[78-L] Seeking Caruso in car photo

[Philip Carli]

I wish this was the photo, but it isn't.  The one I'm looking for is more formally posed, with everyone facing and in plain view of the camera.

Regarding right=hand drive, one other problem with moving to left-hand was the placement of gearshift and brake levers; it seemed logical to mount them outboard on a right-hand drive car (much more manageble for right-handed drivers, making up the majority) than on the left or placing them in the center of the floor. (The hand brake was the main and more powerful brake on pre-WWI cars, acting on the rear wheels, the footbrake generally acting on the transmission for gradual slowing.  You needed considerable strength to stop a big tourer effectively with the hand brake, so it made sense for the lever to be with most people's stronger hand.)  "Center control" was a big selling point on American cars starting around 1911-12, when some companies began placing the gear and brake levers there, and this eventually became the norm.  (Remember, the Model T's planetary transmission used pedals to shift gears, and the throttle was on the steering column; it did have a center mount brake, though.)  Centrally placed levers were considered very American, and when Rolls-Royce introduced a central 3-speed gearshift in their 1922 Twenty, many British drivers thought it _too_ American and R-R went back to a right-hand 4-speed gate-change type in 1925.
________________________________________
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Kristjan Saag [saag at telia.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2011 11:52 AM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Seeking Caruso in car photo

 From
http://www.ideasinactiontv.com/tcs_daily/2005/05/the-most-important-fifth-wheel.html
"Incidentally, most American cars, like the European ones, had
right-hand drive until the end of the first decade of the 20^th century.
Then it apparently began to dawn on everyone that the driver no longer
had to lean out the right side of the vehicle with his whip hand. The
only "horses" were those under the hood, and since the left side gave
better visibility on American roads... hey, why not?
A few manufacturers began moving the steering wheel to the left side,
but it was Henry Ford who sealed the thing in 1908, putting left-hand
drive on his Model T, the car that would literally change the world and
be the runaway best-seller for many decades".

The car on the 1908 Caruso pic is a Rambler.
Kristjan

simmonssomer wrote: 2011-01-01 17:25:
> Great pic. I notice that the steering wheel is on the right. I wonder who or
> what caused us to  permanently
> swing it over to the left.
> Maybe the same guy who decided that  turntables turn clockwise.
>
> Al S.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kristjan Saag"<saag at telia.com>
> To: "78-L Mail List"<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2011 8:46 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Seeking Caruso in car photo
>
>
>> You don't mean this one, do you?
>> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enrico_Caruso_seated_in_automobile_with_4_other_men.png
>> Doesn't look like the Victor building, though.
>> Kristjan
>>
>>
>>
>> Philip Carli wrote 2010-12-31 18:03:
>>> Thanks -- I'll recheck it when Eastman reopens Mon; but I don't think
>>> it's in there as I looked through the Robinson within the last year and
>>> didn't find it.  There's another car pic of Caruso arriving at Camden in
>>> it, as I recall, but not that one.  (I do remember a pic in that book of
>>> him standing proudly next to his white Hardman, Peck upright piano with a
>>> Duo-Art reproducing mechanism in it!  Wonder whatever happened to that
>>> piano...another "thing" of of mine...) The one I remember has Caruso in
>>> the front seat next to the chauffeur and Child and Rogers in the rear.
>>> (Of course the pic may be there and escaped my easily distracted
>>> notice!!) PC
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
>>> [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Michael Biel
>>> [mbiel at mbiel.com]
>>> Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 2:54 AM
>>> To: 78-L Mail List
>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Seeking Caruso in car photo
>>>
>>> On 12/31/2010 1:29 AM, Philip Carli wrote:
>>>> Hello all -- all the recent phono artist photos on this list reminded me
>>>> that I've been trying for ages to track down a photo _I have definitely
>>>> seen somewhere_ of Caruso in an open touring car in front of the Victor
>>>> buildings at Camden in the company of Calvin Child and conductor Walter
>>>> Rogers.  I'm most interested because of Rogers being there (it's my
>>>> thing).  Has anyone else seen this who could direct me to where it might
>>>> be?  It's been nagging at me on and off for years.  Many thanks for any
>>>> help-- Philip Carli
>>> I think it is in Francis Robinson's "Caruso: His Life In Pictures" which
>>> I can't reach right now.  It's a good book to have -- it has never been
>>> surpassed in the 50+ years since it was published -- and it is fairly
>>> inexpensive.
>>>
>>> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
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