This morning, Jason gave us a quick lesson about what a dovecote is. They’re basically houses for pigeons, birds that deserve way more credit for being awesome. Years ago as a teenager, I had a pair of messenger pigeons and I can back Jason up when he says they are intelligent, amazing animals. Every morning, I used to open the pigeon house at my childhood home, let the birds go off and do their own thing, and by sundown, they would be right back in their house, ready to sleep for the night. I’d watch them fly off into the horizon and somehow, no matter if it was hot, cold, sunny, or rainy, they always came home. Sadly, I never got to learn how to send messages with them before a coyote ripped its way into their plywood house one night.
Anyway, Jason showed us that there used to be automotive dovecotes. In World War I, old buses were turned into dovecotes. But hold on a moment, what did this one start off as?
As a bus lover, I was intrigued by this. It looks like AlterId cracked the case:
It’s a converted double-decker bus, probably a Brillié-Schneider P2 retired from the Paris fleet because double-deckers weren’t that popular.
I should have let that stand alone so I’d look like I know something, but that’s the result of around 90 minutes of obsessive Googling, including discovery of the original image published in 1915.
I did some of my own digging, which led me to a 1916 issue of Popular Science Monthly, which had our bus in it. Another source dates the photo to 1915.
The front end of our bus is pretty distinctive. I found a book and some postcards that show the different buses that operated in Paris and only one of them had the same front end as the military dovecote: The 1908 Brillié-Schneider P2. Reportedly, these buses were designed by Eugenie Brille and built by Schneider and Cie of Le Havre.
It looks like early P2 buses had an open circular grille with a badge up top, like Jason’s picture shows, while later models got a grille that looked a lot like the Mercedes-Benz star. Great work, AlterId!
For a second COTD, we have LTDScott, who points out just how silly it is that the Tesla Cybertruck’s wheel covers cut into the truck’s tire sidewalls:
I feel like anyone who has gone off roading and seen a tire sidewall with lower pressure flex over obstacles could have seen this coming a mile away.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Congratulations on your COTD win! Here’s a picture of Alexis Texas to celebrate!
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This is why we still can’t post pictures here, isn’t it? 😉
Interesting.
Old heavy vehicles fascinate me by their crude engineering.No one was making inexpensive/robust axles until the late 20s.Until then they had mostly chain final reduction drives.I think they also used solid tires much later than cars.Cool weirdo machines they were
I actually find the world of historic motoring to be much more interesting aesthetically and mechanically than what we’re turning out now. There were no jelly beans on generic platforms in those days, just brilliant developmentary engineering and skilled craftmanship by the pioneers they were.
Very informative COTD even without porn star references and racial slurs.
Gives us all something to work toward.
Porn stars are never referenced enough. They deserve the same treatment as any other “star” out there.
Well, of course. That is what I’m working toward. I’m a bit embarrassed that anyone might think otherwise.
I prefer my COTD with porn star references, thank you very much.
Ok, Mercedes, now find one converted into an RV—I dares ya! 😉
The sources I found and just scoured my prodigious browser history from yesterday to find again had the photo originating in the Illustrated London News of October 2, 1915.
Presumably the advantage of the mobile dovecote was that you could move it along with the battle front, because you’d have some pretty annoyed pigeons looking for you if you took off before they got back.
Kudos for taking the time to find that!
I love the commentariat here.
Check these out
Nazi’s in a Dovecote Trike. Boo
https://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/attachment/9659
Then the Brit’s stealing the pigeon’s back. Ha Ha
https://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/attachment/9661
Neat!