mrcvs

I have a potential garage bay available. We shall see. That car I lost storage space and had to keep it out front and my wife had no patience when she had to look at it more than 24 hours. Leads vack to my original post—lack of garage space and space to work under a roof. Never mind if it’s even heated or not.

I should ask—just how desirable is a 1908 REO, in the whole scheme of things?

Most others seem to think no way no how without a title. ?????

IIRC, it has a Johnson, I purchased a K & D, but probably should go with a Zephyr, although not correct for 1917, as it seemed to work well on a 1930 Model A Ford I used to own.

What would be the horsepower of that 1908 REO I was looking at? Is there a list of 1915 and earlier high horsepower automobiles and I’m gu swing that’s above 45 horsepower. IIRC, the Ford Model A is only 40 horsepower and that dates to 1928 to 1831.

And more photographs… I thank everyone for this. How much does it affect the value of this REO? I did not know until attending there was this problem and the forum told me today what a big deal it is!

It was this 1908?REO at auction yesterday. Estate sale. Bill of sale provided, the estate doesn’t know where titles are or if they even exist. Applied to this and several other cars. I guess it’s best I wasn’t the winning bidder at 23k, needs more work to get running, runs “when towed”, basically all there, but needs some refabricated parts.

My 1917 Maxwell was sold to me as a 1816 Maxwell. A list of production dates by serial number did remedy that and I don’t recall it being too difficult.

It’s Pennsylvania. At an auction yesterday, some automobiles, including the one I was interested in, did not have titles. Only a “bill of sale”. How much does that affect the selling price?

And no title. How does that work?

I actually attended the auction more for the educational experience than to actually come home with this automobile. Let’s see what the crowd is like. Who’s bidding. What would this car, and the other eight, bring? If I could bring it home reasonably, so be it, but I wasn’t quite sure if 23k was a bargain, fair, or overpriced. The fact that the individual who put it together bid 22k tells me that’s what it is worth, and that’s his business.

You summarized my thoughts, I think. I didn’t think of it that way, however. These brass automobiles may go down over time, but labor isn’t decreasing any and will certainly rise. So an automobile that needs work—over time, the decrease in price may be considerably offset by the higher cost of labor.

And so what are they? My wife’s 2005 Jeep caught on fire and was totaled, and I suddenly may have a bay available, but having only one bay potentially available, I have only one chance to “get it right”. Some thoughts. Brass era automobiles are generally, but not always, of internet to an older crowd. It seems like these cars, at best, will hold steady over the next decade, or maybe decline, even substantially. My budget right now is under 50K. I came close to purchasing this 1908 REO at auction yesterday. It hammered at 23k, no buyer’s premium. Was in pieces when the owner passed away, an auto restoration business put it back together, was told it was running when towed. Needs new gas tank, water tank, maybe other unknowns. The gentleman who put it back together was the runner up bidder at 22k, which means it likely was worth at least that. Not running and over 20k caused me to not bid. A non running vehicle, unless up and running in short order, would prove unpopular sitting in the extra bay. Unrestored was the huge appeal of this REO to me. So much of the brass era stuff seems over restored and over polished. Maybe that’s what folks want and I’m misguided. So, in what direction is the brass era car market heading? Buy now or wait for something probably better or cheaper over the next decade? When the mortgage is paid off, my budget improves, but it might be waiting until then might result in a similar budget but a whole lot more car if prices diminish. And, restored or unrestricted? Meaning mechanically sound, but original leather, original or old paint job, etc.

Some of the early Buicks in the Bonham’s auction seem attractive as well. Right now, while still having a mortgage (until 2031), I’m stuck in the under 50k rut, as nice as the 1904 Cadillac is. BUT, I think the whole point of this thread is about my limitations, and timing. Mortgage paid off in 7 years. No longer have that burden. I retire about that time. Now have freedom—both time and where I can live and not be subjected to a specific location with cramped real estate limitations. BUT, it might, or might not, just be that in 7 years, if interest wanes some more, I might just get that 1904 Cadillac in the under 50k range. Or, if not, at least by budget is larger and my limitations fewer. I don’t see prices of brass era vehicles skyrocketing anytime soon. A lot of the brass era stuff looks shiny, heavily restored. The appeal of this 1908 REO is that it was not restored. That’s what I like, maybe others don’t, and maybe I’m misguided in my approach.

I should also ask and how do you afford all that? It’s sad I’m asking that, but southeastern Pennsylvania—southern Lehigh and Bucks counties—it’s hard to do even that. I suppose I could live more rurally but I did just that right out of college and that was a no win situation. Minimum wage, a student loan payment that was a day and a half’s wages per month, no health insurance, and no retirement plan. No thank you, I’ll gladly take any day the situation I’m in—a third of an acre, a house, and an attached two bay garage and a driveway that parks 2 cars.

How would one value the REO? I thought, a brass era care, unrestored, an old coat of paint applied decades ago, can get running according to the individual who put it back together and bid 22k on it—I thought very fairly priced. But, to be honest with you, it was worth more to me running today even if it cost me a bit more as having a car that is not running in the other garage bay where my wife’s extra car used to reside—is a hard sell to my wife.

Amen! You can say what you want about American Pickers, but one thing I see are individuals with the ability to at least have one or more outbuildings of size that they can fill with whatever they want, this often being automobiles. If I had something like that, either that REO would have come home with me today or the winning bidder would have paid a bit more. The ability to acquire something and store it until you get around to dealing with it, which very well may be never, is HUGE!

Bid up to 15k and the owner said no sale & rightfully so.

The carburetor I had on it when purchased was a later one and has a cork float. It never worked right. It is on the car now as the replacement one I got was authentic and what was on the car originally, and even though it has a brass float, I’m not convinced it was going to work right, either, and it wasn’t simply a matter of swapping out one for the other. I was afraid I would retrofit for the other carburetor, not have it work, and then backtrack and have to retrofit it back to what it was. Modern gas isn’t exactly helpful with regards to the matter.

Okay, will do & good suggestions.

Realistically, what’s a 1908 REO that needs some work to get it going but is all there, including the paper mache apron really worth? 23k seemed good, but maybe not?

You can’t. That’s what my house cost nearly eleven years ago. Now it’s over 600k. Around these parts, you want a decent house and even a bit more than a postage stamp size lot, unless it’s a gut job, it’s a 7 figure property. I’m in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Then you are extremely lucky. i knew I liked antique cars even before college. I went to college basically disillusioned that because I had a college degree I would be in high demand. I will choose to live in location X, these will be my hours, this will be my pay, and because employers are in such need of folks like me, the response to my numerous demands would be “not a problem”. Instead, even with a professional degree, my job searches have always ended up with tepid results, even with a college degree, and I even discovered, albeit 35 years ago, that a college degree can still be worth minimum wage in an expensive area. It’s not what I expected. Work for me had always been my options are limited, here is where I live, and this is what my hours are. Again, not desirable but reality. Unless you have something extremely marketable or a connection, that’s reality, unless you are lucky. I’m not so lucky.

Rural vs commuting time vs what the wife wants, it’s tough. I would definitely prefer to live rurally and have a high income, but that’s not reality. Plus, the wife has a job at a set location and likes things like Costco. The concept of living wherever I want to and working from home meanwhile collecting a high paycheck has never been an option. I even had to be at work all through Covid.

Very good! My house cost right in the middle of $300 to $400k and I live on a bit less than 1/3 of an acre. Not desirable nor attractive but, again, reality. This is what a professional degree gets you, too.🤣