History Photos taken before WW2 - history in black and white

I thought it would be fun to start a thread for photos taken before WW2, with one very simple rule: please post only photos that were taken before WW2.

The HAMB has some incredible threads, with great people contributing to them and enjoying them. The extinct car thread, pre-WW2 racing thread and days gone by thread are prime examples. Each has photos taken before WW2, and after. So far as I know, there has never been a HAMB thread devoted only to pre-war pix and there ought to be room for one. If you have black and white photos of cars, trucks, motorcycles, hotrods, race cars, land speed record cars, military, wrecks, gas stations, restaurants, car factories, junkyards, etc. - from any country - please post. I’d especially welcome mystery photos. There are plenty of HAMB followers who are very good at identifying makes of cars when photos of unknown makes are posted. Let’s try and make this thread entertaining and educational.

Here is as nice a car as any to kick off with: a Stutz runabout, c. 1913. Owner was Dorothy Forbes (Boston Public Library image).

 

Before pavement, there was mud. Everywhere. Here are some glimpses into how mud affected the motorists, from slight to extreme.

 

A really interesting photo of an American Underslung with a Glider perched on the back.

 

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Garages were nothing like the safe and well lit ones we take for granted today. The one on the left is about as dark as they get. The one on the right, featuring the single dangling bulb, might be in Kansas.

 

Our presidents have always motored in fine cars. Here are Teddy Roosevelt in a 1910 Pierce model 48 and William Taft in a huge White steamer.

 

Not presidents...

 

Stillwater, Minnesota's big 6-cyl. American La France from perhaps the mid to late teens.

 

Salvage yards at S. Main &15th in Los Angeles around 1930. Wouldn't shopping be fun there today?

 

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Serious business, here, each requiring a unique touch: courting on a nice Indian twin, and blasting up a hillclimb on an Excelsior.

 

First mystery car post: this one has stumped everyone I know, but hope springs eternal on the HAMB. Not a Burdick.

 

This has got to be the world's longest ragtop (rag front?), in Buenos Aires. Any idea what the history behind this was, or what make it was?

 

The first two photos are supposedly inside the woodworking shop at Fleetwood.

 

Nice Kansas garage photo-hot and humid here today. Made me think of this photo of 2 women bundled up in their Renault.

 

As long as I am thinking about cooler days, how about a couple closed Hupmobiles-circa 1913.

 

Early Guy......Welcome, its cold here......have the wood stove going in the shop.

I bought these two photos recently which are the same exact car as the one you posted. It is an Ex Vanderbilt Cup Renault car. Same woman with the same hat.

 

Sure looks like a Locomobile to me...

dj

 

A couple wrecks, an EMF and a Thomas. The Thomas has what appears to be a 1916 NY dealer's plate.

 

I picked this photo up many years ago, but I have no details about it. I like to think I might have descended from one of these guys.........

 

You're right - the 'M' prefix is for 'Manufacturer' or what they called the Dealer's plates back then and the '16 plates were white with blue letters. Good eye.

 

My Great Grandfather....................

 

Thanks, TagMan. I'll be sure to post some photos with plates that may be of interest. Here's a 1910 Stanley model 60 outside The Forks Hotel in Drake, CO which was a popular place for steam cars in and around Estes Park in the era when steam was very popular. The hotel still exists.

 

A few from an old family album.......

 

Awesome pix thanx for sharin !

Rat

 

Good thread.

•Mystery car; Locomobile ? I agree, it does look like one. This car is bloody huge. Stearns maybe? Premier? Berg??
The pic shows a sporty, modern woman! The photograph appears to possibly be revealing a wealthy neighbourhood, ( note the good road.)

•Dig the jazzy Fords & the tough straight axle Stanley^^!

 

There are plenty of places with more information on the land speed record set by a Stanley in 1906, but I thought it might make an interesting if brief addition here. Two well known views of the Stanley “rocket” in 1906. On the left, F E Stanley is seated. On the right, F E is behind driver Fred Marriott and the location is Ormond Beach. On January 26, 1906 Marriott set a new speed record there, of 127.66 mph in this vehicle. The following year, he attained a speed in excess of 3 miles per minute but that was not official; the vehicle hit a bump, went airborne, and crashed.

 

Early Stanley in a barn?

 

Here are a couple cars that no doubt looked much different than when they rolled out of the factory. The first looks to be a cut down Pope Hartford, in Poughkeepsie, NY. No idea on the other; any takers?

 

A very early garage in Menominee, Michigan.