Metz Runabout?

[John Duresky]

I'm working on a book about WWII POWs from Bataan.   This site was really helpful in identifying cars that belonged to the main deceased veteran of our book.   One thing has led to another, now I'm helping a friend locate information on her family, but now around WWI.    In a box she had photos with this car.    The closest I can come to identifying it is maybe a Metz around 1911.   A photo with the flags on the car is dated July 4, 1916.   Can anyone tell the make and model and year?   Looks like a hot little car to me, great shape to it, nice bicycle spoke tires.   In the photo of the back of it, you can see a shadow on the ground of a person, possibly his wife or girlfriend, with an elbow out.   Not hard to imagine they were using one of those box cameras where you had to look down in the top of it to frame the picture.....not quite an iPhone, but it took a really nice shot of the car. Thanks   John Duresky

[keiser31]

Model T Ford with a custom body and hood.

[John Duresky]

Wow, was I ever off.    Thanks much.   Pretty cool car.   Would it have been common to do that back then.   In some photos they have that angled enclosed box (poor man's trunk I guess) on the back, and the photo of the guy with the buck slung over his shoulder it looks like an open pickup type box.   In a day when aerodynamics weren't even considered, it has a fairly streamlined look.

[keiser31]

Fairly common to remove the turtle deck and add a pickup bed.

[Terry Bond]

Very commonly done. I have a whole collection of early auto accessory catalogs and they all had bodies for Ts that you could buy to make anything from a truck to a race car from. Will ck and see if I can find a body like the one in the pjcture. Could be that it was home made from parts of several cars though.

Terry

[John Duresky]

Thanks Terry, in any case whoever did it was creative.   John

 

[John Duresky]

Here's another cool car, looks like a doughboy from some point after WWI.   I'm sure I was mistakenly born in the wrong decade.   I was supposed to be born around 1900 so I could have been around when those cars were everywhere.   Cars then were works of art, not they're just works of computer graphics. 

 

 

[1937hd45]

Hood and cowl and maybe the seat look to be PACO Speedster parts, trunk looks home made. Note the rolled bead on the PACO hood. Bob 

Edited April 29, 2020 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[John Duresky]

The photo with the flag on it was dated July 4, 1916, so the car must be from that year or earlier.   Can certainly see the similarities with the PACO (which I had never heard of before).  

[1937hd45]

Wire wheels may be Hayes an early supplier of aftermarket Speedster wheels. Bob 

[keiser31]

15 minutes ago, John Duresky said:

Here's another cool car, looks like a doughboy from some point after WWI.   I'm sure I was mistakenly born in the wrong decade.   I was supposed to be born around 1900 so I could have been around when those cars were everywhere.   Cars then were works of art, not they're just works of computer graphics. 

 

 

Another Model T Ford.

[coachJC]

2 minutes ago, keiser31 said:

Another Model T Ford.

most likely a 1915

[28 Chrysler]

1916 Arizona plates on the car and with a fair amount of oil and dirt on the rear end, it may have been a 3 year old wreck when it was modified.

[John Duresky]

If so, that would place its model year around 1913~1914.   Thanks

1 minute ago, 28 Chrysler said:

1916 Arizona plates on the car and with a fair amount of oil and dirt on the rear end, it may have been a 3 year old wreck when it was modified.

 

[oldcarfudd]

The touring car has already had some paint changes.  The wheels would have been black from the factory; these have been repainted in a light color and pin-striped.  Also, the light-colored pin-striping on the body was added after the car left the factory.  Some well-off buyers could have paid the dealer extra to do that bit of customizing before delivery.

[coachJC]

With the car having the large style no rivet rearend and the smooth backing plates it is most likely a 1915 chassis. The colour photo shows what a 1913/14 rear housing would look like with the 12 rivets around the pot.

Edited April 29, 2020 by coachJC (see edit history)

[John Duresky]

Gentlemen, thank you very much for all this expert information.   I've passed it all on to my friend, Melisa, so her family history becomes a bit more detailed.    One interesting little side note, the man I'm writing the WWII book about got his first ride in a plane in 1929 after winning a contest as a Boy Scout.   He went up in a WACO biplane and now we have a PACO speedster.   PACO meet WACO.