Part car, part boat, all washed up: the 1907 Ravaillier

What’s maddening about this photo of an amphibious automobile from the George Grantham Bain collection in the Library of Congress archives isn’t that it’s presented in the archives without context – we can easily find out the who, what, when – it’s that, despite all of our research, we still don’t know precisely why this […]

Flooded Rambler, turnip-trumped Airflow, Plordolet

Charlie Beesley’s interests don’t just run to old land-speed racers, as one might assume from seeing the pictures of the Kenz and Leslie 777 streamliner that he shared with us last week. Rather, he’s been collecting vintage photographs for years, many of which he displays at Reservatory.net, almost all of which come sans context. I’ve […]

“Known in the trade as the ‘Eager Beaver’”

After the Jeep, perhaps the most beloved Army vehicle – at least among those who served in the military – is the deuce-and-a-half, originally built by Reo (as the M34) before the Army awarded contracts to build it to Kaiser and AM General (as the M35 and its variants). When first introduced to the general […]