1905? car to ID

[29 Chandler]

Here are a couple of pictures a friend sent me of one of his relatives. The picture was taken around 1905 possibly in Southern California. The question is what make are they?

[keiser31]

The top photo looks like a Maxwell. John

[West Peterson]

I believe the bottom car is a 1903 Thomas.

[NHcarnut]

I think it is interesting that the bottom photo used a hand-painted backdrop of the type used by a portrait studio. The floor is wooden planks and there appears to be oil stains. Maybe taken in a service station or a studio set up for this purpose?

[Layden B]

It was common in the days when a car was a new novelty that a photographer would set up at fairs, exhibitions and the like to take souvenir pictures in the car he provided as part of the prop. The photographer may well have sometimes driven the car to the location. Many of the prop cars stayed in one spot for years until the auto novelty wore off. There were even simulated autos. A friend that is an avid photo collector has a special category for these "paper moons".

[R Holden]

Hi

Photo number 2 is a very interesting photo. The car is most definitely a Thomas, you can see the T up side down in the hubcap and the rest of the word (not that you can see it) is written vertically within the T.

It is interesting as it is a 1902 Thomas Model 17 with a 1903 Thomas Model 18 bonnet (hood) and running boards. The identifying features of a model 17 are the detachable rear entrance body which was only used on the model 17 and the gear lever just below the steering wheel. This was for the planetery transmission. The model 18 went to a sliding selective transmission. The advance lever which you can just see below the gear lever turns in a horizontal plane where as the Model 18 lever runs vertically. The Model 18 also came with a steerring box where as in this photo, you can see the steering arm under the floor runs directly to the steering knuckle on the left front hub. This was one step removed from the tiller steering of the fore runner to E R Thomas Motors, the Buffalo.

The model 17's were all most likely produced between September 1902 and December 1902 as the Model 18 was announced to the Auto Media on 7th January 1903. The estimate of production for 1902 / 03 is 250 vehicles (there is no firm figures) about 50 of these were probably model 17's.

I can only guess that this photo is a late production model 17 with a early production Model 18 bonnet (hood).

Where can I get a quality copy of this photo?

Regards

Russell

[Ozstatman]

couple of pic's