Title- "Early model Ford touring car with passengers on a road"
Alexandra district, Victoria, Australia.
State Library of Victoria.
Dane,
It is always nice to see the cars from "down under." This one is appears to be a stock 1915-16 Canadian touring including the Canadian body that appears to have been repainted in a "deluxe" color scheme. It appears during the repaint “if” there was any brass trim on the side lamps and headlamps it was painted over. I suspect it is a 1915 but it might also be a 1916. I hope one day we will have better information about the forked headlamps that were often used on many of the 1915 Canadian cars and possibly even into the1916 production. If anyone has additional information on the approximate dates Ford of Canada used the fork mounted electric headlamps – please let us know. As mentioned in a previous posting, it may have had more to do with Ford of Canada using different suppliers more than a certain time frame. For documentation that Ford of Canada clearly did use the electric fork mounted headlamps during some of the 1915 production please see the thread at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/24151.html?1170882370 . If the windshield had been up, we probably would have been able to see if the steering column had a horn button or not.
If you have a chance, I would recommend you send a note to the collection dating the car as a 1915 or early 1916.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap
This car looks familiar, first of all I think there is a picture of this car with a far larger view of the country side. but remember the photos of the parade posted a few months ago.
Aren't the women in the back seat the same ones in the Ford above? only thing missing is the number plate
?
Hap, the horn button's covered with camouflage on the second picture.
Maybe we'll never know!
the one lady in the back right is a dead ringer for the driver in the first photo.
No doubt that is both of them
Looks like different front tires.
yah the tires on the second one are funky, maybe back then they made them in vietnam and you had to change them every other outing....
Matthew, I think those tyres are a hand grooved re-tread.
Allan from down under.
Chris -- you never know -- since we already have two photos of this car and the same ladies, I would guess they had access to a camera/photographer and probably have additional photos. We may be able to find their name and/or the name of the person/group that donated the photos to the State Library of Victoria. And searching there we may find some that show the steering column better. Thanks Peter for linking the two photos together. I would have missed that one – good catch!
Reference the tyres (or tires for USA spelling) – with the horizontal grooves across them. Because they are Canadian cars, all the tyres are 30 x 3 1/2 front and back. Dunlap had a plant in Australia that manufactured a tyre just for the Model T Fords and which sold for a little less than similar size tyres. I suspect those may be some of those Dunlaps that replaced the original no-tread 1915-16 tyres. All that is a guess at the moment because I cannot find my file on those tyres! (If I ever get organized I could get more done!)
There is a link to the Dunlap tyre advertisement in the 1917 newspaper at: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1643702 that Dane had kindly sent to me previously. If someone else remembers a similar discussion about the tyres and if they can point us to that discussion again, I’ll try to file it better this time. If not – does anyone know if those tyres are the Dunlaps that were sold especially for the Fords? Below are the words from the advertisement:
Title was in larger print: 5,000 Fords are to be shod with Australian-made .
DUNLOP TYRES
The Canadian Ford Motor Car Co., after . tests of the Australian-made White Tread ( Dunlop, has decided in future to ship
their Cars to Australia and have "Dunlops" fitted out here. The first order means 20,000" Covers and Tubes.
This big order-the largest yet placed in this part of the world-is the recognition of quality and service that counts, and it empha- sises our contention that the present day Dunlop has no superior in the world for quality and price. There is no need to pay enhanced prices for imported tyres whilst Dunlops are available. Bear in mind the Dunlop gives you the highest quality of material and workmanship, ample thickness of rubber and canvas to withstand hard service on our roads, and the maximum mileage ., -at a running cost much lower than on imported tyres. Again you save pounds-in the initial purchase.
, ASK FOR NEW LIST AT YOUR GARAGE, OR LET US MAIL SAME
DUNLOP RUBBER CO. OF AUSTRALASIA LTD.
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth Brisbane, Launceston Wellington Christchurch Auckland
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
dont think the ladies are the same, the passenger in the first picture is a towel head
I believe the lady in the first picture has a scarf holding her hat on which was a common when riding in an open car back then. I don't see any reason for your comment other then you want to start trouble.
These are wonderful and incredibly sharp photos from that time. I agree with your comment, Dennis.