15 Cars, Seen Before We Used Them for Social Media Clout
Cars were turning heads long before anyone could post a photo of their new ride online. People took their automobiles on family vacations, decorated them for parades, and posed beside them in their Sunday best. Of course, owning a car also meant dealing with muddy roads, mechanical trouble, and the occasional vacation that didn’t go quite as planned. Early photographs capture all of it, including some wonderfully questionable driving decisions. It’s particularly entertaining to see how excited people were to own machines that now look almost comically old-fashioned. Here are 15 vintage photographs of cars doing everything from crossing the country to getting hopelessly stuck in the mud.
She Was Already Behind the Wheel
A photograph from around 1910 shows a woman driving an early automobile in Seattle, Washington, sitting behind the large steering wheel.
Driving Lessons Looked a Little Different
A photograph taken between 1910 and 1920 captures a woman receiving driving instruction in an early automobile, with another person beside her, outside the vehicle.
The Original Cross-Country Road Trip
Blanche Scott and Amy Phillips pose in the Overland automobile they drove across the United States in 1910, during an early long-distance motoring adventure.
Before Hotels Became Road Trip Essentials
A family stops beside their Oldsmobile during a camping trip around 1920.
The Family Car Deserved a Portrait
A man and four children gather beside an early automobile outside a suburban house in Queensland, Australia, around 1920.
The Road Had Other Plans
A photograph taken around 1924 shows an automobile stuck in deep, frozen mud on a heavily rutted road in Washington state.
Even the Desert Couldn’t Stop the Road Trip
A photograph from 1920 shows an automobile stranded in a sand dune during a journey toward Sinai.
Someone Decorated an Entire Car With Sugar
An automobile covered in elaborate sugar decorations appears in a Seattle parade sometime between 1917 and 1920, photographed on a downtown street.
A Boy, His Dog, and the Family Car
A photograph from 1920 shows a boy and a dog sitting inside an automobile.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Road Trip Went Terribly
F. Scott Fitzgerald pose with his 1918 Marmon during a 1920 road trip that involved numerous car troubles and eventually inspired a humorous story.
Electric Cars Were Already a Thing
An early 1900s photograph shows Edith Bolling Galt seated in an electric automobile in Washington, D.C., decades before electric vehicles became a familiar sight on American roads.
This Packard Was a Family Affair
Elaine Casgrain sits behind the wheel of her family’s Packard automobile outside their Montreal residence in 1912.
Everybody Piled Into the Car
A photograph from around 1910 captures a group of women and children gathered in an automobile for an outing, dressed in early 20th-century clothing.
Car Washes Had Their Own Vintage Charm
A colorful postcard dating from approximately 1930 to 1945 advertises the Minit-Man Automatic Car Wash, featuring an early automobile service business.
He Got the Back Seat This Time
A photograph taken between 1910 and 1920 shows a woman driving an early automobile while a man sits in the back seat.