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Mystery car


TerryJones

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Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can identify this car. The radiator shape looks very unusual. It came with a load of WW1 post cards so I'm assuming it's a car or ambulance  dated between 1914 and 1918.  Thanks for your help,

 

Terry

Mystery Truck (1).jpg

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It looks like either the site of a battle, or a motorpool scrap yard on the Western Front. I see parts of at least 4 vehicles. The dual wheels clad w/ solid rubber tires in the foreground are what you'd find on a heavy flatbed truck. The rad shell...fronting a 4-cyl. t-head engine...looks like it's from a 1916 Kissel. Kissel built cars and trucks in Wisconsin.

.

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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Thank you for your help Jeff. That's brilliant!  I didn't think anyone would even attempt to identify it with so little to go off and such a poor a photo. Amazing job! I was stuck on the usual suspects , Dodge, Buick or Cadillac but the radiator just didn't seem right for any of them. The Kissel looks right to me. 

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I really don't know...a guess from looking at The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942, VOL. I  by Kimes & Clark, which many of us have. Thank Bev and Austie! It doesn't take a genius to sort out the 10  11 (oops, forgot King Midget) car companies post-World War II, but without that, how would one tell a Case, a Cole, or a Crow-Elkhart apart? The Standard Catalog has 5000 carmakers listed.

Edited by jeff_a (see edit history)
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3 hours ago, Great War Truck said:

Hi Terry

It is a three ton German Opel truck. A good restoration project.

Cheers

Tim

 

 

Thanks Tim. A friend of mine suggested an Opel, the radiator looks the same and the badge looks very close but he didn't think they were chain driven.  I thought it was perhaps a 1915 Mack AB Truck as that was chain driven and had  dual wheels but the radiator looks a lot more like an Opel truck and looking at a photo of a WW1 Opel I can also see dual wheels at the back.  I'm happy to bow to your greater knowledge and take it as a Great War Opel Truck. Thanks for your help, I will pass it on the owner of the post card collection so he can catalogue it. 

Edited by TerryJones (see edit history)
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5 hours ago, 28 Chrysler said:

The frame is from a large chain driven truck. A chain sprocket can be seen near where 304 is written in the photo. The wheel with the tire missing  chunks may have been on the truck.

 

Thanks for looking, I'm amazed how you managed to spot a chain sprocket! 

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At least two different vehicle remains here. The Opel and the larger chain driver. It looks like a post battle; possibly just post war , memorial. Notice the cross and plaque in the background. Also small pine trees, an early wartime Christmas memorial ?

 

Greg in Canada

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4 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

At least two different vehicle remains here. The Opel and the larger chain driver. It looks like a post battle; possibly just post war , memorial. Notice the cross and plaque in the background. Also small pine trees, an early wartime Christmas memorial ?

 

Greg in Canada

 

I wondered about the cross and plaque, probably a memorial sight as you say.  I came across a photo of an Opel truck that looks to have identical parts to at least some of the wreck, apart from the radiator being the same, the curved front axle bar can be seen on the floor just in front of it, but if the Opel truck was shaft driven rather than chain driven then there is clearly more than one vehicle present. Makes me wonder why there would be wrecked trucks in a memorial sight. 

please.jpg.dba957ce524042aaf9a3ef7ae2c1447f.jpg

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Hi Ed

We really do have to meet up in the flesh one day. You must come over and have a drive! Sorry for the slow reply. There really are too many forums for me to look at so I have to rotate which ones I visit. Back to this one today.

The original photograph of the Opel is a much edited down one. The original picture (published in Germany) shows many more vehicles in a wrecked condition and neatly laid out. It gives the impression that it is a WW1 German memorial for wrecked vehicles and maybe their drivers? Something quite unusual. Perhaps December 1918? The Allies were much more in favour of taking the wrecks away for spares or recycling, so I wonder if this is actually a post war memorial when there was less effort expended in recovering the parts – but it would all be taken for scrap later on. There is a three ton Opel at the Sinsheim museum but that is a different model entirely.

Sorry Ed, the Thornycroft restoration has been completed and I have attached a photo of us taking it home. 30 years work on that one with 5 interludes while we restore other trucks! The next project is the Peerless restoration. That will give you a new blog to follow.

http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/35087-ww1-peerless-lorry-restoration/#comments

This one should be quicker (hopefully, maybe just 5 years?)

Cheers

 

Tim  

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If you come to the states, be sure to let me know. I’m looking for a WWI Pierce Arrow truck project for you...........as soon as I find one I will let you know. Best, Ed.

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On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 3:22 PM, Great War Truck said:

Ah. I have a friend with a chassis, he is just looking for everything else. No hurry. We still have 10 years of Peerless restoration ahead of us.

Cheers

 

Tim

IMG_0389.JPG

 

Tim - Is your friend with the pictured chassis interested in selling or trading it? I have been looking for a dual tired rear end for a Kissel truck project I'm starting. If not selling, I have many spare Kissel car chassis and parts from 1916 to 1926 which could be traded. Please advise.

Ron Hausmann P.E.

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