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Jim, I have a new old stock lifter that I think is a Seagrave issue. At
the time of the purchase I wasn’t aware that different years had
different lifter sizes. Could you or anybody else tell me what years it
would work in?
The bundle is no longer for sale.
Tony C. wonders what lucky star he was standing under the day of the purchase
as many logistics had to be ironed out. I usually don’t buy a car on a whim
while being 1,800 miles from home. Duane W. had a garage for local storage
and is more honest than most priests I know. He is now the car’s official
Godfather. Ed did everything he said he would and you can’t find a better P.A.
Society guy. She’s not ready for Pebble Beach, but watch out Car Olympics.
George has turned another chapter in his life. He’s a reality star and
a darned good one. The only shortcoming is that the 1918 48-B-5 will
increase in value and slip further away from the newly enthused
admirers, after his fervent praise.
The Packard looks like it spent part of its life as a hearse.
For those that are timid at spending $125,000 for 5 automobiles, a 1967 book
stated that there were 18 McFarlans left. Made 1910 to 1927, they made middle
price to extravagant high priced vehicles. In 1923 they sold one car for $23K
and 235 cars built, the most ever. This car offered is probably their 120HP,
triple ignition, 140 inch wheelbase car. It’s not their sexiest body style
by a long shot. A friend had one and it was a bear to steer. Harrah had Jack
Dempsey’s Roadster. A Chicago gangster who bought one parked his and went
inside a business. A policeman found him and asked him to move it because
the crowd around it was causing a traffic jam. Such a car is hard to value
but it would bring more than peanuts.
Do you have the car with factory quarter doors that was in Red Bluff, Cal.
8 or 10 years ago and was sold to a large collection in Belgium? It might be
to your advantage to submit the questions that you wish answered, in this
discussion topic.
Under library on member pages, you should be able to find a manual for your
car in this site.
At what point of maintaining this passion, does it become a curse?
I had a chance to buy Tom Williams’s ’31 Model 41 LeBaron when Dr. Brunemeier
owned it. I had all my hair and a thin wallet and couldn’t raise $42,000. The
car was in sad shape in the ’80’s and required a large percentage of the $450K
to resurrect it. A fine fellow took pity on me and gave me a ride in it in
restored form. It went so fast I almost got a nosebleed. I learned that early
eights had rapid pickup even in the heavier long wheelbase form. You could go
into the bootlegging business in prohibition days with a fleet car like that.
Peter: If it doesn’t quit snowing here( 2 feet the next 3 days), I’m going to
have to affix that naked man radiator cap to my VW and see if I can win
a prize!
I was having a little trouble swallowing RM’s pitch that the LeBaron
Convertible Sedan was the second most desirable Pierce-Arrow after
the Silver Arrows. The $335K was puny compared with what big brass ones,
66 HP teens, Fatty Arbuckle’s, have brought in the past. What would the
only and last 1938 Pierce Convertible bring in number one condition? I
know of a ’30’s V12 Conv’t. that was shown at Pebble Beach that had
multiples of the price RM received, in restoration costs. One of our finest
members was displaying it. I for one, would like to see one of the double
decker, over night sleeper, busses restored and see what it would bring.
Why not lose money on every deal, like I do, and save all the trouble?
I remember Ed and his V12 at Watkins Glen in a turn at high speed when “man
and machine”” almost became as one! Are the stains in the seat still there?
“
I drove a 1919 Pierce down an eight mile twisty road from Blue Lake to Rodney
Flournoy’s Ranch. If memory serves me, the lower gears were permanently in
freewheeling. That was one of the scariest rides of my life. I do enjoy using
it around town in my ’34 836A, but it can kill you in the mountains. The
handle should have a warning on it for the new owner or the owner who
occasionally drives his vehicle and has memory cells like mine.
In the day, not many makes offered freewheeling. Those that did touted easier
shifting and longer engine life. Having freewheeling engaged at the wrong time
could be a life changing event. Pierce brakes are the best in their day but
they will fade under extreme use.
Peter,
You are amazing. Where did you find this Sotheby article that I enjoyed so
much? I loved the part that noted an emotional reuniting of Walter Dorwin
Teague Jr. with the HCM which he designed, taking place at the 2014 Pebble
Beach Concours. The fact that he had died in 2004, escaped the knowledgeable
writer. I was at the Concours the HCM and he attended. I got to talk with him
for a half an hour. He told over and over the injustice of doing all the
design work and his Father taking all the credit. What other Concours in the
world can a nobody walk up to a 90 + year-old historical figure, sitting in
the most advanced car design of the thirties, and get his undivided attention
??
Charles,
We have a lot in common. I have a Model 36 P.A. and a ’35 and ’34 Hupp.
Tony
Peter,
Be nice. I am owned by a 1904 Oldsmobile Model T Light Tonneau. It has
a rear entrance door and is a one cylinder engine, 5 1/2 inch bore by 6
inch stroke at 142 cubic inches. It has rack and pinion steering, a steering
wheel, and an adjustable steering column. It was previously owned by the
Strong Collection of Minnesota and Bill Harrah. A previous owner did London
to Brighton 4 times and was stopped by a Bobby while doing 38 MPH. This car
is known as a French Front and 750 were built. There’s about 14 real ones
left and an industry built around making fake ones or total copies. Sorry
you asked, huh?
Tony
So, how come the J Duesenberg, the Duesenberg-powered Biddle, the ’20’s
Mercer, the Simplex chain-drive, the 66HP Pierce, the several Bentleys, the
Kissel Gold Bug, let a 1910 Rolls win with a 1913 Lanchester coming in second
place?
Good news for pre-war values? Gooding just sold a 1903 Curved Dash Olds, for
$93,000! Gooding had appraised it at $60,000 to $80,000 with no reserve. There
are at least 450 survivors left and an active club to encourage them. This
price is considered a world record for this vehicle. If you wish to buy one,
you may not be so excited by this sale
Jim,
Most P.A. Society Members have never purchased a car through an auction.Unless
it is a clearance of a museum or estate, most would buy by word of mouth or an
ad they have seen. Auctions are an expensive way of buying or selling. Lots of
hanky-panky can occur and people have lost their cars due to unscrupulous
auction companies.If a Member did need to use an auction house, there are few
major ones that will acquire the necessary bidders to ensure the successful
sale.
Supply and demand encourage people to make money in the hobby. ’70’s and ’80s
are cheap and plentiful. Pierce’s must be an acquired taste as I wasn’t around
when the cars were cheap and plentiful. There is a finite supply of Pierces
and that number will decrease from fire, natural losses and accidents. The
Pierces have style and grace as well as historical position, that will ensure
their collectability in the future. Nobody is throwing out 200 year old stage
coaches, though nobody is getting rich saving them.
It is true that Classics and antiques were once the center of the auto collect-
ing hobby. It is true a young collector might relate to a ’74 Mustang as
opposed to a 1912 EMF. It is true that you can sell Corvettes for profit easier
than you can ’41 Packards. However, I recently came from a Bonham’s Auction
where people came from all over the world (the guy sitting next to me was from
New Zealand) to spend $10 million dollars on three 100 year-old race cars. The
other 47 cars were in poor original shape and brought high bids. There wasn’t
a bargain in the sale. After maintenance and sprucing up, not one will bring a
profit to their purchasers. Go figure!
