Very old car ID help please

[vulgalour]

The Crossley is close, certainly, in a number of ways but I suspect it might be a little large?  I stumbled across the Austin 10hp which again has some similarities, though I can only find one example with this 'Courier' (as it's labeled on Wikipedia) bodystyle.

 

 

 

There's also this, the 1910 Austin 40hp which looks like it could be a very close match.  I've been unable to find any other pictures at all of this model.

 

The proportions aren't a million miles off this 1913 Metallurgique either.

 

And this 1912 Minerva AA also bears similarities.

[RayMK]

Following your Austin line of thought, what about this one?  It even has the spare wheel well in the correct position.

austin 1913

 

Can't find photos of its rear suspension......do you think I'm becoming obsessed with that transverse rear leaf ?     .

[vulgalour]

I'd seen that one and wasn't sure if it was the same model.  Interestingly it did throw up this one which might be the Wikipedia car earlier in life.

 

 

It's from here: http://vccatas.org.au/early-vcca-club-photos-1955-est-to-1977-est/#!prettyPhoto

[vulgalour]

Oh, and this too.

 

 

So I flipped that and scaled it up to as close to the original photo as I could and it's not really that far off.  I would have liked to do an overlay, but the perspectives and stuff are off for that so I can't, but it seems a strong contender.

 

EDIT: for some reason the image uploader won't let me, keeps crashing.  One moment I'll upload a different way.

[vulgalour]

MysteryCar by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

[JeeExEll]

Nothing to add right ATM but these Austins are a good lead.

Mystery car pic again, just for the sake of having it on this page. I lightened up the exposure slightly and altered contrast a bit but maybe others have the skilz to bring the original out a bit more.

 

Edit, posted at the same time there Vulg.

^ Maybe a slightly larger variant of the white Austin, next engine size up.

[vulgalour]

The other thing that's making it difficult is the camera lenses in different eras being different, so it can throw proportions off quite a bit.  New pictures of cars of this age don't always look the same as in period ones, new cameras tend to fish-eye things a lot more which can make some of the body curves look much large than they are.  I'm not 100% certain on the Austin, if it is an Austin then it's probably newer than the white one I've posted a gajillion images of.  Those running boards/body fairing covering the chassis of the mystery car and the bulkhead driving lamps look much more 1920s than 1910s to my untrained eye, the sort of styling queues you see just before streamlining in the 1930s really kicks off.

[vulgalour]

I can see why someone thought it might be a Darracq earlier, the Type V isn't a million miles off.  The bulkhead/cowl doesn't match and the bed at the back curves up a bit too much to my eye to match the mystery car, but lots of other bits look similar and it has a very short screen which is a good match.  I just wish we could see what was behind the big blue box on the running board to compare rear suspension.

 

[lesapandre]

Just took another look at the front end of this car. What struck me was the size of the acetylene headlamps. They appear very large and would point to an extremely expensive car which rule out an Austin of the period? They are on the scale of a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost - but its not one of those of course bonnet too short etc. Wing shape and lamps point to a car 1907-12ish. Details contrasted with 1907 Ghost with body by Barker

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

The spare wheel mounting position being towards the rear must narrow it down a fair bit. It doesn't appear to be a common feature.