Pre-war cars in Allied Military Service

I hate to point anyone to Facebook but it is like a deep sea drag net for any type of special interest these day and sweeps up and kills individual web sites.

Post a prewar picture here and it will be accurately IDed by the time you refresh the screen.

Antique Automobile Club of America

 

Not in Allied service but interesting picture, I think.

I believe it is a 39 Cadillac but can't find any more info on it. I wonder where it was taken.

 

Taken by my late wife's step father in Burma at the end of the war

 

46 Pontiac. Chief Pontiac on the hood.

 

Ditto

 

That's an interesting car. GM did a lot of cross pollinating of their brands for cars sold outside of the states. Clearly badged as a Pontiac but looks more like a Chevy, which was close anyway. I haven't seen a grill like that on either one sold in the states. It's a post pontoon body style so it is at least a 1949. I bet it had a Chevy OHV six and not the Pontiac flathead straight six or straight eight.

 

The man who took the photos was demobbed and back in the UK in 1946!

 

The second picture must have been somehow been mixed in with his pictures because that car is definitely later than 1946. That's a post war body style and GM didn't change their prewar styling until 1948. Contrast it with the 1946 prewar style in the first picture.

 

Clearly not taken in Britain or the USA and all RAF personnel were out of Burma back in Britain by 1948. The photo was in an album in which all the photos were pre 1947 and contained photos of him back in Britain in 1946

 

I don't have any info on where it was taken or by who or who labeled it or how it got in the album. I do know that the car in the second picture didn't exist in 1946.

MotorCities - The 1949 Chevrolets Offered Great Post War Styling | 2018 | Story of the Week

 

I was 100% wrong. That's a 46 Studebaker.
My sincere apology. Duly humbled!

 

I can actually remember seeing one of these back around 1951 when we lived in Preston. I believe that it belonged to a local doctor, a rather well off local doctor. It was quite well known because of its distinctive looks

 

The Nazi killer story is a bit exaggerated, but there have been many highly unpleasant incidents with the "tail spinner".(Heckschleuder): Tatras had the running behavior of a water-buffalo:
stubbornly straight ahead no problem...but quick changes of direction could be an adventurous affair:
You look over your shoulder and see the back of your car rushing past you

The Tatra Story: Part I (1850-1945)

 

And vehicle of choice for immediate post war SAS War Crimes Investigation team for it's voluminous storage capabilities.

The "Nazi Killer" epithet is quite apt.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

The lack of a rear view is almost Italian. There is a cross US race film that has an Italian driver who snaps off the rear view mirror and throws it out of the car with the remark "what is behind me does not concern me"

 

Speaking of Tatra air cooled V8s, albeit diesel: