History They didn't all rust away in peace...

I just stumbled onto a site named Shorpy where people post vintage photos. I thought the old car wrecks were pretty neat to see. Most of the photos were taken in Washington DC. The brand new 32 Vicky all busted up in 1932 hurt a little though... Caution: LARGE photos

 

you gotta wonder how the drivers fared after some of those wrecks

 

I would bet the farm most died

 

With turn of the (last) century medical care and no safety equipment I gotta agree most of em' probably didn't fare too well.

 

Here's a couple more. The 1st pic is a bootleggers car the D.C. Police arrested. The 2nd pic is another angle on the wrecked 32 Vicky, and the third pic is the Washington D.C. Fire Chiefs car in which both the Chief and his driver survived.

 

I remember seeing an old picture of a guy who wrecked his Model A,and the windshield cut his head off. It was laying in front of the car on the ground.

 

kool pics

 

Those pics are amazing......

 

Yeah Mark, those are amazing. Aren't you glad yours wasn't in that shape to start with? Steven.

 

On the third picture in the first post what is laying on the canvas roof where it is caved in???

 

My dad once rolled a Model A, he's fine but his girl friend went threw life with one ear......................

 

Cool pictures!

 

Shorpy has been in my favorites for a few years. Many many great photos, just search though their site. Another favorite is Plan59.com

 

Cool beans indeed!!!

 

Two good old boys are comng home after a night of drinking when they run across a bad accident. The first guy says "that looks like Uncle Delberts truck" so the two stop.

They ask what is going on as they believe they know the person who owns the truck. The officer on the scene informs them that the owner had been decapitated but that they had not been able to determine who he was yet and they could use some help in verifying the deceased. The boys say they would help.

Now the truck rolled down into a gully and the body is laying at the bottom. The officer pulls back the sheet but the boys inform him that being dark and down in the gully they can't get a good look. To help, the officer takes the head and holds it up for them to see.

The one boy says "no, I don't believe that's Uncle Delbert, I don't recollect him being that tall".

 

accidents still draw quite a crowd!

 

People were tougher back then, they probably got up, set all their broken bones back into place and immedietly got into fist fights with the other people involved in the wrecks to decide who's fault it was

 

kool ass pics..love those buildings in the background..love unrehearsed pics

 

as I look at those great photos (great in both a scientific and artistic/ aesthetical way) I must say I am amazed nobody has yet mentioned the works of Mell Kilpatrick, Orange county police photographer of the 1940s and -50s.

They published a book with some of his photography; mostly severe car crashes. I think the book was called "car crashes and other sad stories" IIRC.

 

Shaggy: Yeah, they probably said to a bystander, "Quick hand me my arm so I can go beat that guy's ass for running me off the road!" TOUGH back then!

 

This poor '57 Chrysler 300C coupe got run into a ditch in 1965 and almost went onto its roof. The paint deterioration has happened since of course.

 

StillOutThere, I take it you still have the car? If so, it can live ON in a whole bunch of new projects.

Back when those vintage pix were taken (top of thread), people just hauled everything to the junkyard, no?

 

from the publisher:

" His work might have remained lost and unknown, sealed away in his locked darkroom, untouched since his death in 1961, if it hadn't been brought to light by collector and dealer Jennifer Dumas, who found the 5,000 negatives and realised she'd stumbled upon something very special."

I know Ms. Dumas and went to some private showings of photos too gory to go in the book. YIKES! Drive extra-careful out there!

 

Howdy back Harry,

what could possibly ever be too gorey to show people to remind them to drive carefully, or at least to show them the possile outcome if they don't???

I remember one man from our street they just called the "cheshire cat", like the character from Disney's "Alice in Wonderland".
Ya know, seemingly grinning all the time because... a steering wheel claimed his upper lip in a head-on accident once...

life in general is dangerous. driving is even more dangerous, and driving an old pre-war-ride... well... okies, there's still Afghanistan and Iraq... okies, don't get mad, I will keep my mouth shut.

regards, Simon



p.s.: besides, if you happen to know Ms. Dumas, consider yourself lucky. Mell Kilpatrick is a f*cking celebrity in my book!

 

You guys remind me of the pix they'd show us back in high school. Back then, there were no collapsible steering collumns, and most older cars still didn't have seat belts.

I lost friends, and others got permanent scars and such.

Yeah, I think THOSE pix DO and DID make some people a tad more careful, especially with PASSENGERS who were at our mercy behind the wheel. I used to push my Hemi, but i didn't do it with passengers in my car, usually.

 

! can't stop looking... like watching a train wreck...!

 

Very cool photos.


I can't imagine them scrapping the new or nearly new wrecks. The undamaged late-model parts would would still have value. The 32 Ford looks like all it needs is bolt-on front end parts to be well again. Being a new car at the time, I can't see any logic to parting it out, let alone scrapping it.