MTFCA Forum

Is that a half-scale car, or is that guy 8 feet tall?

Tom: You make my day with your photos!

I have to wonder about the one crashed into the telephone pole. Did they crash because they had no tires? We're they removed after? Can't see marks in the dirt to give any clues.

So many details to look at. The sunvisor on the coupe, the tire tread on the center door the hasslers and center caps on the wheel below the guy bending his front fender.
Love seeing these photos. Thank you for making our day.

Survivors in Spokane

Lots of great pics of days gone by! Out of all those T’s that were posted I wonder how many survived after all those years. Maybe 4 or5 T’s and not much chance of the people?

The guy standing close to the Touring has to be 7ft. plus!

This is why we can't have nice things!

It looks like the head on into the pole has lost the right rear tire for some reason! Maybe the car sat there for a while and had a few things taken or stolen off of it? It looks like it was a fairly new car going by the shiny finish on it. Probably hadn’t ever been washed. Or??

John kuehn wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:47 pm

It looks like the head on into the pole has lost the right rear tire for some reason! Maybe the car sat there for a while and had a few things taken or stolen off of it? It looks like it was a fairly new car going by the shiny finish on it. Probably hadn’t ever been washed. Or??

Right front tire too! Who needs tires?!

I'm not sure of the year of the car into the pole picture, but WWI was probably in progress and tires would have been very hard to come by but Fords could be replaced! (maybe)

It's possible that the pressure was low in the tire and the car had to stop quickly, maybe even had to swerve and when the driver slammed on the brake the tire spun on the rim and that caused the other tire to roll through the differential. Then he hit the pole which caused the light rim to pop off. The left front wheel dropped into the ditch. You will notice from the angle of the front axle, that the left wheel is not directly under the fender so it might not be visible where it is in the picture.
Norm

This might sound like a dumb question but was there auto insurance companies back at that time that a car owner could use after a accident? Just a curious question !!

John kuehn wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:52 pm

This might sound like a dumb question but was there auto insurance companies back at that time that a car owner could use after a accident? Just a curious question !!

Travelers Insurance Company sold its first auto insurance policy in 1897, and in 1919, its first aircraft liability coverage. State Farm was founded in July 1922 as an Auto Insurance Company. BUT since you specified "that a car owner could use after a accident" that would rule them out.

The 1914 Roadster with the 3 men in it looks brand new since it is so clean and shiny. The interesting thing is it has curved 1915 style rear fenders.

Dallas Landers wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 11:52 am

So many details to look at. The sunvisor on the coupe, the tire tread on the center door the hasslers and center caps on the wheel below the guy bending his front fender.
Love seeing these photos. Thank you for making our day.

Careful Dallas L, you might get as bad as I looking at details in photos for hours!
Where to even begin?!
There are three photos together of the same car, and two people. Interesting steering wheel, and the nicest fitting side curtains I have ever seen with the worst broken plastic (isinglass?) window/lights I have ever seen!

Picture number 17 is a very nice late 1914 (note the fender bills) runabout with a 1915 style curved rear fender! Possibly a late enough 1914 style that both 1914 and 1915s were being produced (went on for almost four months!), and maybe it left the factory that way? Although frowned upon by the hobby, and it has never been confirmed either way? It has been speculated often that some cars may have left the factory with wrong year model rear fenders during that crossover time. I knew someone many years ago that had a 1915 runabout that was restored from a solid nice original car back about 1960 that had 1914 rear fenders when it was acquired from the original owner. Years ago, numerous late 1914s and early 1915s were known of with "wrong" rear fenders. Did the factory cross them up sometimes? Or maybe in the days that Ford would ship cars to dealers in partially knocked -down form, the dealers crossed up the fenders when they put the cars together? That historic detail may never be known for sure.
Most such "errors" have since been "corrected" during restoration work.

Picture number three is a 1913 touring car with an interesting after-market electric horn.
Picture number four appears to be a 1914 touring car with nice fitted seat covers hiding the regular upholstery. Also a nice front bumper.
Picture number five looks to be a 1909 mother-in-law roadster. Detail resolution isn't very clear, but I think the butterfly rear fender brackets are the later "outside the fender" butterfly as opposed to the earlier "under and inside the fender" butterfly brackets.
Picture number ten must be a late 1920 or early 1921 as it has the short-time use green visor headlamp lenses used for only a short time.

Picture 23 center-door also may be a late 1920/early'21 as it also has visor headlamp lenses. I can't quite tell if they are the Ford supplied ones or after-market?

So many wonderful photos! Thank you Tom R!