1912Staver

Later Teen's and Early 1920's. A reasonably common accessory light , no particular make or model. It clamps to the windshield frame. They were made in this general style by several different Co.'s. Greg

As far as I know Prohibition was only in force across all of Canada during 1918 - 1920, largely as a move to conserve grain for the war effort. Ontario lagged behind nearly all of the other Canadian province except Prince Edward Island in maintaining prohibition until the 1927 date mentioned. Most Provinces ended the ruling around the 1920 year or shortly after once the Federal Law was abolished. Greg

I have a ton of hobby related books and original pieces of literature as well as a rather large collection of Vintage Car Club magazines. But 90% were bought second hand for reasonable prices. No where near the overall cost of a 29 Cadillac. Some books are admittedly very pricy, but I usually just keep looking for very underpriced examples. Sometimes for decades if necessary. Over $125.00 for a book and I strenously look for a cheaper example. Greg

The covid situation has stopped my hobby spending dead in its tracks. The value of the $ was bad enough, but when combined with the loss of the ability to pick up shipments in Washington State { 15 minutes away from my doorstep on a good day , border line up } it pushes the price up to a point where it can't be done. I wanted to buy a pair of wheels a few months ago; small, light wheels for a non antique car, and the shipping cost ballooned from about $40.00 / wheel to around $225.00 / wheel. As well shipments sent from the US to Canada through the Post Office usually have the full tax and fee attached to them , an additional 12% or so . Things I pick up in the U.S and bring across myself almost never are taxed. The Border people don't want to bother with the paperwork unless the sum is at least $300.00 - $400.00 and so you just get a wave through and a " have a nice day " from the Border Guard. Just can't absorb that sort of cost increase. My garage fund is growing , but the projects are at a standstill. And from what I hear in the media it is a situation that is going to continue for the foreseeable future. Greg

You had a chance and you didn't go !! It takes a brave man to admit to something like that. I made a similar mistake with the Don Short sale in Washington State. I knew about it and it wasn't even a long distance from where I lived but I had assumed it would be almost all very high priced , restored cars. I had no Idea there would be any near the amount of parts and potential project cars that there turned out to be. And it was exceptionally difficult to book time off work that year, very few people available to fill in my position on the ship. So I gave it a reluctant miss. Once I saw an after the fact on line catalog I kicked myself twice around the block. And I live in the country..., long blocks. Not many opportunities like these sorts of sales in most lifetimes. Greg

The poster does not to be too receptive to criticism however I will share a few thoughts I have on speedsters in general. Try to match the appearance of something built in the same time period. Either a factory version of a speedster model, or a car built as a alternative body to what the factory offered. EG. the pre factory Gold Bug Kissel " Silver Specials " Or the "Harley Earl " specials his company built prior to his joining up with General Motors. Or try to duplicate a known race car based on the same chassis from roughly the same period. Avoid the urge to shorten the wheelbase to anything shorter than the shortest factory offering unless duplicating a particular race or " show special "car. At some time in the future correct body parts may turn up. But it is quite a bit harder to unshorten a frame back to the factory W.B. then to shorten it. This Jordan appears to have a quite a bit shorter than standard W.B. and it may be a problem to make the car appear reasonably "well put together " regardless of the bodywork. Unusually short W.B. cars can look quite odd to the eye unless the goal is a 1930's or early 1940's dirt track modified. I don't know if Jordan ever entered a car at Indy during the " Junk Formula " days , but if so this car could possibly make a credible replica of that general episode of racing history. Greg

Mk 2 Supra's ? Sure rusty parts cars can be found for a grand or so, but nice ones are high and climbing fast. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1984-toyota-celica-supra-8/ Greg

Being a mostly technical sort of guy, to me the gold standard of books or articles would be a complete set of blueprints. Too many years of working on ships where there was always a complete set on board, invaluable to the care of any machine. Too bad most surviving pre war road vehicles don't have the drawings anymore. Greg

One of the first things I did starting about 26 or 27 years ago when I first seriously contemplated a Brass Era project was to buy all the issues of the AACA Antique Automobile, HCCA Gazette , and AMCCA Bulb Horn I could find. Many , many swap meets later I now have the Gazette from about 1952 onward, Bulb Horn about 1954 - 1985, and Antique Automobile from about 1954 - 2000 or so. The Gazette seems to be the only publication that still is a Brass car magazine. Antique Automobile is still a very good magazine but it now covers 100 years of cars . In keeping with the reality's of member preferences I find the coverage of the articles no longer even comes close to overlapping with my interests. And I almost never see any newer Bulb Horn's here in the Pacific North West so I have no opinion about its content. They all make a great resource , but I find from my point of view the best articles from the 1950's, 1960's are the best researched and in depth on narrow subjects. I can find lots of pretty pictures of restored cars from many sources. I don't need a glossy club magazine for that. Greg

When my best bud and I were young { late 1970's } we were both flying mad. My grandfather was a AME, my father a recreational pilot that had to give it up once a mortgage and family arrived. But we both still got in enough light plane time that the bug was firmly attached. My friend became a glider pilot, glider instructor and licenced pilot through air cadets , all at a very young age. I was a full time student through all of it and didn't have either the inclination { cadets } or time /$ to go through the process. But my friend was a very good pilot despite his young age. Several long , multi day trips across the Pacific North West. Lots of demanding mountain flying in typical dodgy B.C. , Alberta and Washington State conditions. We both learned to pay very strict attention to weather reports { as they existed at the time }, and really read the situation we were flying in to. We both became very skilled { for our age } in map reading and course plotting. We made a number of flights that raised some eye brows amongst the older guys in the airport coffee shops,,, You came here , from there, in that ??? { often a 172 , but also frequently a 150. Not IFR rated but we both knew the basics and sometimes had no choice but to use the skills. Weather changes very fast in this part of the world. Looking back , we were very lucky a couple of times at least. But it was a great part of both of our youth, wouldn't change a thing. Of course like many things that people could afford in the 1970's , the 1980's priced sport flying well out of our reach. But still some really great memory's. We had one experience that made reality all to vivid. Low on gas and running out of weather we radioed out intention to land at Cranbrook B.C. airport. The tower said we could not land , my friend explained our situation and we were reluctantly given permission. Unknown to us ; we had been flying for a few days, a 737 had hit a snowplow when landing the day before. What a mess. We landed but it was a very surreal sight. Still gives me the shivers to this day. Greg

I have said it before, but the full kit necessary to restore cars ; right property, shop building , tools , equipment etc. is far more costly , takes longer to put together than at least 75% of the cars themselves. It really is hard to get there in one generation unless there are significant money resources in play. Especially in the context of wages vs costs over the last 30 years. Assuming we are talking about a strictly hobby shop as opposed to an off shoot of a persons business. If you can write off a substantial amount of the overall cost as a legitimate business expense then it's a different story. Greg

Unfortunately it's a $2,500 parts car. $12,500 is an outer space price. Greg

Lots of problems for building huggers. In many locations buildings are very cheap, but the local job environment won't support the sort of income necessary to have a hobby oriented " pet " building. Any repairs can cost much more than the building will ever be worth in its location. In quite a few other locations wages may be decent , but property values can turn a run down building into a site waiting for multi million $ re - development. As an example even in my somewhat out in the sticks location, a commercial building like the one in this thread would run 2.5 Million +. 99.9% land value. Or put another way, more than the after tax, lifetime earnings of 75% of the people who live in this area. Preservation is an impossibility for all but an interested member of the 1%. Those of you living in a area with decent wages and reasonable property values, you have no idea how lucky you are. Greg

Thanks for the explanation. In the context of a mid engine bus that does make sense . Greg

From that list the only one with any chance would be the Steinway. It's not a 1915 Buick, and all the others are too new or simply not like the mystery car at all. I don't know enough about Steinway to say one way or another. I like 95 Cardinal's suggestion of the Ahrens - Fox. Perhaps it was listed as a Fire Truck purchase rather then a car purchase. No cars purchased prior to 1915 ? Your mystery vehicle looks like it could be a few years older. Greg

I am amazed a vehicle as new as 1947 would use this style of speedo drive. Was there no speedo provision on the transmission ? I have never seen one of these on anything newer than the early 1920's. Greg

I think we can rule out Buick. Much more upscale. A special build by one of the Fire Truck makers ? Greg

Most of the ones I see from this era only have the Right Hand side trip odometer reset thumbwheel. This one must be a more deluxe version. Greg

In the late teens era Ford paid his factory workers $5.00 / day for an 8 hour day. About 60 cents an hour. This was said to be about double what factory work generally paid , or about 30 cents an hour. By the early days of the Depression Ford tried to reduce wages from this figure and caused substantial push back from the work force. 10 cents an hour must have been a relatively low skilled wage. Greg

Unfortunately your Pope Toledo wheels are either correct hubs that have had much later metal Felloes fitted or non Pope wheels that the hubcaps happen to fit. But the metal felloes are early 1920's at the oldest and not in any way Pope { stopped production in 1909 }. Too bad , because they were probably the best of the pile going by the hubcap photo you posted earlier. Greg

On wood felloe wheels there is often a stamping on the felloe band stating size and sometimes the manufacturer . Metal felloe wheels without rims can be a bit harder to determine even basic information like rim size . But by the time metal felloe wheels came along { about 1923 -24} there were somewhat fewer makes on the market making it a bit easier to I.D. most wheels. If you have a rim in each diameter from 19 " up to 26" or 27" you can usually figure out the wheel diameters. Greg

There sure couldn't have been many 1933 PA's sold on the Canadian Prairie's . Unfortunately not really even enough left for a street rod . Greg

Buick 6, circa 1918. Greg

I expect that in some point in the future my project will have to go back home to the Mid West. The person before me brought it from Indiana to the Seattle WA. area { you can possibly look at this as a mistake } . And then I took it even further from it's home to British Columbia , Canada. {absolutely, no doubt a mistake }. They were a car that most likely saw very few sales outside the Mid West, and if any further parts survive they are most likely in the Mid West area. The other two survivors are also outside the Mid West today . But they are complete cars , and one in a museum { East Coast but from Kansas }, one locked up in a family collection { West Coast } . So I doubt the people involved are either looking for parts or having any parts made. The project needs someone with the patience and ability to attend swap meets and network with other Brass Era people in the part of the country where Stavers were originally sold and died. I barely can afford to travel to P.N.W. events. Travel to Hershey, Bakersfield , Chickasha OK. or any Mid West events on a regular basis is well beyond my budget. Greg

It's a relatively conventional car, but yes quite rare. As far as I know mine is the only incomplete Staver out there. I have looked into a few different engines over the years { as have some of the previous owners }but so I have not found one that is a good match. Most have cast in engine mounts that end up being much too wide for my sub -frame style chassis. The closest I have seen is a type B Wisconsin , similar to a Stutz type A but the F.W.D. truck version. Still a fairly rare and expensive engine. I have not yet found one that I could afford. Then it becomes the choice between spending a bunch of money on the wrong engine or investing in patterns and castings to complete the correct engine that I already have about 50% of. Still lots of things to do on the project before I truly need an engine . The hope is that over time either a reasonably priced Wisconsin turns up , or more Teetor Hartley parts turn up, or a suitable, different engine altogether shows up. Greg