VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1916-1922 - Model 490 Fun in the sun

Sorry - playing around here and trying to get a photo uploaded properly. Sorry
[img]http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l529/chevyguru/changingaflatfixed.jpg?t=1294546699[/img]

Cool pic. I hate the hassle with the "photo buckets" of photo-hosting now days (includes Kodak, ImageShack, and the "worst" Facebook). Oh, well. They have their place... just wish that we could link to them better on Chat.

Thanks Don.

Don... When you're on the Photobucket screen that shows all of the pics in one of your albums, hover the cursur over the pic you want to post. When the dropdown menu appears, select the bottom code... IMG Code. Left clicking it should copy it, then paste it in your message. Then the pic should show up, like Bill did above, not a link.

Don,
Great photo! Hollister, California is in my stomping grounds- about 40 miles away. Can you tell the year of the car? The license plate is 1922. Here is a link to ID the plates http://www.davesclp.com/california.htm

Ah yes, the hazzards of cactus and desert brush stickers, The sharp edged flint gravel in Nevada, the millions of tons of chucked off horseshoe nails and black locust spines back east led to many a scene such as this in the early days. No one, no matter how rich and powerful was exempt from the dilema unless the vehicle had solid rubber tires. The side curtains look like the ones that were on Dads 21 490 when he got it. This car has a headlight bar so 1919 or earlier.

The cool thing is the WILLARD battery sign in the background.

Wow, thanks for all the interest! I just stumbled into the photo, and thought it was cool in several respects.

My best guess as to the year of the car is 1919, whcih seems pretty certain. It has the headlight bar, which was gone for 1920. It has the new-style front fenders that have the reverse-curve down to the running board (versus the earlier straight line from the crown of the wheel to the running board). This new fender style first appeared on the touring car in 1919 (the coupe still had the old straight style). Therefore - headlight bar and curved front fenders can only be 1919.

I also saw the Willard battery sign, Ray. Which is very possibly the brand of battery that was in this car when the photo was taken. The existence of that billboard tells us that even though this appears to be "in the middle of nowhere" it was a major enough highway to have billboards. The happy fellow changing the tire had to move a suitcase, so it was a significant trip. And somebody had a camera with them!

By the way, Brewster, thanks for your description. I did exactly what you described above when I was trying to post this. Bill Barker was able to figure out that what needed to be changed was to delete the "?t=1294546699" tail on the link, so that it ended at ".jpg" - then it will display. I thought about that, but figured those characters mattered somehow.

By the way, if you want to see the photo larger, click the link in my first posting effort, and then expand the page and click the photo - it will get bigger.

Since the headlight lenses are the accesory hooded type, the headlamp tie rod could be an aftermarket item too. The curve type front fenders started in 1919 with the 1920 models. Also the two port top windows started with the 1920 models on August 1,1919 too.
kenK