(un)Solved Mysteries

The Diamond Mystery (UPDATE IX: 1917 McLaughlin-Buick D-45 !)

No quiz today, as you can still send in your answers to our Christmas Quiz until Monday. Therefore a real good way to start the New Year is to have a long, hard look at this photo. No, not at the nice young lady, but at the car, of course. It’s American, for sure, but the make has puzzled us for some time. We first thought of Dixi and Essex. Then we tried to enlarge the diamond-shaped emblem on the radiator as much as possible. Still no clue. What can it be? Help us identify this make!

Update IX by Barry Stalker: “The emblem for the McLauglin-Buick is debossed on the rear cover of Automobile Quarterly volume 12 number 4. It’s a diamond with the McLaughlin name overarching the square Buick emblem. The emblem on the car in the picture seems to have a round centre and what looks like rivets at each end of the diamond.”
Update VIII: Dean Tryon, USA (editor of a newsletter for Buick and MacLaughlin 1915-1920 owners), confirms it's a 1917 McLaughlin-Buick model D-45 with 4 cyl engine. The straight windshield supports also tell it is 1916/1917 and not 1918 that are curved and slope back.
Update VII again by Chris Paulsen: "To further the McLaughlin possibilities, I believe it has a 1919 Manitoba license plate on it."
Update VI by Göran Flank, Barrie Down and Nick Bell who all agree on McLaughlin-Buick. Nick writes: “…definitely not a Paige, which had a vee-shaped radiator. It is almost certainly a Canadian McLaughlin-Buick, but the mystery photo is of a smaller, 4 cylinder car.” Göran mentions: "According to fenders it is later than 1916 and according to head lamp rims it is earlier than 1919."
Update V by Phil Cordery: “I dont think its a Mclaughlin, although almost identical, the badge seems to have a circular part to it, the Mc Laughlin is a white diamond with a white cross bar with blue writing, the filler neck is shorter than a McL & it does not have a shroud beneath the rad. Otherwise the wing mouldings & body are identical to my 1918 McL.”
Update IV: Thomas Rudolf suggests Briscoe. (Editor: who can show us a better picture of the diamond shaped emblem?)
Update III by John Hearne who suggests it could be a Paige.
Update II comes from Kit Foster: “DuPont, Diamond T and Paige all used diamond-shaped emblems, but this car doesn't look like any of them. It does resemble a circa-1915 Monroe in many respects.”
Update I by Chris Paulsen: “Are you sure it is American? It looks like a Canadian McLaughlin to me.”

Friday, 01 January 2010

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