1912Staver

On questions like this I always fall back on the Lotus from the late 1950's / early 1960's reproductions. The Lotus 7 , 11, 23 replica's are all the car that the original is at usually 1/2 or less the price. Same with a number of the C type and D type Jag re- productions. 98% the same car and same driving experience at a price that is a lot more manageable. Nearly everyone who is buying or building one of the Lotus replica's would want an original one . But few indeed car swing the $125,000.00 + price for a genuine 11 or 23. Very simple , elegant , tiny cars that were hand built in the first place. Problem ,,, price too high for most people,,, solution,,,, build a bunch more. Seems simple to me. Greg

I just had a look at your " for sale " thread. Your Sept. 1 st. price revision strikes me as placing the cars in the very realistic price category. John is right, patience is needed in todays market. But at those prices I suspect they will sell. Greg

Here is a local pre 1925 car that is actually for sale. Does this look like a decent deal to anyone ? That works out to $27,800 U.S.D for a Black era Model T roadster. A nice enough car , but it strikes me as a wildly optimistic price. Greg https://abbotsford.craigslist.org/cto/d/langley-township-north-1923-can-ford/7183848003.html

Hi Peter ! That's one of the cars that first sparked my interest as a school boy, back in the early 1970's . I got to know the owner through his x wife who was re - married to the father of a good friend. {Mother of the current care giver } I was very impressed by it as a 13 or 14 year old , and it has always remained one of the cars I picture when I close my eyes and dream of " Brass Cars ". Greg

No, same problem. Looks like I am going to have to learn to use a scanner before I can send them. Don't give up on your existing wheel set up ! Your project has far more of the needed parts than my Packard did when I first found it. Patience and persistence is key with old vehicles. Greg

I will see if I can get my scans to attach . { computer clutz } If you have Firestone felloes you need Firestone truck series 24" rims. I don't think anyone is re- producing them. You are correct , your felloes are wood where the spokes terminate . And then the steel , rim mounting felloe ring is attached to it. It's a very good system, but you need all the correct parts. For some reason my scans will only show up as a pdf which I can't post here. I will try sending them as a PM , it might work. Greg

I think my original point { over in Ed's White thread } in regard to his observation that he is still finding hidden gem's on a regular basis , was that very few cars of merit have been found locally over the last 2 or 3 decades. There are some marvelous cars in B.C. But most have been owned within and known to the vintage car community for a significant length of time. For the newer people looking to join the hobby ; other than paying market value for a nice car , many of which rarely or ever appear for sale on the non insider market, the selection is slim particularly if the pre - 1925 segment is considered. In many cases newer people have little choice other than to look at the U.S. market { currently a near impossibility } and pay , pay , pay. { sales price, exchange on the $, transport and border charges }. Other than Model T's and a few smaller similar Model T class cars , little has come up for sale that I am aware of at least for some time . It's not much different than 20 years ago when I went outside of British Columbia to find a Brass era project that I could afford. That turned out to be a bit of a problem child due to many missing parts and a underlying obscurity. Not surprising that it was something I could actually afford to buy, any more experienced potential buyer probably realized it was a very formidable undertaking. and kept looking for something more manageable. I still keep an eye out for something that is along the lines of a " barn find ". Not a shiny , near restored car with a price tag to match. And not a complete disaster that needs 2 or 3 times its good condition form price tag to be a car again. Something in the middle, however I still think I am 2 or 3 decades { at least } too late. Greg

I find their pricing a laugh. Interesting car , but at perhaps 2 - 3 times the price of a Lotus Europa . I mention the Lotus because it is a very similarly engineered car. And faster as the later Europa uses the Ford twin cam version of the Cortina engine rather than the base, push rod version of this car. Greg

Trying to adapt drop center rims to wood spoke wheels is going to be a very uphill battle. It was to the best of my knowledge never done by any of the O.E.M . wheel or rim manufacturers . Assuming your rims and fellow bands are Firestone , they are out there . They come up for sale from time to time, but are often a bit more than I am willing to pay. Especially once shipping is included. I have been able to gather up a set , one by one. From swap meets over the years, particularly the Portland meet in April. The only thing that I have not been able to find { at a price that I can swing } are the wider ones that the rear of my truck should have. Your truck is smaller and I expect all 4 would be the narrowest version which are listed as a 5" wide rim. If you are interested I have a rim catalog which has a decent section on the various Firestone truck series rims. The felloes are actually harder to find than the rims , do you have all 4 ? They are absolutely designed to be removable for tire changing. But only when the rim is removed from the truck. These 24" tires are a workout to change with the rim lying flat on the ground, if you tried to change a tire with the rim still on the truck it would make things that much harder. They are quite good rims ! Trying to adapt a different style { drop center } is something I would steer well clear of. Greg 1918 Packard 2 ton

Earl is still active in the local old car hobby. I believe he is starting to downsize a bit these days. He had a remarkable Crane - Simplex speedster. A personal favorite . Not a local car but in these parts for a reasonable number of years. Earl passed it on to another local enthusiast a few years ago, lucky guy ! Greg

It may be as rare as that however I was under the impression that the number was higher. The really rare one that I am aware of was Clymer's alternate offering of a Indian badged Velocette. Regardless of rarity your bike has the makings of a great machine. These later Interceptors have a great reputation. Much desired in Royal Enfield circles. Greg

Those are the very similar but slightly different British versions.. Andre Hartford. I believe they were made under license in England. Like the seller states , suitable for a Rolls Royce or similar. There are a number of variations in the American produced Hartford's. Primarily in the end of the arms that attach to the mounting brackets. I believe there are also at least 2 and possibly 3 different main body sizes. So putting a set together is a bit of a challenge. I have a number of parts that are from versions that are not what I am looking for if anyone is interested in trades.. I bought a box full at a swap meet years ago in order to get a few parts that were what I am looking for and there are 4 or 5 arms at least that don't match mine. Greg

The top bike is an Indian ,,, sort of. Royal Enfield's marketed by Floyd Cymer in the U.S. as Indians. Quite a desirable machine these days, you have done very well ! Very nifty tool ! Greg

That's a super find ! Those pneumatics are more along the lines of a city delivery truck. Most of the loggers were as a number of people have said larger , and on hard rubber. Hard to say for sure from your photos , but they look like Firestone " B " truck series rims. Clean up one of the clamps and you might find the Firestone logo. The rims are a bit hard to find. Virtually all the surviving early / mid 1920's trucks on pneumatics use these rims so there are always a number of people looking for them. { myself included } My guess is that it is a truck that was converted to work in the forest later in its life. And that Alco axle is from a very top notch Co, and would have been originally teamed up with a substantially larger truck than your Commerce. Unfortunately only a handful of Alco trucks survive. All in all a great start ! Greg

It looks like a big , high quality car. Just a guess but something along the lines of a Pierce Arrow or Stearns, circa 1908 ? Greg

So much runaround ! It's not surprising some people just give up. So much about the title process seems to be created by Kafka. And bureaucracies usually have trouble dealing with anything from before the current system. Hat's off to you for your steely determination and resourcefulness. Greg

Yes , I definitely have heard of them. The Silver stash is the stuff of legends around here. I have seen the Peerless a few times over the years, quite a car ! The others I have not seen with the possible exception of the Speedway Six. The last significant long term storage find locally that I am aware of was a Speedway Six 5 or 6 years ago. They may be the same car. None of the Pierce Arrow's are in the current local club roster. Someone like Peter Findlay ;who is far more active in the hobby than I am ,most likely knows the current status of them. Greg

And as has been mentioned on here before ,the tire size rationalization of 1918 caused a good number of the larger cars to be almost overnight obsolete. I am sure some people thought once the war was over the discontinued sizes would be re -introduced. And stored some of the low mile, better condition cars away . But the tires remained unavailable until the late 1940's / early 1950's when Antique Car hobbyist's persuaded Firestone to once again produce several of the long un available sizes. I am sure that even some very affluent people were shocked that they could no longer buy tires for a very expensive car that might only be 2 or 3 years old. Greg

Top photo looks like a Royal Enfield , middle, a BSA , might be something good , bottom a Norton Commando. All well worth saving ! Commando's have excellent parts availability. The BSA really depends on the model, some have quite low value , Thunderbolt's for example. Others are quite valuable and sought after, Hornet's and Spitfires. Greg ... more or less retired from British M.C.'s but at one time I was very keen. Owned many.

As far as I can tell virtually none of those cars survived. Unless they have been sealed up in some sort of Aladin's cave the local vintage car scene has relatively few rare and exclusive cars from the 1908 - 1925 era. And quite a few of those that do exist came here from somewhere else. I agree that there are photo's of many very interesting gars from this area. Packard's, Winton's, Napier ,a number of the more sporting teens British cars . And even the Roamer you mention. But if they do still exist I sure am unaware of them. Nor do they show up in the local club roster. Similarly , the Horseless Carriage club roster only shows a relative handful of local , upper middle class and better cars. I think the scrappage from the mid 1920's onward must have been brutal. Particularly the depression and the WW2 era. Greg

I was thinking more along the lines of pre 1925 cars with that comment. As interesting as they seem today, in the mid 1970's things like Tatraplan's and similar European oddballs were way off my radar. Aston Martin DB2 , I would have become really excited . I knew of a person with a Tatra in the later 1970's and I really was a bit puzzled at what he saw in it. Another person who lived close by had a Wills Sainte Claire , now that I found interesting ! Greg

In my experience they are rather few and far between. But we can all dream ! It's an unfortunate fact many women are a lot more interested in something along the lines of the Martha Stewart lifestyle than old cars. Finding one that even tolerates the old car hobby is at times a challenge. They are out there , but sort of like Duesenbergs . Much more demand than supply. Greg

That's easy. Just buy one and only one car, ready to use . And have any work needed done at a pro shop. No dirt , smell, parts , parts cars, dirt under the fingernails, grease on hands. Next projects, sheds full of parts, friends cars under tarps out in the yard, need I go on. In other words a good 60 % of us will never be able to have our hobby as we know it and truly make our wives happy. We can try , but it is a loosing battle. A stand off needs to be counted as a win. Greg

That number 56 has the strangest mounting position for snubbers I have ever seen. Someone's big idea that fizzled. I think it is one of the small model Overland's with the unconventional front spring. Greg

Very cool ! The capital C cars are far more than this sort of price. But yes a bit optimistic. This one would be very welcome at my place. Not even that far away from me. I have a feeling that's U.S. dollars, why would a car in Idaho be advertised in Canadian $ ? Very odd. If it actually is Canadian $ then probably not too far off the mark on price. Greg