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San Francisco circa 1919. "Maxwell touring car" is the latest entrant in the Shorpy Festival of Forgotten Phaetons. 5x7 inch glass negative. View full size.
Do my eyes deceive me, or is this car's driver sporting a fake nose? Of course, 1919-era Maxwells weren't equipped with air bags, so an earlier collision could explain it.
His cameo in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" featured him driving his Maxwell.
The park was very popular for staging auto portraits.
Now we're on Music Concourse Drive, right outside today's sprawling Academy of Sciences. The balustrade behind the Phaeton is still there, marking a pedestrian underpass beneath the drive.
The attached photo is about as close as Google's Street View allows us to get.
Jack Benny's radio show, of course, regularly featured his Maxwell with Rochester at the wheel dealing with dislodged doors, poking seat springs and a steaming radiator, often animated by Mel Blanc's sound effects. A search of the internet will show many photographs, video clips, etc.
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