Nice pic. Is that a date on the bottom of the photo, 10-7-24? That car looks a lot less than 15 years old.
I believe that is a 1908 Ford factory photo.
It pops up quite frequently.
Dave,
Ford had a photo department and they normally did put the date of the photo in the lower right hand corner. In this case I would "guess" and it is only a "guess" that the original photo was used again sometime around 10-7-24. But as Erik pointed out -- that photo is often used in books etc..
Does anyone have a date when it was published earlier on? Lots of great details. And that number 38915 along with the 10-7-24 might be able to be found in the Benson Ford Archives or the Ford Motor Company photographic collection.
If anyone has additional details on when it was originally taken, it would be nice to know. Lots of good details on the two-lever car.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Hap - I'm not much of a photographer, but I'm thinking that because of the pronounced shadows from wheels and such in that photo, it would appear that the photographer took great care in "lighting up" the scene. I can envision a bright flash, a loud "poof" and a cloud of smoke from whatever photographers used to make a flash in those early days of such photography and the Model "T". Hap, you stated in your post,...."lots of good details on the two-lever car", and I believe that's due to the photographer taking great pains to "light up" the scene for that picture,......harold
Parts of that photo appear to be retouched by an artist.
Look at he left end of the splash shield above the running board.
I think it was first published in a mid to late 1908 edition of Ford Times. I believe it to be a prototype car.
Andrew
Maybe they were using a Prestolite tank for the headlamps but retouched it away in a promotion picture for Ford Times since Prestolite tanks weren't standard equipment?
Just me, wondering aloud. The rear part of the "apron" looks a lot like the leather type aprons that were used on many cars of that era. The front part looks like an "artist's rendering" of what the metal apron should look like. Did the pre-production or prototype Ts have metal aprons?
All I know is that I wish I could walk out my back door and find that car sitting there.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
Roger - I think you are right about the retouching. I can see what may be the reflection of a Prestolite tank in the side of the body (between the dash and the body bracket bolts).
I was mistaken about this photo being in an early Ford times. At least in the ones I have access to anyway. It was the photo of the "muddy" post fishing trip car I was thinking of (maybe the same car). That photo is in the October 15 1908 Ford Times.
Andrew
There's definitely some touching up going on here. The angle of the front of the splash apron didn't look right to me. Note how the fender meets the running board just aft of the dash on the clean car above. Now compare that to the dirty car below - the fender meets the running board just aft of the body bracket bolts.
Also I just noticed that the clean car has what looks like a speedometer or clock. Its just above the steering column and obscuring the coil box.
Both photos show Gray & Davis sidelamps too.
Andrew