Not Model A need identification

[midgetracer]

This is a car my wife's aunt had a picture of in her photo book. All the picture was Identified was a comment Charles with the gray roadster in the Catskills. Can anyone identify the car for me please?

[ronn]

cant identify from the picture you show, but about 1912-1913.

it is a large car and could be many.........

[pj's junkers]

1913 Locomobile????????

[midgetracer]

Note the octagon trim on the headlights and the electric cowl lights. tires are Michelin 37X5.
Locomobile had the octagon headlights.

[Dodge]

That is a very unique cowl which should help with the identification. I would post over
on the Horseless Carriage Club site and see if anyone over there can help.

[daveymc29]

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Franklin?

[Brad in Germany]

Maybe it was manufactured by the GRAY Motor Corporation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_(automobile)

Brad

[77Birdman]

Very distinguished looking gentlemen and im sure that was an expensive car for the time. If all else fails, check out the guide to American auto's published by old cars. Or send the pic to them or hemmings. Another route would be the aaca library at Hershey. Im not sure they will do the research for you though. Hundreds of manufacturers in that age, but that car surely has some distinction to it, should be some what easy to identify.

[Slotblog]

I posted this photo over at the AACA forum, in the "What Is It?" subforum and the consensus is that the car is an Oakland, in the 1913-14 era.

But we have not yet been able to find an Oakland that matches in many of the details. The cowl lamps and the wheels and hubcaps are a good match, but the cowl is decidely different in form, as are the spalsh shields and fenders.

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/322651...own-car-to-id/

[1930 coupe]

I have a very large thick book that list the different brands of cars made in the USA before WW2, it does not list any European cars.
It has 5000 different American made car brands.
If it is not one of the well known brands it could be a big challenge to ID it.

[marty in Ohio]

Not to hijack your post, but --- 1930 coupe, does your book list the Rowe Motor Company? My father's uncle, Sam Rowe, built Rowe trucks between 1908 and 1925 near Harrisburg, Pa. Altogether there were about 4,200 trucks but nobody knows about them.
Marty

[1930 coupe]

Originally Posted by marty in Ohio

Not to hijack your post, but --- 1930 coupe, does your book list the Rowe Motor Company? My father's uncle, Sam Rowe, built Rowe trucks between 1908 and 1925 near Harrisburg, Pa. Altogether there were about 4,200 trucks but nobody knows about them.
Marty

Is this it

[johnneilson]

The headlights and hood profile looks suspiciously like a Pierce Arrow.
A friend of mine has a '13 roadster, but RHD.

J

[redmodelt]

Chevrolet had one model with lights in the cowl but radiator shape is wrong on this one. I am thinking that this is a custom bodied job and without a photo of the front may be hard to ID. That cowl shape is very unique, one of those where have I seen that before? The 14 on aaca, besides being right hand drive, has what I would call bull nose radiator which this car does not look to have. The Pierce Arrow went from gas to electric lights in the fenders around 1913 except for some places like New York that required separate head lights.

[marty in Ohio]

Thank you, 1930 coupe! There are few who know about Rowe. It seems that Uncle Sam was a good engineer but a bad businessman. He had a lot of fires!!
There is only one Rowe truck left. It's in a truck museum in Calif.
Thank again.
Marty

[77Birdman]

Originally Posted by marty in Ohio

Thank you, 1930 coupe! There are few who know about Rowe. It seems that Uncle Sam was a good engineer but a bad businessman. He had a lot of fires!!
There is only one Rowe truck left. It's in a truck museum in Calif.
Thank again.
Marty

Interesting. Never heard of them. I live very close to both (Lancaster and Coatesville) and have family that lives in Coatesville. I will have to ask around about this.

[marty in Ohio]

77 Birdman,
I don't have much information about Rowe Motors, but I find that the first plant was in Martinsburg (burned out) then moved to New York City, then on to Coatesville, Pa. After out growing the Coatesville plant they moved to Wallace Avenue in Downingtown. After Downingtown they moved to Fountain Avenue in Lancaster. The Lancaster building was destroyed by fire in 1923. In 1925 the company entered receivership and that was the end of Rowe Motors.
Marty

[77Birdman]

Thanks for the info. I will look into the Lancaster location next time im up that way, which is usually once a week. Unfortunately my aunt and uncle have passed but he would have been living in Coatesville around that time frame. Working in the steel industry (Coatesville was a large mill town) im sure he would have been familiar with them.

[marty in Ohio]

77 Birdman,
Thanks for checking.
Marty

[SSsssteamer]

The car in the first photo is a 1913 Locomobile, model 38, little six, roadster. Sold new for $4300. 6 cylinder, 43.8 hp, 128" wheel base. This same car is pictured on page 856 of the second edition of Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805 - 1942. PJ junkers in post # 3 gets the prize for the first right answer in identifying this antique car..

[midgetracer]

thank you Mr. SSsteamer. I wish the family would have kept the car and willed it to me.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by midgetracer

thank you Mr. SSsteamer. I wish the family would have kept the car and willed it to me.

Yep, my grandfather also had some nice cars and steam traction engines I wish he would have saved and willed to me. My uncle told me how they drove the steam engine out to the pasture in 1952, then put dynamite in the boiler and blew it to pieces to haul it in for scrap iron. By 1952 you'd think they could have seen it's value as a historic piece of equipment. One was a Reeves, and the other a Minneapolis.


One car was a Willys Knight with the sleeve valves.

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Yep, my grandfather also had some nice cars and steam traction engines I wish he would have saved and willed to me. My uncle told me how they drove the steam engine out to the pasture in 1952, then put dynamite in the boiler and blew it to pieces to haul it in for scrap iron. By 1952 you'd think they could have seen it's value as a historic piece of equipment. One was a Reeves, and the other a Minneapolis.


One car was a Willys Knight with the sleeve valves.

Well might we bemoan the actions of others in years gone by. They certainly destroyed a lot of stuff we would value. What are we destroying that our children and grandchildren would love for us to will to them? (Hot rodders please take note!)

[Randy in ca]

Originally Posted by SSsssteamer

The car in the first photo is a 1913 Locomobile, model 38, little six, roadster. Sold new for $4300. 6 cylinder, 43.8 hp, 128" wheel base. This same car is pictured on page 856 of the second edition of Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805 - 1942. PJ junkers in post # 3 gets the prize for the first right answer in identifying this antique car..

Can you scan and post the picture in the source you refer to? Don't have that book and even after lots of looking, using the information you've provided, I can't find a picture that looks anything like the mystery car.

[pj's junkers]

Google 1913 Locomobile roadster and you should find a side view of the car

[Randy in ca]

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Ok, finally found a pretty good picture of a roadster. The windshield and cowling, etc. is totally different than the sedans which I'd been looking at. This picture is from the 1913 Locomobile sales catalogue.


-

[77Birdman]

While very similar, I dont think that's the same car. May be a difference in year or maybe the angle of the camera. Sweep on the fender is much longer in the pic without the man, top of cowell also appears to have more downward slope, light on the face of the cowell looks a bit smaller (maybe the hood is larger), also the pan (dont know what its called) between the body and the running board looks to be a different height. Windshield mount at the cowell looks different as well.

[redmodelt]

http://www.autolit.com/Store/1913-lo...ile-photo.html