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Traffic Cam: 1915

"Woman in automobile circa 1915." From of a series of pictures showing National Photo owner Herbert E. French and friends on motor excursions in the D.C. area. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

"Woman in automobile circa 1915." From of a series of pictures showing National Photo owner Herbert E. French and friends on motor excursions in the D.C. area. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

The car

Pretty sure this is an early (1912-1913) Detroiter Automobile.

Transcript

"Don't you dare take my picture right now! We've been on the road all day and I look like heck!"

Good thing she had no way of knowing that people would still be looking at this nearly a century later!

Just discovered

She just found out the car has no CD player - what a piece of junk!

Motoring

Anyone embarking on a long-distance trip was well-equipped with tools and expecting to make repairs. Roughly speaking, one breakdown per trip was the norm.

Betty Sue needs a dentist

Kinda cute and feisty but look at those teeth. I have those lamps and Prestolite tank on my 1917 Buick

Eric

Contrast

There is quite a contrast between this one and Soccer Mom of 1908 from 2 days ago -- setting, cleanliness of the car, demeanour of the driver -- this one looks much more real.

Road rage?

The lady appears to be majorly annoyed about something. Probably because the men wouldn't stop and ask for directions.

A car in its natural environment

Looking at all these fine pictures, I can't help comparing the dirty, mud-covered cars with the pristine specimens in today's museums, and realize that cars back then were not pristine and always clean, but covered in mud and dust. A very interesting contrast. I can hardly imagine what it was like to make a long-distance trip in one.

Gas lamps?

That looks like an acetylene bottle on the running board. If that's true, then the headlights have been converted from using calcium carbide to produce acetylene, to being fed from the bottle.

Interesting. I wonder why. Longer running time? More consistent flame/light?

[Convenience and reliability. Prestolite-style pressure tanks began replacing carbide generators around 1906. By the early teens they were standard equipment on many, if not most, cars with acetylene headlamps. - Dave]

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