This could be the earliest car crash caught on camera
The chances of catching this moment on film in 1914 were incredibly slim.
The chances of catching this moment on film in 1914 were incredibly slim.
Some people reading this won't remember the days when you had a little camera and bought a film cartridge in. Then, when you had taken your 24 pictures, dropping the cartridge off at a specialist shop or the chemist to be developed and waiting to pick up the prints 3 days later. 100 years ago it was even more of a pain. It was also an expensive hobby enjoyed mainly by the middle classes and only around then that newspapers started using pictures in their publications.
This image was caught during a race to win the Vanderbilt Cup in Santa Monica, California. The car was judged to be doing 60 mph when it all went wrong for the driver as his wheel fell off. The photographer was perched on the fence and pressed the button just before he got the hell out of the way. Amazingly, nobody was hurt, including the drivers mechanician. That wasn't a spelling mistake by the way, but the period correct word for mechanic taken from the original source - the June 1914 edition of Popular Mechanics.
Popular Mechanics also noted that the only damage to the car was a broken axle and radiator. They certainly don't build them like that anymore. Mainly because wheels falling off is bad enough, but a lack of even the most basic seatbelt is even worse.
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Comments (4)
is that you ???
Its like moving on a tree trunk down a hill, scary were those cars
A man in a bowler seems particularly disconcerted.
Great photo