Written on the back of the print is “First motor car in Palmerston North. E A Schwartz, salesman”. The car is standing outside O’Connor & Tydeman’s jeweller shop and G. H. Scott’s cycle shop, which stood on part section 254, The Square, alongside the Commercial Hotel. G.H. Scott was apparently the New Zealand agent for the car. The car in the photograph is a 1901 curved dash “Oldsmobile”, a three horse-power car which had pneumatic tyres, tiller steering and the engine directly under the driver’s seat.