" I've subscribed to your blog for a few years. I've started to fixate on this car from my own past. The photo could have been taken in Paris with the steeple and the cyclists in the background but it wasn't. It was taken in Cork, Ireland and the hand on the rhs belongs to my dad who also has his foot on the front bumper. He was born in 1920 so my best guess is that this was from the 1940s. He and his brother worked as drivers for my grandfather's car hire company...there's a whole other story there..but that's how a young man of limited means had such a nice car!
"Cork has so many interesting associations with cars. This was the site of Ford's first factory outside the US, the home of Ford's grandfather and I know there was an early Dodge dealer in the city too.
"Anyway, I'd welcome any ideas about this car. It could be from anywhere but my best guess is that it's English. I don't think it's French or Italian. The split windscreen and the horizontal line on the grill may be the big distinguishing characteristics.
"I'd be interested to see what you can add that might help narrow my search."
"Cork has so many interesting associations with cars. This was the site of Ford's first factory outside the US, the home of Ford's grandfather and I know there was an early Dodge dealer in the city too.
"Anyway, I'd welcome any ideas about this car. It could be from anywhere but my best guess is that it's English. I don't think it's French or Italian. The split windscreen and the horizontal line on the grill may be the big distinguishing characteristics.
"I'd be interested to see what you can add that might help narrow my search."
AL: can anyone ID this car?
That looks like a Chrysler Airstream from the middle/later thirties to me. The grill and high cross emblem is distinctive, the split windscreen was in use, the odd headlamp configuration, the running board mounted spare ... I'm not sure if it's a '35, 36, 37 or later but clues like wiper placement will likely help. Google is your friend here. It would have been an unusual and distinct vehicle anywhere in the thirties, and worth a picture. Maybe your father just stumbled on it, and was a fan.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is not remotely true that Cork was the first Ford factory outside the US ... Ford had factories in Canada within months of having one in the US, and Canada built Fords, and as a corporate subsidiary Ford Canada ran operations in other countries too. Conflating Canada with the US about as accurate as calling Ireland 'part of the UK'. Us Canadians can almost get used to being referred to as 'Americans' (not really we can't!) but part of the 'USA'? Never in history!
I will add, the number plate code identifies the vehicle as registered in 'Dublin City'sometime between May of '33 and March of '37, likely '36 based on the high value numbering. This would represent the first registration of the vehicle, the same plate could of course be carried much later. That would suggest however that this is a '36 Airstream.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how Chrysler products were distributed/sold in Europe in that era, that is whether a 'Dodge' dealer also could sell Chrysler. Chrysler is the 'parent' company, but naming/branding in other countries may follow different conventions. More recently, Chrysler sold Plymouth and Dodge products branded as 'Chrysler' abroad; unrelated but similar General Motors sold hybrid Chevrolet/Pontiac cars as 'Pontiac' in the 60s in Canada, cars that would be identified more accurately as Chevrolet in the USA.