Trying to ID this 1900's automobile. Buick? Overland?

[Jon Pennington]

Hello, and thanks in advance for your help. I have spent hours looking for a match for this car. Th closest visual matches I've found are the 1910 Buick and 1910 Overland. I've been trying to match the radiator mostly but also looking for similar headlights and fenders. I image itself is off a postcard which has a "divided back" so that tells me that the car is most likely post 1907 which is when the divided back was approved for use by the USPS. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Jon

[1912Staver]

I don't think it is a Buick. But 1910 seems very close. Good quality , mid HP car. Quite a few posibilities.

[Oldtech]

Hudson?

[Jon Pennington]

32 minutes ago, Oldtech said:

Hudson?

Looks close but the radiator cowl looks thinner on the Hudson. The search goes on...

Thanks!

[Jon Pennington]

1 hour ago, 1912Staver said:

I don't think it is a Buick. But 1910 seems very close. Good quality , mid HP car. Quite a few posibilities.

Thank you!

[Gunsmoke]

Endless possibilities, here is a 1910 Imperial Model 35, near identical radiator, 12 spoke front wheels with 6 bolt hubs, fenders don't have eyebrows but later years did, maybe a 1911?

[Varun Coutinho]

1910 Whiting 40Hp Model C Touring

 

Wheelbase : 110 inches

 

Manufacturer : 1910 - 1912 Whiting Motor Car Co. - Flint, Michigan.

[dustycrusty]

I will file this under "Local Boy Makes Good!".

 

James Whiting built his cars for 3 years- 1910-1913,  in the old Flint Wagon Works factory in Flint Michigan but his real claim to automotive fame (besides helping to form the aforementioned Flint Wagon Works in 1882, the genesis for ALL vehicle manufacturing in Flint) was buying a struggling company started by a machinist/plumber/inventor in Detroit (David Buick) and relocating it to Flint in 1904.  This Buick Motor Co. was the basis for his pal Billy Durant to form a conglomerate of  various manufacturers into a new company called General Motors. When Whiting's automobile company ultimately folded, Durant quickly retooled his vacant plant to introduce another newly-minted automobile venture to hopefully take on that Ford behemoth downstate that he called the "Chevrolet". 

  In downtown Flint today there is a Whiting Auditorium building in the Cultural Center where the Sloan Summer Fair antique and classic car show is held every year.  Across a nice little tree-shaded plaza, and directly facing "The Whiting" sits the (Alfred P.) Sloan Museum. Inside the museum is a 1910 Whiting runabout. It might be the only example of a Whiting left(?).*  

 

  This Whiting is another example of the hundreds of odd-ball makes that popped up in those halcyon days of the early 20th century and built a few vehicles, then vanished. Unlike many other attempts to build a profitable automobile business, this one had the backers, the manufacturing capacity and people running it that knew what they were doing, but it just didn't catch on, making it a mere footnote in history and a photographic puzzler to stymie all but the most dogged automotive sleuths.              GOOD CATCH VARUN!

 

* its not. The Fountainhead Museum in Alaska has one too.

Edited May 29, 2022 by dustycrusty (see edit history)

[Jon Pennington]

Thank you Varun for the ID, and DustyCrusty for the history lesson, and the rest of you for giving it a shot.

You guys are awesome, thank you so much for your time and effort! I am grateful that folks like you are willing to share your knowledge, as I literally spent hours pouring over pictures to no avail. 

 

Best regards,

Jon

[E_Johnson]

Gentlemen:

Although the automobile has been correctly identified, I need to inform you that it is too early to put the subject to rest.

The Whiting in the photo has a 1912-13-14 Minnesota license plate.

My father has been in the antique automobile hobby since 1948 and is also a long-time a collector of early Minnesota license plates and has done a lot of research on early Minnesota automobile registrations.  Over the years, I have also assisted him in his Minnesota license plate/motor vehicle registration research endeavors.  He just so happens to have a 1914 Minnesota automobile registration public directory on his bookshelf.

Because the second digit of the plate is partially obscured by the windshield rod, the plate is one of the following: 10125, 16125 or 18125.

After consulting the public directory, the above Minnesota 1912-13-14 plates were registered as follows:

- 10125 = registered to a Chalmers
- 16125 = registered to a Sears
- 18125 = registered to G.H. Cunningham of Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota for a "Flint"

Note: It wasn't uncommon for Minnesota registrations to list the company or manufacturer listed on the data plate or documentation in posession of the owner, not necessarily the "make."  In this case, although the car is a Whiting, the manfacturer was Flint Wagon Works which explains why the car was listed in the public directory as a Flint.

After doing some research online, I can only conclude that G.H. Cunningham was George Harlin Cunningham (1861-1926) who owned and operated the Cunningham Mercantile in Sturgeon Lake.

Now, here is where it gets interesting.  George Harlin Cunningham's son was professional baseball player George Harold Cunningham (1894-1972) who pitched for the Detroit Tigers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cunningham_(baseball)

https://www.cityofsturgeonlake.com/about

I am pretty sure the young man sitting in the car is George Harold Cunningham who went on to pitch for Detroit.  Because he was born July 13, 1894 and the license plate is 1912-13-14, he would have been anywhere from 17 to 20 years old when the photo was taken. Note the photos of George Harold Cunningham below that I harvested from the internet.  The first photo of George bears a particularly striking resemblance to the young man in the car.

Be aware that the original hand-posted 1909 through 1914 Minnesota motor vehicle registration ledgers are housed in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.  Therefore, it is possible to get even more information on the automobile in the photo such as the serial number and whether or not it was registered as a Whiting and not merely a Flint by looking up the registrations in the 1910, 1911 and 1912 ledgers.  The last photo shows my father researching one of the hand-posted motor vehicle registration ledgers at the Minnesota Historical Society during one of our winter research jaunts.

PS: I'm also in the antique car hobby but, over the years, there have been only certain AACA forums that I peruse on a regular basis.  Last night was the very first time I ever looked at the "What is it?" forum.  I'll have to look more often.

Erik Johnson
Minneapolis, MN

[Gunsmoke]

Wow Mr. Johnson, that's what I call research, well done. And welcome to the What is it, lots of interesting stuff makes this site.