Vintage cars, golden era photo shoots

[Studebaker Driver]

 

[tonyb]

No, in the US traffic has always passed on the right as it does today. It was customary to have steering wheels on the right side early on - a carry-over from horse and wagons/buggies. The greater concern then was how close the driver was to the curbstone or boardwalk and how close his wheels were getting to the ditch that ran along many roads.

Carriage drivers still drive from the right side, but as soon as cars hit the road with their greater speed, they wanted to overtake slower cars and wagons. With the driver seated on the right, nearly the entire car had to move out into the oncoming traffic lane to gain a view of the road ahead and this practice led to horrific head-on accidents. A few auto makers began the transition, but the clincher was when Ford, with the introduction of the Model T in October of 1908, put the steering wheel on the left. Not only could drivers now see ahead by edging out a foot or so, passengers no longer had to enter the car from the street side, they could enter and exit directly onto the sidewalk.

Few makers held onto the right hand drive configuration, most notably Pierce-Arrow and Stutz, which clung to it until the early 1920s.

Why hadn’t this occurred to me before? Makes perfect sense.

 

[Studebaker Driver]

I'm deeply indebted to a friend who is a tireless researcher. He dug into the archives of humanity to find these photos of the Stanley sedan taken in the early 1970s.

 

[basbol13]

There were only two Duesenberg SSJ models produced one was owned by Clark Gable and the other was owned by Gary Cooper