1912Staver

I certainly did not say they are horrible. They have a good deal of simple charm. But using one in anything but quite low volume, low speed traffic will probably not be a pleasurable experence. I personally have no idea of why a young person would buy one. Except perhaps a older friend or familly member has exposed the younger person to the world of Model T's. I have a 23 year old son myself. A Model T is about the last car either he or any of his friends want. I have a basket case 1914 T speedster that has at times been mocked up into something that looks like a more or less complete car. My son and his friends totally ignore it. A Skyline on the other hand would be a car any of them would latch on to except they are so blasted expensive. { most of them around here are the later 1980's - early 1990's versions } Also the right hand drive configuration of JDM cars is a pain in the butt that even a young person can recognise despite the towering reputation of Skylines in youth culture.

Number one problem with model T ownership; regardless of the age of the owner , is the very limited speed, very poor braking ability. Compared to modern , normal road traffic. Unless you live in a very quiet area , or are prepared to trailer the car to a quiet area, they are a not very enjoyable driving experence. Ideal for someone living in a rural small town or farming area. But if you are a city or even many suburbs then it may at times feel like every other driver on the road is trying to cut your life short. Even in the semi rural area where I live { mix of hobby farms, working farms and some subdivisions traffic is usually very fast paced. { a fair clip over the speed limit is standard , and every day at least one or two pass me going way, way over the limit. } At least the tractors and farm wagons are quite large. No one in a pick up truck is going to try to muscle over on a 8 ton + tractor, but a little car like a T is a whole different matter. If you live well out in the country then why not. But for many of us a T just won't get used much, even if one is sitting in the garage.

I was influenced by my father and an uncle. But I prefer cars that are different than what they liked. My father was a big fan of " Classic Era " American cars. But by the time I came along the price of such cars was way beyond what my father could afford. When he was first driving in the early / mid 1950's such cars were very reasonably priced. But being young it was all he could afford just to have a 1940 Ford sedan and then a 1949 Ford sedan as transportation. Later on when he was more established the prices of the circa 1930 - 34 cars he really liked had ballooned out of reach. So I spent my youth attending shows and the odd sale as spectators , never old car hobby participants. My uncle liked early 1950 U.S. cars , and owned several when I was of pre driving age. These cars never appealed to either my father or myself all that much. For me it has been the later " Brass Era " cars that are my very long term interest { about 1908 - 1914 or so }. { that and post war British sports cars , but they are not what I concider " vintage cars " ]. But of course a actual running - driving brass car is a very expensive thing these days. So I took on a incomplete , basket case 1912 car that I could afford. Afford to buy at least, but as time has proven really not afford to restore. So still a spectator at vintage car events, and likely to remain so. But it is the puttering away with very old car stuff that is nearly as good as driving an early car in my books. Yes , a finished / drivable car would be a dream come true, but in the meantime I can still be involved in an early car in my own way.

It all depends on the car. 60- 61 Fords I prefer the 2 dr HT over the convert , but only a bit. Mustangs I actually don't like any of the converts all that much. Same for 1968 - 69- 70 - 71 Torino and Cyclone. The Sports roof's are by far my favorite over the convert's and formal roof's. But most other cars I prefer the convert's.

With a 1921 Haynes there are only going to be a handfull of " modern " parts that can even be substituted. A electric fuel pump for a vacuum tank for example. But 1921 is old enough that nearly no part of that car has a suitable modern counterpart. Technology does advance a bit in 100 years.

Of course you know what's next. Check them all for similar problems. It looks like you got that one out reasonably easily, but sometimes they are very hard to remove.

That looks like it is probably the correct switch. A nice pair !

It's not just local ! Out here on the West coast if anything the situation is worse.

That's a great looking shop. And a very challenging site. But even that $80 K budget is about $110 K Canadian or about 3 years total after tax income for this retired Canuck. Like I have mentioned in other threads if after all expenses are paid I am very lucky to have 15% - 20% left over to spend as I please. So that do it your self , economy build would represent about 15 years of any and all of my discretionary spending. That puts me at 80 before it's paid for and then can spend on the cars. And that is not even counting interest on a loan to get the thing built before the materials rot away. A very nice solution, but clearly not one we all can move forward on. The solution I have been using for the last 25 years is to buy existing buildings on properties being re developed. Dismantle and re erect on my property. The final step in my move will be to take down two buildings the the new owner of my old place does not want. Both were second hand to begin with, and I put them back up 25 years ago. Plus the two that I had bought, dismantled and not been able to put back up yet at the old place { good thing as it turned out } all I had to do was move the pieces to the new place. So two quonsets to go back up , and a wood frame building , plus a commercial greenhouse { 30' x 65 ' } that I bought a couple of years ago. The greenhouse is great for storage and as it is an agricultural building it does not effect my allowed square footage of buildings. I am ag zoned and limited to 2000 sq ft of non ag use buildings.

Like I say, the cars are for the most part cheap. It's the buildings that are the killer on the wallet. People that have access to cheap older structures are so far ahead of the game it is not funny. The rest of find a way to get by but it isn't easy. And usually far from ideal.

A fine building indeed ! But that would be an easy 1/4 million { probably more } to build around here, and I already have the land.

Around here a house with a " proper " garage / storage set up starts at about 1.5 million and up. If it has a bit of land more like 2.5 Million and up, up,up.. My new place was somewhat in excess of the 1.5 figure and still is only mimimally qualifying as " proper ". { I do however now have a couple of acres that are truly mine to do with what I like}. The wife has the back patio and front yard. I figure I still need to come up with another $125,000 in buildings before I concider my stuff " properly " housed. I could have sold everything , cars, shop set up , spare parts etc. . Bought one nice , needs nothing car and made do with what what has come with the new place. But part of the justification for going in debt to buy the new place was to have the room for a fair amount of what I have collected over the last 50 years, as much the shop stuff as the cars themselves. Lathe ,mill, lots of welding gear and much more. If I waited until I could afford a "proper " place before buying anything it would simply never happen. Property prices around go up way faster than anyone local can posibly sock money away. All a person can do if they want to actually take part in old cars is take the plunge and hope over time the details like a " proper " shop, garage can be eventually managed. Lottery ? Unexpected inheritance ? P.S. the barn would be more for things like tractors { although I sold my steel wheeler as part of the slim down prior to moving } and probably the couple of 1920's trucks that did make the move , no one wanted to buy them so it was either scrap them or move them. Not for any of the cars. Plus I just really like old barns. All my older relatives had them back in Manitoba where I am originally from. Just never have had one of my own.

Who cares about any of those cars shown { alsancle's special excepted, it's totally cool } . I would absolutely kill for the barn in the third photo. I finally have the space at the new place, but any barn project I find around here is so deterioated that you would need at least a $250,000 budget { probably much more in the end } to move it and make it usable again. Like I have said before , cars are 98 % of the time reasonably cheap and easy. It's the cost of the land and buildings that make even a wealthy man weep.

Most of the garages around here have been turned into tiny apartments for 5 or 6 foreign students or temporary foreign workers. They get charged several hundred $ a month each for a space that is barely big enough to sleep. We have a local housing crisis that is turning every square foot of space into someones cash cow / someone elses place to sleep. It has to be seen to be believed. Canada is currently short at least a couple of million homes { we only have an overall population of 37 million people }. Cars end up sitting outside more often than not.

Briggs and Stratton made lots of automotive locks back in the day. I expect this was a universal switch for anything you needed it for.

Why don't I live in the States ? Around here 6 months rent of $450 - $600 wouldn't get you enough space to store a suitcase let alone a car. A single garage in a run down part of town is $1200.00 and up. If you can even find one. A 2 space shop even out here on the fringes of town where I live is $2500.00 and well up / month. That 6 months breathing space would be more like 15 G's than a few hundred $.

Non-standard bodywork without a doubt. But it is the fender construction that has raised my curiosity. They almost look like the type of very early fender that is leather over a wire metal frame. But I don't think these are quite like that either. I am not really sure what sort of construction we are seeing here. Anyone out there have a suggestion ?

You could burn it to the ground and run it over with a D8 cat. It would still be a $25 million + car. There is no chance of ever writing off a real GTO . They will always be rebuilt regardless of how badly they are damaged. About the only way one could be lost forever is if a volcano opened up and swallowed the entire car. I agree that many of the ones on the track are replica's with the owner keeping the real one tucked away in the vault. I think these days most of the replica's are all but identical to the real thing. Probably not so much in years gone by, but if you can afford to own a real one you can probably also afford a replica to actually drive that is top notch.

It's from a Stutz Vertical Eight. Made several years after Stutz stopped making Bear Cat's. Probably a relatively early Vertical 8, 1928 ? Series AA or BB ?

I usually like long and low, but this one takes it to an extreme. Hood area is too long for my tastes.

Hi Terry, do you have any newer Solar catalogs ? Circa 1912 ?

Can you show us some side photo's of the chimney area. Also the inside to see if there is any remains of the attachment for the mirror. How is the door latched in place ? This one looks like a fastner pokes thru the front of the door. Quite unlike any Solar I have seen. I am still not quite convinced that this isn't a very early electric light. On the better model Solar's the chimney is often nickeled.

I wasn't suggesting this is a combination unit. Just a very early electric headlight. I only mentioned the sidelights as an example of the sort of thing produced during the transition. I can see the first electric lights being of a gas light construction , but of the workings of a electric light. In the first year or so of electric equiptment I am sure at least a few people wondered if they were going to catch on or just be a fad.

My 1918 6-45 McLaughlin has the oval plate as you state, under the left headlight on the frame. But this is just a chassis number. The Model designation is on the McLaughlin plate nailed to the topmost floorboard. In between the shifter and the starter pedal.

I agree with all said above, except is this possibly a very early / transition period electric light ? The connection socket sure looks factory . Some Solar side lights are oil / electric from the factory. Possibly head lights were briefly produced this way as well ?