Dave’s grandmother, Pearl, was, like my Nana, a person who saved photos, letters and mementos, which have passed on to us. Although Oklahoma was a new state in the early 1900’s, with much undeveloped land, it doesn’t mean that residents had to “do without,” especially when it came to those new-fangled things they called automobiles.
Here are photos of Pearl out riding with friends. These first few, I believe, are before she married Earl Stufflebean in 1915. I know nothing about old cars, but I would guess that this first one dates from 1910-1915.
These two are my favorites, though. Earl Stufflebean was out for a ride and had a bit of car trouble:
These last two pictures are of a different style of photo and were not taken at the same time as the five earlier pictures. I bet Earl had fun pushing that car out of the ditch! An unknown friend is at the steering wheel. Below, it appears he was checking out the car to make sure all was good. Could this be the 1920 Ford Model T touring car?
If you have any insights as to which car models these are, please leave a comment.
I think it’s wonderfully fun that someone had a camera and the forethought to take photos of the car and riders, and especially to take a photo of Earl pushing the car out of the ditch. Poor guy.
A number of years ago I read L. M. Montgomery’s journals. There were several volumes and in one of the last ones, when cars were new, she mentioned automobile accidents frequently. If most people are like me, we assume that things became so much easier when people were finally able to have cars and drive, but it seems that early cars had their problems and drivers were still perfecting their skills.
Lucky you with the photos, Linda!