MTFCA Forum

I am trying to date this attached photo.
Are there any clues to indicate a date?
Thanks in advance.

Best one can do is guess. The Model T seems to be a brass car, but not enough shows for me to be very positive of its year of manufacture. Likely 1915-16, possibly earlier. All that does is tell us the photo can't be any older than that. It could be as recent as 1930's, but the ladies' dresses seem to me to be late teens, early twenties. Others will know better.

Front fenders and headlights look no newer than a 16. The car looks like it wasn’t to old when the picture was taken going what can be seen of the body and top. The car is in pretty good shape. I think the picture was taken in the mid twenties making the car about 10 years old when the shot was taken. Just a guess though!

Well

Both Gals look healthy enough

I would take the one on the right


FJ

Headlights are '15 - the brass rims stand out more and have a lighter color in the original photos than the black rims... the front right fender has a bend in it, and there's a ding in the left splash apron...

I'll hazard a guess considering their clothes and say maybe mid to late 20's? Maybe 30's...

joanswitches wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:40 pm

I am trying to date this attached photo.
Are there any clues to indicate a date?
Thanks in advance.

Well, if they don’t respond to your advances, I would assume they are not interested in a date at this time.

The car looks fairly new, the paint and top don't show a lot of ware. It was common to take a picture in front of the new car. The people are standing and the picture has been cropped in a way that hides info about the car but I can tell it is a Ford T. The top is two man and has rectangular top sockets which started use in 1918. The rear wheel is nondemountable square fello which also fit 1918. The seats look like they use the earlier type tack strip and arm rest last used in 1920 to early 1921. The car looks like there is no dash, so pre or non electric car. I would say that the picture is from around 1919 to 1920 based on the limited info.

I also noticed the square looking top sockets, however, I think they may be round with the light hitting them just right to make them appear square. I would say the car is a 15 or 16. You can see it has no dash, but it does have a cowl. You can just barely see the 1913-16 cross reinforcing bead on the front fender. With those fenders and a cowl, as well as the other details already mentioned 1915 -16 seems logical. As far as dating the picture, all I can say is sometime after that.

It's a bit hard to tell. The car is not too beat up and appears to be about an 18-20 year model. The clothes are definately the type farmers would wear, so not a city car. Could any time up until the early 30's. The country folks were not quite as fashion concious as city folks.
Norm

joanswitches wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:40 pm

I am trying to date this attached photo.
Are there any clues to indicate a date?

Joan,

Is this a physical photograph that you have?

If so, it may be worth looking at the reverse. Sometimes there are paper watermarks or photographers detail that can help to date things.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Another question occurred to me.
I suspect that the man on the left and woman on the right are my great grandparents.
If so, in 1915, they would either be in Stroudsburg PA or recently moved to Chestertown Maryland.

Would there be any way to look up car registrations and see if they owned a Model T?

Joan

Good point about the reverse of the photo.
It is printed as a postcard, and the position for the stamp is indicated with s a square of the characters: A 2 0.
Image attached.

Found a clue!

AZO refers to Kodak paper
1918-1930 Two triangles pointing 'up' and two triangles 'down'

http://www.thewebfooters.com/html/postcard_dating.html

I agree with Suzanne that the headlight appears to be 1915. The front fender is 1915-16, and what little we can see of the rear fender is consistent with that. The top is in very good condition, maybe it was never lowered. Since this is a farm family, the "machine" probably was kept in the barn or a shed and used little. The info the OP gained about that post card style originating in 1918, combined with the car's clues, leads me to believe that the picture was taken in 1918 or shortly after. 1918-1920.

I updated the photo!
Sorry for the previous cropped version.

Would there be any way to look up car registrations and see if they owned a Model T?

Unfortunately most states don't keep records going back more than a few years. You can ask PA and MD if they do.

Do I see a functioning (Canadian) driver's door?

-
Joan,

This is a really cool thread. I don't know enough to answer questions but I would like to ask if the 3-panel rear window and/or the demountable rims might help date the car?

I notice the car has de-mountable wheels. What year did they first become available? A friend of mine has a 1915 Canadian which still has the non-demountable wheels and it has the round tubes on the top bows with the bent wood bows.
Norm

The non-demountable wheels are not the usual variety as they have six bolts rather than four usually associated withe Ford. Haynes and similar wheels.
The Ford demountable wheels became available in the late teens, does anyone know who made the six bolt version and when the became available.

Firestone made demountables in the teens.

I think the demountable rims are 5-lug, which were available aftermarket early on. Firestone and others made them. The 3-light rear window shows that the top has been replaced. That configuration began on Fords with the 1917 model year. So saying the car is nearly new because of the top is now not accurate. The pic may have been taken a few years later than I first thought.

Brass era T with electric headlights would be 1915. Car is not new. Maybe four years of hard farm service. Lady on the right has a hairdo and dress style popular in 1917, also not new. I’d say the photo was taken in 1919. Jim Patrick

jiminbartow wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 07, 2021 7:05 pm

Lady on the right has a hairdo and dress style popular in 1917, also not new.

Er, Jim, the lady isn't new? Or her hairdo?

That's my next quandary, is, considering the date of the car/postcard, is the age of the people consistent with my great grandparents.
If the photo is from earliest 1918, my great grandparents would already be mid-to-late 50's.
The man's hair is full and dark, giving the impression of youth, but maybe he's simply aging better than his overalls...

Some people don't look their age. My oldest son will be 62 this year and not gray yet. Just a little in his beard. Their mother is in her 80's and doesn't dye her hair yet and their grandmother just got a bit of gray before she died at 87. So you just don't know. Attached is a picture of the three of us and me taken 2 weeks ago. I am the one who looks old!