case is marked "AC     RK PLUG CO.  FLINT         USA".    Either the stamping die was damaged, or low spots on the case prevented the missing letters from showing. 

 

Also, would this same radio have been used on LaSalle, or did they have a Lasalle logo on them?

[Crane Simplex and Packard in Jacksonville FL in 1917 Senator James Taliaferro owner]

Thanks, 58L - Y8 for your information, and enhancing the photos. My grandfather said the CS cost $12,000, which was an enormous sum back when gold was abiut $20.67 an ounce. I am contacting the Belfast Historical society, to see if they have any photos of the Taliaferro family with their cars. These 4 pictures were snapshots that my grandmother probably took. Can you tell me where to find the Crane Simplex link?

 

Hello, C Carl;   Well, we all can dream of  being given a great car like this ...  but perhaps it is still exists in a carriage house down South. The Taliaferro's was one of those old colonial families of Virginia, and possibly it has been preserved by them. My Grandfather enlisted in the Army in the fall of 1917, and was lucky enough to see no overseas duty. He saved up  his chauffeuring  and Army pay, and opened a garage in Belfast in 1920, which he operated until the end of 1945.  He worked on  a lot of the cars of the gentry, as well as rumrunners, and his share of farmer's Model T jalopies.  But, he and my grandmother (who was an upstairs maid for the Senator) used to recall thir happy days "before the War".

 

Hi, JimKB1MCV;     Thanks for your link to the Seal Cove Museum. Yes, I have seen this CS numerious times. There was also a gray touring car, (which may have been a Crane or Simplex,  but was similar) , when Mr Richard Payne was still alive. Mr. Payne was pretty eccentric, but his focus on those big pre WW1 cars paid off in the end. 

 

Your grandfather saw a bit more of the world than mine did. Driving those big monsters on the roads of the day was not an easy job. Then there was the routine maintenance, and the cleaning and polishing. Those old time chauffeurs certainly earned their pay.

[Crane Simplex and Packard in Jacksonville FL in 1917 Senator James Taliaferro owner]

On 3/14/2021 at 12:22 PM, 58L-Y8 said:

Hello, Douglas Gilmore Brown

 

Your grandfather got to drive some of the most expensive, high-quality luxury cars of the era.  These are great picture, thanks for posting them.  The Packard appears to have been a 1916-'17 Twin Six, though the predecessor 1914-'15 Six 5-48 looks much the same, a real WWI-Era Packard expert will have to narrow it down. Prices ranged for the Twin Six touring from $3,000 to $4,000.

  

The Simplex, Crane Model 5 is another matter, by the radiator design, it was one of the 467 cars built between 1915 to 1917 (some assembled from leftover stocks 1918-'19) after the Simplex Automobile Co. management bought the Crane Motor Car Company from Henry Crane.   While they did catalogue a seven passenger touring for $5,000-$7,500, the bare chassis price was $5,000-$6,000.  It was then up to the purchaser to have their custom coachbuilder of choice create a body for it, typically at price equal to or greater than the chassis price.  Senator Taliaferro's landauette town car certainly was bodied by Brewster, Healy, Demarest, Judkins, Hume, Farnham & Nelson, one of the high-quality custom coachbuilders of the era.

 

Here is a link to a topic dedicated to Simplex, Crane here on which you should post this history and photos as well, here is a better look at them.

 

[Vintage Wheel Cover]

Your first picture is what is the probably one of the first "hatchbacks". When I was a kid, a local house painter had one of these that he hauled his ladders and staging in.

[Crane Simplex and Packard in Jacksonville FL in 1917 Senator James Taliaferro owner]

My Grandfather, Will H. Dickey (1890 - 1972) of Belfast, Maine was chauffeur for Sen. James Taliaferro from about 1914 until Sept. 1917, when he joined the Army.  Mr. Taliaferro owned a mansion (still standing) in Belfast, which he used as a summer place. He hired Mr. Dickey to drive for him. Come winter, the cars were shipped on a flatcar to Florida.  They had the wheels removed, and were strapped down. Mr. Dickey oversaw this operation, and rode the train with them to Jacksonville, where they were reassembled. 

 

The Crane  Simplex has a Jacksonville plate on it. I don't think Florida had state issued plates then. This was Mr. Taliaferro's car.  The Packard was his wife's car. These pictures were taken in Florida, not Maine. Are the buildings in the pictures still standing? 

 

Mr. Taliferro has a brief biography on Wikipedia, and on Find A Grave. He is in the first one of the pictures. The other man is Mr. Dickey.

 

Does anybody have information on the models and years of these cars? Also, are either of them still in existence? I understand that the Crane Simplex was a very expensive car, and that not many of them were made.

[Can anyone identify this sedan?]

My neighbor, Joe Staples (1917 - 2007) hotrodded an Essex sedan in the late 30's. He shoehorned a big Studebaker six  and tranny into it, and added some leaves to the springs. The spring hangers were outboard from the sides of the frame, and the steel body was light weight and tough. 

 

He said that was a pretty popular conversion back in the day.

 

20 years ago, I was given a 1930 Essex frame that was sitting on an old stone wall. I put it on eBay. A fellow drove all the way from Florida to Maine to get it ... he wanted to a make a period rod out of it.

 

So if there is a frame buried in all that leaf litter, it might have some potential.

 

[Late 1920s GM roadster??]

Is that a Chevrolet banjo steering wheel on your 1926 Pontiac?

[Vintage wheel cover.]

23 minutes ago, The 55er said:

With the shape of that emblem and the colors I'm thinking it looks more like something from a 1951-1954 Desoto. 

I also think it is DeSoto

[Unusual Hubcaps]

I've read that the styling of the VW Beetle was derived from the Airflow coupes.

Your pictures seem to bear this out!  Great car.

[Rear quarter panel from late 1920s - early 1930s Coupe of Cabriolet]

I'm still curious about what this is from. The nail holes suggest it was mounted on a wooden frame, which would rule out Plymouth and Dodge. GM would be a likely candidate, but there were 100's of makes in the late 20's thru early 30s that had wood framed bodies.

[Is it bike or car?]

I think it was mounted on the top of the headlight pod of a late 1940's Chevrolet truck, to hold the turn signal.

I had a pair of these about 15 years ago.

[Can Anybody ID this solid truck tire and rim ?]

I checked it this morning, and it is a KELLY-SPRINGFIELD

[Can Anybody ID this solid truck tire and rim ?]

9 minutes ago, JFranklin said:

I would make a guess that it was Firestone.

Thanks for your comment; when it stops raining, I will go out to the shed and see who made it.

[Can Anybody ID this solid truck tire and rim ?]

This was found on a long - abandoned Maine farm about 20 years ago. The rubber  is black , but has weathered white. It is marked 34 X 5. It weighs about 100 pounds, probably would be a better lawn ornament than a restoration part. 

[Goddess of speed]

I suspect that this was made about the time that Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic, which was in May, 1927.

 

He was hugely popular at the time, and this may have been sold to commemorate / exploit the event.

[Banjo steering wheel with Saginaw steering gear]

Hi, Deliveryman,

 

Sorry, but it sold this almost immediately after I put it on ebay a few weeks ago. I used the proceeds toward a nice car hauling trailer that a fellow 8 miles down the road had for sale. Turns out that he has a nice (original paint)  1930 Chevy sedan in his garage.  It runs, but needs new wood in the driver's door. He wants to get it on the road. Nice to see a genuine barn find 90 year old car;  and he had some great stories about it.

 

If you can use a 1937 Chevy banjo wheel, there are a couple of them on ebay right now for under $400.00.

 

One of them looks really nice; better condition than mine was. Check it out.

 

There is a 1938 one also on ebay, but the ring is broken. I'm guessing the 1938 is scarcer than the 1938.

[Please help with 1930's Saginaw steering gear ... Chevy Car or truck ?]

The 82 year old man who had this said it was a late 30's Chevrolet; but was not sure of the year, or if it was from a car or pickup truck.

 

It has number "263238" and "SAGINAW GEAR" on it. 

 

The end of the shaft where the steering wheel attached is tapered and has a Woodruff key; and is smooth, without any splines.

 

 

[1930 's Headlight lens ?]

Whooops! Please pay no attention to the second picture. Here is the picture I should have used.

[1930 's Headlight lens ?]

This lens measures about 7 1/2 inches wide, and 7 3/8 inches high. The "bulge" on it is about 2 inches high.

It has no markings at all.

It has a flat bottom edge, so I suspect it was from the late 1930's, where the headlight pod was on top of the fender.

It came with a box lot of pre 1960 US car and truck parts.

Your help will be much appreciated.