Need help identifying 1920's 4 door sedan

[richard m]

This 1920's sedan cowl has no id tag or any makers marks though it looks like there once was a serial number tag on the drivers A-pillar held on by four small rivets.  It has distinctive hidden rolled/interlocking 17 1/2" long hinges on the front doors along with a single conventional lower exposed hinge.  The rear doors have a long 26" hidden hinge only, no exposed hinge.  The front doors are hinged at the A-pillar, the rears are hinged at the rear.  The body has two parallel belt moldings stamped into the sheet metal that are 3" apart .  The lower one that starts on the cowl is 1/2 inch wide; the upper belt molding on the doors is 1" wide. There are no cowl lights, but there is a large cowl vent.  It has a split windshield with the top portion hinged at the top and the bottom part hinged about 2/3 up from the bottom.  The firewall is indented to accommodate the engine (6, 8 or ?). There is an oil can holder on the firewall that may be original or add on.  What is it?  Thanks, Richard

[keiser31]

Is there a dashboard in there?

[richard m]

Unfortunately no, the dash is missing.  

[keiser31]

Those piano hinged doors will be the tell along with the lack of cowl lamps.

[nzcarnerd]

Piano hinged doors - Essex circa 1925?

[keiser31]

4 minutes ago, nzcarnerd said:

Piano hinged doors - Essex circa 1925?

Nope. Those were hinged at the rear edges of all of the doors....i.e. suicide door style.

Edited April 2, 2019 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[keiser31]

I have seen that style with the piano hinge/standard hinge combination. I just cannot remember on what. Must be getting old and feeble.

Edited April 2, 2019 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[54vicky]

31 minutes ago, keiser31 said:

I have seen that style with the piano hinge/standard hinge combination. I just cannot remember on what. Must be getting old and feeble.

that is a very rare thing take 2 aspirin get a good nights rest and I am sure it will come to you😉

[nzcarnerd]

3 hours ago, keiser31 said:

I have seen that style with the piano hinge/standard hinge combination. I just cannot remember on what. Must be getting old and feeble.

 

The 1929 Whippet used the combination of hinges but that model has different mouldings. From what I can see the 1928 Whippet has conventional hinges.

 

The mystery car is certainly earlier than 1929  - more like 1925-27 I think.

[richard m]

Yes, the piano hinges are pretty unique, and the combination of the front doors with mixed piano and conventional, and the rear doors with piano hinges-only is even more unique.  Plus the split windshield suggests mid-20's not late '20's when most cars had one piece windshields, so yes it points to 25-27 at the latest.  It appears that a feature of the Whippets is suicide front doors, which this car did not have.  Then there is the lack of cowl lights like all the Nash's had and add in the twin belt lines and it gets even more complicated.  Looking thru the Standard Catalog of American Cars the only car that comes close is the 1923-25 Cole, a competitor to Cadillac, in which some models had the combined piano/conventional front door hinges, piano style rear door hinges, and twin belt lines.  But all Coles from 1916-25 had Northway V-8s, so why the indented firewall in this car that looks to be for an inline engine?  Is it a some model of Cole, Cadillac, Nash, Essex, Whippet or some other more common make?  Hopefully someone on the forum knows.  Thx for all the responses, Richard   

[keiser31]

You say, "split windshield", but I see a reveal for the one-piece frame and a couple of indentations for brackets in the middle. Does it have a few screw holes underneath the header in order to hold a piano-hinged windshield frame?

Edited April 3, 2019 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[richard m]

Yes, you are right there is a piano hinge across the top of the windshield opening.  So, it may be a one piece windshield and the brackets 2/3 of the way up are for the hardware that holds the swing out windshield open.  The brackets at the top of the opening may be for a visor?   -Richard

[Greg H.]

At first I thought Whippet, but the fire wall is different. Did a little digging in the photo section of the WOKR website and it looks like it’s a 28 Falcon Knight model 12. The door hinges had me baffled, however looking at the pictures, they seem to match. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Greg H. (see edit history)

[richard m]

Thanks Greg H.  Yes, I believe you are right, the 1928 Falcon Knight seems to have all the right features, particularly the piano door hinges which appear to be unique to the 1928 cars. Thanks for the great detective work!