Vintage shots from days gone by!

CALIFORNIA TOPS
Beginning about 1916, open touring cars could be fitted with rigid tops, open or with removable windows on the sides, for use in cooler seasons. Different makers had their own names for this feature, but because the concept was popularized by the coachbuilding firm Walter Murphy Company in Pasadena, CA, theirs and others came to be known as California Tops. Makers of these accessories pitched the idea that the California Top could be used in the cooler months of the year, while it could be replaced by a traditional folding soft-top in the warmer months. Some car makers offered these as an option with their touring cars. Many aftermarket producers of California Tops finished them with coated-fabric roofcovers for enhanced styling, typically using artificial leather for the covering. Given some of the styling trends of the time, artificial leather styles with a Spanish Print effect were popular in this application.
- See more at: http://www.haartz.com/vintage-restorers-guide/glossary-z#sthash.g8FWs5d2.dpuf

 

Been actively in the old car hobby for several decades, but did not know this...
(Probably partly due to the fact that few accessories were offered/sold in Finland in the teens/twenties)
Great to learn every day! - Thanks!

 

A couple from Lake Tahoe, CA. Tahoe City in the '50's. Not much has changed in the town, they have sidewalks now and the "Big Tree" in the middle of the street is gone.


The Lodge at Meeks Bay Resort. The resort is still there but the lodge burned down in the '70's. They still have the best sand beach anywhere on the lake...

 

That car has been restored and will be at the nostalgia drags. Jere Stahl passed away last week.

 

This one is a Special Six, the slightly smaller version of the Big Six. Same basic engine but 3 1/2" bore for the Special Six (288 cid) and 3 7/8 bore for the Big Six (357 cid).

And as others have said that it a factory supplied Duplex top.

 

Groundhog day?
Only for a moment.

 

Ah those Napco conversions. Even in the mid-70s when I was in the southwest, you'd see Internationals all over the place with Napco 4WD.

 

"Ma'me, if you are too afraid to talk, could you just point in the direction the crooks went?"


Gravity-assist loading failure in 3...2...1...

 

1930 Studebakers; a Dictator eight on the left and a Dictator six on the right.