RESTORATION – Couple with a Chow in a 1938 American Bantam Roadster sportscar

OOOOH……this is my kind of treasure!!!    Not only did I score one photo of this beautiful chow in a sportscar….but there was one of each a man and woman, I’m presuming a married couple.   These photos were in pretty good condition except for a strange small triangle over each of the images on the man and womans faces!!!  It was the size of their eyes, in fact covered one of the woman’s entire eyes.   So that is where I concentrated the restoration.   I had to create an eye on each person where there was none.

1938 American Bantam Roadster (photo found on Pinterest)

I was trying to ID the car, when a Facebook friend chimed in right away with the answer!! This is a 1938 American Bantam Roadster. Thank you SO much Sheila MN White…that sure made my morning to wake up to that piece of the puzzle being solved!  I did some more research and discovered this was Americas first economy car, getting a whopping 60 miles per gallon!

HERE ARE A FEW INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE IN 1938

  • The original selling price of the American Bantam Roadster in 1938 was $479.00.  Only 971 were produced
  • Average Cost of new house $3,900.00
  • A LB of Hamburger Meat 13 cents
  • Average Price for new car $763.00
  • Orson Welles’s radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in the eastern United States.
  • Howard Hughes sets a new Round The World Record of 3 days, 19 hours
  • Action Comics issues the first Superman comic
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is released by Disney
  • Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
  • Ball Point Pens are introduced
  • Teflon Introduced
  • Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: “nylon”.
  • The First Nylon Products Toothbrushes are marketed
  • Freeze Dried Coffee by Nescafe introduced
  • March of Dimes Polio Foundation Created

1938 Sears Catalog page