Vintage Car Identification Help!

explorerx4

I enjoyed those crew pictures. I even know where they were taken.

lakewoodrat

Can anyone identify this car? I think it's an Oldsmobile but have not found any models with similar hood treatment.

Mr_Shiftright

That's a '42 Oldsmobile---rare car these days. I think the extra bits on the hood are just someone's add-on?

texases

Yes, had me looking at Buicks with no luck. 

lakewoodrat

Thanks, you are correct on the make and year. Those add-ons threw me off track.

lakewoodrat

I've got one more for you. Is this a 1950 Dodge or Chevy?

berri

Between those choices I'd guess Chevy.

texases

The hood ornament looks a lot more like a Chevy's.

fintail

It's definitely not a Dodge, so likely a Chevy,

uplanderguy

I'd say with probably a 90% certainty that this is an Oldsmobile. The rounded front wheel opening made me think that right away, but even more so, Chevys did not have a horizontal trim strip, regardless of model, on the rear quarter. Here's a pic of a '50 Olds sedan:

http://www.oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Oldsmobile/1950_Oldsmobile_Delta_88_Sedan-green-fVr=mx=.jpg

fintail

Nice catch. Hood ornament looks like an Olds too.

berri

That old windshield visor is pretty spiffy

uplanderguy

Somewhere in the house I have a pic of my grandmother standing in front of their '49 or '50 Chevy Fleetline 4-door (fastback). I remember my Dad saying, "I bought that sun visor for Grandpa for Father's Day". Apparently a fairly common accessory back then.

berri

I wonder how tall guys could see overhead stop lights with that accessory? I'd think even those prism doo-hickey's would be obstructed. Say Up, some time ago I mentioned while in college being willing to buy a Studebaker or Rambler to save a few bucks, but there were no deals. Well today I was reading an article in hemming's classic car about a 62 Rambler American. OK stop wretching Up, I was cool with Kenosha Kadillac's growing up in the Chicago area. Anyway, the article said that because those Ramblers didn't have a lot of big styling changes and were reasonably priced new, they had decent resale. Wonder if that was true for latter Studebakers too?

uplanderguy

I have heard that mid-fifties Studebakers had pretty good resale, but I'm old enough to remember that after Studebaker shut down, they were all real bargains to buy as used cars. Many in the Studebaker Drivers' Club got into them by buying them as a cheap second car then and deciding they really liked them and that they were cheap to maintain and later, restore. I loved mine, and I grew up in a mostly-Chevy household. I wouldn't consider buying a popular Chevy or GM from the '60's, with a couple exceptions. I like the low production and weirdness, LOL.

I get Hemmings Classic Car and saw that article on the '62 American. To me, they make a Lark seem luxurious in comparison. That said, Rambler did something right as they were popular. I always remember the vacuum windshield wipers long after everyone else had given them up, and the speedometer numerals "1, 2, 3, 4..." instead of "10, 20...".

I had a high-school friend whose moneyed family was driving a '64 American 330 wagon in 1972. My friend was mortified but his Dad would say, "That's a good car". An older coworker also used to tell me that his '64 Classic was the best car he ever owned.

texases

A car to ID:
http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/42982/general/x/can-anyone-identify-the-car-in-this-photograph#latest

cnr2008

I am looking for some help identifying this antique bumper, can anyone help me 

isellhondas

I grew up in a Chevy town and I can't tell you how many of those windshield visors we took off and trashed. They really cut down on vision. They would probably be worth a lot today!

Jeepers66

Recently I came across this picture of my Grandpa's old car. He was rather poor and made willow wood chairs to sell so I guess that made him a traveling salesman... This may have been taken in the early 30's but I'd like to identify and date this Car. From my guess it was a 1920's Dodge... After close examination, the front right wheel has a broken spoke. There's a truck with a tank on the back in the background too that would be fun to know more about.

texases

Dodge seems like a good guess, '25 or so. Here's another:

OldEastEnder

Anyone help ID this limousine please? I know there's not much to go on in the photo but I do have some facts. The photo can only have been taken in 1930 or 31. It is in Bayreuth, Germany. The gentleman in the photo (the celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini) owned many Fleetwood bodied Cadillacs from the 1920s until he died in 1957, so some aspects of the car in the photo might have been custom (such as the 2 plates on the running board). That is of course if it's a Cadillac. He also shipped brand new Cadillacs to Milan, Italy, where he lived and updated his cars every 2/3 years - so the car in the photo is likely to be a recent model in 1930/31. Thanks.



Another photo with chauffeur. I've just noticed an emblem or a badge to the left of the door at bottom.

fintail

This one will take some studying. The AACA board here:

http://forums.aaca.org/forum/66-what-is-it/

And SVVS board here:

http://www.svvs.org/help133.shtml

Might be quicker.

I get a non-American vibe from that windshield, and I also notice it is RHD - some US cars were exported and converted, but it makes me think this isn't American. If only I could ID the coachwork badge on the lower pic or the emblems on the running board rubber in the top pic.

OldEastEnder

Thanks fintail. Will follow up your links. I looked at Cadillac emblems from the early 1900s and it doesn't appear to be one of them. Was it only Fleetwood and Fisher who made custom bodies for Cadillac in the 20s and 30s? Could it be one of their badges? I agree it's entirely possible it could be a European make. But if it's RHD surely it could only be British? Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Daimler are the only prestige manufacturers which come to mind at the moment but I know there were several others at that time.

texases

With a custom limo like that it could have been made by any one of a number of different coach builders.  Maybe someone will recognize either the emblem or the treatment of the hood louvers, which seems distinctive. 

Mr_Shiftright

I bet it's a coachbuilt car also, so anything Cadillac about it would probably be only from the windshield forward, and in many cases, the manufacturer only shipped a chassis, drivetrain and grille to the coachbuilder.

Toscanini was probably still in Italy at the time of this photo. He and Mussolini despised each other.

Car might be something like a Hispano Suiza.

fintail

RHD and LHD co-existed in Europe at the time, Italian cars in particular were RHD for some time - and a customer could order what they want. I don't think RHD defines it as British, but that along with some body details I think leans against it being American - not a certainty, just a hunch.

One could order a chassis and have a body installed by the maker of their choosing - Fisher and Fleetwood are the traditional Cadillac bodymakers, but the owner could buy a chassis and choose what they want. Those badges don't resemble what I know of Fisher and Fleetwood, but I am not an expert. I have seen a number of 30s era American cars with European bodies - American cars had a lot of cachet then.

I think the hood louvers are a key, too.

OldEastEnder said:

Thanks fintail. Will follow up your links. I looked at Cadillac emblems from the early 1900s and it doesn't appear to be one of them. Was it only Fleetwood and Fisher who made custom bodies for Cadillac in the 20s and 30s? Could it be one of their badges? I agree it's entirely possible it could be a European make. But if it's RHD surely it could only be British? Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Daimler are the only prestige manufacturers which come to mind at the moment but I know there were several others at that time.

OldEastSider

Thanks for your help all. I'm still investigating and researching. Names I keep coming back to are Daimler, Hispano Suiza, Packhard, Duesenberg, and the new front-runner, Isotta Fraschini of Milan, Italy. In the 1920s they made ultra-luxury automobiles for the rich and famous, and Toscanini qualified on both counts. And Milan was his adopted home. What's interesting is that the coachbuilder Castagni was also from Milan and they "finished" many Isotta Fraschini bodies including the fabulous Tipo 8A Castagna Imperial Landaulet. Their badge is also similar (alas not quite the same) as the one seen on the car. So I still have some work to do! What's clear is that this limousine was an exclusive piece of design and engineering.

Edit: just found another (low res) photo showing a few more details. 

fintail

Did you try the AACA or SVVS forums? Some real experts there, who put my knowledge to shame.

I still get a really European vibe from that windshield, but that could be a function of the bodymaker rather than the brand of the car.

Mr_Shiftright

You might try to get ahold of this new(ish) biography of Toscanini--you never know, it might have mention of the car in there:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/books/review/toscanini-biography-harvey-sachs.html

fintail

A few things to ID here - I know the general mystery car thread doesn't like prewar models, but this pic was too cool to ignore. This is a junkyard in 1941 in eastern PA, via Shorpy

(click to enlarge)

The one that gets me most is the 33-34 Ford Victoria above the "Graham" sign, a seriously rare car today, and quite pretty. There's also a 34 DeSoto Airflow in the mix, along with several other rare or desirable models.

Mr_Shiftright

I'd wager 95% of those cars were melted down in short order, to cope with the upcoming Great Unpleasantness.

fintail

No doubt nothing there made it past 1943 or so - unless they were put back on the road due to vehicle shortages, then discarded later.

The front most car is an Auburn, although it has an unglamorous body, is still somewhat special for that.

Mr_Shiftright

I think many scrapyards were just emptied and these old cars were turned into Sherman tanks. But if people had running cars in 1941, yes, they held onto them for dear life.

fintail

I've read some wartime newspapers, and used car prices became crazy for awhile - many more than double prewar values. But if I suppose if it was in a junkyard in 41, it probably had a real terminal issue to begin with.

OldEastEnder

I've managed to ID the Toscanini car. It's a late 20s Lancia Lambda Coupe de Ville. All the key design elements line up (windshield, running boards, engine louvers etc). Even though it's not as exotic as I had hoped I do still think there was an element of customization and the badge at the bottom of the door is that of an as yet unidentified Italian coach builder. Here's a couple of photos (a 1928 then a 1931).

fintail

Nice! That's definitely it, good job. The Lambda was a landmark car, the first with unitary construction and independent suspension. Although not a big exotic like a Hispano-Suiza or similar, still a high end machine of the time,

OldEastEnder

Thanks man! Those hood louvers are so distinctive and I've never seen that particular shape on another vintage car. You were spot on when you said it was non-American. I was sure it was a Cadillac because he was well known for owning a succession of Cadillac limos both in the US and Italy. I never knew that info about the Lambda. Obviously Lancia was an innovative manufacturer in its day along with the likes of Citroen in France. Thanks again!

Mr_Shiftright

Interesting. There's a '28 Lancia Lambda over in Berkeley CA awaiting a restoration--it's actually in very nice original condition but the motor is frozen, so research is being done on how to address that. Once you can see the front half of a 20s Lancia, there's no doubt as to what it is.

Here's a good list of Italian coachbuilders:

Accossato, Ala d’Oro, Allemano, Balbo, Bertone, Boano, Boneschi, Brianza, CA.SA.RO., Canta, Caprera, Castagna, Colli, Coggiola, Coriasco, Ellena, Eurostyle, Faina, Fantuzzi, Filacchione, Fissore, Fona, Fontana, Francis Lombardi, Frua, Garavini, Ghia, I.D.E.A., ItalDesign, Lotti, Maggiora, Mantelli, Marazzi, Mazzanti, Meteor, Michelotti, Monterosa, Montescani, Monviso, Morelli, Moretti, Motto, OSI, Ostuni, Pininfarina, Riva, Savio, Sala, Scaglietti, Scioneri, Siata, Sibona, Sports Cars, Stabilimenti Farina, Touring, Vignale, Viotti, Zagato.

fintail

I looked up the image of the car in the two pics provided by OldEastEnder - that's a Boneschi body.

Mr_Shiftright

Well now we are getting somewhere!

fintail

That being the car in the modern/color pics. But there couldn't have been too many companies making de ville bodies for the Lambda, so I suspect there's a chance that's the Toscanini car, too.

rjohn40787

Can anyone identify the car (or is it a truck)? This photo was taken circa 1927-1929.

texases

Looks a lot like a 1926 or so Chevy roadster (two seater, maybe with rumble seat). Note the wheels on this one are fancy disc wheels, many/most came with those wooden wheels in your photo:

rjohn40787

Thanks!