Can you help identify this car?

[Arturs]

Hi,

 

I would be glad, if you could help me to identify car in given picture. I think picture was taken in 1930s in Latvia. My apologies for poor image quality, but it seems that original picture is lacking quality. It's a seven-seater with a torpedo body and it seems that steering wheel is on right side. Bonnet ornament cannot be seen very well, but it looks flat and wheel rims seem to be made kinda heavy duty. In '20s and '30s American made cars were very popular here, so it could be American, but steering wheel is placed on the right side, which is not very common for American made cars, right? But at first glance it reminds American. :). Car has brakes on rear wheels only, maybe this helps.

 

Thanks for your help in advance. I’m looking forward to your reply.

 

[lump]

Wow, eight rim clamps on those wood spoke wheels. That's not so common in US cars, and it may be a clue for the experts to use in identifying this neat old touring car.

 

If it were an American car, I would guess its vintage to be from about 1917 to 1922, or so.

 

Thanks for sharing the photo. 

[Layden B]

Early 1920s Cadillac

[Dave Mellor NJ]

1920 for comparison.

 

[Leif Holmberg]

My first thought was Cadillac too, just becuse of the wheel hubs.

 

Leif In Sweden.

 

[Leif Holmberg]

Just wonder if it was left hand drive car.

 

Leif in Sweden

 

[nzcarnerd]

I reckon it is a Cadillac, a circa 1918-19 Type 57. And it is right hand drive because the Cadillacs have that access panel on the left side valance and the drivers side of the mystery car is clear with no access panel.

 

The blue car in Dave Mellor's photo is the later Type 59 five-passenger phaeton- it has a different style of door fit and it has a cowl vent which the Type 57 didn't.

 

The mystery car is a Seven Passenger Touring. The Type 59 Seven Passenger Touring supposedly has exterior door handles.

 

It is interesting looking at pictures of Cadillacs of this era. Especially in the Crestline book 80 Years of Cadillac LaSalle, where I think there are some wrongly-dated pictures because the hood louvres very from coarse to fine. I think the Type 55 has the coarse louvres and the Type 57 the fine ones - but maybe both types were available?

[Dave Mellor NJ]

No exterior handles on either car.

[nzcarnerd]

Which is why it is a type 57. The blue car is a type 59 five-passenger.

[Arturs]

Hi again,

 

Sorry about my absence. Saw your replies and they were really helpful.

 

When I was searching for big US made cars, somehow forgot about Cadillac, silly of me, because I am seeing one every other day.

It does really look like Cadillac Type 57, but is it really 1918-1919 model? Not 1919? Because 1919 model has more ventilation cuts in hood side cover (if I called it correctly) much like "mystery car " has. Also, later model does not have access covers below doors, like earlier model has.

 

But on the other hand, the rest of the body looks like 1918 model, especially shape of the doors and it does not have door handles either, just like "mystery car" doesn't have. Still, at the moment I am judging using pictures found in internet, those pictures also might be misleading. I will post them.

 

Kind regards,

 

Arturs

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2018 by Arturs (see edit history)

[nzcarnerd]

Regarding your reference to 'ventilation cuts,'  the word you were looking for is 'louvres' or in American it is 'louvers.'

 

The difference in the coarse and fine louvres is the difference between 1918 and 1919. They were both type 57 but the 1919 cars received some visual changes. The hood louvres is the most obvious but less obvious is a change to the shape  of the doors. According to The Standard Catalog, the earlier 1918 cars with the coarse louvres should have the more rounded edged doors and the later 1919 cars have the squarer edges. The two cars above are the other way around. I will have to do some research and see which is correct.

 

I notice also that the 'military' car above has the valance access panel on both side - easily seen in the many pictures of this car on the net.

 

Looking again at the original photo, I think the car is left hand drive and the woman is at the wheel.

 

Stating again that the mystery car is a 1919 type 57 seven-passenger touring.

[Leif Holmberg]

 

I think you are right, nzcarnerd. "Looking again at the original photo, I think the car is left hand drive and the woman is at the wheel."

 

Leif in Sweden.

[Arturs]

7 hours ago, nzcarnerd said:

Stating again that the mystery car is a 1919 type 57 seven-passenger touring.

 

Yeah, I think the same now. Once again, big Thank You all for you replies, much appreciated!