Eary 1909 Towncar, vintage photo

[pete eastwood]

I thought this was interesting
This appears to be an early 1909, with the squared off front fenders & the early, brass trimmed, covered wooden running boards .

[perry kete]

I see he has the car set up to handle mud, snow, or other poor road conditions of the day with the tire wraps. I feel sorry for the drivers who had to keep the owner's car clean on those roads.

[TWrenn]

And imagine rolling down those brick roads with those tire wraps. Geeze, probly rattle your teeth out. Brick roads are bad enough on a normal tire, add those wraps and whooeeee.

[TXGOAT2]

The car would present better with a chauffeur of smaller stature...

[Rich P. Bingham]

The car would present better with a chauffeur of smaller stature...

Fun fact - retired jockeys were in demand as chauffeurs, as it was considered a poor image to employ a chauffeur larger than the lord of the manor.

[Southfork Creek]

Beautiful car early car!! The mustachioed driver looks strangely German to me? I love the tire chains in dry weather on cobblestone pavement. Maybe the boss had been stuck in the mud before and he told the driver never to do that again!!The 1912 Ray Wells built towncar body I had drove horribly. The body was so heavy that it drove like you were riding on the back of a giant lumbering dinosaur. And once it got rolling, I had to wonder if maybe I couldn't stop it.

Not to be nit picky, but the car in Pete's beautiful posted photo was then known technically as a Landaulet. It doesn't have the roof for the driver, etc. (poor guy driving it had to sit out in the sun, rain and wind, brutal). Apparently Ford kept separate build sheets for the Landaulet bodies in 1909. I'm guessing more Towncars were built in 1909 than Landaulets.

[Kerry]

Chauffeur or just a cab driver? the caption on the photo is taxicab.
In 1909, Ford marketed the landaulet as "Taxicab that gives the owner a chance to make some money"
And the Town car as the car to " Replace the $5000 car in many private garages"

[TRDxB2]

Don't forget this one. You need to be a Jockey to get behind the wheel, let alone in the passenger forward seats, has rear facing jump seats too.

[Luxford]

Early Town Cars are different.
First of all there was plenty of room behind the steering wheel as the column was shorter than a touring. ( about 9" from memory) hard to find the remains of an original, so everyone uses standard Ford chassis bits and new builders who I have had contact with over the years were oblivious of the fact.
As to weight, the early Town Cars were all wood, mine weighs less than a touring with steel panels even with the 4 wood framed windows, the head lining in the rear and the leather roof covering.
When I attached the TC body to the chassis I lifted it on by myself ( I was in my early 20's then) I could lift it easily by standing in the rear floor opening and holding it by the bottom of the front seat and front of the rear seat.
Its done thousands of miles on all sorts of roads and I have never felt the need to add Rocky Mountain or similar brakes ( though it does have a Ruckstell axle)
Not sure what is meant by passenger forward seats, the rear compartment seats are right at the rear of the body with the same amount of leg room as a touring , the jump seats fold up to behind the front seats and are only suitable to children. It does hold 5 adults and 2 children comfortably.
Would be interested to find out how heavy a Ray Wells TC body is, they must be terribly over engineered, they should be built like a wooden rowing boat.
Good to see a nice original photo of a Landaulet with the folding roof irons correct way around something often wrong on replicas.