What us this famous car fron 10/29/1929

[Paul Dobbin]

 

 

Desperate times... October 29th, 1929 the last day of the stock market crash that would become known as Black Tuesday 📉

 

 

  I alway carry a $100 bill for opportunitues like this.   But what would I have 

  bought?   I guess in hindsite, it doesn't matter.   Low body indicates it mightbe a Chrysler product.   What do you think?

Edited June 24, 2021 by Paul Dobbin
dseleted headline (see edit history)

[pkhammer]

Definitely. Looks like a '29 Chrysler Series 75 Roadster. Nice car!

[rocketraider]

Curious what such a car might have sold for new in '29?

[keiser31]

15 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

Curious what such a car might have sold for new in '29?

Just about $1,555. There were 6,414 built.

[alsancle]

We have debated about this car many times.   I'm sticking with photoshop,  but there are many people who say it is real.

[TAKerry]

Im with you AJ, I think the pic is real, the sign is an add on. The lettering is way to neat to be painted with a brush, and Im not sure they made a sharpie in 1929 with a point that big.

[alsancle]

21 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

Im with you AJ, I think the pic is real, the sign is an add on. The lettering is way to neat to be painted with a brush, and Im not sure they made a sharpie in 1929 with a point that big.

it looks clear as day to me but there are plenty of guys who think otherwise.   What is keeping the sign from falling to the left?

[hidden_hunter]

28 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

Im with you AJ, I think the pic is real, the sign is an add on. The lettering is way to neat to be painted with a brush, and Im not sure they made a sharpie in 1929 with a point that big.

100% no way is the text is real - perspective and shadows are all wrong for starters

[JFranklin]

That photo, in that form, tho not colorized, has been around for at least 4 decades. I think it is genuine.

Edited June 25, 2021 by JFranklin (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

What is that guy doing?  Calling the owner on his cellphone?

[Paul Dobbin]

Real, colorized or FAKE,  it's stuff dreams are made of. 

[Fossil]

The shadow (reflection) under the car is towards the front. The same under the sign is towards the rear. The photo looks real but the sign looks to have been added. 

The photo does make a point and even with the changes made in the stock market it could happen again. ☹️

[Guest]

3 hours ago, JFranklin said:

That photo, in that form, tho not colorized, has been around for at least 4 decades. I think it is genuine.

Agreed.

I first saw this picture probably 30 years ago when researching another project.

[alsancle]

The ability to “photoshop” long predates photoshop.

[wayne sheldon]

What we now call "Photoshop" (a product trade name by the way) used to be called "cut and paste" and dates back to well before 1900.

I believe I saw that picture in a book or magazine (maybe 'Life' ?) more than 40 years ago.

 

That picture has been discussed hundreds of times shown in probably a hundred different forums for more than twenty years. I have read dozens of those discussions, and still do not think I know the answer. One discussion I read about eight years ago, one fellow claimed to know the details. Who it was, when it was taken. He said it was a staged photo at the time. But again, I do not know.

[Jim Skelly]

I saw the original black and white photo decades ago, in grade school as I recall, and I've been out of high school almost 50 years.  I think the sign has been doctored up for better clarity.  The colorization is just strange.  Why would someone bother doing that?

[wayne sheldon]

3 hours ago, Jim Skelly said:

The colorization is just strange.  Why would someone bother doing that?

 

As a person that really enjoys looking for hours at century old black and white photos? Also one that loves silent era movies, as well as movies from the 1930s and television shows from the 1950s? I don't see any need for colorizing black and whites. B&W just looks natural to me! However, most people do not see things the way I do. A lot of people today cannot identify with B&W images. If colorizing these things helps to connect some people today to their own history? Can that really be wrong?

[wayne sheldon]

15 hours ago, hidden_hunter said:

perspective and shadows are all wrong for starters

 

Don't count on shadows in the big building canyons of large cities! Shadows can trick you. The sun is shining on the building directly across the street. Looking down the street to your left, there is a shadow on the front of that building (likely from a larger building out of camera view across the street?), giving an indication of where the sun is shining from (to the left and behind the cameraman). The shadow under the rear of the car seems to confirm this. Yet there is clearly a shadow (apparently from the sign?) under and behind the sign. This would seem do be a discrepancy. However, consider that the sun lighting from the left, puts the back of the sign in the shadow of the passenger compartment and top of the car. Sunlight, reflecting from the nearly white building across the street, would light up the front of the car, and the sign, creating the shadow (apparently of the sign?) under and behind the sign. The building's surface is rough. That creates an indirect lighting of the front of the car and sign. 

[mike6024]

Was this picture published in the New York Times in 1929?

[mike6024]

 

Behind the camera: © Bettmann/CORBIS
Where: New York City
Photo Summary: Bankrupt investor Walter Thornton tries to sell his luxury roadster for $100 cash on the streets of New York City following the 1929 stock market crash
Picture Taken: October 30, 1929

One of the most famous photos of this day is of investor Walter Thornton trying to sell his Chrysler Imperial “75” Roadster for $100. According to the postcard shown on this page, a 1928 Chrysler Imperial “75” Roadster could be purchased for $1555 ($21,400 in 2014). The Thornton picture shows the desperation of men who had lost everything on the stock market. Walter Thornton was so desperate for cash that he had no problem selling his year old car for $100 (US$ 1,400 in 2014) even though he was taking a huge loss.

https://www.famouspictures.org/black-tuesday/

Edited June 26, 2021 by mike6024 (see edit history)

[mike6024]

Anthony on October 12, 2016 at 11:10 pm said:
I believe this photo to have been a publicity stunt. Why ask for only $100 when he probably could’ve easily gotten $500? I’ve seen very high resolution versions of this photo (same angle but with and without a crowd) which suggests that a photographer with a large format camera was employed, definitely not what news photogs used back then. Once again, why? And who paid for it? My research shows that Walter Thornton owned a modeling agency of the same name and was the self proclaimed inventor of the WWII pin-up girl posters. In other words a promoter of high magnitude.

[alsancle]

I posted this in the period images thread last time we had this discussion.

 

[1937hd45]

12 hours ago, alsancle said:

I posted this in the period images thread last time we had this discussion.

 

 

 

 

I've seen the original photo many times but never knew the story behind Mr. Thornton. I do wonder if he took the $100 from the Chrysler sale and put on a stock and made a killing. 

 

Bob 

Edited June 26, 2021 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[JRA]

I own a 1929 Chrysler 75 roadster and I have also a good quality reproduction of this b&w photo. I enjoy them both!