A fortune in the field

Heyseed

Member
Walker Evans took this in 1935 near Easton, PA. He was famous for capturing images of life across America in the Depression years.
Wonder what that collection would be worth today.
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Hopefully, those cars donated parts for the restoration of others, but on the other hand, many of them probably went to the recycler for the war effort.
 
Just take a look and think about it. First thing is take a look at the picture quality. Many of those pro photographers used 4x5 Graflex camers. Very big negative the size of a post card. The hot film back then was something close to Plus-X being if I remember 100 or 125 ASA. If you look at the cars most all of them are mid to late 20s with some into the early 30s. How many yards hold onto 15 to 20 year old cars today? Virtually every tire is gone. Also note how many wooden wheels there are. Just a few metal spoke and one disk wheel. Almost all of the window glass especially the front windshields are gone. Remember that saftey glass was just about ready to start appearing on the market. Cars back then just had straight flat plane old 1/4 inch thick plate glass. Couple of my dads model "A" cars and the 1942 chevy pickup have that glass in the side windows. A stone strike back then ment you didn't have a window in short order. Also a lap full of glass shards. Minny letter openers if you get my drift. Most likely all of the engines are gone because motor oils were a joke and they were most likely poured babbit engines. If one was low mileage, it would be gone. Rear ends had weak axles because of tempering of that time. Especially Chevy rears. Snap axles like a twig. You can also see that many of them have canvas roofs. Saves on the cost of building the body. That would also mean that the bodys were all wood frames with sheet metal pannels. Go to the center of the picture at the top and then just a little to the right. There are two "Buses " built on truck frames and also a pickup truck too. Several touring cars where the whole top folds down for those fun summer drives. When it starts to rain you snap on the side curtains to keep some of the rain out. Would I like to be able to zap back there with a magic pickup truck and a long gooseneck trailer and load up a few? Damn right I would. What always makes me sad is when I see the scrap lines of steam engines in the late 50s. Just want to cry. They were being sold for $5000 a piece scrap price back then. I would go back and buy half a dozen if I could somehow get them back here in one piece. Love the railroad spure in the foreground to frame the picture. Nice touch. Yes these were most all converted to Sherman tanks or Liberty ships. Many of the junk yards I used to go to years ago are gone. Today.....all of this field is gone and covered with houses.
 

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