1912Staver

I think it is just camera distortion . It looks like a normal Model T front axle. Greg in Canada

Nice truck, reasonable sounding price. Body is homemade but they did a nice job. Those AA express beds are quite hard to find in usable condition. Greg in Canada

Packard called it a control column. It grouped all the controls in one place , spark advance , hand throttle and one other which I forget. Magneto switch on the left as can be seen. And on the right which can't be seen in this photo light switches if the truck had the optional electric light package. The main body is a somewhat fragile aluminum casting. They are hard to find in undamaged condition today. A good idea for driver convenience. A few other truck make of this era had similar ideas but Packard was probably the most popular. Greg in Canada

I agree it is not a parts car. But possibly at a fork in the road between 100% stock and non stock power train. Personally I like Cord styling a lot, but I have always been doubtful of the early front wheel drive engineering. A re-engineering along the lines of the Hupp Skylark; or as has been done to Auburn seekers roadster, MIGHT be a more attractive proposition for some potential owners. If I owned Auburnseekers car I would just use it as it is and leave the restoration back to stock for a future owner. But it is without question a car that should at some point in time be returned to stock , restored condition. The ebay Beverly could be the basis of a casual use cruiser without the complication of the front wheel drive. And if bought cheap enough be a low cost source of the stock parts needed for the roadsters eventual restoration. The residual Beverly is still worth much of the purchase price without the stock drive unit as it is good enough to be viable on its own to a modified car builder. A person might get 60% - 70 % of the price paid back for the car less power train , and therefore be a reasonable cost engine trans source. Greg in Canada

I don't see a listing for a Chalmers model M in the standard catalog. Did they make trucks ? They merged with Maxwell right at the end , could it be from that time? Greg in Canada

Thanks for the extra photos. That certainly is one weird cap! Other than venting I can't see how it might function. Definitely a head scratcher and made for a very specific purpose I suspect. Greg in Canada

If this one can be bought for $15,000.0 that would make sense . Use the engine, trans and whatever you need for your roadster, and sell the rest of the car to someone who would be using it as a basis of a resto - rod. It is definitely good enough to be a car again , even if modified. People might have backed off on stock restorations but I think rods have some life left yet before demographics catch up. Greg in Canada

Can you post a photo from the opposite side to the one you posted today ? None of the photos so far show the latch well enough to figure out how it is intended to work. I can't see someone making such an elaborate latch to only be able to slightly open. Greg

The 3 screw attachment seems odd. A rather elaborate cap; similar to early race car fuel caps, with a very so -so attachment. Does it swing out of the way once unlatched ? It almost looks like it should, perhaps the base of the curved part needs oiling ? Greg in Canada

I have parted a couple of MGA's over the years, rusty, smashed up. Saved absolutely everything that was in the least salvageable. And not too much left these days after my own needs and sales to other MGA owners. Time for another parts car or two but you almost never find them for the last 10 years or so. Very popular cars to restore, simple . great to drive . Moss makes a wide range of repro parts but a lot of it is quite so so in quality and fit. Sheet metal is now made in the UK but at very high cost. You can buy brand new MGB shells and TR6 shells and frames. MGA it is fabricate or use repro sheet metal once the genuine stuff is gone. The tooling would cost a fortune but there would definitely be a market for O.E.M. quality MGA shells and frames. The MGB's and TR6's are made on O.E.M. tooling that was saved when the cars went out of production, unfortunately the MGA tooling was scrapped decades ago. Greg in Canada

That green 38 looks as elegant as some of the similar year Bentley and Lagonda sport saloons. Was that body used on other years / models of Pierce ? Greg in Canada

All the above advice is received , completely understood and regretfully agreed with. Still it is a bit disheartening to realize many of are forever limited to "gray porridge" cars. Greg in Canada

I sure have to use your shipper. When I tried to buy a car near Milwaukee two months ago everyone I tried wanted $1.50 a mile, 2000 miles back to Seattle $3000.00 . And a shorter distance than coast to coast. Seller is in the trade and tried to find a better deal, same quotes even with outfits he had previously used. Greg

I don't doubt what you are saying Ed. But we don't all live on the East Coast. I am not saying the CL Pierce is any special deal but out here in that big expanse of rocks and trees between Washington State and Alaska { British Columbia} ANY Pierce Arrow is a true rarity. There are a few very nice cars here, but sky high in price on the rare occasion one hits the market. Interesting cars that don't require a second mortgage almost never appear for sale in these parts. Months if not years go by before you see anything pre war for sale beyond the usual Ford, Chevy, Dodge level cars. Buick's are even rare . I am sure there are great opportunities close to where you reside but for those of us in the North West wilderness a project Pierce is the stuff of dreams. North America is a very big place. Unfortunately Project Classics are not evenly distributed. Greg in Canada

Sounds like a bit of a catch 22. That explains why when I find a part I need I get the impression it either also fits a popular model of helicopter or is made of platinum . And any parts I try to sell are clearly made of lead. Judging by the price on the above sedan Pierce Arrows must be the cheapest Classic out there. People around here want that sort of $ for Buicks , not even very good Buicks at times. Too bad there are only a very very small handful of Pierce Arrow's in Western Canada . I definitely would be tempted to buy one. Greg in Canada

I am surprised by how little money these cars are. If this was a Chrysler imperial I imagine the price would be far higher. This is a full Classic is it not ? Are there not very many non -sedan Classic Pierce's that need parts cars? Are Pierce Arrows undesirable classics ? There has to be an entire chassis and much of the front end sheet metal that would interchange with a Roadster , Coupe or Phaeton. The only thing I see missing is the grille. Why is a brass era steering box usually $1000.00 . A Classic PA steering box is scrap value ? Same with a rear end ? Greg in Canada

Sadly you would be hard pressed to sell this in a year let alone a month. I agree with licespray that there are probably some good project cars here. But the logistics of even moving all those cars across the street would use up a month. To get involved with something like this she would have to be offering them for say double scrap value. The best 20 or 25 might get saved before the buyer runs out of time and has to scrap the remainder. The way the lady has things set up they all are going to get scrapped. Greg in Canada

The mildly modified MGB 1800 makes the car more pleasurable to drive. They had decent performance by 1960 standards but sort of slow today. There are a couple in my area with Miata engines and gear boxes, a nice solution. The gearbox is worth the trouble of conversion on its own. Greg

I used to work there. It's expensive but a regular car or even a pickup and trailer is quite a bit less than that ,about $70.00 each way for a regular car. It was probably a large commercial truck { semi ?} , they pay pretty sky high rates. Greg

Shipping to Canada is very expensive. I luckily live very close to Washington State and have a U.S. mailing address. Otherwise my small scale participation would be no participation at all. It really pays to have either a U.S friend that can receive things for you or a U.S. mailing address. Canada customs is a breeze . Be 100 % honest about values and I have never had a problem, rarely do they even charge me anything on lower value parts, say below about $250.00. Brokerage fees on direct shipments are a complete rip off. Greg in Canada , about 5 miles from the U.S.A.

One big part of the organized, dues paying sort of club as opposed to the instant information, virtual club is liability insurance. If a club ever moves from the pop up sort of event to one where the general public might attend insurance is sooner or later going to rear its head. And all the rules , costs that comes with liability coverage. Keep it small, keep it spur of the moment thanks to instant information and you have it made. But not something keeping vintage cars in the public eye. Greg in Canada

I have the feeling the hobby will ultimately evolve toward this sort of model anyway. The only potential speedbump is the abrupt transition between the youthful "instant information" participants and us dinosaurs. It's going to happen one way or another. Time stands still for no one. By the way many of us gray hairs don't care much for the at times needless back and forth seemingly inherent in club administration . But it seems to come along with nearly any larger organization. And generally speaking any event of more than a dozen or so participants seems to need quite a bit of behind the scenes work. I like your point of almost no person under 35 carrying cash. Perhaps that is why they are so rare at swap meets where cash is generally the only way to pay . Commercial venders excepted of course, but they are 99% on the web anyway. Swap meet presence are generally just a local delivery system for items pre sold electronically. There might be a few hiccups along the way for pop up events, however I am sure time and evolution will win out. Time has indeed slowed down within the old car hobby, that is after all part of the attraction. But no doubt the changing generation will bring the principals of "launch quick, learn , adapt and optimize" to the fuddy duddy world of old cars. It took all we could muster as a group several generations just to master learn. The millennials are truly Uber. P.S., your post has reminded me just how I have stood still since I was 35 or 40, 100 years ago ? Still pay cash for everything ...as advised by nearly every personal finance person out there. Still the only phone I own is the one connected to the wall with a wire on my kitchen counter. A symptom of Canada's more or less highest in the world cell phone rates. The more the world changes , the more obsolete us dinosaurs become. Greg in Canada

In Canada enclosed trailers are a lot more expensive. A good open trailer is about 3 G's . Enclosed trailers start at 9 G's and go up. Someone with a project GT6 is probably not too flush with cash. My open car trailer came from my friends father who used it to haul his Duesenberg Model J during the various stages of restoration. Once the car was finished he bought a enclosed trailer and the open one was surplus to his needs. Otherwise they are both a big chunk of cash and a real pain to tow around. Particularly to back up singlehanded. Greg in Canada

Afraid to say my limited personal observations support this idea. All the events I have attended in the last few years ; 80% swap meets , show a very heavily weighted towards the "gray" participant. That's not to say swap meets are a geriatric ward...……..yet. But it is sure trending that way. I realize there are definitely auto events with more of a youthful orientation but swap meets are the wellspring of the old car hobby. Catalogs full of offshore junk and the U.P.S. man may feed the street rod segment, but not nearly so much the vintage car arena. And ebay seems to have shrunk significantly in importance to the vintage car hobby as well. Several years ago there were a huge amount of listings of "real" old car parts ; as opposed to todays huge listings of "will fit" offshore do dads. And these days I rarely find anything I am even interested in let alone willing to bid on. Just a personal observation. Yes there are many people out there with extremely nice old cars. But in general I get the impression the average age is creeping up year by year. Yes there are young people involved, but as far as I can see not even close to the number of replacement stock required as the current old car people become obsolete. But the lifeblood of the hobby in my humble opinion; people actively engaged with the nuts and bolts of all things old car related, fall in numbers every year. It's one thing to have the interest and means to BUY a nicely restored old car and take it to a few events each year. It is another thing altogether to spend your life learning every aspect of old car design, engineering, construction, mechanics, finishing techniques, troubleshooting , maintenance, and so on. Buying tools and equipment, building back yard shops, all with hard earned and with each passing year , rare dollars . It's those "all in " people who are an endangered species. We all know modern times have put tremendous wealth in the hands of a substantial minority. And human nature dictates that at least some of those individuals will develop an interest in old cars. But the people willing to devote a large part of their lives to the understanding of many as possible of the numerous aspects of old cars are a truly threatened group. They are often not part of that top 20% or so whose affluence increases each year. Usually not wealthy enough to belong to the "arrive and drive" group, and increasingly not wealthy enough to make the uphill, lifelong journey worthwhile or practical. Greg in Canada

Mine is just a pretty used up 1600 MK1. Decent runner, early MGB 1800, with a mild cam, larger intake valves. It really needs a body restoration but I already have a couple other projects on the go so I am leaving the MGA as is until I finish at least one of the others. I had a 1959 coupe quite a few years ago. Greg