Very old car ID help please

[Asimo]

I'd like to know what this is. The photo is in an old family album and was taken in the Colwyn Bay / Llandudno area. The hat is most likely worn by my grandma or her sister, who were driving before WW1.

 

There is some writing on the rear wheel which I can't quite read, the mascot thing on the radiator cap looks like an AA badge. The vents on top of the headlights suggest to me they are gas lights.

 

 

Whatever, I think it looks relatively up-market in a sporty sort of way. Any ideas Autoshite collective?

 

[Christine]

Looks familiar like a model of yesteryear . /\

 

 

 

My Great Grandfather sitting in the back ,of his Lordships shitheap , Faversham  .

 

T Ford ?  Lord Harris ?

 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

That's a much bigger and grander car than a Model T.

[overrun]

RHD JDM import yo is it a GT-R?

[Dan the van]

Wheels look similar to those on the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost so coach built sports body on Rolls chassis??.

[chaseracer]

By the shape of the cowl and the radiator, it looks like a Wolseley.  Will dig further...

[Asimo]

I reckon the writing on the wheel could be"Wolseley"

[NorfolkNWeigh]

That looks very much, to me, like a rebodied limousine or even hearse. The centre 2 seat tourer section almost looks like a fibre glass Hot Rod tub! The dickie ( dicky?) seat section looks big enough for 2 rows, as well.

Unfortunately I have no knowledge or things this old and the fact that hundreds of firms sprang up and dissapeared after making only a few cars , isn't going to help.

If only we had someone on here who works at possibly the only magazine in the World that specialises in such stuff...

[Kringle]

Could it be the wheel manufacturer Asimo?

 

Im thinking its a Crossley of some kind. That central tub is quite a prominent feature.

[Kringle]

Somewhat similar, look at the door handle.

 

[RayMK]

The body style was quite common back then, as was putting a new or secondhand tub on a serviceable chassis. I also wondered whether it was a rebodied Rolls Royce because 'R's can be mistaken for 'A's - and for the shear size of the thing.  The raked windshield is distinctive, but maybe these were available from a pre-war forerunner of Halfords.

[Dan the van]

Deffo an AA badge fitted in front of the rad cap.There's a maker's plate on the battery box but resolution not good enough to read it.

[lesapandre]

Here is a similar similar body style on a 1914 Packard 6. Thought its not a Packard just a similar look. So it would date the car to circa 1914? I can see Dunlop? on the wheels themselves which would indicate a car of British manfacture? Its an upmarket car so one of the posh manufacturers? 

[lesapandre]

Packard 6 1914.

 

 

[LC Torana]

Don't think that's an AA badge - I reckon it's a "calormeter" - the temperature gauge of it's day - usually an aftermarket accessory from the days before temperature senders and dashboard gauges were common.

 

 

Not that that helps ID the car in any way.

[LC Torana]

From the shape of the bonnet & radiator grille, I'm thinking Packard too.

 

It's definitely American, and I can say the body style was called a "roadster" in the parlance of the time, with a dickey or rumble seat.  The footstep to get up into it was a nice touch, and no doubt saved the mudguard from getting trampled on.

[lesapandre]

I was thinking not Packard by the absence of bonnet vents and the Dunlop wheels...

[Junkman]

I think it's a ca 1910 Wolseley Siddeley 16/20 hp.

It has the typical W-S scuttle of the era and everything else fits pretty well too.

[Junkman]

Here is a cabriolet version with the same scuttle and the same windscreen, but the upper section is removed from the roadster:

 

[John F]

Jawühlmaus!

 

That matches the lines of the front wing as well.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

There are a lot of similarities to that most obvious contender the Ghost.

 

The wheels in particular, with that bolted on ring, look almost identical. I suppose if one was making a rakish sports car from an old Wolseley, Crossley, Alldays and Onions or whatever, you might try to make it look a bit like the poshest most famous car you'd heard of.

 

Which brings me to the main reason I think it's not a Royce, or any other common well known make;

The picture would be known in the family through the generations as " The picture of Granny in a Rolls Royce" Everybody knows what they are and it wouldn't get lost with the passage of time.

[Squire_Dawson]

Wheels look similar to those on the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost so coach built sports body on Rolls chassis??.

 

That's what I was thinking - the wheels are very distinctive. Certainly not a Packard as the wheel hubs do not bear the Packard red hexagon. Looks a magnificent automobile whatever it is.

[Junkman]

Some - by far not all - Silver Ghosts were fitted with these Warland Dual Rim wheels, which were generally available.

They are not a unique feature of, or specific to, Rolls Royces.

[flat4alfa]

Looks familiar like a model of yesteryear

 

MoY 1913 Cadillac

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

RHD JDM import yo is it a GT-R?

 

AE86 for maximum scene points.

 

Sorry I can't actually be helpful.

[RayMK]

I'm still thinking it's based on a Rolls Royce chassis.  From the photo, the rear suspension has semi elliptic leaf springs but there's a double shackle arrangement at the rear, as would be required if there was also a transverse leaf spring supporting the rear end of the springs. I doubt that this arrangement was exclusive to a particular marque, but some pre-WW1 RR models featured such a set-up, whereas the Wolseley didn't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost#/media/File:Rolls_Royce_Silverghost_AX201_restore3.jpg

 

I still don't really know what it is though  .

[eifion]

I've got no idea about the car, but the photo was taken in Old Colwyn. That's the old Queen's Hotel in the background which is here.

[Hawkeyethenoo]

I think that could be a very early Pierce-Arrow?

 

http://www.pierce-arrow.org/features/feature26/index.php

[RayMK]

The body style is similar, but Pierce Arrows of that size and period had 3/4 elliptic rear springs. I think the car in question is a one-off body to a style which was quite popular at the time, mounted on an available chassis with a distinctive transverse leaf supporting the rear ends of the rear longitudinal leaf springs.

[flat4alfa]

I've got no idea about the car, but the photo was taken in Old Colwyn. That's the old Queen's Hotel in the background which is here.

 

Fantastic!

 

Photograph was taken here:

7 Woodland Ave

https://tinyurl.com/y76rp4xu