As we saw with the photo of Walter White’s car negotiating the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup race with a blown-out tire, Bill Schulz’s family has had an affection for cars for quite some time. As we see from several other photos Bill found while leafing through the family album, that affection has continued throughout the last century. For example, the 1937 Buick Special four-door sedan above, pictured in 1952 with Bill at the wheel “after I had repainted it the faded original nickel grey opalescent. This was my first paint (lacquer) job done the summer between HS graduation and start of architecture studies at VPI.”
It’s also the same 1937 Buick seen in this picture, also with Bill in the picture, in May 1941 in Hillsdale, New Jersey.
Bill’s first car, however, was this 1946 Oldsmobile Club Coupe.
Bought in ‘54 for $800, complete with well-faded metalic green finish. I redid it with a ‘50 Dodge gray and the 37 Buick gray/brown on top. The trunk said “Hydramatic” but it was a stick-shift. Olds was apparently short on Hydramatics or overloaded with trunk plaques.
Bill’s grandfather, William Rudolph “Gramps” Schulz, who took the photo of the White, is seen here (with Bessie at his side) at the wheel of some unknown touring car. The caption of the photo places them in Buffalo in August 1922. Bill notes that Gramps never learned to drive, making this a staged photo.
Gramps, however, did buy cars, Bill said, including this one, which appears to be a 1917-1918 Chevrolet, photographed in July 1919, back home in Hillsdale. According to the album caption, it’s a Studebaker, but we’re not so sure about that.
Bill’s father, William John “Junior” Schulz, did much of Gramps’s driving, including the wheelwork for this Studebaker photographed in September 1926.
Five years later, Junior’s gone camping with his friends in a couple Ford Model A sedans in McAfee, New Jersey.
And 10 years after that, we see Gramps and Bessie traveling to Daytona Beach, Florida, with friends Mr. and Mrs. Johns in a 1936 Dodge.
Finally, from the same album (presumably also shot by Gramps) come these two photos without any caption, except to note that they were both taken in April 1913.