One of the nifty things about living here is the variety of old cars to be seen out doing…y’know…car stuff; right out in traffic, or sidled up to the proverbial curb. Sometimes it’s even a very old car, like that 1911 Ford or this what I think is a 1928 Chrysler, maybe plus-minus a year or two.
I was in too much of a hurry to take more than just three pics of this car, but three pics I did get. So many details to see…
…and this was one I chose to photograph, because of course I did. The lenses say “Twolite Headlamp”, probably a reference to the then-new technical innovation of high- and low-beam headlighting—a giant advance over what came before.
So yeah, a regular-size order of headlamp geekery. But also, take a look at that radiator grille. Its woven-wire construction; its shiny chrome frame; the winged radiator cap (see above) I wish I’d got a close pic of, and the double-ringed hole at the bottom in case of a problem with the self-starter.
And furthermore, these tires on these wheels and those glossy black drum brakes behind them. There’s probably a “bespoke” joke in here somewhere.
I think it was an appointment I needed to hurry along to, so I had to stop taking pictures. But as I walked away I did have the good fortune of hearing the car start up and drive off—the sounds confirming the tale told by the tires, wheels, brakes, and headlamps: no zombie hot rod with (yet) a(nother) Chev 350—this one’s the genuine article.
absolutely beautiful! Glad no one is going to ruin the original by rodding it. That car is worthy of a pedestal.
Stunning automobile and thanks for posting.
«radiator grille . . woven wire construction» Nope! That’s not the radiator grille, but an after-market, often dealer-fitted extra, a RADIATOR CORE PROTECTOR to shield a costly to manufacture and repair «honeycomb» or later pattern heat exchanger against stones and avians with kamikaze complexes. It also simplifies and ensures proper removal of insect cadavers. (Driven through a locust or grasshopper swarm lately?) Nice car. Thanks for the post!
After looking closer, I think you’re right.
Alright, but even if it’s an aftermarket accessory, isn’t radiator core protector to shield [the radiator] against stones and [birds] and to facilitate cleaning off dead bugs a pretty sturdy definition of radiator grille?
No need to grille him.
Oddly, a short stroll through the internet seems to show that the ’28 Chryslers didn’t have a grille, and close squiz at your pic seems to confirm that. So this cover, which to me looks like a cake-cooling rack, does have the sole role in preventing radiator bugacide and grilled grasshopper.
Stones, actually. Not a lot of paved roads back then.
Love it! Thanks for posting.
Pinstriped spokes! I’ve never seen that detail before.
That’s how they rolled back then.
I see whatchya did there!
Glad someone spoke up.
So no need to bring up the heavy artillery.
Gaaaah! Wood you stop!
But it looks like they put stainless brake lines behind those spokes, for safety. Ne’er was there ever a Chrysler made with mechanical brakes 🙂
Certainly bears more than a passing resemblance with a Ford Model A of its day.
Look at that Chrysler symbol in the hub between all those gorgeous spokes.
Is that a regular car registration license plate, or one with historic significance?
Great shots. Take more when you see this again, please. Thanks!
It’s a collector plate. As far as I’m aware, BC’s terms and conditions for collector plates are the most stringent in North America; be sure to also see the “approved parts” list linked from the linked page.
This sentence on the “Approved Parts” page amused me more than it should have:
“No you can’t… install purple dots on brake lights.”
Regulators have been fighting this idiotic fad for, what…70 years now?
I’m in Washington state, so my project to put an LS1 in a Subaru 360 can proceed apace. Whew! I kid.
It’s a standard-issue British Columbia collector car plate.
Reminiscent of the Chalmers logo on the hub. Similar?
Why do cars from this era have that odd “negative tumblehome”, where the top of the car is wide and it gets narrower as you go downward? That seems a smart way to make a boat, but not a car.
It’s how horse-drawn coaches were built. Humans have wider shoulders than hips, so it allowed a narrow carriage/car body at the base, to make room for the wheels without the whole vehicle becoming too wide of track, and it allowed more room up higher where people really needed it.
It’s the polar opposite of certain fat and wide American cars of the 70s, or the GM B/C bodies of ’92-96, which all had excessive width where it wasn’t needed. Very inneficient.
Er, MALES have wider shoulders than hips! But that’s another whole aspect of history…
I had never thought of why that tumble-out existed, until the question and answer. Most interesting.
It’s striking how long carriage-making concepts hung around (let alone their nomenclature). Having said that, it occurs to me that electric propulsion offers scope to change layouts entirely, which we are not seeing. We are only seeing the familiar mildly reworked, and to be fair, if I were making the things, I’d regard the consumer-radical step to electricity as enough change for the average punter.
It is in the nature of humans to take change slowly, and I suspect it will not be till autonomous driving eventually appears that any radical change of shape occurs. After all, who’ll care about motoring in a slightly rounded, upright box when they’re asleep?!
It doesn’t require an EV power train to create what you’re talking about. There’s been a number of very innovative automotive shapes over the decades, including upright boxes.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/1968-quasar-unipower-the-car-to-be-seen-in/
The problem is that they’re not exactly aerodynamic, so they’d be limited to city use. Mini-buses, or vans, as they’re commonly called nowadays.
Vacuum operated low beam on the 27 Humber a friend owned might have interested you Daniel
I’m guessing a vacuum pot to physically dip the lamps?
The question is, which model of Chrysler? The 70 was the original and a 65 was too (from memory). But the Chrysler 50 was a rebadged/improved Maxwell, soon replaced by the Plymouth. It’s hard to tell which one this was. Those model numbers supposedly reflected top speed.
I am jealous of the find, btw.
Maxwell was my first thought, as well.
FWIW, whenever the Maxwell car is mentioned, it always reminds me of Jack Benny’s car on his radio show, as well as Mel Blanc making the sounds for it.
I guess it could maybe be a Maxwell, but I didn’t see a silver hammer anywhere (tho I admit I didn’t check round the back).
Might be found on top of the cylinder head?
Perhaps the owner is back in school again; I do hope he doesn’t annoy the teacher by playing the fool.
I just looked, the last Maxwell was 1925, becoming the 4 cyl Chrysler 50 series in 1926 because Chrysler’s reputation was far better than Maxwell’s. In January 1928 the Chrysler 50 series morphed into the first Plymouth.
It is hard to tell from the angle of the photos whether this car is the short hood 4 cylinder car or the long hood 6 cylinder car. If it’s the small one, it’s probably a 26-27 or really really early 28. Walter Chrysler was an amazing dude, who went from being a railroad mechanic to one of the most broadly skilled executives ever, almost completely self-taught.
In the history of auto industry titans, Walter P. seems like the most dynamic and attuned to the industry. ‘Crazy Henry’ Ford’s forte might have been engineering and production, Alfred P. Sloan might have had the most financial acumen, but W.P. Chrysler seems like the one who was truly a ‘car guy’ and understood automobiles as a whole better than anyone else, before or since. Even his ill-fated Airflow was a good car simply too far ahead of its time.
Nice looking original car, love the details of the pinstriped wheels. That rather loud “VIP” plate with the skulls makes me think that the car was recently purchased by a younger buyer who may decide to hot rod/modify it. A car like this will be considered special enough without the owner demanding to be appreciated.
Looks to have been a pricey restoration, down to the last detail.
Do we think the colour is original to the time? It looks a bit ’70’s custom conversion-van to me.
Donno, mate; the colours look more or less era-correct to me. I don’t see anything like that maroon in the paint chip chart, but we do learn that a ’28 Chrysler could be had in a colour called “Cigarette” (apparently this was a thing at the time).
And oh, wait a minute; there is a colour called “Toga Maroon”, which appears damn near black for some strange reason probably having something to do with a scanned 94-year-old paint chip. The description (12 oz Maroon № 5 + 18 oz Maroon № 4 + 2¼ oz black, over an orange base coat) suggests something closer to what’s in my photos.
The lighter body colour definitely has an approximate—”Pastel Cream”—on the chip chart.
PaintRef stops at 1929, but in that year shows both the Toga Maroon and an even likelier match called March Bloodstone Red.
So maybe these aren’t exactly 1928 colours, but I don’t think they’re too far adrift.
My friend was quick to point out that the ’71 Cutlass convertible he’d restored had an Olds engine rather than a small-block Chevy.
He said that the Chevy was a “navel” engine – just like a navel, everyone’s got one.