Period images to relieve some of the stress

[John_Mereness]

8 minutes ago, keiser31 said:

Second car has that 1910 Overland look to it.

 

Really interesting tire pump. 

[Walt G]

I attended the auction of the cars at the Wallis C. Bird estate in Oyster Bay, N. Y. on long island.

The report and some discussion of the cars that Bird had and that had been in storage since pre WWII era has been discussed many times ( accurately and not so accurately!)

But what hasn't been talked about to much are the cars that were driven to the auction by collectors - just for something to do, and ride in a neat old car. Consider how old cars were viewed in 1962 ,

if you owned one you were usually considered a bit eccentric by most of your relatives and neighbors. You were not a preservationist, historically minded just "odd" ( yes, I am being kind in that description)

I had my Brownie box camera and took some photos of the cars in the parking lot ( which was a grassy field next to the Bird garages) not the ones at auction because they were deep in a garage with no real light for decent photographs by a kid .

One of the cars parked in the grassy field next to the garages was this Packard. It is very out of focus ( I was 12 years old) but I have never been able to determine what/who /why the car was altered to the state you see it in in the photograph. Does anyone know if that car still exists?

PS in 1963 I bought my first car , it was old and had running boards and came home being towed on the end of a stout rope , tow car was a 1941 Plymouth coupe and the car I bought was a 1931 Plymouth sedan that had not run since 1935 . That was my start - I wasn't interested at the time to own a car to drive, just wanted a car with running boards .

So does anyone reading this have any idea about the specific car I took the photo of in 1962? I never saw that car ever again.

Walt

[auburnseeker]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:11 AM, John_Mereness said:

 

I am on the same quest for a 1934, 1935, 1936 Auburn Phaeton (4 door Convertible) Top Boot. 

While you are at it,  I'll take one for my 31 Auburn Phaeton.

[edinmass]

1 hour ago, Walt G said:

I attended the auction of the cars at the Wallis C. Bird estate in Oyster Bay, N. Y. on long island.

The report and some discussion of the cars that Bird had and that had been in storage since pre WWII era has been discussed many times ( accurately and not so accurately!)

But what hasn't been talked about to much are the cars that were driven to the auction by collectors - just for something to do, and ride in a neat old car. Consider how old cars were viewed in 1962 ,

if you owned one you were usually considered a bit eccentric by most of your relatives and neighbors. You were not a preservationist, historically minded just "odd" ( yes, I am being kind in that description)

I had my Brownie box camera and took some photos of the cars in the parking lot ( which was a grassy field next to the Bird garages) not the ones at auction because they were deep in a garage with no real light for decent photographs by a kid .

One of the cars parked in the grassy field next to the garages was this Packard. It is very out of focus ( I was 12 years old) but I have never been able to determine what/who /why the car was altered to the state you see it in in the photograph. Does anyone know if that car still exists?

PS in 1963 I bought my first car , it was old and had running boards and came home being towed on the end of a stout rope , tow car was a 1941 Plymouth coupe and the car I bought was a 1931 Plymouth sedan that had not run since 1935 . That was my start - I wasn't interested at the time to own a car to drive, just wanted a car with running boards .

So does anyone reading this have any idea about the specific car I took the photo of in 1962? I never saw that car ever again.

Walt

 

 

Ask AJ'S dad.......he was there and taking photos....(and bought a car?)......I'm sure AJ will chime in. At the time that Packard with those lights would set into someones memory. 

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, Walt G said:

I attended the auction of the cars at the Wallis C. Bird estate in Oyster Bay, N. Y. on long island.

The report and some discussion of the cars that Bird had and that had been in storage since pre WWII era has been discussed many times ( accurately and not so accurately!)

But what hasn't been talked about to much are the cars that were driven to the auction by collectors - just for something to do, and ride in a neat old car. Consider how old cars were viewed in 1962 ,

if you owned one you were usually considered a bit eccentric by most of your relatives and neighbors. You were not a preservationist, historically minded just "odd" ( yes, I am being kind in that description)

I had my Brownie box camera and took some photos of the cars in the parking lot ( which was a grassy field next to the Bird garages) not the ones at auction because they were deep in a garage with no real light for decent photographs by a kid .

One of the cars parked in the grassy field next to the garages was this Packard. It is very out of focus ( I was 12 years old) but I have never been able to determine what/who /why the car was altered to the state you see it in in the photograph. Does anyone know if that car still exists?

PS in 1963 I bought my first car , it was old and had running boards and came home being towed on the end of a stout rope , tow car was a 1941 Plymouth coupe and the car I bought was a 1931 Plymouth sedan that had not run since 1935 . That was my start - I wasn't interested at the time to own a car to drive, just wanted a car with running boards .

So does anyone reading this have any idea about the specific car I took the photo of in 1962? I never saw that car ever again.

Walt

 

Walt,  given the lights and landau irons I assume European,   French maybe?     I can ask my dad but I doubt he will remember.   He's still mad at H. Dieter Holterbosch and the other guy for buying every single car.

 

 

[John_Mereness]

16 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

While you are at it,  I'll take one for my 31 Auburn Phaeton.

RE:  Top Boots

 

I never found a 31 Phaeton top boot in original form that anyone would part with for the 31 I restored with friends - not many exist, but I was fortunate to have someone take me a ton of photos and some rough dimensions (that was in the early 1980's and unfortunately I passed along with the car).

 

The same goes for 34-36 Auburn Phaeton - I have been supplied pictures and paper patterns of the top boot, but no one has been willing to part with their original cover (I know of two that exist, but apparently more have existed as there are cars with pretty close replicas on their cars and those were done prior to the two known showing  themselves).   I would like to have the pattern that eveyone borrows to complete theirs.   I bought the canvas today, so getting ready for my personal project.

 

 

[John_Mereness]

3 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 

Walt,  given the lights and landau irons I assume European,   French maybe?     I can ask my dad but I doubt he will remember.   He's still mad at H. Dieter Holterbosch and the other guy for buying every single car.

 

 

I think why the car looks so odd is that it has a 1940-ish grill grafted onto it verses a 35, 36, 37 style grill.  And, appears to have sealed beams in the European lights. 

 

The front fenders are very "English" looking in pattern.

[alsancle]

1 minute ago, John_Mereness said:

 

The front fenders are very "English" looking in pattern.

 

Agreed,  but the LHD made me think the continent.  I have a vague recollection of seeing something like it in a 1950s speed magazine.  But don't remember which one.

[alsancle]

Unless the photo is reversed?    You have a better scan Walt?   Those look like maybe fender mounted mirrors which would say English.

[Walt G]

Dieter Holterbosch bought the 1931 Duesenberg J roadster, Jim McAllister bought the 6 1/2 (?) or 8 litre Bentley coupe, Austin Clark bought the type 35 Bugatti race car that Wallis Bird raced at Roosevelt Raceway in 1936 or 1937 and Jacques Tunick of Greenwich, Ct. bought most of the others. Jacques and his brother Dave Tunick did a lot of wheeling and dealing of cars back then  . When I was there I remember the Tunick brothers talking loudly and making a lot of noise while the auctioneer was trying to sell the cars.

There were a pair of mint low miles 1938 Buick sedans in that collection too, bought for the hired help to use as their transportation. Everything sitting on original tires still.  Not much interest in the Buicks as they weren't even 25 years old at the date of the sale.

[Walt G]

the photo print I scanned is 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 and I scanned at 600 dpi, very out of focus print and the only print out of the half dozen or so I have of cars parked in that grassy field that is out of focus! Even at age 12 , I knew what a "cob job" was so far as the way things were put together and that Packard was absolute perfection , I am of the opinion still that it was done when the car was new or near new. It did look very "English" in styling, and it had a NY State license plate on it that was current to the era. What happened to it? Where is it?  Decades of exotic classics that now get rediscovered as "barn finds' to be pampered to Posh, Posh condition and then get powdered and fluffed to appear at concours events , displays, and other high class used car shows . ( A.J. and Ed are you smiling yet?! 😁)

Why do I remember all this stuff so many decades later?  Modern cars at the time of that sale are now considered antiques or classics, does that mean I am too? 🙁 not  likely!!!!!!!!

And here is another thing to ponder and keep us amused.

[edinmass]

This thread just keeps getting better.......and well over 300 pages!😎

[58L-Y8]

Condensing the image  and reducing the contrast seems to help show the details.  I'd opine it was a European coach-built Packard by the descending belt-line and top with landau irons with a 1940-'41 radiator grille grafted onto the wider shell, maybe a 1935 Eight. 

[John_Mereness]

TECHNOLOGY. German Empire Free State Prussia - Brandenburg Provinz (Province) - Berlin: Packard DeLuxe Eight Cabriolett at Car-Beauty-Contest on Berlin Grunewald-Rennbahn - undated Vintage property of ullstein bild.

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

?

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[keiser31]

Women dressed like men to survive a desert crossing....

Edited July 10, 2020 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

A Mack Sennett photo

 

[John_Mereness]

Harry Langdon

 

 

 

 

[John_Mereness]

[edinmass]

1 hour ago, 58L-Y8 said:

Condensing the image  and reducing the contrast seems to help show the details.  I'd opine it was a European coach-built Packard by the descending belt-line and top with landau irons with a 1940-'41 radiator grille grafted onto the wider shell, maybe a 1935 Eight. 

Could it be the Sergio Franchi Packard? About thr right time and place.

 

 

 

 

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, edinmass said:

Could it be the Sergio Franchi Packard? About thr right time and place.

 

 

 

 

Didn’t come to the US until 1970.

[Casper Friederich]

1927 saloon bodied Morgan Three-wheeler

[hanski]

9 hours ago, John_Mereness said:

?

Adler.

[Casper Friederich]

2 hours ago, hanski said:

Adler.

1923-24 6/24 PS, perhaps a former open tourer rebodied. The latter 6/25 had plainer headlights. 

The clothes the couple is wearing has a more 30s feeling, too.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Casper Friederich (see edit history)

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, Casper Friederich said:

1923-24 6/24 PS, perhaps a former open tourer rebodied. The latter 6/25 had plainer headlights. 

The clothes the couple is wearing has a more 30s feeling, too.

 

Agreed.   And I like it.

[Casper Friederich]

1927 Ballot 2-Litre

[LCK81403]

A 1907 ad for the Adams automobile used a term "Pedals To Push".  There is an article about the Adams vehicle in a publication titled Motor Traction, May 9, 1908, page 478, titled "The Adams Pedals-to-Push Cab."  The article describes the system as:  ...."the transmission gear is epicyclic, and the changes are controlled by pedals actuating the necessary brakes and clutches to bring the required gears into action. ... operated as it is by brakes and clutches ... provides three speeds forward and reverse ... power is taken by propeller shaft to the rear live axle."  The description of the Adams transmission suggests it is somewhat similar to but different than the Ford Model-T transmission, that uses foot pedals to operate bands in a planetary transmission.

[Casper Friederich]

12 hours ago, LCK81403 said:

A 1907 ad for the Adams automobile used a term "Pedals To Push".  There is an article about the Adams vehicle in a publication titled Motor Traction, May 9, 1908, page 478, titled "The Adams Pedals-to-Push Cab."  The article describes the system as:  ...."the transmission gear is epicyclic, and the changes are controlled by pedals actuating the necessary brakes and clutches to bring the required gears into action. ... operated as it is by brakes and clutches ... provides three speeds forward and reverse ... power is taken by propeller shaft to the rear live axle."  The description of the Adams transmission suggests it is somewhat similar to but different than the Ford Model-T transmission, that uses foot pedals to operate bands in a planetary transmission.

Based on the American Hewitt, according to Bill Boddy who wrote twice about the "pedals to push" Adams in his Motorsport Magazine, in September 1958 and August 1990 issues.

BTW Hewitt was swallowed up by Mack Trucks, mr. R. Hewitt remaining as a consulting engineer for the new company.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1958/51/fragments-forgotten-makes

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/august-1990/72/forgotten-makes-no93-the-pedals-to-push-adams

Edited July 12, 2020 by Casper Friederich (see edit history)