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03/12/2025 8:41 am
@david-green Well, that's one I've never heard of.... but "no dice." That's not Mike's car.
Tony Perrone and David Green reacted
03/12/2025 10:25 am
his equally late wife
😆
Not quite equal actually. Franz passed away first, at the scene of the assassination, and Sophie on the way to the hospital.
Here's their car, the 1910 Gräf & Stift Bois de Boulogne phaeton automobile in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated. It is now displayed in the Museum of Military History in Vienna:
Topic starter
03/12/2025 2:13 pm
It still exists and a very historic automobile ! But I guess it would be probably rather unlikely my Grandmother would be driving around Chicago in it in 1920 or so ....... 
04/12/2025 2:12 pm
One of several nose emblems used by Graf & Stift.
Graf & Stift made automobiles in Austria from 1901 to 1938. They became MAN after the Second World War, producing buses and trucks. Pre WWI they produced superior reliable cars for the wealthy exporting as significant number to Western Europe and the USA. It was not a one off used by the Arch Duke.
I initially mentioned it because I took an image on Google AI mode of the pictures here and that is the most probable according to that AI instrument. The second most likely was a German Opel.
Thanks Tony for the museum image of the assassination car.
04/12/2025 2:30 pm
I just ran another Google AI search re-photographing the second image from Micheal. This time they also suggested the 1917 Crane Simplex. J.D. Rockefeller Jr. had a model 5 which is now at the Lemay - America’ Car Museum (LemayAMC). Check this one out. It looks remarkably close.
Topic starter
04/12/2025 5:07 pm
Great research ! I would guess it might be more likely to be a North American brand of automobile just because of it's apparent Chicago setting, but one never knows. My grandparent's side of the family had Swedish roots but I am not sure that would have any bearing. It certainly was a big car for Grandma to be piloting in that image !
Christopher Moroni and David Green reacted
04/12/2025 6:36 pm
"Check this one out. It looks remarkably close."
Well David, they're close - but, like SO MANY OTHER good guesses - they're not identical. I cross-referenced 1915- 1923 Crane Simplex vehicles to Mike's pic and, well..... no match. 😔 😔
Again, good work and nice try, but....... 😔 😔
As of this hour, on this date, I still cannot identify this car. Unreal!
David Green and michaeldetorrice reacted
Topic starter
04/12/2025 10:16 pm
My Grandfather was at Harley-Davidson and then at Diamond-T as an Assistant Chief Engineer from the 1920's until he died from cancer in Oct.1957. I believe Diamond-T (other than some experimental prototype station wagons) briefly made some motorcars for a time after Diamond-T (C.A.Tilt, founder and president) was formed in 1911. Could this be a rare Diamond-T automobile, which I believe had a triangular/diamond nameplate/logo ?
05/12/2025 6:49 am
@michaeldetorrice Well again. their badge is close, but......
I cannot locate any examples of Diamond T cars beyond 1911 - which, of course, look nothing like your pic. This is quite the mystery. You may want to post your pic on a larger social-media platform: YouTube, Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc.... 🤔 🤔 🤔
As I've noted, I'm unable to find examples of "your" radiator badge. Find that badge, and you've found your car. 🙂
michaeldetorrice reacted
08/12/2025 10:45 pm
For your consideration:
1916 Apperson Jack Rabbit Touring Car
It could be different year though as the edge of the radiator appears more roundish on the HF car, and the logo is positioned slightly lower that the car on Mike's picture.
There are only 2 pictures of this car on the internet, and although the car is probably at HF museum, it says it is not displayed (PS just realized that the green car bellow is also photographed in the HF museum, so both pictures are likely of the same car, let me check my HF pictures....).
https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/271748
Mike, your grandma was a gearhead!
https://diecast.org/community/modeling/pic-grandma-behind-the-wheel/#post-189113
This seems to be a different car
michaeldetorrice and Christopher Moroni reacted
08/12/2025 11:32 pm
@chav I'll do a bit more research too - on this particular make, however, YOUR INFORMATION is the closest "match" yet. There appears to be many similarities! Good work Chav! 😀 😀 😀 😀
08/12/2025 11:54 pm
...let's try this:
Here's two pics of a 1915 Apperson and a green 1920. With a bit of editing it does appear that Mike's grill shares this same unique "widow's peak" cut-out AND does have a "jack rabbit" emblem to the right. Therefore, we can assume that Mike's car appears to an Apperson Jack rabbit from 1916-1919.
In short - Chav, my man, I think YOU did it! Give the man a Cheroot!
Congratulations! 😀 😀 😀 😀 Mike's got a $500 check for ya!
michaeldetorrice and Chav reacted
