People and Old Cars - Page 4.
Welcome to the fourth in a series of pages, that feature period original photographs of people and their cars. Hundreds of period images from the 1900s through to the 1970s are spread across the site now. Where the car is the star of the photo, then they tend to appear on their own vehicle-specific pages. But where the car is typically something of an afterthought, but also appears in shot to a small degree, then these images deserve their own section. Page three in the People and Old Cars section has a good variety of images, from different decades of the 20th century, and this page continues the theme.
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1. June, with her 1960 Chrysler Windsor.
Opening the page is an early 1960s photograph of a young lady called June, stood alongside a Chrysler Windsor. To whom the photo was sent, isn't recorded, but a note on the reverse side does mention that "... she will have a fit when she knows I sent it to you". Was someone undertaking a spot of match-making I wonder?
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2. Wheel change.
Still on the other side of the Atlantic, a chap here is shown in the middle of a wheel change on his 1930s/1940s saloon, or sedan. The tire appears to be in usable condition, so presumably the punctured tire and wheel had already been deposited into the car's trunk, moments before the scene was captured on film.
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3. Camping trip.
The photographs featured here hail from America, Canada, and our own Britain, and the latter is the location of this next shot. A slightly solemn-looking lady is shown with what appears to be a two-door Morris 8 Series E, in the corner of a daisy-laden field. Perhaps even more interesting than the car (sorry Morris fans) is the back corner of what appears to be a small, lightweight, caravan, running on skinny spoked wheels. Can anyone hazard a guess on the caravan's id?
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4. A lady with a pre-war Rover.
A Rover of the early 1930s is shown parked, also in a leafy location, which again acts a reminder of how the car was so often used as a means of escape to the country in those days, offering flexibility that no train or coach service could hope to ever match. A young belle is dressed immaculately, and drinks from a proper china tea service - so much more civilised than supping from a cardboard cup of coffee, while wearing an ill-fitting fleecy coat at the motorway services. The car needs a wash though!
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5. Two people sit in their car.
An unusual angle for a photograph now. Taken from the passenger seat of what I think it a Ford 8 or 10, the photograph captures a couple sat in a four-door saloon parked alongside. Handily, someone has scribbled "Glastonbury 1953" on the reverse side, just below the stamp confirming that this is a "Rose Magna Print".
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6. Two older people in a vintage tourer.
This feels like a scene from perhaps the late 1920s or early 1930s. The car looks to be from the 1920s. An older couple are sat in the rear of the four-seat, four-door, tourer, having a picnic.
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7. Photo of Charlie, in Sarnia, Canada, 1945.
To foreign soil now with this photo that dates to July 1945. The chap is called Charlie, while the location is given as Sarnia, Michigan. Technically this isn't correct though, as Sarnia is on the Canadian side of the American-Canadian border, on the opposite side of the St. Clair River to Michigan, USA. Several cars are in view. Also visible is the old Capitol cinema, or "movie theatre", at which actor Dennis Morgan's film "God Is My Co-Pilot" is showing, a 1945 release. To the left, facing the cinema, is a billiard parlour. The cinema survives to this day, restored now as the Imperial Theatre.
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Incidentally, a photograph of a pre-war Packard, taken on the same occasion in the same street in Sarnia, can be found on this page, here at OCC. The old Colonial Hotel is visible in both photos.
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8. Christmas 1951.
Six years passed between the previous and the following picture. The only information I have on it, is written in ink on the photo itself. The year is 1951, at Christmas time, while the children are members of the Cook family. Behind them is a 1949 Dodge.
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9. A gent with his dog and car.
This elderly chap is clearly fond of his little dog, so chose to have it peering out of his old car for the photographer's benefit. Does anyone recognise the make and model of car? It rings a bell but I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps the unusual two-tone colour scheme, and the curved (plated) radiator surround, will help identify this pre-war saloon.
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10. Two people and their vintage saloon.
A lady and gent pose in front of a lofty, and somewhat boxy, vintage saloon car, which I think is a "bullnose" Morris Oxford. No date is given, but during the 1920s would seem appropriate.
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Return to Page 19 in the photographic archive, or visit the main index here.
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