Staxman from Seattle sent this picture shot on a pub wall, and wonders if we can identify it. Although I have a few hunches, I’m a bit tied up at the moment to give Google images a work out. Anybody else?
Can Anyone ID This Car?
– Posted on February 15, 2015
Hard to say for sure, but it looks like a 1936 Chevrolet to me.
Like this one….
Yes like the pictures in the 36 Chev salesman data book I’m looking at that picture proves it aint a 36 Chevy, no chrome trim on the bonnet side tail light stalk is different trunk is different rear quarter proportions are different.
Looks like a 1930’s Buick of some sort. Lol
1938 Chrysler?
It looks like a Chrysler Airflow especially in the rear fenders thats been modified by a coachbuilder with a more formal upright front and rear end to me.
Chrysler Airstream, those cars came after Airflow , they were less aerodynamic
Actually the Airstream line was produced in the same years as the Airflows, Medard.
http://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/chrysler-desoto-airflow-history/4/
Many people believe that it was the Airstreams that save Chrysler from bankruptcy in the mid-thirties when Airflow sales did not live up to expectations.
I think Medard may be right – given the distortions of illustration, it does look like this brochure image.
It almost looks like a ’36 Chevy with rear fender. But a lot of cars look that way too.
The fender skirt looks like Chrysler, but the rear window looks more GM (Chevy or Pontiac). The picture is a bit fuzzy, making details somewhat difficult to sort out.
1936 Chevrolet fender skirts had bright trim on them, too…
Fender skirts on 36 Chevs were aftermarket none are shown in the sales data book I have but the skirts in the picture match Chrysler products.
it looks too long to be a Chevrolet especially in the hood yet the two door style does seem to suggest a shorter car and is similar the photo of the Chevy.Still think it looks like some type of Chrysler or DeSoto but who knows ..maybe Mr Niedermeyer can sort this one out.
The rear wheels are closer to the front door than the Desoto’s or Chrysler’s from 1936-37. If Chevrolet offered a fender skirt then I think that may be more likely. There seems to be a spare tire on the back although it is hard to tell.
Chevrolet did. I think what appears to be the spare is actually the trunk. Really hard to tell due to the poor quality of the image, though.
It could be a 1935 Hudson Terraplane… It even has rear fender skirts.
** Sorry for poor photo, not home right now, using camera on phone. Lol
The cynic in me wants to say it’s a retouched photo of a 1936 Chevrolet Master Deluxe with an extended hood! The passenger compartment certainly looks like a Chevy, but the hood is too long.
I think that what looks like a too long hood is either another car parked behind it or just the result of a blurred image.
I think it is a Chrysler Airstream… Seen a few images.
It has the same type of wheels and the same type of ornament, on each rear fender skirt. Also, the fender vents look similar.
I concur. I think it’s a 1935 Chrysler Airstream. I couldn’t find a ’35 brochure, but there was a two-door Touring Brougham in the CZ Airflow 8 series, which would be my guess as to what this is.
IMO it looks like a 35 hudson terraplane, as others have said
I’d go with Hudson, but a ’36 or ’37 – kind of hard to tell with the front end so blurry, but the heavily radius-ed window tops at the B-pillar are the giveaway.
I’m no expert when it comes to this era of cars, seeing how my grandparents weren’t born yet..(!) But I’m thinking this could be a ’36 Buick?
It has the longer hood most people have mentioned, the hood side trim matches nicely, the trunk profile is similar, and the window radii are dead ringers, if I’m seeing it correctly. And look, it even has a similar hood ornament!
Good call. Even the vent windows on the front door match.
That’s definitely a Fisher ’36 two door coach body used by Chevrolet, Pontiac, Olds and Buick in various series. The longer hood suggest an eight cylinder model of one of the latter three users, the frontal details are too blurred to determine which one for sure.
Agree with ’36 Chevy coach with trunk. The picture is slightly flattened vertically, probably from shooting upward to a picture on a wall. After adjusting the height to make the wheels circular, the hint of ‘Hudsonish’ proportion disappears, making GM A-body the only answer.
The picture is pretty high on the wall, and I did have to shoot upward.
While the fender skirts look like Chrysler, the rear fender is not far enough back and the rear window is one piece. This (link here) picture of a 1936 Pontiac shows a very similar appearance as your photo. On the other hand this (link here) 1936 Chrysler shows what I mean about the rear window being two pieces and the rear fender being farther back.
Still, on the hunt, guys… And I’ve found two cars, which are probably, like one in the same…
A 1936 LaSalle-Hershey or 36 Cadillac(They have the same dimensions as the 36 Chevy… But with the longer nose… Which most Cadillacs had versus their Chevy cousins).
LaSalle was to Cadillac, what DeSoto was to Chrysler… Funny, both of those now defunct brands were named after famous explorers. Lol
They also have the same fenders and the fender vents look identical. The front vent window looks similar as well.
1936 Plymouth. I don’t what they called that body style but it was i the Plymouth line, along with the fender skirts. I think the giveaway is the hood ornament. The Mayflower side view.
Can’t believe I’m confused by a vintage car, but the original photo is badly distorted and faded, and there are so many cars from that time period that looked nearly alike. Like trying to tell a Kia Optima from a Mercedes Benz today. Only all those old cars all had style, even if it was nearly the same style.
35 Plymouth only because on another forum was asked whats this fender skirt off and it was that spat/skirt.
I’ll go with 36 chevy
Not a Plymouth… No front vent windows, and front vents on those Plymouths have faint ringlets behind them.
Thought it was a Dodge Tudor, but again saw NO front vent windows on that body style.
Leaning towards a GM product or Hudson at this point.
OK I’ll give it another shot: 1936 Chrysler Airflow Eight Six Passenger Coupe.
1938 Chevy Master Custom 2-Door Sedan
Example:
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Archive/Event/Item/1938-CHEVROLET-MASTER-CUSTOM-2-DOOR-SEDAN-132830
But the window frames are more rounded and it doesn’t have that crease across the door. I’m leaning towards the ’36.
Looking in my sources, I think that it’s almost certainly a ’35 or ’36 Buick with aftermarket skirts. All of the cues on the side of the car match up. The grille is strange, however, so that is the wild card, because it doesn’t seem to match ANY car.
And we think cars look alike today!
I’m going to weigh in with something GM, definitely. The front fenders are a bit too long for anything Chrysler (mid-30’s Chrysler fenders are definitely stubbier than anything GM put out at the time). I don’t think its a Chevrolet, though, because the hood looks like something that should have a straight eight under it, not a six.
By the way, aren’t we the guys who are always complaining that cars today look too much alike and boring as hell? That the beloved vintage cars of our affections were distinctive?
Sorry, cars back then looked an awful lot alike, because everybody copied what would sell. And the truly distinctive cars were invariably failures.
I agree; not only that, but there were more similarities than differences among, for instance, the 1935 and 1936 Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto Airstream, and Chrysler Airstream cars. Badge engineering is not new by any means.
In any particular time period, the basic body shells of most cars are pretty similar.
The difference is that in the past cars had much more trim to add variety and that trim usually changed significantly every year.
I’m certain that if the above picture clearly showed the grill or hood trim, we would have it nailed in about 5 minutes.
The grill shape makes me think Packard…
Here’s one I’m trying to identify.
Well heres the fender skirt bolted to what it fits, A Chrysler which actual model I cant tell you but those who think its a Chev should go look at one.
If anyone wants to check it out onsite, it’s at Ballard Station Public House, 2236 NW Market St., Seattle.