Carlton World

[CarltonHendricks]

I initially saw this photo at the Nov. 2021 Grass Valley Old West show…I bought a bunch of stuff that weekend and had to pass…but four months went by and it was still on my mind…but I couldn’t recall the dealer to see if he still had it…I saw him set up at the San Francisco Book and Paper fair in February…He didn’t bring it but said he still had it…problem was he lived 5hrs away in Three Rivers Calif near Fresno…So last week he texted me he would be set up a the Gas City Saloon show in Stockton April 16th….So finally I went and bought it…





The Everitt was manufactured from 1909 until 1912 by the Metzger Motor Car Company in Detroit…there were quite a few cars made in Detroit back then by different companies you’ve probably never heard of…Personal and jobbing out were all very intertwined…bodies made to order for other companies…seats and interiors jobbed out…and a lot of buy outs…Chrysler buying dodge…etc..etc…it was kind of the wild west of manufacturing…as the automobile was selling like hot cakes…



I’ve had it two days and still can’t sort it all out…Not sure where the track is…It looks perhaps like it was a practice run....as I don’t see any other cars…For me several aspects make it exceptional…First the 30” x 12” size is rare for that early…I’m all about big photos…The frame looks original from the 1910 period and the glass is wavy so I’m convinced it was produced in the same era it represents….so it’s “old”…Then you have the wide angle view…almost panoramic….The image says a lot…look at that stream of dust coming out from behind the front right wheel…then look at the cloud of dust extending all the way around the track…That’s good photography…good capture…The three gentleman standing in the track are interesting…they don’t look like fans….more like company principles very interested in how fast it can go…the one on the right looks like he may be holding a stopwatch…



It’s all about the clues with photos like these…little tell-tale nuances that help you figure out the who what where…In this instance there really isn’t a lot to go on…But having the EVERITT on the hood is certainly cornerstone…There is a number 1 on the grill…that’s interesting….implying it was in races...where is yet to be learned…And then I hit some pay dirt…on the back is a sticker…DENVER is very clear…That’s certainly interesting…so I spent a lot of time trying to trace the sticker…after a lot of detective work the sticker says:

J. Gibson Smith
Art Dealer
322 17th St.
Denver



Essentially…it sounds like J. Gibson Smith was a picture framer who sold art at some point…So either the photo was taken elsewhere than the Denver region and brought in for framing…or it was taken in the Denver area…I found one photo of the…but that’s just a bunch of hunches…I have some iron in the fire waiting to hear back…