Figure 1.--This is a fun photograph of a boy and his father taken sometime in the early 1920s. It is a wonderful image because it shows the pride bother father and son share in their respective vehilcles. Notice the Model T Ford that Daddy is driving. The Model-T of course played a key role in the industrial history of the United States. To learn more about waggons, click on the image.

The automobile by the 1920s had become an intrical part of the merican life style. Henry Ford with the Model T had made the car an affordable item for most Americans. In the prosperous 1920s many American families purchased cars. And with many families the car was a prized possession. Countless American children were photographed by the family car. It was in the 1920s that a family vacation in their car became an American institution and motels and roadside cabins sprang up all over america. These portraits by the fimely car provide interesting time-line views of children's fashions. Until the 1960s virtually all of the cars involved were American-built cars.

Main U.S. Automobile Page

No mechanical device affected American culture more than the automobile. Much of the growth in the American economy after the turn of the 20th century was centered on the new automobile. The American economy by the 1920s was to a large extent centered on the automobile. It was the industry centered on the automobile and trucks that provided the back bone for the arsenal of democracy that helped defeat the NAZIs and Japanese militarists in World War II. The autmobile also have a profound cultural imaact on America. City planning began to take place when the automobile in mind. Sometimes more attention was given go the automobile than people. The autmobile made possible the move to the suburbs, especilly after World War II. There wre many other cultural impacts of the automobile. Few events were more important for an America boy than obtaining that all important driving license. Other countries were similarly affected, but not to the same extent as the United States.

Chronological Images

American boys remember the family cars as kids and in particulat their first car as teenagers or young adults. Thus American fathers liked to phtograph the kids in front of the family car. We tend to note more photographs of their sons in these portraits. These portraits by the family car provide interesting time-line views of children's fashions. They are also useful because the car models help to date the images. Here re some of the family car images archived on HBC. There are quite a number we have not yet linked, but will eventually do so overtime.

Created: Septmber 20, 2003
Last updated: 8:50 PM 8/11/2007