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This week’s mystery photograph was sent in by Steven. We see an Ambulance from the Maryborough Ambulance Service in Australia. The photograph is probably taken somewhere around 1920. Steven thinks the make of the car might be Hotchkiss. Is he correct? He is curious to know more about this pre-war with its beautifully shaped front. Can anyone help and tell him more about the car we see? Please comment below.

Do you also have a photograph of a car pre-1945 car and would you like to know more about it? Please send the photograph to [email protected]. Hopefully, we are able to help you.

Words by the editor. Photograph sent in by Steven Mutch.

Pubblicato:
lunedì novembre 12th, 2018
Stewart Skilbeck
14 Novembre 2018, 02:14
Yes I go with FIAT too.. I'd say the 20/30hp model like that wonderful low mileage time warp ex-Brownsea Island Landaulette which the Southall family owned and campaigned in VCC of GB events a number of years ago
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Richard McDonough
13 Novembre 2018, 21:52
Having a keen interest in early Queensland motoring (I have published a book on the subject, "Queensland's Motoring Dawn") I offer the following. In October 1914 the Maryborough ambulance brigade sent two emissaries to the Queensland Capital of Brisbane to buy something suitable. After looking at models from various slick city suppliers, they settled on a 20 HP Fiat from the Queensland Motor Agency. The cost for the chassis was £515. The brigade budgeted a further £125 for a suitable body to be built and fitted. The body was entrusted to Oliver Smyth “Coachbuilder and Motor Body Maker” of Toowoomba. The new machine subsequently arrived by train in Maryborough on Saturday May 29, 1915. The main body colour was “bright vermillion”.

It’s first call out wasn’t long in coming when, on Monday 31 May, it transported a two year old Gayndah boy from the railway station to the hospital. The poor little bloke had fractured his thigh when he came off second best with a log. He was put on the train from Gayndah (160 klms from Maryborough) , hence being picked up at the Maryborough railway station by the ambulance. No doubt the car quickly replaced the horse drawn versions, just as happened in Brisbane in 1908 when that city got its first motorised ambulance.

Rick McDonough
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Steve Diggins
12 Novembre 2018, 18:53
I would think the body including fenders are Australian built. This would greatly reduce the tariffs paid for a product from outside of the Commonwealth. Just the chassis being imported would also save on shipping costs.
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Ariejan Bos
12 Novembre 2018, 15:54
I agree with Andy, that it is a FIAT at first glance. Indeed more Italian makes had this radiator shape, but the oval badge with dark rectangular interior (where you could have read FIAT if the photo would have been only slightly sharper) could only be mistaken for Lancia, but that badge was round and besides Lancia never used this radiator shape.
With Fiat (like more cars of the period) it's all about the engine and these model and engine names must not be confused. The tipo 2 had engine nr. 52A, tipo 2B had engine nr. 52B, but it was not always that straight forward . This type of radiator was used also on different models, so I doubt if you can say which model it is exactly. But anyway, 1915 seems fair enough. If the claim that it was a six cylinder is correct seems doubtful. As far as I could find Fiat only used 4 cylinder engines during these years. They had a 6 in the past (round 1908) and the first I could find after that was in the tipo 510, in the early '20s.
Non standard are the mudguards and I wonder where these came from. Standard shape is more round with round sides and not the sharp sides of these mudguards. It could be that this is a coachbuilders item.
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Andy Watt
12 Novembre 2018, 14:32
I'd have said FIAT at first glance from around the Edwardian period. A bit of a search found this online which confirms the area had a FIAT from 1915.

Excerpt from ‘A History of Maryborough 1842-1976/ Maryborough, Wide Bay and Burnett Historical Society; 1976
AMBULANCE
By 1884 first aid was being voluntarily given by members of the Wide Bay Ambulance Corps of the Queensland defence Forces, and by volunteers organised by the industrial establishments. In May 1897 a public meeting was called to form a Maryborough Ambulance Brigade. In 1900 decisions were made to buy hand litters and a suitable horse-drawn wagon, and a hand litter supplied for ambulance purpose at Pialba. A similar litter was sent to Biggenden in 1902. The horse-drawn wagon was used until 1915 when the first motor ambulance, a six-cylinder Fiat, went into service, a gift made possible by the generosity of the employees of Walkers Limited.
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Erler Thomas
12 Novembre 2018, 14:05
According to that info I suggest a Fiat Tipo 3, as sold to the british army.
Info:
Italian Fiat 3A cars for use by the British army during the First World War. Date: 1915

© Robert Hunt Library/Mary Evans

Media ID 7195091 from Mary Evans Prints Online
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John Riley
12 Novembre 2018, 12:12
Looks like a Fiat 52B, certainly pre-WWI
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John Bates
12 Novembre 2018, 11:56
For me it's a Bean with those wings and that radiator but I am not sure about the front axle.
Is it fitted with head-lamps that double as search lights for detection of enemy aircraft?
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Sujit Gupta
12 Novembre 2018, 11:02
Looks like a early Fiat.
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Federico Göttsche Bebert
12 Novembre 2018, 10:47
Any chance it might be an Isotta Fraschini OC4?
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C.Gillingham
12 Novembre 2018, 09:44
What's unusual is that this vehicle has electric lights which possibly suggests a post WW1 car. There aren't many, if at all 1918-20 Tipo 2 FIAT photos.
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Anders Svenfelt
12 Novembre 2018, 07:14
Looks Italian, most likely a Fiat Tipo 2B?
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Tony Sloan
12 Novembre 2018, 06:44
Looks a bit FIATish....
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Vin de Niese
12 Novembre 2018, 06:03
Looks more like a Bean radiator and bonnet
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Kieran White
12 Novembre 2018, 04:33
C.Gillingham
12 Novembre 2018, 01:58
It's definitely a FIAT, but I'm not sure of the model, possibly a 52B?
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