vintage: grandpa driving a fancy car

    Hayden, Arizona. Desert. My grandpa Glenn Gilmer. Fancy car. Early 1920s.

    Comments and faves

    1. tenth48, TinTrunk, Lost Fun Zone, miaeyc, and 26 other people added this photo to their favorites.

    2. tenth48 (73 months ago | reply)

      Aren't old photos fabulous??!!!
      I love your Grandpa and his vehicle, especially the boxy design and the wheels. Amazing how design concepts have evolved over the years. I suppose that this is home-made but sure is fancy with all the nails neatly placed.
      I see that home developers were already building tract homes. I guess they didn't provide garages, much less the necessary pools!!!

    3. Howard33 (73 months ago | reply)

      I agree. That looks hand-crafted to me. Those are wheels from a baby carriage, which is the traditional source of wheels for such projects. I am impressed by the steering mechanism.

    4. deflam (73 months ago | reply)

      tenth48, you're right, old photos are great! The little car surely must be home-made, but the neatly placed rivets are impressive. Tract homes...ah, modernism taking hold. Globe was a mining town, so I don't know if it was a home developer or the mining company that built those homes for their workers (which I know mining companies had done in other towns).

    5. TinTrunk (73 months ago | reply)

      Fantastic. There's a pedal cars group that I'm sure would welcome this photograph.

    6. chiara9679 (73 months ago | reply)

      Questa è semplicemente meraviglisa:)

    7. EllenJo (61 months ago | reply)

      Ha ha-- this is great.

      I need to get back down to Globe/Miami and Superior sometime again soon. Very interesting area and lots of great history down there.

    8. deflam (61 months ago | reply)

      I've never been to Globe, but if I did, I bet I'd be disappointed. Mostly because everything I've seen in the photos is gone bye-bye.

    9. EllenJo (61 months ago | reply)

      Freeparking, you've never been to Globe? Wow! You really should go--I think there is more left than you might think--- Though it's only 60 miles from Phoenix it seems like a completely different world from a different time. It's quite an interesting town, and cool place to take photos-- I am fascinated by that whole Superior-Globe-Miami corridor...

      globe az floyd

      "the light of day"

      tae kwon do, Globe, AZ

    10. Simon (58 months ago | reply)

      We loved this image so much we used it to illustrate an article about volunteer drivers on the Isle of Wight.

      Thanks very much. VentnorBlog

    11. deflam (58 months ago | reply)

      simon - glad it could be of use. :)

    12. tenth48 (58 months ago | reply)

      I read Simon's comment and went to the blog to see your photo. What a cute idea!! Who would have thought that someone would need a photo of a kid in a car??!!! And they didn't even know your Grandfather!!!

      Yes, you're right about the houses not being tract houses, way too early for that concept. They are most likely company houses. A good way to help ensure that the employees can't get ahead in the world!

    13. Mirror Image Gallery (47 months ago | reply)

      Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Playthings of the Past: Antique Photos of Dolls, Toys, & Games, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

    14. Mirror Image Gallery (47 months ago | reply)

      Great car. When I was a kid back in the 1950's my brother and are built many home made cars. The scary part is we would push each other down Pine Hill by our house. Most the time the tires would fall off or we would crash and flip into the curb. Thanks for the memory. Great photo!

    15. deflam (47 months ago | reply)

      Haha, it's a wonder how kids ever survive childhood. Glad you like the photo. :)

    16. Roadsidepictures (44 months ago | reply)

      What a treasure!!

    17. MikeBrowne (43 months ago | reply)

      Thanks so much for posting this under a CC license. I used it in a blog post about being grateful for drive:

      defrig.com/2009/10/23/031-i-am-grateful-for-d rive/

    18. deflam (42 months ago | reply)

      blue387 - Are you the author of that article, or associated with that magazine/website? It appears to be commercial in nature, and my photo is specifically labelled for all use EXCEPT commercial, unless I give permission first.

    19. Blue387 (42 months ago | reply)

      I am not the author.

    20. deflam (42 months ago | reply)

      blue387 - I did write to them to point out they have violated the license permission. I'm just wondering what your motive was in pointing this out to me. You're not the author, but are you associated with the magazine in some way? It's curious.

    21. Roadsidepictures (42 months ago | reply)

      Could it be that Blue387's motive was to let you know that your photo was being used illegally? If I see a photo I recognize being used without permission, I ALWAYS let the owner/photographer know.

    22. deflam (42 months ago | reply)

      roadsidepictures - It could be! But I don't know, and that's why I'm curious. If so, I'm glad he pointed it out to me. It's becoming an issue more and more with my old photos.

    23. Roadsidepictures (42 months ago | reply)

      I know, it's pretty sad. One guy was selling magnets on Ebay with my pictures on them! A letter to Ebay and the seller put a halt to it.

    24. MikeBrowne (42 months ago | reply)

      Sad that happened as I have a whole photo album full of old pictures I was going to scan and post. Now I'm having second thoughts.

    25. deflam (42 months ago | reply)

      Nah, it's mostly a totally positive experience sharing old photos like this. It's good to let them loose unto the world.

    26. MartinaJosefa (41 months ago | reply)

      This picture is actually taken in Hayden. The same homes are in the picture with the 2 little boys atop a mule in "Glenn and..." . The houses are on mainstreet heading north before the road was built. My grandparents lived in a similar home in Hayden... Thanks for posting these wonderful pictures! Did you know Hayden just celebrated their 100th Anniversary!

    27. deflam (41 months ago | reply)

      Very good! I knew I'd have to be editing some photos eventually, considering they moved around between Globe, Hayden, Superior, Ray, etc. I've never been to any of the towns, I can't identify anything myself. Thanks for information!

    28. mikerpt1956 (40 months ago | reply)

      Hey freeparking, another great pic of Hayden. I'm sorry to hear about the unauthorized use of your photo.

      I think I know about where the picture was taken in Hayden. As for the homes being "tract" homes. Not in the sense that we know of the style today. But Hayden was established in 1909. Once it was felt that Hayden would be an established town, more permanent buildings were constructed. The copper companies would build several houses using the same blueprint or plan with some variation and also depending on who was going to live there. The higher up you were in the company, the more variation and unique your home.
      Some houses still standing in Hayden are called "Cracker Tin" or "Shotgun" houses. These are long and narrow (~10 feet) wide houses that could be lifted off foundations, loaded onto a train flat bed and moved where needed.

    29. deflam (40 months ago | reply)

      That's interesting. Thank you for that information!

    30. A damned fool with a camera (36 months ago | reply)

      Cracking good photo this! Do you happen to know if this car was pedal powered or just a glider?

    31. deflam (36 months ago | reply)

      For his sake, I sure hope it was a pedal! But I don't know.

    keyboard shortcuts: previous photo next photo L view in light box F favorite < scroll film strip left > scroll film strip right ? show all shortcuts