Friday early bird special: dead car

[vaneramos]

The "dead car" Brenna and I found alongside the Bruce Trail today provided one of the most interesting photographic opportunities I've had for some time. An old wreck is photogenic by itself, but I was particularly attracted to the nostalgic juxtaposition of autumn leaves and corroded engineering. It was strikingly reminiscent of quilt artist Lorraine Roy's Satin and Steel exhibit, which I viewed on Saturday. The online gallery shows samples of her husband's photographs from an old foundry, which accompanied her fabric pieces.

The light conditions seemed too low at the time I shot these images. I had to switch off the automatic flash, which is usually a bad sign. But the images turned out sharp enough, and I had a hard time choosing a favourite to post here. If anyone can suggest what make and model of car this was, I would appreciate it.

View the full gallery of 8 images.

Comments

[rosylavie.livejournal.com]

I suggest it would be circa 40, possibly a Chevrolet: http://www.autogallery.org.ru/chev1940.htm

[rosylavie.livejournal.com]

Looks a lot like this one: http://www.autogallery.org.ru/k/ca/39chevyJAsedan_Robin_Adrian.jpg

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Wow, you know your vintage cars! Good eye, I think you're right.

[rosylavie.livejournal.com]

I happened to have a boyfriend who was an antique car enthusiast, and I'm surprised myself at how much I still know today, after so many years.

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

all i could see for sure was that it's
a 'straight eight', which wasn't that
common. nifty gallery, though and
fine pictures as always. did you have
any trouble getting it to load? i haven't
looked today, but every time i tried in
the past couple of weeks, all i got was
'page is unavailable'.~paul

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I don't know a lot about motors, but I thought this one had 12 cylinders. Is that possible?

I didn't have any problems uploading pics to the site, but I was working in low-traffic hours. The site has certainly been stubborn. I hope people don't have too much trouble viewing the gallery today.

[dakoopst.livejournal.com]

WONDERFUL shots. Absolutely. It makes me wonder how the car got there...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It was out in the middle of the woods. I suppose someday abandonned it there decades ago, before the woods grew up. It was not far from the top of the ridge, with farmland behind, so someone might have driven it down from there. I can't imagine them coming through the steep gullies below.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

As other posters suspect, I too immediately thought it is a ~40 chevy. There are 12 valves shown in the picture - one intake and one exhaust for each of the 6 cylinders - a distinguishing feature of Chevrolet engines in that era and a long time afterward.

My first car was a 1940 chevy bought in 1956 when I looked like this picture.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Very cool. Thanks for explaining about the cylinders and valves.