Collection of Photographs of Cars, Trucks, and Specialty Vehicles from a Pasadena Rental Car Company that Catered to the Movie Industry in the 1920s

Twenty-seven (27) 8” x 10” photographs showcasing high-end vehicles for rent from the Iowa Garage in Pasadana, California, owned by former race car mechanic Eugene Lajunie (b. 1885). Each photo is accompanied by a typed caption giving the model number, color, some specifications, and the price per day to rent with a driver. Vehicles include many touring cars and cabriolets made by Renault, Packard, and Daimler; a Sunbeam roadster, town cars, taxis, a limousine, army trucks, a French truck mounted with an anti-aircraft gun, and several remarkable “camera cars” made with front or rear-mounted platforms to hold movie cameras and their operators. Rental prices (truncated) ranged from $35/day for a camera car to $75/day for the Sunbeam Roadster or a 1926 Renault cabriolet. Many of the cars are “posed” in front of beautiful homes on tree-lined Pasadena streets. These photographs would originally have been in a sales catalogue or album, and there are remnants of the original pages on which they were mounted on the back of each one. Some have the original typed captions taped to the back, others are accompanied by recent copies of those captions. These photographs were acquired as a group from the granddaughter of Eugene Lajunie, and we believe the family made the modern captions to replace damaged ones from the original album. The images themselves are all original and in very good condition. Born in France, Lajunie emigrated to the United States to work as the personal mechanic of racecar driver George Heath. Heath won first Vanderbilt Cup race with Lajunie at his side in 1904. Lajunie later lived in Davenport, Iowa, before moving to Pasadena and opening his Iowa Garage on South Fair Oaks avenue. There he personally repaired, restored, and equipped the vehicles he rented to Hollywood studios. (Inventory #: 20563)