michaelod

When I sell an item on eBay I never use a reserve auction as I personally have not seen any real benefit over just setting my opening required bid to the minimum amount I am comfortable selling the object for. It has the same effect as a reserve in that I am not giving my item away and at the same time if I receive any bids at all on the item I know it is going to sell at my price. If I receive no bids I simply relist the item and if I have set my opening bid at a realistic level it will eventually sell. In 11 years of buying and selling on eBay I have not once felt as if I had sold an item to cheaply. Occasionally I have received considerably more than my price and have been pleasantly surprised, but I never give my goods away just for the sake of being able to say I sold a given item. Some folks set their opening required bid to low in the thought that it may encourage bidding. That strategy can easily lead one into the trap of selling an item for less than you realistically feel it is worth. The bottom line is ask yourself going in if you are comfortable selling the item for your opening bid. If not then set it higher as that may be the only bid you receive. ALL bidding from buyers below your minimum selling point is completely irrelevant to you as a seller, because when all is said and done nothing will change hands and you will still be the owner at the end of the day. Are you interested in simply creating a playground for bidders who are hoping to get something for nothing or is your objective to sell your goods at a price you can live with? Another note with respect to selling is I don't bother with listing $5 or $10 items on eBay at all. It simply is not worth my time and effort to sell the smaller priced items as I have better ways to spend my life. Those items are either given away, donated to charity for the tax deduction, or pitched in the can if nobody wants them. Thanks,

You cannot bid against yourself on eBay, therefore only the lowest bid that you placed that exceeds the amount placed by a different bidder will be displayed. If another bidder had bid over $1600 then the bid of $1700 would be displayed. What that means is if you want to bid up to the reserve price you would need 2 different userid's (which many people have) and can then bid incrementally with first one and then the other until you discover the reserve price. Nothing unethical about using multiple userid's as a buyer, as you will not be able to purchase the item until the minimum price the seller is willing to accept is met. I am in complete agreement with the other posters who snipe when bidding. Sniping is completely within the rules of eBay and there is absolutely nothing unfair about this practice as everyone has an equal opportunity to bid this way. Go to any auction and you will hear "set a maximum price in your mind that you are willing to pay, avoid emotion, and don't bid beyond your maximum". That in a nutshell is all sniping is. You make one single bid in the last 6-8 seconds of the auction and let the chips fall where they may. All the back and forth bidding before the end accomplishes nothing other than driving up the price, which can benefit the seller, but does nothing for the buyer. Is your objective as a buyer to get the highest price you can for the seller? Probably not. If a seller complains they did not get what they needed for an item and sold it to cheaply they have no one to blame other than themselves, as the seller has the responsibility to set the reserve or opening bid at a level they can live with. I both buy and sell on eBay, so I will wear a different hat and assume a different strategy depending on which hat I am wearing on any given day. I don't do anything outside of the eBay rules, but I certainly want to take full advantage of the rules as written. OK there is my eBay rant; just my take on the situation. Thanks,

Danny, Actually those 9 bids represent someone bidding and not understanding the way a 'reserve' works on eBay. That person is submitting multiple increasing bids in an effort to meet the reserve, and since those bids are all coming from the same person, only the lowest bid will be displayed. The key as an occasional seller on eBay is never sell anything with a reserve. Make your opening required bid the minimum you will accept for an item (which for all practical purposes is a reserve). Some people like to think that setting a reserve with a very low opening bid encourages the bidding process and assists a seller in obtaining the minimum amount they will accept, but there is absolutely no evidence to support that outside of a live auction. Thanks,

The holes you mentioned are also found on my 1930 Model 68 and drop through to the pushrod gallery. I have also wondered what the purpose of these are, as they do seem to be an open path to the crankcase. I can run longer plugs in the master engine with the cover on, so it does not seem to be an issue by the year 1930. Thanks,

Stuart, Thanks for the tip on how you went about restoring these boots on your car. I initially thought that my gear shift boot was formed with a curved area extending upward, but that may just be an illusion. It is good to know that I can simply use some flat stock to create a new one. Regards,

I received the new heat tube yesterday so this morning I decided to have a go at installing it. The old tube, being made of copper pipe and somewhat loose came out with little effort. To install the new tube I simply pressed it in with a large clamp backed up with a block of hardwood on each end. The last quarter of inch or so I did need to tap it in with hammer, again backing up the tube with a piece of hardwood. On my first attempt at installation, I found that I needed to relieve the leading edge of the tube slightly, as it was initially butting up against the 90 degree edge of the inner ring in the casting that it uses to get its compression fit. It was really quite easy to do in the home shop/garage and did not require any special equipment. The new tube seems to be a perfect fit and I am quite happy I went ahead and replaced the copper one. Thanks,

I have a question that perhaps some knowledgeable person can address. I am sort of restoring many parts on my 30-68 on a somewhat random basis. Since I pulled off the transmission cover today, deciding to clean up and paint it, I noticed the boots for the gear shift lever and the emergency brake are in dire need of some attention. I checked at Bob's Automobilia and I am unable to locate replacements. Does anyone know of any good substitutions? I am curious what others have done in this situation. Thanks,

Based on the advice I have been receiving from those on this forum, I have located the appropriate heat riser tube on on eBay and purchased it. It is a NOS piece and specifically labeled by the manufacturer on the part itself as designed for the 1930 50/60 series, so I am fairly confident it is the correct one. It appears I will need to take this to a machine shop to get the new one pressed in. Thanks,

Mark, That is an interesting observation. How tight does this tube need to be against the walls of the heat riser casting in its initial state before the engine has begun to warm up? At the present time there is a small amount of play in my tube and I can rotate it in the bore, although I cannot remove the tube as the original installer has peened the edge to some degree, apparently to prevent removal. Thanks,

Thanks everyone for the assistance. The horizontal heat tube between my exhaust heat valve and the carburetor is sealed on both ends as John mentioned. I think I will go ahead and use what I have for now and keep my eye out for a steel heat riser tube for possible use in the future.

Tim, Actually the difference in transportation cost between a running and non-running car is typically only about $100. As long as the tires are up, the transporters can usually winch it right up on the truck. I got quotes last summer on a car I needed to ship that was not running and was surprised to discover the difference was so small. If you are getting a quote that has a large difference between the two, you may want to look online a bit more. I found a site that specializes in auto transport with good rates in about 2 minutes, so I know they are out there. Thanks,

I am currently rebuilding the carburetor on my 1930 Model 68 and I have a question about the carburetor to intake manifold heat tube. I believe someone has replaced the heat tube at some point in time with a copper pipe. Were the original tubes steel? The copper pipe seems to be in pretty good shape and I am inclined to leave it in there unless there is some compelling reason to remove it. Would it be OK to leave it as is or should it be replaced with a steel one? Thanks,

Thanks to everyone for pointing out the fact that Bob's has a nice reproduction of the cap. I will order one. Thanks Again,

Merry Christmas Everyone! I am currently rebuilding my Marvel Carb from my 1930 Model 68, and am in need of a bowl lid for the carb. It seems some previous ham-handed individual made a mess of the lid while attempting to remove it and broke it at several of the mounting points. I would be willing to buy an entire carburetor if a lid cannot be found. Does anyone know if the lid is used on other models of the Marvel carb as well? Thanks,

Yes they refer to the same thing. This is exactly the information that I was looking for. It is a lot easier and more accurate to set the point gap with a dwell meter than fooling around with feeler gauges. Thanks,

Thanks everyone for all the assistance. I pulled the carb off this evening and ordered a rebuild kit from Bob's. Tomorrow I will take it apart and get everything soaking in carb cleaner. Regards,

I have owned my 1930 Model 68 for about 3 months and have just reached the point where I am ready to attempt to start the car. She has not been started in the last 4 years, but I am told was running prior to that point. Today I tried to start the car with the following results: Car turns over fine, no bad noises that I am aware of. Fuel pump is working well, seem to be getting plenty of fresh gas up to the carb. Drained the old gas prior to attempting to start the car. Prior to that the gas had definitely seen better days. Gas is leaking out the throat of the Marvel carb. Car will not fire and after cranking on the starter for a long time, I pulled a couple of plugs. They were bone dry. Seems like gas is not getting to them. My first guess is a carburetor problem. Does anyone have any tips on what to specifically be looking for here? Thanks,

Hello, Does anyone know what the dwell should be to set the points on a 1930 Master engine with a dual point distributor? Thanks,

Jules, Is your car an export model and thus RHD? If so is it possible that you tried your handle on our (LHD) drivers side of the car rather than the passenger? If that were the case the symptoms would be exactly the same as those I encountered and it would seem the handle is to short when in fact it was not. I don't know if you have a car that is RHD or LHD and if that even makes a difference, but I would try it on both sides just to be sure. Just a thought. Thanks,

mercer09, What do you mean by "leaked" at the back of the block. I'm curious due to the fact that I have one in my car that has not been started in years and am wondering if this is something I should be looking out for. Thanks,

Ed, The pictures show the engine in the car. Is that for sale separately? Thanks, Michael

Hello, The car appears to have had an engine in it when purchased. Has that been removed and if so is it for sale separately? Also is the top original or a home made replacement? The car looks like one I saw on eBay a couple of months ago that had the top replaced but I could be wrong. Thanks, Michael

Dwight was generous enough to supply me with a locking handle and I was able to test my theory about installing locking handles on both sides of the car. As it turns out, the latch mechanism on the drivers side (at least on my 30-68) is constructed differently internally from the passenger side and while the lock works fine on the passenger side, it has absolutely no effect on the drivers side. Thus the drivers side cannot be locked from the outside regardless of the position of the key. I guess that lays that bright idea to rest...

OK, I think I've got a pretty good "handle" (pun intended) on what is going on here for 1930. Based on what Dwight had to say the clip-on style of handle is used on the 40 series cars and the screw-on type was used on the 50 and 60 series cars. John, Thanks for the tip on the parts dealer in Australia. I went out to their website, and unfortunately they only sell the clip-on style handles for 1930. Looks like I'll have to go with Bob's.

Well here is what I think I know about this so far, although I am certainly not an expert and may not be entirely correct: Picture 1 shows two different styles of handles that were used in 1930. The handle on the left seems to attach with some sort of clip although I have not been able to remove it yet. Note that the outside edge of the escutcheon is circular. The handle on the right is threaded on the back side and screws in to the window regulator. The outside edge of this one is fancier with indentations. Picture 2 shows the fancy screw on handle where you can clearly see the threads on the escutcheon. Picture 3 serves to complicate the issue somewhat. You can see that window cranks on the fancy handles use a rectangular drive where the fancy door handles use a serrated/star shaped drive. As a side note I have been trying to repair my right rear window regulator and have ended up buying another 1930 regulator to get the drive gear with the correct number of teeth but serrated stud and a 1928 regulator to get the rectangular stud for the square drive although it had the wrong number of teeth on the drive gear. Three regulators to make one good one. I am not sure which models use the clip on handles and which use the screw on types (assuming the clip on example is from 1930). Thanks,