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So that’s the orange one from the mid west………..as far as condition goes I shall withhold comment, they wanted 175k, and I was offering a much, much, much lower figure.
photos
Horsefeathers! LOL………sorry, couldn’t help myself.
I’m sure Dave is your best source for correct materials. Good luck. Ed
Cadillac offered a factory hot water heater in 1930 made by Harrison. They also offered an exhaust heater that year also. Proper plumbing of a heater is to place a fitting on the high pressure side of the water pump, run coolant through the heater, and then return somewhere on the low pressure side. They should also have a shut off valve for the summer. Gasoline heaters made by south wind were popular from 1927, and they work great, in 1984 I bought a NOS gas south wind in the box at Hershey and used it in a CJ7…….the only CJ7 in the world that was comfortable with a soft top in the winter.
Karl…..John and I were making plans this afternoon for the Hershey meet………we plan on having two or three cars on the field.ðŸ‘
Merry Christmas to all…..looking forward to the PAS meet this year! Ed
One of the better shops down south that does Pebble grade work has a shop rate of 225 per hour. Plus materials. Add in complicated interiors as seen in pre war Hispano, Rolls, Packard Customs, your at 100k to say hello. Now, most open cars have rather plain uhpolstery, so it would be on the lower end of the price range. If one uses a 400 hour time figure at say 75 dollars per hour you are at 30,000 in labor. David has done work for me recently, that was first rate, on a very high nineties point car, and it came out fabulous in my opinion. I don’t remember the bill, but it was less than I expected. Is it possible to get a craftsman to work for less than 75 dollars an hour today? Maybe, but his skill level may not be up to what some expect. Im not sure what boat guys charge, but I have seen their work on earlier cars and thought it was decent and “ok†but by the time 1929 rolls around, things are much more detailed. Also, how fast the car gets done will come into cost……..a car expected to be finished in eight to ten weeks will brobably cost much more than a six month time frame. I would recommend you insist on a finish date, as our cars are harder to do than many others, so they often keep getting pushed back while other projects get done. I would inspect the persons work in person, not from photographs, to be sure to understand what you will end up with. If you guy hasn’t done ten pre war cars in the last three or four years I would keep looking, There are lots of fantastic post war people out there……but it’s a big difference in skill sets. Uhpolstery is one of those things that either looks right to your eye, or it doesn’t. With a very educated eye, small flaws stand out. Just as Dave, we have had the discussion. Things I thought looked ok would bother him. Looking foreword to seeing the 1929 D/C on the showfield.ðŸ‘
Great stuff, all new to me except the Series 80/81 photos.
Yes, been done many times, in both directions, but it’s usually five to one from rear to dual mounts. You need fenders, brackets, and hardware. It’s not too difficult if you get all parts lined up ahead of time. There is currently a car under restoration that was converted from dual spares, but I don’t want to put the owner, it can be his choice to make it public if he wishes.
Jim, the best way to approach the subject is with your upholsterer. Most prefer certain manufacturers because of how they fit and work the material. Try and figure out your colors and patterns, but let the guy doing the job help you make good decisions to save time, money, and effort. I used Ford material in my 1936 1602 because it was close, a good product, and easily available in the future if I needed more than my extra on hand. LeBarron Bonny is who I sourced my stuff from.
Scott……reread your first sentence. The cost of restoration is directly related to labor……..ever meet a restoration shop owner who has a Duesenberg or Bugatti? There are fewer and fewer restoration shops today, and they will continue to evolve, get smaller, and more specialized. Today highly skilled labor is more expensive than its ever been, and it will continue to increase. The problem lies in people’s expectations of making money on an old car. The correct view is money spent on car should be looked like money spent at the casino. Your using money to entertain yourself for a certain period of time, and you should have no expectation of having anything left when your done. That’s the reality of today’s car collector market……it’s disposable income that is being disposed of, with no payout on thr back end. Car values are actually falling and failing to keep up with inflation. Common car prices are back to the mid 80’s numbers today. It’s bad if you have fifteen cars, and good if you trying to buy one. The only exception is the super high end .001 percent of the market…..they are on fire.
Scott…..there are many types of leather, stiching, and padding. Springs, top bows, wood repair, it’s not just put in the interior. Carpets, side curtains, tire covers, visors, hassocks, tool bag, trunk, there is a lot of stuff to do. A @920 off brand car is a lot less work than a Pierce, and a touring car is much less work than a sedan. Upholsterers have to deal with windows, surrounds, ash trays, dome lights, switches, radio antennas, ect,ect,ect. It’s not easy and a good job is difficult. A great job is extremely difficult. Add I fewer people doing it, a good economy, and prices start to climb, David Coco use to do it on the side, and has since retired. Getting stitching straight, windlace, binder, ……..you got to be crazy to do it. Door fit and closure can be very difficult if the restoration wasn’t done correctly to allow for door panels, door insert sills, strikers. It is a very complicated business. Also, many people don’t do their research, and end up with a incorrect style interior, in wrong patterns, with wrong hardware. It’s truly becoming a lost art. Also, if your top bows, irons, and clamps arn’t done by the upholsterer, which they almost never are, the top frame is usually crooked, and fits poorly.
Tony is in the ballpark, I would have guessed 50-75 at an independent uhpolstery shop. Figure twice to three times that for a Pebble Beach work. An Tony is also correct, getting a slot in a good shop could be a year wait, or more. It’s getting terribly difficult to find skilled pre war upholsterers. And you get what you pay for. Springs, padding, leather, and top material done using lower quality materials look like it when installed, uhpolstery is one of those items on a restoration where ther is no place to hide short cuts………good luck. Ed
Common problem that it doesn’t come through. Resolution is too big.
Hello, nice car. Please post an asking price. Additional phots would also be nice. Good luck with the sale.
The only problem with inert is the person doing the work. It’s much easier said than done. John Cislak does them for eights and twelves, my self, I run babbit, and I run my cars hard and many more miles than most. My current twelve has 20k on babbit, and the oil pressure has stayed steady since day one. On a Pierce, be more concerned with cam bearings.
There is no substitute for doing things right. I have a 904 Packard, great driver!
Consider any car from the 1930’s with 40,000 miles as worn out. Maybe no all of them, but most. Remember these were cheap oddball cars till the 70’s and no one wanted to put in an extra dime.
Stu……I try and not do sales pitches here……even though I am not longer working with John on a daily basis. I sold him all my spare parts about three years ago, so now I just help him out at Hershey. I have the oversize line on all my cars, and they never have vapor lock issues. It’s amazing how going up one size on the line virtually eliminated all the problems. My best, Ed
Pierce Arrow cars of any vintage don’t have any issues, if properly restored and sorted for driving. I have driven my 1936 twelve about twenty thousand miles since the restoration was finished in 1995. It burns LOTS of gas, especially when going down the highway at high speeds………over 60mph. Around town and back roads…….I get 8mpg. About the same as towing it with my GMC dually diesel. If you gotta worry about the gas bill, you don’t want any Pierce. I do run an electric fuel pump at all times on my 12’s, as todays modern fuel will boil at 117 degrees, and the under hoot temperature far exceeds that, so on shutdown the carbs boil themselves dry. Thus is lots of cranking to fill them with the mechanicial pump, or purge the system with an electric before starting. While I’m a purist it just isn’t worth not running an electric today.
