27 Locomobile?

[SIRAACA_Editor]

From the New York City collection of photos of Bridges, Plants & Structures comes this photo taken on October 4, 1927 in a municipal garage.  We believe the town car is a Locomobile, based on the radiator shape and front bumper.  Do you agree?

[edinmass]

Interesting lift........car does look like a late Loco.

[jrbartlett]

Yep, with the relatively rare wire wheels. 

[58L-Y8]

Looks to have been a Model 90, a Town Brougham was catalogued as an available body style. 

 

There seems to have been a large shield mounted in the radiator or on the headlight bar, the license number was "1N-6".    A NYC bigwig's town car?  

[edinmass]

The letter N stands for the county.........if I remember correctly that would be the sixth plate issued in that jurisdiction. The letter V stands for New Rochelle. The plate is either 1928 or 1930, as the format was unique in 1929.

Edited February 9, 2021 by edinmass (see edit history)

[alsfarms]

It would be interesting to determine which it is a Model 90 or 48.  Can anyone search out the shown NY license plate information and determine more about it?

Al

[edinmass]

Looks like a 90 to me........

[SIRAACA_Editor]

On 2/8/2021 at 8:31 PM, edinmass said:

The letter N stands for the county.........if I remember correctly that would be the sixth plate issued in that jurisdiction. The letter V stands for New Rochelle. The plate is either 1928 or 1930, as the format was unique in 1929.

Are you sure about the plate?  The date of the photo is October 1927.  Plates in NY that year were black on yellow, with NY 27 across the top.  1928 plates were yellow on black, with NY 28 across the bottom, and 1930 plates were also yellow on black with NY 30 across the top.  This plate looks like a 1927.

[SIRAACA_Editor]

I wrote Norm Buckhart at The Locomobile Society to ask him if they knew anything about this car.  His reply:  

 

"Hello Paul - no, unfortunately we formed the Society to track down all the surviving Locomobiles - this was back in the mid-1990’s - and found about 165 of the 38/48 HP cars. We did it by serial number and one way or another we authenticated them.  By 1927 the banks controlled the remains of the company and it was being sold to Durant to use the name.  The last date we have is 1926 and that was for a total of three Model 90’s - a mono block engine.  Pretty much all the 48’s were built in 1925, not 1926 or later. There is no way to identify that car.  It has wire wheels and an aftermarket front bumper.  Since the parts used to build cars after 1922 were all the same - they all looked the same - so it could have been anything."

[Walt G]

Could be that the N on the plate stands for Nassau County - just east of Queens County and about 30 miles east of NY City. Nassau County is in the center of long island  from west to east it is :Kings County ( Brooklyn) Queens County - both of these are boroughs of NY City, then Nassau ( located in the center) and Suffolk Counties ( mid way to the east end) . The north shore of Nassau County at its western end was known as the "Gold Coast" for all the estates there of wealthy people ( included, F. W. Woolworth, Walter Chrysler etc)  the "Gold Coast" is where the Great Gatsby novel takes place. Charles Lindbergh stayed on the Gold Coast  at the estate of a friend, publisher Harry Guggenheim.

[loco-27]

The car pictured is a 1927 locomobile model 90 Lauderette. There is still one left.  This year also had a limo that was built. Both car is currently being restored. 

[nzcarnerd]

1 hour ago, loco-27 said:

The car pictured is a 1927 locomobile model 90 Lauderette. There is still one left.  This year also had a limo that was built. Both car is currently being restored. 

 

I guess you mean landaulette?

 

Not somewhere you get your clothes washed.

 

I would call it a town car myself, but different car and body makers had their own names for the various styles.