What's your most 'unexpected' part find?

[trimacar]

As mentioned, when you fool with old cars for more than 5 decades, as I have, there are LOTS of stories.

 

In the category of "unexpected find", not long after moving up to Winchester from Louisiana, I went to a car show in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Walking the small flea market, I happened upon a fellow with a few tables of early bicycle lamps, all what is known as TOC (turn of the century) 1895-1905 style.  Bicycle lamps then were mostly kerosene, with a font and wick, and some of the higher grade ones were spring loaded so that bumps in the road wouldn't affect them as much.  I guess sloshing kerosene with a lit wick might lead to interesting tales of fiery bicycle destruction!

 

Of course, I'd been into Pierce Arrow memorabilia for a long time, and after perusing the inventory,  I sort of kiddingly asked "Gee, where's the Pierce bicycle lamp?".  He looked at me kind of funny, and said, "well, I just figured no one here would be interested, so it's sitting on the front seat of my truck...let me go get it".  I was astounded and flabbergasted and any other adjective you'd care to insert into this narrative, all agape and awed and big eyed that he even HAD one, at the time I really didn't even know they existed.

 

He brought it to the table.  I looked at it, inspecting and figuring it had been nickel at one time and striped down to brass.  It was a "Pierce Matchless" (has a striker with flint to light) made by the "Geo. N. Pierce Company", predecessor to the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company.  Note the spring loaded suspension system for the lamp, and how elegant the legs of the "four arm mechanism" are, as we'd say in engineering class. It's a design that absorbs shock yet keeps the lamp in the same plane as it bounces.

 

Needless to say, I didn't haggle when he mentioned the $200 price, but remember that this was a couple of decades ago and money was different, and Ebay wasn't a driving force in the market.  I know there are others out there, but I've never seen one, although I did hear there was one in the bicycle museum in New York that's been liquidated ((Borgwart, I think, he sold me a Pierce Special Racer dating from about 1903).

 

There are times when fate puts you at just the right place, at just the right time, and you ask just the right question, and that was one of those times for me....

[4Hud]

I was fixing up a Triumph TR6 in the 90's with the rear bumper pushed in dead centre.  A friend happened by one day and told me he had seen the back end sheet metal from a TR6 that had been torched off with the bumper still attached that had been dumped off in a recently created rural subdivision about 10 miles from home. A very nice, free bumper and I helped clean up the neighbourhood.

[PONTIAC1953]

i've been buying 1953 pontiac parts since the mid 1970s, there have been several parts that i never thought i would find for sale, much less in beautiful nos condition. two parts come to mind, first a nos instrument cluster dial face made of lucite plastic, the other one is a complete 1953-1954 pontiac chieftain 7 tube radio, power supply, and front speaker.

[Dave Henderson]

At the yearly Winchester, Va. car show in the '70's I was rummaging through a large coffee can full of junk and was floored to find a near perfect '37 Cord trunk latch, $2.  At a junk recycling place in Columbia, Pa. in the '80's a Harman Collins early V8 magneto, $8, and a short production run '32 V8 2 blade fan, $3.   At a local yard sale, a mint-in-box green lense'd wig wag tail light, $1.50.  

[Terry Bond]

This is a great thread!  Dave, that Winchester flea market brings back loads of great memories.  It was a regular when we lived in the DC/Baltimore area years ago.  In it's prime back then with lots of boxes of old stuff just cleaned out of garages, basements and barns.   I've got a few more stories waiting in the wings just in case the discussion starts to wane a bit - but for now, let's keep it rolling.  This is the kind of stuff we used to talk about at Hershey in the evenings.  Far better than talking about joint replacements and how hard it's getting to walk around the swap meet! 

Terry

[Dave Henderson]

Terry,  Yes, I'm afraid the Winchester show's flea market has gotten pretty tapped out.  Among my other automotive interests I used to find numerous Model A parts vendors there in it's heyday.  I remember the little guy who I thought resembled Roy Rogers who came in from W. Va. with a flatbed full of interesting parts at cheap prices.  Come to think of it, I did buy a brass Model A instrument panel (stamped "B" on the back) from him for $3.  They plate beautifully because they don't get rust pits in the groves like the steel ones do.  I'll explain, the Model A era was also the "strike anywhere" match era, and those grooves in the panels lit many a smoker's match, ultimately causing the unmanageable pitting.. 
I'm for more of this thread too, but I've blown through my very best finds, so do tell us more about some of your other discoveries.  
I'm still waiting for David Coco who is a regular at the Winchester show to check in about my Cord latch find, he has a Cord too and lives in Winchester, albeit I don't think as early as the '70's.  David?  You there? 

[1937hd45]

Do overhead valve Race Car Hot Rod cylinder heads count? This story starts 50+ years ago when Dad &  I went to look at a pair of 1930-31 Ford Roadster rear fenders. I don't remember how Dad got the lead but we drove two towns north and found this guy with a garage filled with Model A's and parts, over in the corner was the very first Vintage dirt track single seater I'd ever see. The race car belonged to his friend Richard, and were to become became life time friends He'd always buy something from me at swap meets, never any quality pieces, but he would go on to amass quite a collection over the years. The race car had run at the local track in in Danbury but I never got any history on it, Richard did have an Alexander overhead for it, but I never got to see that. When Richard passes away about 10 years ago the family had to sell off all his automotive things, I bought a few chassis and sections of Model A bodies, one was the back of a 1930 Cabriolet I'd sold him when I was still in high school. The one item I really wanted was the "Chicken Coop" and its contents. The roof had collapsed about 10 years before Richard passed away, this allowed the snow and rain for 120 months to collapse the floor as well. The hoods and fenders were carful removed and everything else that was in sight. It was a lot easier to remove the remains of the roof and all four walls, for access to the pile. I've never dig for dinosaur bones, buy you've seen photos I'm sure, you have a picture of what I had in front of me. The 1914 Harley Davidson engine parts were the first things near the surface, everything  from the coop had rotted to the consistency of heavy to medium grade garden mulch, and I was using garden tools to move the debris to find the automotive treasures. I uncover the front of a Model A cylinder head, saw just the top water manifold flange/outlet. I went to brush of the mulch from the rest of the head with my left hand and slammed my little finger into something really hard. The rocker stand and #1 valve of the  ALEXANDER overhead! My first underground auto find!

 

 

Bob 

[playswithbrass]

Finding the sales brochure for my 1912 McIntyre in mint condition.  

[lump]

My wife and adult kids and I all love to go to yard sales, etc, especially when an entire neighborhood is holding an event of lots of sales all at once. One spring the rest of them were driving around the neighborhood without me, because I had been at a meeting. I called my wife on her cell to find where they were, so we could run around together. As I pulled up to where she was parked at an intersection, I saw several sales...one on each corner. I saw her coming out of one driveway, and I headed her way. But I could see behind her that that particular sale was all "women's stuff," (as I tend to call anything which is not "men's junk," as my wife describes it!) As she passed by me, I asked, "Is there nothing in that sale for me?" She responded, "No, no tools or man-junk at all, except for some old Edelbrock valve covers, or something." I decided to go see for myself.

 

The garage was packed with shoppers, and everything there was household stuff; Avon, clothing, dishes, kiddie toys, etc...EXCEPT for the nicest pair of vintage alumjnum Edelbrock heads for a flathead Ford I've ever found, lying in a corner on the floor! I asked the lady the price, and she said, "Oh, I don't know. How's $25?" I paid instantly, of course, and asked if she had any other car goodies anywhere else. "Nope," she quipped. "Those are leftovers from the divorce. They're all I have left of that marriage, and I'm glad to be rid of them!" 

[Harold]

Back in the early '70's, I was in a used bookstore in Manhattan and saw a copy of 'Fix Your Plymouth' by Bill Toboldt.  The price was kind of high so I didn't buy the book.  I thought about it, and a few days later went back to the bookstore and the book was gone.  I was disappointed but had some time so I went browsing in other bookstores in the area (there were several clustered in a few-block radius).  In one little bookstore I found another copy of the Plymouth book, marked at $3.00.  I immediately went to pay for it, and the shopkeeper said 'Today is half-price day....this book is $1.50'!    That book is still on my shelf,  6 feet from where I'm sitting now.   

[pkhammer]

  Back in the 80's when I was fresh out of high school I was hanging out at a friends farm and I noticed his older brother's '67 gto sitting in the weeds. He'd been recently married and was starting a family and hadn't run it for a while. His brother happened by and mentioned he'd like to sell it....$500 cash! We aired up the tires, put in some fresh gas and a battery and the 400 cranked right up. An original paint, rust free '67 gto was mine!

  A short time later I happened by an auto repair shop in the same neighborhood. I was chatting with the owner and happened to mention the gto purchase. He said "I have something back here you might be interested in". We walked to the back of the garage and he pulled a dusty, dirty item off a shelf and blew the dust off it. When he turned around I could see a manifold with 3 carbs......yep, a complete factory 389 tri-power setup! I think I paid $40 for it. Man, I really wish I still had that car.

 

[ron hausmann]

All - I am restoring the only Kissel Model 6-38 Sedanlette of and year that exists. This model car is the immediate precursor to the famed Kissel Gold Bug cars. It has special fittings and windshield. It is a roadster with a removable carved wood hardtop. When I got the car, It was a hulk, and it had no windshield. Because this car is very very rare, I was sure that I would be stuck having to make anything missing. 

        I’ve now been restoring it for three years now. This past winter, out of the blue, I got a call from a person in Minnesota who was getting rid of Kissel parts.

        Low and behold when I drove there and inspected the parts, he had a NOS 1918 Kissel Sedanlette windshield sitting with his cache of other parts. And he had a bunch more o f other great Kissel goodies. Wow.

       Thanks, Ron 

[lump]

That's AWESOME, Ron!! 

[mercer09]

Ron,

 

so much respect for your saving a dying marque.

future generations will be able to see what Kissels really were, other then just looking at brochures!

[lump]

I LOVE this thread! Kudos to "Hidden Hunter" for starting it! 

 

Several years ago, when I was first getting started in the business of setting up and running automotive swap meet events, I would do ANYTHING I could think of to promote the shows (that is, anything that didn't cost much money...since I was totally broke!)

 

One time I even took my beloved old 1923 Hupmobile touring, and put it in an indoor display at a huge local flea market for the weekend. It was surrounded by stanchions with velvet "rope", and lots of free flyers and posters. I INTENDED to sit with the car all weekend long. But on Saturday morning a family emergency came up, and I was forced to leave my precious old car there all day and all night Saturday, alone. I hoped and prayed that it would be unmolested and ok when I arrived on Sunday, the next day.

 

Come Sunday I was unable to get there until mid afternoon, and by then the crowd was mostly gone...as were nearly all of the vendors. I was worried sick about what I would find as I pulled up to my beloved old Hupp, but to my delight and relief, it was just as I left it; untouched and undamaged. Whew! I immediately started getting it ready to drive home. But while I was working, I heard someone say, “Oh, WOW! You’re finally here! I’ve been waiting all weekend for you to show up!”

 

As I turned around to see who was talking, a man stood there holding an old screw-style cast iron jack…the kind we’ve all seen MILLIONS of at every car event or flea market we go to. Right away I mentally wrote this guy off as someone who knew nothing about old cars…someone who ASSUMED that a crude old floor jack must be a priceless treasure.

 

I greeted the man, and explained why I hadn’t been with my car all weekend. He then held up his floor jack, and said something like, “I’m a vendor here, and I’ve been dying to show this antique jack to you. It’s for an antique Hupmobile, just like yours. I thought you might want it.”

 

Of course, I smiled as kindly as I could, and began explaining to to this "poor, uninformed person" that there were millions of jacks like that which were made by aftermarket companies, and sold through hardware stores and car dealerships. I told him that when old cars were junked over the decades, everyone KEPT the jacks, so they were not rare, nor valuable. Moreover, they were not even very safe to use as a jack, for that matter. Most importantly, they were not for any specific brand of car.

 

He was unfazed by my explanation and my condescending attitude. He replied, “No, I know all about all those old aftermarket jacks. But this one says ‘Hupmobile’ on the handle in raised cast-iron script letters!”

 

I looked more closely at the jack, and then at the handle...in disbelief...and then I had to apologize. When I asked how much, he said, “$40 FIRM!” I paid the man, and drove home with my treasure, feeling a little embarrassed, a little foolish, and THRILLED with the jack. It's the only one like it that I have ever seen.

Edited September 17, 2018 by lump (see edit history)

[drwatson]

I hope I'm not too far off subj.

In 1979 I was trolling Carlisle PA wearing a cardboard sign; "Maserati parts wanted". I had a 1961 3500gt at the time.  Carlisle was an unlikely place to find Maserati stuff, but a vendor spoke up and gave me the phone # of a garage (in PA) where a homeless Maserati was said to be languishing. It turned out to be a complete and rare 1956 Maserati A6G 2000 Allemano,  1 of 21 built.  I payed little for it,  sheltered it for 35 yrs. untouched and sold it not long ago for $$$,$$$.  

Edited September 18, 2018 by drwatson (see edit history)

[54vicky]

On 9/11/2018 at 11:56 AM, michel88 said:

I was at fall Carlisle with my wife about 15 years ago.  I had a '60 Mercury Montclaire that had a script chrome piece that said "Montclaire"on the rear quarter.  This is fairly low production car and I thought it would be hard to find.  My wife has a good eye for finding parts at Hershey and Carlisle, so I got her to look at the script when we left in the morning.  She found it in a pile of many pieces of trim on a tarp within the first hour.

there is no e in the montclair name