AUTOS CARS CUSTOM

clipped from a much bigger photo http://www.shorpy.com/node/9647?size=_original

1909-1910 Ford towncar compared to landaulet - the only difference is that the landaulet ($1,100) does not have a covered drivers compartment and the towncar ($1,200) does. 

1909 -  236 produced; 284 sold .  1910 -  377 produced; 304 sold

The grids in the sidewalk on the top of the photo are glass blocks in the sidewalk that let light into the building basement under the sidewalk

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9955?size=_original
assigned to the western shores of the lower peninsula of Michigan between Ludington and Frankfort. vacation service on trains No. 1 and 5, and Nos. 9 and 10, the Resort Special.

 for 1905 of the Great Central route stopped at Little Manistee River (Fishing Camp) when signaled, an indication of casual operation in good old summer days. The car was characterized by a curved rear bulkhead with plate-glass windows to match, giving onto an observation platform of uncommon depth.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9969
Tires were flat so often, that this solution was considered a great idea, and cars didn't driver very fast, since roads were in such terrible condition, and there were very few miles of paved road in the entire country of the US

this is just a small part of http://www.shorpy.com/node/9975?size=_original and the building is the same as the below photo

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9991?size=_original

 Top hat (in front) and fancy carriages for the very wealthy
 Top to bottom interesting stuff; upper right corner is a guy trying to jump out of the way of a street car, to his left the open touring car has a uniformed and gloved driver, in the upper left side are 3 horses side by side pulling a cart(see below left side for a better view) I've never seen a 3 horse cart. The open touring cars are right hand drive. Lower right side is a one horse cart with advertising on the roof for people in high rises to read if they look down at the streets
from http://www.shorpy.com/Herald-Square-New-York-1908

The car is sitting on a transfer table. Transfer tables were used to switch cars using a much smaller space than a traditional yard with turnouts. http://www.shorpy.com

her name and the circumstances at http://www.shorpy.com/node/10200

notice they don't have seatbelts, but her dress is carefully tied around her legs so her ankles will remain demurely out of sight. The look on their faces is terrrific

yes, these aren't ready for the races yet, but step one is getting the boxes, step two is the wheels
Found on http://www.shorpy.com

http://www.shorpy.com/node/10308?size=_original  for the original with comments, like, the license plates are sequential

 1909 Hudson Model 20 Roadster with some test drive dirt under the fenders


 This company was the Michigan distributor for Peerless, Pope, Hartford and Hudson Automobiles. from http://www.shorpy.com

Clipped from one corner of http://www.shorpy.com/node/10642?size=_original

the ride must have been rough before paved roads, but this road does look like it has been graded, and maybe recently... looks very loose, or maybe just really sandy. Those seats on the car appear to be as plush as leather couches
Found on http://www.shorpy.com

found in the lower left corner of a photo on Shorpy http://www.shorpy.com/node/10720?size=_original and in the comments, one person optimistically asks if it is a Patented Herniated Tire Belt

Richard asked in the comments how the addresses were found for the old photos, in order to find the current location to do these cool double images... Jason replied in the comments that the landmarks are fairly well known to him, as he has lived in DC a long time. I want to add to that this info, the photos are from Shorpy.com, and it's a great website I've browsed for years and reposted many images here, and in the numerous comments after each photo that Shorpy posts you can usually find the address, and the cross street, and more trivia about the items in the photos.






Found on http://jasonepowell.com/ via http://stipistop.com/

Mansell Hackett purchased the Argo Motor Company in 1917 and established the Hackett Motor Car Company. Located in Jackson, Michigan, the company produced a line of touring cars and roadsters until 1918, at which time the company was moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan and became the Lorraine Motors Corporation.

from http://www.shorpy.com/

Above is the factory brochure image, below is the corner of the street photo from Shorpy

From http://www.shorpy.com/

Seems the big wide open plains of the Candian west needed farmers, and they used this to spread the word. Just study that box of a body and let me know if it's anything but a one off single purpose built vehicle
from http://www.shorpy.com/