MTFCA Forum

D Tour 313 posted this on their Facebook page this morning. (Well, it's your evening, but we'll say an hour ago. )

The caption is "An afternoon stroll on Belle Isle." and is credited as being from the Burton Library dated 1908.

If I'm not mistaken, the auto in the middle is a Model T?

Perhaps it's actually 1909? Or could it be a super early 'prototype' driven around by someone at Ford to show off?
Either way, I'd love to know the stories going on in it!

Yes, it is a Model T Ford.

The Belle Isle conservatory which is in the background of the photo, is located in Detroit, MI.

Model T Ford were introduced to the market on October 1, 1908 so it is possible the photo was taken in 1908 and not mis-dated.

If it was taken in 1908, it probably was taken in early October because there are plenty of leaves on the trees.

Mis-dating photos by archivists is a fairly common occurrence. For example, n my own research, I regularly run across it when going through the collections of the Hennepin County Library and the Minnesota Historical Society.

Eric,

I had many of the same thoughts. If so, that's an awesome shot of a really early car!

Looking closer, the electric car behind the Ford appears to have a woman and a young man in it... maybe Clara and Edsel? I know she liked her electric cars...

So what is the larger touring car in the front?

The large auto is likely a Packard Model 30.

The T doesn't have a visible crank handle down, so I say it is an early water pump T.

Click on photo to enlarge.

I was interested to see if this was part of the Burton digital archive - in the hopes that a higher resolution image might have been available for enhancing (I had a go with this one but couldn't improve it much).

While I wasn't able to find it immediately I did find the following image of this hardy soul. There were various others of interest too - well worth a look.

Image Copyright © Detroit Public Library "Man in automobile, Belle Isle":

That one looks like a 1911 Torpedo. (Or Open Runabout?)

Not a Packard

Rich and Rich et al, I get the impression that there is some outer area distortion in the photograph, a fairly common phenomenon in some of the single lens cameras of the day. The large car appears to be spread a bit. That coupled with only fair detail and small size make identification a bit touchy. You guys are right however, definitely NOT a Packard! While it doesn't appear quite right (I suspect that "spread" is hurting it a bit?), I suspect it may be a White steam car? Rich E, our resident White expert, should weigh in on that.
I agree the T is an early one, for reasons already given. Again, the detail isn't clear enough to see well, but it appears to have the "Ford" script on the radiator in addition to probably license numbers attached to the radiator. That script while so popular today, was only on Fords from the factory in basically '09 and '10, and only some of them at that.

OK, looked like big Packard, but some other big touring that sported a scalloped radiator and hood were the Pope-Toledo and the Thomas.

From the low hanging curved front axle, low headlamps, bet now that auto is a Thomas.

I have to disagree about distortion being common in period photos.

Copies of period photos that appear distorted are posted on the forum on a regular basis. The reason is not because the original photo is distorted. The reason is due to taking a photo of the original photo and not having the camera lens being perfectly parallel to the original photo.

The link below a recent example that was posted on the forum. Someone took a photo with their digital camera of an original photo. The camera was not held directly over the original photo and the lens was not parallel with the original photo. Therefore, the original photo appears distorted. Also, note that the shape of the photo appears to be a trapezoid instead of a rectangle.

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10719

The above can be avoided by scanning the photo on a flatbed scanner or positioning the camera directly over the photo, making sure the front of the camera, and therefore the lens, is parallel to the photo.

Some libraries/archives will post photos intentionally in low resolution so if you want a high resolution you have to pay for it. From our local museum/archives I payed $40 a high res reproduction, I blew it up 2 X 3 feet and it was super clear.