Handmade Album of Automobile Purchases, Records, and Photographs, 1908-1965

Ohio, 1965. Cards. Fair. Cards. 8 index cards and 13 photographs taped together to form a binding of 28 pages, unpaginated, forming a typewritten and photo-illustrated account, with one hand-drawn diagram, of 9 vehicles purchased and driven by Milton and Ross Elliott of Ohio from 1908 to 1965. Vehicles include: The 1908 Croxton-Keeton Jewel 2-passenger car, the 1916 Ford Model-T Touring Car, the 1929 Ford Model-A 4-door Sedan, the 1936 Chevrolet Standard, the 1950 Ford V-8 Model BODA, the 1954 Ford V-8 4-door Sedan, the 1965 Ford Falcon. Illustrated in 1-2 photographs of each vehicle, often with owners and family, throughout, with typewritten records including price at purchase, seller and manufacturer information, automotive details and flaws ("gasket blew out often," "[speedometer] was very unreliable as it ran from front wheel..."), alterations ("added radio, hornring"), mileage from purchase to end of ownership, average gas mileage, and more.

5" X 3", taped at top edge in between each index card or photograph. Tape between accounts of the 1929 Ford Model-A 4-door Sedan and the 1936 Chevrolet Standard has lost all adhesive, and this binding is in two parts, hence the "fair" condition. Currently held together with a rubberband. Moderate wear to edges, with yellowing and toning from tape.

This is an admittedly worn but fascinating and handmade photo-illustrated artifact of American automobile culture through the first 6 decades of the 20th Century.