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Keeping enthusiasm up to finish is very difficult. The amount of time and treasure huge and impossible to justify practically, particularly if the car is worth a lot more in parts than whole. The “eating the elephant by taking one bite at a time” metaphor being apropos. Being a rare and very desirable body style Richard’s car likely is worth enough to pay back the investment in money if not time.
A friend of mine lost all ambition years ago after paying for poor machine shop work from supposed experts. He is disillusioned about having any work done by “professionals”. He has piles of multiple cars torn down.
Personally I am always at the edge of that point – when I did my Packard 30 years ago part of what kept me going was the people who saw the pile of rusty parts too polite to say what they are thinking – this guy will never finish this. That kept me going as much as anything. Having proved it once on a rougher car, I don’t have that incentive on my P-A.
Jim
I hope Richard does reply. and has some more progress and images to share..
Yes, I just picked a post and replied to it. I don’t think Richard can see nor reply, since he’s not a member of the PAS any more, correct?
From what I saw of the ongoing restoration, and knowing what he paid for car, I doubt financial recovery is possible, but I’ve been wrong before. The initial cost of the car and just the chrome plating cost would probably have had him into six figures.
David,
If you want to contact him, here is Richard’s email address.
I corresponded with him about the restoration in 2015.
Peter
I’ve been in contact with Richard, car is progressing, he’s waiting for some chrome to get finished, then the car will be assembled and sent to the trimmer for upholstery.
He stated the trimmer has never done a 20’s Pierce, and I offered any assistance I can give him on the top and interior, so the trimmer is getting my phone number.
Giving free advice, hmmmm….now if I just had one of those “pay by the minute”” phone numbers to give out…”
David,
Your new number will be 1-900 – T-R-I-M-M-E-R. For a good time call today!
Hahahahaha!
I’m glad he is still plugging away at it. And I hope he rejoins the PAS. Inexperienced people working on you car often takes much longer, often has quaility issues, and in the long run often costs more than people who have a higher shop rate but clearly understand the car. Recently we purchased a high end “high point†car. The seller sent the carb off to a rebuilder to clean it out after sitting for ten years with gas in it. The car won Pebble first in class. It had the wrong carb and distributor on it. The timing was off by a mile and couldn’t be fixed without finding a very, very rare correct unit. The carb had never been totally disassembled since NEW, so the recent builder couldn’t even get out all the plugs in the carb. Gee, I wonder why it won’t idle? We got it apart and cleaned it when we got it home, car runs like new now. There are MANY shops that will take on any work, that is NOT a good idea.
Robert, unfortunately the ad would have to read it’s just a sew-sew time….
By the way, Richard said the cost to rework the wire wheels was a stunner…think he went all chrome….can’t wait to see the car finished, and see his color and other choices, will be glad to see another car back on the road..
Ed makes an excellent point about the true cost of inexperienced people working on a specialized car.
Wire wheels that are in poor shape will run 3 to 9 thousand per wheel. New rims, spokes, nipples, and labor are just the start. Add in the cost of chrome and you hit the stratosphere fast. Then, if it’s a conversion from wood wheels, add in the cost of the hubs, different brake drums, etc. Wire wheels and changeovers can run fifty thousand dollars if you have the professional restorers do it. The time is coming that one must realize that almost every car is going to be a big time loss when it comes to Restorations, that’s not a bad thing……..the days of buying a car, fixing it up, driving it for ten years, and selling it for a profit are DONE. Owning a old car is much more like going to the casino today, it’s money spent on entertainment and very little can or will be recovered at the end. And that’s fine……..this is suppose to be a FUN hobby. No one else expects to gain a profit from their hobby’s except car people. Look at the 50’s and 60’s cars in the auctions, easy to restore cars with good parts availability sell for 30 cents on the dollar. It’s not going to get better folks, unless you buying the top 1/2 of one percent of the market. Read that as seven figures, the very good open cars will hold up to their purchase price, the rest are in for a long ride down a road that will be lucky if they can stay even with inflation. The old car hobby is going to return to the era of the fifties and early sixties. Cars are going to cost less for most of us than they ever have, the four door sedans are going to be very affordiable as supply and demand is going to dictate price. Most remaining restoration projects are going to be parts cars.
David – I understand you will also have an exclusive number for those with more kinky tastes:
1 – 900 – L-E-A-T-H-E-R
Hahahaha!
Robert, you need to be my marketing manager! I’m trying to quit upholstery, though, I want to be 100% 1-800-RETIRED!