That is what it looks like, I could be wrong?
Anyone want to guess what it is?
Depending on the year (1901 or later), definitely a Waverley Electric or Pope-Waverley Electric.
My dad has a 1900 Waverley Electric and a collection of sales catalogs that covers all years. If I show him the photo, he can tell me what years the "piano box" runabout was offered. I do know that piano box runabout with pneumatic tires were introduced in 1901.
Note that the car is left hand drive, long before Ford.
It says Pre-state. The plate says Ill. What year did Illinois become a state? I would have thought it was before 1900.
Norm
It is a local city or county registration before Illinois found out they could apply a state tax to cars.
Pre-state is license plate collector lingo and refers to the year of the license plate, not the year of statehood.
Illinois required registration starting in 1907 but the state did not issue plates until 1911. Prior to 1911, the owner provided the plate.
I think Illinois started making plates in 11 or 12. So this might be a homemade plate that owner had to put on the car. Since there is no number telling the year, that is what I thought it might be.
The State of Illinois did charge a one-time, registration fee in starting in 1907 and issued an aluminum disk. They went to annual registration in 1909 and, as stated earlier, issued plates starting in 1911.
I would guess it's a 1907-1910 State of Illinois plate. Below is a June 1907 article describing the newly required state license plate, (not issued) including the letters "ILL" and registration number: