Happy new year!  With the year comes aspirations for the future and welcomed new beginnings.  There are enough other blog posts about personal relationships with the changing of the year, so this one is about the changing of the model year at the American Bantam Car Co.

Below are some photos which have long since been torn from their original binding.  Where they were originally, who knows.  The seller’s father worked for Bantam and appears to have taken home some fantastic prizes.  Take a look through the photos below before I attempt to blow your mind.

Click here to see the roadster factory photo.

Click here to see the Panel factory photo.

Click here to see the Wagon factory photo.

Click here to see the Hollywood factory photo.

Click here to see the Master Coupe factory photo.

Click here to see the Riviera factory photo.

Click here to see the pickup factory photo.

Okay, so now that you’ve had a chance to look at the photos, don’t they seem a bit familiar?  For the carry over body styles, these are the photos that were used as 1938 and 1939 press photos and brochure images.  If my computer wasn’t glitchy, I would be showing you a side by side comparison of the earlier images and these.  If you look closely, you’ll see that each car has had the silver bomber drawn onto an existing photo.  The roadster photo had two women edited out of it, fender trim added, 38 bumper guards retained, hood trim deleted, part of its shadow removed, and it is now a right hand drive vehicle.  The exact same people are sitting in the Master Coupe posed in the exact same manner as they were in 1938. What other similarities can you find?