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A 5.5x3.5" vintage RPPC photo postcard from the estate of a vintage automobile postcard collector. This was part of a huge collection of antique postcards.
Photo Overview
A wonderful slice of brass era motoring life, this real photo postcard captures a well-dressed group posing with an early runabout automobile, most likely a Hupmobile Model 20 roadster from around 1910-1912, on a tree-lined residential street in small-town America. A gentleman in a suit perches jauntily on the fender while three women in period shirtwaists occupy the seats. Two American flags mounted on the windshield frame suggest the photo was taken during a Fourth of July celebration or patriotic outing.
The car itself is a treat for early automobile enthusiasts, showing its right-hand drive configuration, wooden artillery wheels, brass acetylene headlamp, folding windshield, and open runabout body. Behind the group, handsome Queen Anne and shingle-style homes with wraparound porches line the unpaved street with its cobblestone gutter, painting a vivid picture of prosperous American town life at the dawn of the automobile age.
Historical Notes
The Hupmobile Model 20, introduced by Robert Hupp in Detroit in 1909, was one of the great success stories of the brass era, selling over 5,000 units in its first full year at an affordable $750. Light runabouts like this one put motoring within reach of middle-class families for the first time, and scenes like this - the whole family piled aboard for a holiday drive - became a defining ritual of the 1910s. Hupmobile itself thrived through the 1920s before fading in the Depression, building its last cars in 1940. The runabouts of this era largely vanished to scrap drives during both World Wars, making surviving photographic records of them in everyday use especially prized by antique automobile collectors today.
Browse our complete RPPC Photo Postcard photograph collection.
Text Present
Back, stamped: "PHOTO POST CARD"
Back, center: "ADDRESS"
Back, stamp box: "Kodak - PLACE STAMP HERE - Paper"
Print analysis
This is a real photo postcard printed on Kodak photographic paper. The Kodak stamp box style on the reverse indicates the print was made decades after the image was captured - this stamp box design dates to approximately the 1950s. The image itself clearly dates to the early 1910s based on the automobile and clothing styles. This is therefore a Type 2 print, made from the original negative in the mid-20th century, likely by a family member or collector preserving the image in postcard format.
Condition
All postcards we sell are in fair to excellent vintage condition. Please see photos for any tears, folds, smudges, or other age damage that may be present.
