Week 12: #52 Ancestors – Popular
By Eilene Lyon
I doubt I’d get much argument if I say that motor vehicles have been one of mankind’s most popular inventions. My great-grandfather, Charles Edward Smith, adopted the technology as soon as he could afford it. He had a grocery delivery business in Moscow, Latah County, Idaho, and found trucks preferable to horse-drawn wagons.
C.E. Smith passed his love of cars, trucks, and motorcycles to his children. I’ve shared a few of these photos before, but this seems like a good time to showcase the Smith family’s appreciation for motorized transportation. (Click on images to see larger versions.)
Feature image: Leon Smith driving the first Smith delivery truck
Myricopia 
I’ll take two Excelsors in candy apple red, please. That is a cool bike. Adapting to moto travel had its perks I see.
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A cool bike, but I can’t imagine it was a comfortable ride, especially all the way from northern Idaho to California!
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We’d have to drive the backroads and see a lot of stops. Darn. I guess it was all backroads then, but certainly no less comfortable than a stagecoach. We’re pretty soft these days, I admit, but men and women of the eras? Durable, tough, and short lived. Now we regulate that. Haha.
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I still take the backroads when I travel, as much as possible. Why be in a hurry?
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Yo también. Hay algunos lugares muy encantadores en las carreteras secundarias.
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Loved the photos. An invention that sure made life a lot easier, although the first four wheel drive is the cutest! Those tear drop trailers, like in the last photo, are making a big come back! Dawson City, Yukon still has the wooden sidewalks and dirt roads, that’s part of its charm.
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I just had to throw in the donkey photo – too cute. Silverton, Colorado still has dirt streets and patches of wooden sidewalks. Only the main road (Greene St.) is paved. It’s a charming place.
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I’m dating myself and that’s plenty fine, but I do remember when service stations did offer that full service right at the pump.
Love the captures, Eilene.
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I used to get a little annoyed when I go to Oregon, because self-serve gas isn’t allowed, but I’ve started getting used to it. I do remember the full service from my childhood, too. The bell would ding when you rolled over the tube.
I just love these old car photos!
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Self serve isn’t allowed in New Jersey either. Whenever I would visit, I had to remember that.
Reminds me of the old garages too. Each one had its own personality back in the day. No franchise superstores, it was all pop and son stuff.
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Most of the garages here in Durango are still like that. Maybe not father-so, but small and privately owned.
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That’s cool, I like that.
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I just love the photo of Harry Smith and sons in their spanking clean uniforms with little bow ties! Check your oil, Ma’am?
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It is adorable! I met Don once some years ago. He shared some of these photos with me.
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Definitely family treasures!
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That’s a wonderful set of photos. The earliest car photo in my family is from the late 1930s or early 1940s.
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It’s especially cool when they’re all from one nuclear family. They really had quite a variety of vehicles over a short span of time.
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Wonderful photos. I do like your family’s first 4-wheel drive. Clever.
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It was just too cute not to include. Besides, they were too young to drive the cars and trucks.
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Fabulous set of images.
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I don’t even know who was the photographer in the family. Maybe I can guess from the one that has the whole family gathered around – if I can recognize everyone.
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Love all the pictures, especially the one of the gentlemen at the service station!
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That’s a great one – and the perfect career for car-lover Harry.
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Amazing collections of family motor vehicles and their photographs!
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It’s surprising just how many vehicles they had!
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I love how cars (and other modes of transportation) are included in pictures. Almost like a member of the family!
Love the motorcycles!
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I’ve taken at least one photo of every car (and motorcycle) I’ve owned, so I guess you’re right about that. We tend to have an intimate relationship with our vehicles. Oh the stories they could tell!!
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I didn’t know you came from a family of motor heads, Eilene. Really cools pictures! I especially like the Smith family service station photo. Instead of Moscow, Idaho, it could easily be Mayberry NC. Although the days of full service gasoline stations are all but gone here in the USA, we found them to be alive and well in Chile. Just like the old days, uniformed attendants still wash your windshield and check your oil while filling the tank. Regrettably, they have discontinued the bow ties.
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That’s cool to hear about service in Chile, but regrettable about the bow ties – so dapper! I love that photo, too. I also had some real gear heads on my dad’s side of the family, but they weren’t as diligent about photographing all their vehicles.
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