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"District of Columbia, 1917. Traffic Stop and Go signs." Traffic safety in Washington with the Treasury building at left. Note the pedestrian-catcher on the streetcar. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Dave, thank you for the car ID. This vehicle appears to be the 6 cyl Haynes roadster, judging by the hood length - an impressively expensive vehicle, at around $3500-4000 at the time of its release. Elwood Haynes was a remarkable engineer, with nickel steel in the late 1890's, and stellite steels in 1912, being some of his fine metallurgical research work.
Note how the car has electric headlights! - a wonder to behold in 1913, when virtually everything else still used acetylene or kerosene lighting. This car not only had electric lighting, it also had electric starting - something that would have also caused amazement and envy among other car owners of the era.
The car is definitely a beauty but what caught my eye is the gentleman on the trolley. Doesn't it look like he's sticking his tongue out at the camera?
Why hasn't anyone said anything about the car! What a magnificent machine!! It must be brand new, judging by the sheen on the paintwork! Look at the detail of the car - you could restore the same model from a wreck, just on the detail.
The magnificent low hood, the sculptured styling, a two-seater roadster body, the doorless body - this machine would have been the Pontiac GTO of its time! However the balloon tyres and rear-wheel-only brakes would have led to considerably-less-than-GTO performance!
[The car is a two-door Haynes roadster. - Dave]
Boy, what I wouldn't give right now to spend a jolly hour on that trolley.
Could the traffic officer have chosen less visible clothing?
I do not think so.
Ahh, the days when they paid a guy to manually flip the switch. Bet they had a lot fewer wrecks back then.
I think that would still hurt your ankles quite a bit. If I get a bruise, I'm gonna sue!
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