Looking at a Grant Six automobile at 58th Street and Broadway in 1918, New York

I found this photo on the Duke University website, which has a LOT of old images of outdoor advertising. And that's why the photo was originally taken, of the advertising, and it's why it was scanned by the nice people at Duke. Advertising is big business, and so is studying it! But I'm just looking, and today I thought that it would fun to look at a Grant Six. Come on!

There are several images similar to this on the Duke site, and I recognized the statue of Columbus, which is still there, and of course you can see the street sign, 58th Street. You're looking north, by the way. I showed it to my number one history adventuring friend (who prefers to remain anonymous), even though I knew the address, and he surprised me by what he found. Apparently this area had a LOT of automobile dealerships at the time. On Broadway! How about that? You can Google more about it, but apparently the car dealerships were there long after it became just about impossible to drive a car in Manhattan, because cars were big business. And that's what the building there on the right is, a dealership. The car they sold was called a Grants Six. Here, I'll zoom in a bit.


I can't quite read the sign on the front of the building, but it looks like you could buy trucks there, too. And presumably the car there on the right is 1918 Grant Six. World War I was going on at the time, and that's what the little signs with the crosses are, Red Cross signs. Hang on, I'll go find a better image of a 1918 Grant Six. Here ya go:


I pride myself on my knowledge of old cars, going all of the way back to the 1960s, but I'd never even heard of a Grant Six. Seems like a pretty good car, but I suppose the competition from the big manufacturers was too much for it. Maybe I'll go find out more, I enjoy that. Isn't the internet wonderful?

OK, now that we've placed our order for a Grant Six, it's time to do some sight-seeing. We could ride on that double-decker bus, or get on the trolley. What would you like to do? Walk? Sure! It's a beautiful day in Manhattan!



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