To make a short story long... (Using an old truck to find a stone airplane)

[J. Vissers]

The short story is, we're trying to determine the make and model of the vehicle in the attached photo so we can determine the size of some of the parts, like the headlight and the bumper.

 

The long story is partially contained in this link: https://www.mininggazette.com/news/2020/08/search-remains-ongoing-for-long-lost-stone-airplane/

 

But since there's a sometimes-functioning paywall I'll try to resummarize.

 

The photo was taken somewhere on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan during the copper mining era. As you can see, there's an airplane behind the gentlemen in the photo, which has a real prop but is otherwise made of stone masonry and what looks like steel rails. Ultimately, we're trying to locate the remains of that stone airplane. We believe it was a CWA project, because there are three stone boats of similar construction that were, but no records can be found to confirm that and provide location information.

 

Instead, we're trying to judge the distance to the shafthouse in the background on the left of the photo. Using that, we can calculate a radius from a few of the shafthouse locations, see where they intersected old roads, and narrow our search to a handful of easily-searchable areas. I've enlisted the help of a professor from Michigan Technological University to help me with the math.

But we need the dimensions of some things that are in the photograph. The car parts are a standard size (we hope), so if we can identify exactly what they are, we figure we should be able to come up with measurements.

 

Our best guess at the moment is that it's a mid-1920's Dodge truck or sedan, but we lack expertise with classic vehicles.

 

And that has brought me here.

 

Can you help us out?

[JACK M]

My guess is less than a hundred yards.

Background items always seem to look farther away than they really are. Especially in old photos.

That fence and the the way that the dirt looks my guess would be that the fence probably runs near to the back of the plane. 20 or 30 feet max, probably closer.

[Mattml430]

I’m definitely no expert but I don’t think it’s a dodge. The guards and radiator surround are quite a bit different to a dodge brothers. Someone here will know what car it is for sure. Maybe about a 1924-25 chev. 
The top of the guards are raise from the inner sides and the top of the radiator surround looks to be pressed out a little. 
Good luck with your search. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Mattml430 (see edit history)

[J. Vissers]

We've also considered the idea that the vehicle may not be very new, and may have alternative replacement parts from other vehicles on it.

 

Just to complicate things a little more...

[Mattml430]

This is what I found I think it’s similar. The guard is a little different. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Mattml430 (see edit history)

[TonyAus]

The car in the photo looks like a Maxwell.  In any event, the usual headlight lens diameter of a car in this class  is around nine inches.  Hope this helps.

[J. Vissers]

Thanks, everyone.

 

We'd like to get more precise, if possible, but this is a starting point at least. How close to 9 inches do they typically run? If we end up using that number, we'll want to keep track of how accurate it is (or isn't). The less accurate our numbers, the larger area we'll be searching.

[keiser31]

On 9/23/2020 at 9:21 AM, J. Vissers said:

The short story is, we're trying to determine the make and model of the vehicle in the attached photo so we can determine the size of some of the parts, like the headlight and the bumper.

 

The long story is partially contained in this link: https://www.mininggazette.com/news/2020/08/search-remains-ongoing-for-long-lost-stone-airplane/

 

But since there's a sometimes-functioning paywall I'll try to resummarize.

 

The photo was taken somewhere on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan during the copper mining era. As you can see, there's an airplane behind the gentlemen in the photo, which has a real prop but is otherwise made of stone masonry and what looks like steel rails. Ultimately, we're trying to locate the remains of that stone airplane. We believe it was a CWA project, because there are three stone boats of similar construction that were, but no records can be found to confirm that and provide location information.

 

Instead, we're trying to judge the distance to the shafthouse in the background on the left of the photo. Using that, we can calculate a radius from a few of the shafthouse locations, see where they intersected old roads, and narrow our search to a handful of easily-searchable areas. I've enlisted the help of a professor from Michigan Technological University to help me with the math.

But we need the dimensions of some things that are in the photograph. The car parts are a standard size (we hope), so if we can identify exactly what they are, we figure we should be able to come up with measurements.

 

Our best guess at the moment is that it's a mid-1920's Dodge truck or sedan, but we lack expertise with classic vehicles.

 

And that has brought me here.

 

Can you help us out?

I'd say it is a 1922 or so Maxwell....

[Mattml430]

Definitely looks more like the Maxwell than what I thought. 👍

[J. Vissers]

The Maxwell does look really, really close!

 

Please forgive my ignorance, but why are there no bumpers on the photos you're sharing?

[Ron Lawson]

Bumpers were an optional extra back then It wasn't until the late 20s that some cars had bumpers fitted as standard equipment They were an option on our 27 Chevy and Standard on my 28 DB Senior 

 

[J. Vissers]

Interesting. I guess seatbelts probably weren't very common either.

 

If you haven't guessed, I'm still on the young side of the spectrum. Were those early bumpers actually very functional, or were they more flashy, like a spoiler on an Alero?