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A mystery car


Guest imipak

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Guest imipak

CarInFrance.jpg

Sorry about the quality of the image - I'm enlarging a very small portion of a very old negative. I think the photograph was taken in France, but I do not know what part or what year. Or, even, who took the photograph. For right now, though, it is the car that is of interest.

What I would like to know is the best guess at make, model and year, or range thereof given that the photo is probably not good enough to be exact.

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Guest imipak
Fender skirt's put it early/mid thirty's. What's this other car to the right?

The car at the side of the photo is sadly chopped off the negative. All you can see is a little bit of the front of the car. However, there are two other cars on the original photograph. I didn't include those originally as they're further away and therefore you don't get much detail.

FrenchCars2.jpg

I am compiling a list of all the vintage cars in the photographs I'm scanning. I am up to 10 so far, including what seems to be a 1920's three-wheeler.

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Guest Foggy norm

Was wondering why you mentioned France...Dubonnet!, also the large license plate n the second pic. The car in question sure appear's to be a limo of some sort, enough room for seven passenger's.

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Guest Foggy norm

That bothered my eye also, wondered how many time's it was bumped into and the suicide handle right there! Then too, what size wheels?, twelve spoke. I think the chrome on the hood side may help identify it.

Wonder if Kieser has foreign pix.

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Hi Folks,

Not a very good photo but I am relatively sure that this is a cca 1934 Renault Vivastella, and that the spare wheel was never intended to be there, - at least none of the cars I have photos of have a spare there! Low waistline, lights a la Traction, multiple horizontal bonnet louvres, pressed steel wheels, running boards etc etc..... surely has to be!

Regards

Vintman (UK)

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Guest imipak

I have found 1934 and 1935 models that did indeed have the spare at the front, so I am declaring this a perfect match. Thanks! That was a tough one - a few I asked even said IDing it wad impossible, so kudos for doing the impossible.

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Guest imipak

Histomobile has the following images which seem to be relevant:

Renault Vivastella (PG5,PG7) - 1934-1935

744801.jpg

Renault Vivastella (ZA2) - 1934

http://www.histomobile.com/histomob/internet/24/745701.jpg

Renault Vivastella (ACR1) - 1935

746401.jpg

The first has the spare wheel in the right place and the right size of side windows, but the rear door handle is in the wrong place. The second has the right door handles, the right windows and the right back. The third has the correct engine compartment -- but we can't see if the wheel is there or not.

The back is more visible when you see the whole of the negative, although the rest of the car is too small to pick out any meaningful details, which is why I provided the zoomed copy. (The car of interest is in the lower left corner.)

StEdmunds014.jpg

So we can be certain this is a Renault Vivastella, built in the 1934-1935 timeframe, which means this is not a production-line machine. The context makes me think that the photo was taken barely post-war, but I can't say that with any certainty. The envelope containing the negative had no date or other information, so that part is highly speculative. I avoided posting it before to avoid distracting with information that might well be wrong.

However, it might well explain why it might be a mishmash of variants of the same basic model by the same manufacturer. Unless anyone can find a better match, I think we've found the identity.

A huge thank you to everyone on this thread.

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