Old Ford service truck for Lincoln-Mercury dealer

[Vietnam Vet67]

Saw this on Hemmings today. Great old photo of different times.

[Bainford]

Very cool tow truck. Thanks for posting. 

[alan barton]

I love old tow trucks, having built four already.  This great shot just proves they were all shiny once, they don't HAVE to be modelled all beaten and battered! Thanks for the shot.

Cheers

Alan

[leafsprings]

Thanks  Ed for sharing this excellent color photo!

[espo]

I like looking at trucks like this one and seeing it in a proper setting and time period. This is what brings a question to my mind looking at the photo. What is catching my eye is the color highlights on the body panels of the truck and even a couple of the cars in the background.  I don't think colored photographs were all that common at that time. They did exist but not with the quality we are used to seeing today. This leads me to believe that this may be a "colorized" old black and white photo. Should this be the case they did a great job overall, but the tops of the front fenders on the truck almost look like a color shifting paint with red highlights on the driver's side dark colored panels and the two cars parked behind the truck have much the same effect.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, espo said:

 ...I don't think colored photographs were all that common at that time. They did exist but not with the quality we are used to seeing today...

Guess you've never seen The Wizard of Oz. 1939. Spectacular color.

"Autochrome" was launched in France in 1907, the first kinda practical color photographic process.

Kodachrome followed in 1935. Though it was essentially a positive "slide" film, prints were possible using complex processing.

In 1936, German Agfa introduced a genuine color-negative process.

In 1942, Kodak introduced their own color-negative film, Kodacolor.

By the late '40s, the period of the shot above, color photography was well developed and under continuous improvement, but wasn't as common as black-and-white due to cost and complexity.

Anyway, the shot above may be colorized, but it also has the characteristic monochrome look of some older color photographs where the less-stable colors have faded.

EDIT: Nice shot. It's got me looking for a COE Ford cab to build something similar.  

Edited December 27, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

3 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Guess you've never seen The Wizard of Oz. 1939. Spectacular color.

"Autochrome" was launched in France in 1907, the first kinda practical color photographic process.

Kodachrome followed in 1935. Though it was essentially a positive "slide" film, prints were possible using complex processing.

In 1936, German Agfa introduced a genuine color-negative process.

In 1942, Kodak introduced their own color-negative film, Kodacolor.

By the late '40s, the period of the shot above, color photography was well developed and under continuous improvement, but wasn't as common as black-and-white due to cost and complexity.

Anyway, the shot above may be colorized, but it also has the characteristic monochrome look of some older color photographs where the less-stable colors have faded.

EDIT: Nice shot. It's got me looking for a COE Ford cab to build something similar.  

All good points about the history of color in pictures. Much of this information predates my personal experiences with a #110 film size Kodac Box  camera.  

[Casey]

Love the late  '40s to early '50s COEs, and that K-zoo Home Appliance neon sign isn't too shabby, either.

Hopefully it's okay to add some more images of Ford COEs of the same era to this topic, as one can never get enough good reference images. Here's a '49 Ford F-6 COE:

Edited December 29, 2020 by Casey

[Casey]

'48 Ford F-6 COE, with a nice underhood and a few interior shots:

 

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 12/29/2020 at 10:47 AM, Casey said:

...Hopefully it's okay to add some more images of Ford COEs of the same era to this topic, as one can never get enough good reference images. Here's a '49 Ford F-6 COE:

Nice pix. One would have needed the patience of Job to put up with the glacial "acceleration" of that mountain of iron and steel powered by a flathead six.

Jeez...I remember when trucks were slow.

[Casey]

3 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Nice pix. One would have needed the patience of Job to put up with the glacial "acceleration" of that mountain of iron and steel powered by a flathead six.

And even worse when fully loaded. Ah well, that's what gearboxes are for. ?

Here's a '49 F-6:

 

[oldnslow]

I love the gear call out on the speedo in the last , into 3rd gear at 15 mph . Hope it had more than 4 gears .

[Brian Austin]

Well, color me surprised.  I was expecting the image to have been colorized, but here's what The Old Motor blog has to say about it (bold added for emphasis):  "Today’s lead image of a Fred Harris Inc. cab-over tow truck contains all of the information to identify its location. Who can tell us more about this dealership? The photo was taken with a type of early color film noted for its reddish hue, which can also be more pronounced when caused by degradation."

 

https://theoldmotor.com/?p=182439