The right rear tire on that fancy Packard definitely looks underinflated, maybe even in the process of losing air when this photo was shot.

I once saw a tented walkway much like this, though considerably longer and lacking stripes. It was erected from the middle of a vacant parking lot to a building where the Vice President was to make a speech. It wasn't clear to me why the canopy had to be so long, because the distance from the building entrance to the curb of the parking lot was only about 25 feet.

It seems highly unlikely that passengers willing to subject themselves to the rigors of travel in a completely open early automobile would find much to celebrate in being elaborately protected from the elements during their journey from the car to their destination's front door.

[Unless it was raining. And the car does have a top and side curtains. - Dave]

Ivy was pretty big in Detroit before air conditioning, all in an effort to keep the bricks cool.