Shady Business: 1920

"It is 1920 and motor vehicles still provide little protection from winter weather. Why is that? Was the market composed of drivers still used to the horse and buggy?"

Closed cars did not come into widespread use until the '30s. They were the usually the most expensive models in the line up through the teens and twenties. Another reason is that safety glass did not come into widespread use until about 1930. Add to that the the difficulty of manufacturing large pieces of sheet metal for the top and open cars remained the most desirable choice.

This advertisement includes the fact that "An intelligent child will have no trouble with it..."

Joe DeRita, known as the Last Stooge, appears on the bill. Mr. DeRita often performed with his parents and Phyllis DeRita was probably his mother.

Looks like a shady operation to me.

It looks like the girls were around for a while. This is from 1932:

we don't sell sunglasses.

Oldsmobile canopy top curtain side express truck and Ford Model T with aftermarket wire wheels and bee hive shock absorbers.

Helps explain a line I recently came upon in a 1919 letter written by my grandmother, about a car trip she took ("It started raining and we had to put the curtains down.")

Thanks to the superb clarity rendered in most of this site's photos, I saw a sign from my past: Wildroot Cream Oil. My father used it for years and I used it while in High School. Proverbial greasy kid stuff. Still available for purchase.

It is 1920 and motor vehicles still provide little protection from winter weather. Why is that? Was the market composed of drivers still used to the horse and buggy?

The posters in the barber shop window are interesting.