Barry Wolk Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC5 Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 No preconceived notions of how large a car should be going on there! What a beast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 I'm told they were taken in Jackson, MI, so those are probably normal-sized cars on the streets. :eek:Looks like a Mercedes tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcarfudd Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 In the days before power assists, who drove it? King Kong?Gil Fitzhugh, Morristown, NJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 On another site someone said it was an early Escalade on 22s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Was there a car called a Michigan that was huge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Phillips Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 There was the "Mighty Michigan" but the only one I've ever seen, plus the photos I've seen didn't look anything like this monster! Larry, where did you unearth this photo?Pete Phillips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexRiv_63 Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I thought the teens Olds Limited was the biggest car but I was wrong, Holy Cr*p, that is enormous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Saxton Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 You can rule out Tipo KM Isotta Fraschini, bcause of wood wheels, lack of front brakes,long wheelbase and probable shaft drive. Otherwise the KM is about the right size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TG57Roadmaster Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Was the circus in town? 'Cause this won't be over till the Fat Lady sings...This bigger-than-life Studebaker has been discussed before, but it's always fun to see again. As for Barry's pics, are we looking at a truck-based vehicle, a big European make, or some steroidal circus freak? Does the inelegant external doorsill bracing secure the huge top when it's up? Whatever the outcome, it's curious as all get out!TG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 Do you mean the flaps behind each door? They look like they were spring steel and were meant to keep the door from slamming against the body as it flung open going down the road.:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzcarnerd Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I think if a regular large car of the time - a Packard or Pierce for example instead of the compact roadster- were put next to this car it would not look so big. The radiator does have a Germanic look to it. The side lights in the fender fronts are odd, and vulnerable to damage as seen by the right front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhb1999 Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 The radiator does have a Germanic look to it.Mercedes??? Just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdome Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 My guess is that it is home made, assembled from junk yard parts, maybe built on a truck chassis. Those are heavy wheels with 14 or 16 lugs. The body may be from another car and doesn't seem to go with the hood. The belt line ends at the hood instead of continuing on to the hood in the usual way. The hood doesn't fit well at the bottom of the cowl. The paint on the body looks slightly darker than the hood & aprons. The gas headlamps look truckish also. The lights mounted in the front of the fenders look like 30's electric lights? The hood, radiator shell & grill look simple enough that they could have been hand fabricated with simple tools. The body looks to be of 20's design and curved but the hood is made up of flat panels with steamer trunk type latches instead of hinges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidAU Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Big Foot's great great grandpappy? The radiator looks a lot like an S.P.A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzcarnerd Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 My guess is that it is home made, assembled from junk yard parts, maybe built on a truck chassis. Those are heavy wheels with 14 or 16 lugs. The body may be from another car and doesn't seem to go with the hood. The belt line ends at the hood instead of continuing on to the hood in the usual way. The hood doesn't fit well at the bottom of the cowl. The paint on the body looks slightly darker than the hood & aprons. The gas headlamps look truckish also. The lights mounted in the front of the fenders look like 30's electric lights? The hood, radiator shell & grill look simple enough that they could have been hand fabricated with simple tools. The body looks to be of 20's design and curved but the hood is made up of flat panels with steamer trunk type latches instead of hinges. The style of the other cars on the street and the licence plate would suggest a date of not much after 1910 for the photo. The wheels might have 14 or more bolts holding the hubs together but they only have six lugs holding the rims on the wheels so thay are not that big. Certainly looks custom built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steve283 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 So if your a coach builder and got a firetruck and decided to make a big car for parades. this is what you would get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest T-Head Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I believe it is a 1910-13 High quality chassis with with possibly a custom body. At the very least the radiator and hood are custom because they do not look like anything that was produced.The key to ID this I think is the chassis, wheels and the splash aprons with the covers at the back for the front of the spring. I spent quite a bit of time looking at photos of large period cars but have not hit on the right one yet.Barry if you would like to, send me the photos @ The Old Motor and we can run them on there also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caddyshack Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 The top bows look way out of proportion to the rest of the rear body section. I would love to see what's under the hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Old48Truck Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 My guess is that it is home made, assembled from junk yard parts, maybe built on a truck chassis. Those are heavy wheels with 14 or 16 lugs. The body may be from another car and doesn't seem to go with the hood. The belt line ends at the hood instead of continuing on to the hood in the usual way. The hood doesn't fit well at the bottom of the cowl. The paint on the body looks slightly darker than the hood & aprons. The gas headlamps look truckish also. The lights mounted in the front of the fenders look like 30's electric lights? The hood, radiator shell & grill look simple enough that they could have been hand fabricated with simple tools. The body looks to be of 20's design and curved but the hood is made up of flat panels with steamer trunk type latches instead of hinges.I think those lugs you see are just bolts that hold the spokes to the hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 I don't think it's home-made at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I don't think it's home-made at all.I don't either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzcarnerd Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Depends what you mean by home made. The components are all 'factory' made, probably by any of several manufacturers who supplied components to 'assembled car' builders. Porbably just the body is 'custom-built'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscheib Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 If someone has a rather realistic idea of the wheelbase of tghe smaller roadster, one could probably estimate the wheelbase of the first "monster car", as it seems abouyt 30% more.Someone mentioned the brakes. I think it should have also come with an anchor, if only rear brakes.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim_Edwards Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I'm wondering if this is not an early Daimler. Maybe even their first four wheel drive car, which I have been unable to find a photo of anywhere on the Internet.I'm surprised no one has mentioned the location of the parking lights. Quite unusual for the obvious era of the car and also unusual in that the appear to be electric and not carbide like the headlights appear to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 The car on the right looks like a Metz which were very small cars, so maybe the "big" car is not as big as it looks in relation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steve283 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 i think we found out Mr. Zimmermans secret... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest my3buicks Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) sure has a lot of similarities in the grill to these 1914/15 Mercedes Edited January 1, 2012 by my3buicks (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prs519 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 iI am strongly reminded of the Fatty Arbuckle Pierce Arrow, especially from the cowl back. The car still exists; Mr. Coker made white tires for it, which I found when I googled it. Maybe someone else had a custom Pierce made similar to Arbuckle's, wrecked it up front, then patched it back together with a truck front section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 The car on the right looks like a Metz which were very small cars, so maybe the "big" car is not as big as it looks in relation.What do you mean by small? Any wb or tire size info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Layden B Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Probably someones idea of a "battlewagon auto". This was done on a Model T Ford chassis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What do you mean by small? Any wb or tire size info?Don't know the wheelbase, but I would think that a Metz or similar car would be about the size of a Model T or slightly smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest De Soto Frank Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I think it is Mercedes or M-B-based, especially after comparing to the photos posted in #28...The radiator, starting crank, wheels, and general look of beast scream "uberKaiserwagen" ( or something of the sort) to me.... wonder if it came with a helmet with the spike on top ?While it is a large car, the children in the first photo, especially the one behind the steering wheel, suggest it is not ridiculously overszed, like the gigantic Studebaker at the old proving grounds. There is a certain amount of distortion in the first photo created by perspective of the camera and that giant radiator that make the car seem even larger and more unaesthestic than it likely was in real life.It was never accused of being "pretty" or "sleek"...I wonder what they did for a windscreen when they had to put the top up ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Those aren't children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Those aren't children."That's no moon..."Actually, my first impression was an early Mercedes, particularly because of the grille. They did make some truly massive cars, and I think the perspective and surroundings in the photos seem to emphasize it. Even so, there's no denying that it's a big, big car. I doubt there were many home-built cars of that scale in that era--whatever it is, it's still fairly new (EVERYTHING was fairly new in the teens). I doubt someone built it on a lark. It's extremely cool, whatever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memech1 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 i would think maybe european as it looks like the steering wheel is on the right.just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mschiffel Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 could this big car be a German made Benz ???...as in the "Blitzen Benz" that had a front mounted supercharger ???....just guessing here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 i would think maybe european as it looks like the steering wheel is on the right.just a guess.There were no standardization of steering wheel location early on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Looks like a Lalique type rad cap if you enlarge the first pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest my3buicks Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Looks like a Lalique type rad cap if you enlarge the first pic.Ditto that, I thought the same but couldn't be sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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