Trying to date this photo

[dalef62]

Edited January 6, 2022 by dalef62 (see edit history)

[alsancle]

My guess is 1929 or 1930.

[JayG]

That’s a 1930 Ford on the left. What throws me off is the vehicle all the way down the street in the middle.  It looks like a Hummer.   

[keiser31]

That coupe on the right could be a Model A or maybe a 1932 Ford 5 window.

[tcslr]

I thought the same thing

 

[Terry Bond]

Newest car I see is about a 32 or 33 Ford coupe (right side of your 1st pic), the front car on the left is a 28 or 29 Model A.

Terry

Edited January 6, 2022 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[classiclines]

According to a website about the history of Sykesville, this main street burned in 1933, so it appears this photo was taken before the fire.

[58L-Y8]

Quaint place then, wonder if the railroad track in the near foreground had anything to do with the 1933 fire? Showers of sparks from steam locomotives performing switching duties on spurs and sidings were a constant source of fires.   Of course, there were many others as well. 

[Peter Gariepy]

 

[Gary_Ash]

Apparently, not all of Sykesville's downtown burned in the 1933 fire.  When I was growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s and 1960s, Sykesville was the end of the world, far from anywhere.

Here is the old main street of Sykesville, 2019.

[Peter Gariepy]

What created the 1933 fire?

 

[classiclines]

I think the Hummer, traveling back from the future, set the buildings ablaze beyond the stone building on the right 😁

[dalef62]

What a great story we all can tell!  Thanks for all the help!

 

[Bloo]

Since we are speculating, I keep looking at the "hummer" and I think it's a bus. Probably with a really wide body, but a hood, radiator, and fenders about like everything else on the street if there were enough detail in the picture to make it out.

[greenie]

The old town, located on the extreme southern edge of  Carroll County in central MD, is across the stream from Howard County. It’s been invaded by yuppies and features quaint shops and nice restaurants. A Hummer there today wouldn’t raise a single eyebrow.

Edited January 6, 2022 by greenie (see edit history)

[1932 plymouth pb sedan]

7 hours ago, JayG said:

That’s a 1930 Ford on the left. What throws me off is the vehicle all the way down the street in the middle.  It looks like a Hummer.   

I had to scroll back up and look again, it does look like a Hummer.

[keiser31]

2 minutes ago, 1932 plymouth pb sedan said:

I had to scroll back up and look again, it does look like a Hummer.

Or the tail end of a stake bed truck....

[Ozstatman]

15 minutes ago, keiser31 said:

Or the tail end of a stake bed truck....

Thats what I thought.

[Graham Man]

I also think it is the back of a truck, so the cars only tell us how old it could be, so most likely 1932ish.  My Grandfather had the newest car in town (small town in Wisconsin) till after WW2, it was a 1933 Graham he purchased in 1935.  He would let other town people barrow the Graham to run to the "big city" for doctors appointments all the way up till 1945.  He also said it was not uncommon at all, in the 1930's, to see horses on the road.  So it sort of is a trick question.  I would use 1932 as a baseline and find dated pictures of downtown to try to establish the newest date.  The great depression took out a lot of businesses, should be some signs missing.

[28 Chrysler]

I think it is from the late winter or early spring of 1933.

Dark back round and light numbers with the state and date on the bottom of the front plate.

[JACK M]

I guess the history buffs could tell us which year Godzilla trotted thru there.

[TAKerry]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:37 PM, classiclines said:

I think the Hummer, traveling back from the future, set the buildings ablaze beyond the stone building on the right 😁

I was gonna say time traveler. Like the photos you see on the internet (gotta be true) of a beach scene in 1940 and a closeup of a guy on a cell phone.

[Peter Gariepy]

Im thinking it's a horse drawn something, shot from behind.  It looks like legs in-between the the wheels.

 

 

 

[keiser31]

Just now, Peter Gariepy said:

Im thinking it's a horse drawn something, shot from behind.  It looks like legs in-between the the wheels.

 

 

 

We are referring to the one way back, left of the horse drawn vehicle.

[JayG]

In this view it does look like the rear of a stake bed truck.  

[CHuDWah]

On 1/6/2022 at 11:26 AM, keiser31 said:

That coupe on the right could be a Model A or maybe a 1932 Ford 5 window.

I dunno.  It appears to have a bright radiator shell which would make it Model A rather than 32.  But it also appears to have disc wheels which would make it non-Ford.  Just not enough detail to tell for sure.

 

23 hours ago, keiser31 said:

Or the tail end of a stake bed truck....

That's my thought as well.