I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

benjaminh

1915 Article about women as nurses under fire at the end....

benjaminh

In 1915 you could see America in your new Overland car, get a close shave with a Palmolive olive oil shaving stick, dress in a snappy York suit, and eat a nice bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes with a modest amount of milk and "spare the sugar"....

benjaminh

Buying a used car in 1915 (as detailed in the last image—readable if you double click) could be a challenging adventure, as detailed in this grim and somewhat witty story in the Post. Perhaps safer to buy a name brand of ketchup, a fan, or hope that your dirt road might be paved with concrete.

benjaminh

This 1915 Willys gas car was so quiet it wouldn't scare a horse....

benjaminh

Royalty rides in this car, and back in 1915 upper-middle class Americans could too...

benjaminh

A 1915 Buick ad says that Buicks can sometimes go well past 100,000 miles....

benjaminh

Factories with more than 15,000 works spread over more than 100 acres of floor space are working night and day to build your Willys Overland car back in 1915....

benjaminh

Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) returns from the dead in this advertisement and is amazed by how many tires his company is making in 1915....He is probably also amazed at how big one of the tires is, and how big he is!

benjaminh

With over 195,000 Studebakers in use, the company is confident that this $885 40-horsepower 7 passenger sedan will get you up this hill....(I hope maybe a few others out there are enjoying these image from the past too?)

benjaminh

For Christmas in 1915, an Erector set or a Saxon?

benjaminh

With Goodyear Winter tires and an Overland you could keep up with your kids on a sled, and at home Electricity was your servant....

sda

As you know I enjoy these. I feel like I’m getting a refresher in history, learning new things, and marvel at the rapid advancement of motor vehicles of the time. I get tickled at how technical the advertising was compared to the 50s when it was all about style and future look.

Mr_Shiftright

I think technological advances back then were far more shocking, and had a far greater immediate impact on people's lives.

Can you imagine going from a 3 mph life to a 50 mph life just like that? Or from candles to electric lights? These things changed one's entire life.

benjaminh

Mr_Shiftright said:

I think technological advances back then were far more shocking, and had a far greater immediate impact on people's lives.

Can you imagine going from a 3 mph life to a 50 mph life just like that? Or from candles to electric lights? These things changed one's entire life.

Yes, speaking of which here's a 1915 ad for the Edison light bulb with a trompe-l'œil ripping of the paper as if the bulb is coming 3D style out at you. Seems like back then maybe some people even celebrated "Edison Day"? That was Oct. 21st, which in 1879 was the first ever illumination of an electric light. (Also happens by chance to be my birthday.)

Mr_Shiftright

Electricity was also thought to be a miracle "drug" of sorts, that could cure diseases, both physical and mental.

Every time some new technology comes out, some huckster is ready to exploit it for "good health", sexual prowess, or for its miraculous, almost spiritual qualities.

After electricity, we had radium as a cure-all, and X-rays, and now all the New Age quacks are murdering quantum physics in order to make a buck.

benjaminh

The Post welcomes in 1916 with another cover of a baby symbolizing the new year. Studebaker did a strange stunt for a car show of making a Studebaker chassis out of gold—or probably it was just plated with gold, and Colgate celebrated 110 years in business.

benjaminh

Progress! Hudson increases horsepower by 80%, Chalmer creates an engine capable of 3400 RPM, and Mecca Cigarettes can "make all men comrades."

benjaminh

1916....

texases

My dad's 1911 Regal had "NON SKID" tires, blackwalls.

ab348

I don't think I've ever seen those Firestone Red Wall tires before. Learn something new every day!

benjaminh

1916 "Where Engine Failure Means Death"....

benjaminh

1916....

benjaminh

1916....

benjaminh

1916....

benjaminh

1916....

benjaminh

One of Norman Rockwell's early covers for the Saturday Evening Post showing a good guy being teased for taking care of the family's baby....

benjaminh

By 1916 a lot of familiar brand names had been launched. Wish they still made Clove LifeSavers. Seems like the Overland has a pushbutton transmission??

benjaminh

1916....That house looks to be inspired by the designs of the time by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Sunmaid Raisin Gal is holing a raisin bread fit for the Jolly Green Giant! That Packard looks like it never should have attempted that road! Re: electricity—probably there were a lot of people in 1916 who still didn't have an electric iron. Imagine using one from a hot stove. I had no idea you could get a steel-belted tire 102 years ago.

Mr_Shiftright

The "Three Ps" of American prestige motorcars in those early days were Peerless, Packard and Pierce-Arrow. They sat comfortably alongside Rolls, Hispano, Isotta Fraschini and all other renowned world-class automobiles.

benjaminh

1916....

benjaminh

1916....Some of these car brands I've never heard of. And yes, apparently it was possible to have a pushbutton transmission in 1916—although obviously you still had a manual clutch.

benjaminh

Cadillac at this point seemed almost always to do ads that were just text, like the one below. I want to see the car, gosh-darnit. Ford doesn't seem to be running any ads at all in the Post, and maybe Ford wasn't doing any advertising at this point? How about Phez Loganberry soda? Or a Buick that women like to drive?

benjaminh

Even in 1916 the automobile industry was quite aware of the already significant history behind it, as shown by this Haynes ad bringing out a working 1897 model. My great grandparents owned a Maxwell in the early to mid 1920s. They still spoke fondly of that car 50 years later, which to me is amazing.

benjaminh

Check out the pink wheels on this custom-designed Limo for Ladies. And at the end, what a difficult job driving a GMC truck on a dirt road back then. Nothing to protect you from the weather, no headlights?

omarman

Even in 1916 the automobile industry was quite aware of the already significant history behind it, as shown by this Haynes ad bringing out a working 1897 model.

Today a 20 y/o miled up Ford or Nissan wouldn't prove anything worth advertising. I mean they are easily found on CL for sale and still tagged. See how spoiled we've become over the last 100 years of the car biz?

But if you search for 20 y/o Kia or Hyundai examples today, it makes the Haynes brand of 1916 look very sturdy in comparison.

benjaminh

1916 still....Finally some illustrations of Cadillacs. And the Post at this point placed an advert in its own pages saying it was the dominant magazine in America at the time.

benjaminh

Another gold Studebaker brings 1916 to a close....

benjaminh

1917....

benjaminh

A few more images from 1917, and then I'm going to skip to after the Great War....

benjaminh

In January of 1919 production was still disrupted by the war....

benjaminh

January of 1920....

benjaminh

1920....As far as I know, the "grayish-blue smoke test" for an engine going bad is still valid. That "Vacuum Cup Tire" looks like an octopus!

benjaminh

benjaminh

1920....

ab348

The 1916 Cadillac 2-seat roadster appears to be the style that Wheeler Dealers attempted to take on in the last episode that Edd China appeared in and which seemed to be what pushed him to leave the series. It did not end well and they dropped a ton of money into it without complete success. In the aftermath of his departure he said that he was able to negotiate purchase of the car but I have not heard anything about it since.

It is interesting that the Cadillac ads of the time emphasized the smoothness of their V8 engine. That engine had a flat-plane crankshaft which is not known for smoothness.

benjaminh

1920....

explorerx4

Really enjoying ads and magazine covers.
Those braking distances in the brake ad are pretty scary.

benjaminh

In 1920 Mobil has a gargoyle as its corporate logo....

benjaminh

1920....

benjaminh

1920....I enjoy how they play with scale in some of these advertisements by creating colossal tires, or piston rings the size of a whole town.