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Detroit circa 1914. "Free transfer auto -- Elliott, Taylor, Woolfenden Co." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The Paige behind the Packard bus is a 1914 Model Montrose Coupe, a 4-passenger coupé built on the Paige "36" chassis.
In the medical journals of the day, the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company advertised this particular model as the perfect doctor's car. An excerpt from an advertising article in the December, 1913 issue of American Medicine magazine notes:
Of all the cars that medical men have found particularly adapted to their exacting requirements, none has proven so nearly perfect as the beautiful Paige Coupe. If ever an automobile deserved to be called an ideal doctor's car it is this one. Beautiful in appearance, with the class and dignity a doctor's car should have, it is unexcelled in the essential details of convenience and reliability. Splendidly equipped, nothing that could add to its serviceability has been omitted. Lack of space precludes any extended description of this beautiful car. The reader is urged to turn to the advertisement on page 43 [below] and then send for a booklet which will give full Information concerning every detail and specification. No doctor who has the slightest idea of getting a new car should fail to investigate the Paige Coupe, for there is no automobile available to-day that offers so much at the price asked, or that comes so closely to being the ideal car for the doctor.
That Paige behind the Packard sure is a dandy. The car is actually pretty low slung outside of the passenger compartment. Nice lines for the time period.
The Elliot-Taylor-Woolfenden Company was located on Woodward Ave. at the corner of Henry St., a few blocks north of Grand Circus Park. According to this full-page advertisement in the 1914 Detroit City Directory, they were "Pioneer merchants in the development of Detroit's new shopping center, now occupying the best lighted, most comfortable and convenient modern department store in the city." They also gave S&H Green Trading Stamps with every cash purchase. Perhaps they offered the free auto transport not only because of its novelty compared to the streetcar, but to help overcome the fact that they were located north of the main shopping district along Woodward. Today this site is a parking lot.
I like the smile of the lady second from the front on the bus (a Packard too!).I often think that the ladies in those days looked a bit severe but I bet if you struck up a conversation they would smile.
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