These Caddies were old-timers in 1921

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According to the dictionary an old-timer is a ‘very experienced or long-serving person’ or simply ‘an old man’. And the costume-wearing bearded men, of which three can be seen in this picture, is what they look like to us. Or at least that’s how they were depicted back in 1921, when this picture was taken. That’s over a century ago and definitely old-time in today's terms.

Cadillacs

However, the two cars shown, both Cadillacs, were considered to be ancient by 1921! One of them dates back to 1905 and was 16 years old; the other one was supposedly of 1902-vintage — Cadillac’s initial year of motor manufacture — and thus 19 years old. Translated to today, those cars would be 2003 and 2006 models respectively. The original caption reads: ‘Antique Cadillacs - still running’.

What struck us, apart from the overall fun factor and the great picture quality, was the lack of pneumatic tyres on the 1905 car. Did it really drive around like that? If it made over 200,000 miles in that configuration it would be quite a miracle to be able to withstand that. Oh! It does say ‘First 4-Cylinder Cadillac built’ on the bonnet, which would make it the Cadillac Model D with its 4.9-litre capacity that was launched in January 1905. That model is considered to be the first luxury car from the company. The 1902 car has to be a Model A with the one-cylinder engine of 1609cc capacity. Could they have survived another 101 year after this photograph was taken?

Words Jeroen Booij. Picture Wyland Stanley collection, via Shorpy.

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