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An original 5.5x3" antique photo (NOT a modern reprint) from the estate of a vintage automobile photo and postcard collector. This was part of a huge collection of antique photos.
Photo Overview
A young man in a white shirt sits behind the wheel of an early brass era touring car, parked on a dirt road beside a fieldstone wall overlooking a lake. Across the water, a wooded shoreline with scattered houses and cottages stretches into the distance, suggesting a summer drive in rural New England around 1905-1910.
The car is an early two-row, side-entrance tourabout style automobile. It has a deeply tufted leather rear seat, a round-topped radiator with a mesh front, a louvered hood, a tall angled steering column, and wooden artillery spoke wheels. Brass headlamps and cowl-mounted side oil lamps complete the look. The body styling and radiator shape closely resemble the Maxwell Model L Tourabout of about 1906-1908, one of the most popular light cars of the era. This is an appealing early motoring image for brass era car enthusiasts and collectors of early American automobile photography.
Historical Notes
Cars like this one marked the moment when the automobile moved from a rich man\'s novelty to a practical machine for middle class families. If this is a Maxwell, as the styling suggests, its maker went on to rapid success. Maxwell-Briscoe grew into one of the largest automakers in the country by 1909 and won the 1909 Glidden Tour team trophy. Alice Ramsey also drove a Maxwell coast to coast that year, becoming the first woman to cross America by car. Financial troubles later reshaped the firm, and in 1925 Walter P. Chrysler reorganized it into the Chrysler Corporation, so the Maxwell name lives on in the roots of one of America\'s major automakers. Within a decade of this photo, quiet dirt lakeside roads like this one would be widened and paved for the flood of Model T Fords that followed.
Text Present
Back, upper right corner, in pencil: 50 cents (a price marking from an earlier sale)
Print analysis
This is a vintage gelatin silver print on card stock with a soft matte surface and warm tone typical of amateur and studio prints from about 1905-1912. The blank, lightly textured back, natural toning, and age wear all agree with the period of the car pictured. It appears to be an original Type 1 print made at the time the photo was taken.
Condition
All photos and postcards we sell are in fair to excellent vintage condition. Please see photos for any tears, folds, smudges, or other age damage that may be present.
