David Burge Profile picture
Aug 13 37 tweets 13 min read
Happy Saturday! Get your motors runnin' / head out on the highway with another episode of #DavesCarIDService

These two badasses are astride two legendary badass bikes: on left, a 1940-41 Harley EL Knucklehead custom bobber, and on left a 1946-48 Vincent Series B Rapide.
*Car behind them is a 1949 Ford, and I reckon the year is 1949-50.

BTW the Vincent rider was named Lucius Dawkins, but sadly the Harley rider's name is (for now) lost to posterity. The Navy watch cap suggest they were WW2 vets, and the bikes were purchased post-discharge.
Before diving into today's car ID casefiles, grateful thanks to all who heeded my little gripefest* and responded with some top notch vintage family photo car ID requests. That's my (and I think everyone else's) favorite thing about these threads.

*
Without further ado, let's get to those mystery cars, starting with this ill-fated 1930 Lincoln Model L sedan. Gotta say '39-45 was quite a harrowing stretch for young Uncle Jack; ironically (?) the dog-avoiding Lincoln had a greyhound hood ornament.

As a former greyhound owner (RIP Hawkdawg) and old Ford afficionado, those 1930s Ford & Lincoln ornaments were IMHO the greatest of all time.
via eagle-eyed @boyfromsi who was curious about the lone car in this shot from MTV Spring Break Daytona '04, which is a 1903-04 curved dash Oldsmobile.

Inspiration for the first hit car song, almost 60 years before the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean:

Another hood ornament HOFer, the beloved Packard donut chaser, atop the Rauh family's 1928-29 Packard 840 sedan. Like Uncle Jack back upthread, Uncle Gus's WW2 service included a stint as a POW.

it should be obvious why the Packard mascot (officially "The Goddess of Speed") was called the Donut Chaser.
I sure hope Gramps held onto his 1971-72 Chevy K5 Blazer, because these have become one of the hottest collector vehicles around in recent years. K5 Blazers were convertibles, with a lift-off roof.
Holy smokes! Look at this amazing mother & daughter duo, rocking their shades and too-cool fashions in front of a Buick; either a 1919 H-series or 1920 K-series touring. (ht @realFredWaltman)

Another neat photo of old Florida; I'm trying to discourage the 10-for-1 car IDs, but the newest car here is the 1932 Dodge sedan on far right, and most all of the others have visible visors. I'm going to say 1932, or possibly very late 1931.
Tres Francais! Car is a 1955-58 Renault Fregate, but not sure about moped. I think circa 1960 Motobecane? (ht
@TravisW02570348)
this one is a tall order, but judging from the rear window arch and windshield, I'm ~85% sure it's a 1933-34 Chevy Master sedan or 35 Chevy Standard sedan.
Mr & Mrs George Smith (a/k/a Tornado Smith and Marjorie Dare) taking their pet lion Briton for a spin on the Wall of Death circa 1937. Tornado's bike is a modified circa 1930 Indian twin, but Marjorie's rig was pure custom (likely powered by cycle motor)
Can't help you with the people, or their quarry, but the pickup is a 1947-54 Chevy or GMC.
Maaaybe they're not the same car, but pretty sure both are 1925-26 Oldsmobile touring cars. And may I say, in the most gentlemanly way possible, that Grandma Anna was a total snack.
Once again @TracesofTexas is totally aces when it comes to vintage shots from the Lone Star State, like this one featuring a dapper man, wonderful signage, and a 1946-47 Pontiac.
When Devil Dog Gramps came marching home, Grandma and his 1931-32 Chevy 2 door sedan were waiting for him under the apple tree (cue the Andrews Sisters).

Hmm... the Reagans' family heap was a 1925 Ford Model T coupe. Wonder if it became Dutch's car for driving to lifeguard duty / Eureka College / or his first post-college job as Iowa Hawkeye sportscaster at WOC Davenport.

*Reagan was a Cubs/Hawkeyes radio announcer at both WOC Davenport and WHO Des Moines before heading to Hollywood. Did a US president ever do play-by-play for your favorite teams? I think not. #HawksByAMillion #GoCubsGo
From the indispensable @Super70sSports, when the Big Gulps were finished it was GAME ON for the neighborhood BMX Evel Knievels leaping each other on the famous 1975 Toyota Corolla SR5 ramp.
Loser call for the ambulance and buys the next round of Big Gulps
Don't tell his Dodge sponsors that Ewing Gunn was tooling around town in a 1931 Chevy or Pontiac 5 window coupe.
I can neither confirm nor deny it is a 1953 Chevy 3600, but I can confirm it is a 1947-53 Chevy 3600. Not much exterior visual diff in those years, would have to peek under the hood for an exact year.
Time to move on to various wilderness & street finds, starting with this delicious load of Fords from my jet jockey pal @stevegraff. First 6 to left are various flavors of 1933-34, The turquois ragtop is a '36 Deluxe cabriolet, red one a '56 T-Bird.
1940 Chevy pickemup, and wheels/stance tell me there something stouter than the stock Stovebolt 6 under the hood.
A tree grows in a... circa 1951 Crosley.
A bit of a chimera here, it's a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan but I don't believe it came in a convertible that year. Likely a custom job, but seems nicely done.
yellow thing is a fiberglass replica of an MG T series, rusted but real car is a 1950-51 DeSoto club coupe.
No sir, that'd be a 1960s-70s era Austin or BMC Mini Moke, which could be seen in old episodes of The Prisoner.
The one off Falconer Dodici, recently built by Randy Grubb of Blastolene Garage fame. Most known for building Jay Leno's tank car.

Best not lean on the circa 1965 Bentley S3 guv'na, it's wot belongs to the Dinsdale Bruvvahs, see
*correction: Dino and Luigi Vercotti
And on that intimidating note, I am clocking out for the day. Tune in tomorrow for more adventures in car identification, and until then Happy Motoring!

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More from @iowahawkblog

Aug 14
A happy 100th anniversary from #DavesCarIDService to the Wisconsin Special wonder car, built/driven by The Flying Norwegian, Sigurd "Sig" Haugdahl of Albert Lea MN, which broke the 180 mph mark at Daytona in 1922. Here graced by the world's fastest tap dancer Edna Lorraine. Image
Sadly, Sig's 3 miles/minute run in the Wisconsin airplane engine-powered car was never officially recognized by the FIA because it was not timed according to FIA rules. He later built and drove the world's first manned rocket powered car; here showing it off to Mary Pickford. Image
BTW, the image is from the Omaha World Herald, promoting Sig's track record attempt at Ak-Sar-Ben ("Nebraska" backwards) Raceway in 1922.

Edna Lorraine was 1/2 of the dancing Lorraine Sisters, and their Broadway show "Little Nelly Kelly" was later a 1940 MGM Judy Garland hit. ImageImage
Read 36 tweets
Aug 12
Going through my car ID requests to prep for weekend #DavesCarIDService and, while I enjoy the enthusiasm, please, try to be more judicious. You really don't have to tag me every time you see a tweet with a car picture in it. It really clogs up my TL search.
Have an old treasured family photo album with a mystery car in it? I will stop at nothing, including running through a flaming brick wall, to ID that car.

But if it's like "LOL Dave check out this crazy car trending on Facebook," please don't hashtag that crap at me.
*this is the type of crap I refer to. Trust me, I have seen all of these like 100 times, most of the time with a "thought you'd like to see this one!" note. Trust me, for the zillionth time, I WOULD NOT LIKE TO SEE IT, so please don't hashtag it ImageImageImageImage
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Aug 10
It's a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, battered fried and washed down with Keystone Light
Other Iowa Fun Facts:

Birthplace of Eskimo Pies and sliced bread

#1 state in vowel saturation (tie with Ohio)

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my out-of-state protective restraining order expires there in June 2046
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Aug 10
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never stand between an Iowan and free low price domestic lager
I swear if any beer snobs drop hot takes into my mentions over this I will cut a MF
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Aug 8
Yesterday I had Zoom cocktails with my best lifelong (since kindergarten) friend, a successful architect who bought a 1700s farmhouse in Provence to renovate & live right before Covid. The tale of the project was like Kafka meets Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House
I mean, swapping a 700 sqft apartment in SoHo for a 2600 sqft 18th Century French farmhouse on 11 acres, with plenty left over for renovation budget, what's not to like?

And then they discovered Psycho French Neighbor with friends on every local permitting board
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Aug 8
Bringin’ the noise, bringin’ the Funk: 1948-52 Ford 8N tractor with Funk flathead V8 conversion (Prairie City IA)
A couple of old stationary engines: little guy is a circa 1912 Sandow, made in Waterloo IA, big guy is circa 1916 Fairbanks-Morse.
if you're curious, stationary engines were used on farms to propel corn shellers, threshers, etc but also for generators and pumps pre-electrification. You'd hook them to your device via a leather or heavy canvas drive belt on the flywheel. My dad collected and restored a few.
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