wayne sheldon

That basic style was used for nearly two decades, early 1910s to late 1920s. They came in literally about a hundred different specific styles and sizes, often with very minor variations. They were made by several companies, but rarely marked by the manufacturer. The cap and the plug are threaded, and mixing and matching isn't fun finding loose caps and plugs that fit together (been there, done that!). Single wire and double wire are both common, even three wire versions were made but rarely found these days. The one you show is a lesser common type, with the spring loaded bayonet in the plug. More common for the spring loaded contacts to be in the socket. Some lamps (especially tail lamps) had short sockets and the plug like yours contacted directly onto the bulb inside. While the model T types are reproduced still, I could be wrong, but I don't think that spring loaded bayonet type has been reproduced for quite some time. That however does not make it particularly valuable. Few people recognize the difference, and make do with what is available. I think I still have one just like yours that has been in my antique "lamp wiring" drawer for about forty years, and I haven't found a need for it yet.

I was wondering if that was another Larchmont (like Grimy's)? I have followed them on nickel club tours a few times. He knows his stuff. I notice this car has steel disc wheels, which were an option for many years and models of Paige. The wheels and tires look a bit undersize in the photo? Could they have been changed to later wheels at some time in the past? What size are the tires?

The headlamp lenses appear to be "Violet Ray" lenses. They were made in a variety of sizes, and sold in the early 1920s. The most common size fit the model T Ford headlamps. However, a few larger and smaller sizes were also available. They do not belong on an automobile from around 1910. That is quite a change from the "before" in the museum and the "now" in your shop! It is almost hard to believe it could be the same car, although it does appear to be so. It looks I think much better now, looking like a "barrel hood" Franklin should. Do you know much about the backstory for the car? It looks pretty messed up in the "before" photo. Do you know who made some corrections? Or is it a total mystery?

I wonder if that was the Phillion Steam Carriage from about 1892?

Not much I can say in open forum. Even in person I try to respect people that have shown me their wonderful collections. A lot of my best friends are mutual friends with several collectors that we all respect very much. We might compare notes on an individual car, knowing that we both have been there and seen the car many times. So much of the antique automobile hobby is wonderful people, regardless of their station in life. On a major annual regional HCCA tour about thirty years ago, one of my longtime best friends, like me, a hard working wage slave working on the side to have and enjoy the antique automobiles he had a passion for. He did not own a car trailer or a vehicle to tow one. The tour was about fifty miles from his home, and a couple hundred miles over three days of touring. He quite naturally just drove his big six cylinder Buick to attend the tour. Which was fine until he knocked out a rod bearing. The club's trouble truck got his Buick back to the hotel, however, he still had to get it home. My model T trailer was way too small for his Buick. At the dinner that night, I sat with (one of my best friends) and his family along with a couple other people. At that tour, were a handful of significantly major collectors. Among them a fellow I had gotten to know fairly well through the HCCA Regional Group that I belonged to, but (my longtime one of my best friends) knew who he was, but didn't really know him himself. (My close friend) had been walking around the dining hall talking with several good friends, but when he came back to the table where we were, He said that (the significantly major collector) had stopped him and asked if he had arrangements for getting his broken Buick home, to which (my close friend) replied that he was still working on it. The major collector reached into his pocket and tossed his keys on the table, saying "My truck and trailer are yours to use if you want them!" They were from different Regional Groups, barely knew each other. Not all rich people are selfish. That same major collector? I have seen him several times on local club tours stop and help us regular folk when they breakdown on club tours. I have seen him changing tires on another person's car, or crawl underneath to fix something that came loose. I am basically a nobody special. However I have been fortunate to know several very special people. Mostly through the antique automobile hobby. Many times some collector I know at some show or other type of meet will introduce me to some other well known major collector. They have always greeted me as though I was a somebody. I value the friendships I have in the hobby, and most of the wealthy collectors I have known worked for and earned their wealth. They are good people. I always enjoy visiting them, and their collections. They do not owe me anything, and I want nothing from them other than the friendship shared by people with a common interest.

The second smaller photo has poorer detail definition, so not able to make out much that helps. But I can see the banner on the hood appears to say "CHAMPION". For whatever that is about? Nice looking car, but I don't recognize it.

I have no doubt that you and your countrymen speak better English than most of my countrymen. I think they stopped teaching actual English in this country about forty to fifty years ago. I think half the people under the age of forty in this country can barely put together a coherent sentence.

Good eye! Also, notice that the dash photo appears to have been lifted from conceptcarz website?

And it made me look up the etymology of the word. Even if I more or less know what a word means, I get curious about its history and origins. In this case "pod" from ancient Greek meaning "foot" (think "pedestrian" as a person that travels by foot although that history is a bit different). "Anti-" meaning "against" so "antipodean" literally meant foot against foot. Over the centuries it came to mean feet on opposite sides of the world, or something from the other side of the world. There are so many interesting stories in history and all that goes along with it. Sorry for the drift.

Stolen when, stolen how, stolen from where, stolen from whom? So many questions.

A person stomping around on the roof of a vehicle complicates the problem, because it wasn't a single event with a directed force at one time. It is numerous separate events in a random order. This can change the best order in which individual but interconnected damages should be tackled. A long long time ago, I straightened a rolled over model A Ford coupe using a modified modern automobile bumper jack rigged up with sections of water pipe to push the twisted backward body back to where it belonged. A roof section was replaced by a donor panel from a more completely wrecked coupe. The result was a very nice very straight coupe body. Over the years, I have straightened a lot of antique automobile bodies and fenders that were considered unrestorable. The secret is to assess years worth of damage, and then slowly press them back into the shape they were supposed to be. To that end, a few years ago when I was working on one of my model T disaster projects, I built a wooden beam frame with a hydraulic bottle jack rigged into the top to press fenders, hoods, and body panels of some size back into shape. Always being on a tight budget, coupled with my desire to use original parts whenever possible, I preferred to repair rough original parts rather that buy nice reproductions. (Although I do highly recommend Rootlieb products. Not what I call "close" or "good" friends to me personally, but I have known the Rootlieb family for fifty years! They lived about fifteen miles from my grandparents and were regulars at the Turlock swap meet for many years. I would not want to in any way disparage any of their products.) But me personally? I prefer to have hundred plus year old steel fenders on my 1915 Ford. To that end, I have straightened over two and a half full sets of fenders that few people would have ever attempted to repair, just so that I could have several good fenders to choose from for my runabout. None of them are ready for a show car (just being honest). But all of them, including a pair of front fenders that looked like they had been run over and flattened by a tractor, look pretty darn good for a driver quality T. All that just to illustrate that I have a pretty good idea what I am talking about when it comes to repairing badly damaged bodywork. Without actually seeing it? It is purely speculation. But experience tells me that removing the seat and whatever else that is in the way, rigging up a crib or platform inside the body, and using a number of jacks to slowly and carefully press the dented areas back into place would likely give surprisingly good results. A couple years ago, the top twenty feet of a sixty foot tall pine tree hit the ground next to my parked 2001 Ford Expedition, bounced up and landed on its aluminum hood! I never finished the repair because it already had a state smog issue. But I was still using it while trying to resolve the smog issue. So I did basically the same quick setup with a jack and pressed the smashed hood back into near shape. It still has some wrinkles I think I could fix just fine if I can get the smog problem fixed. But the hood opens and closes just like it should now. It is basically all about figuring out how and in what directions created the damage, then rigging it to push it slowly in reverse to force the damage out while also working out the creases and stress points created when the original damage was done. Just some thoughts to consider?

I have never figured out the date coding myself. But that looks to me like it might predate the 1970s date coding. For a collector truck, that will never get loaded much beyond a picnic basket, or driven much over 45 mph? Those tires might be better and safer than most tires manufactured today that would fit. That is my opinion based upon experience with older heavy duty tires. Important factors are whether tires are synthetic or cotton cord, checking (deterioration) of the surface rubber, and whether the tire has sat flat with weight on it.

I have seen tires like these before, a long time ago, on a 1950ish Ford one ton truck. No idea how old they were then, or when they were last made. If these were made after the very early 1970s, they should have a date coded serial number on them somewhere.

I have been fortunate in my life to have personally known several major collectors. With one exception, I rarely mention their names. Most of the ones I refer to as "good friends" are usually very involved with their restorations and refurbishments. A few are very hands on themselves, a couple just watch closely over the mechanic's or painter's shoulders. They make certain that the cars are repaired or restored right! However, knowing them, has also allowed for me to meet a few other "major" collectors. I don't mention their names either. But some of the workmanship I have seen? A few stories I have been told in confidence? Frightening. How some people with the money to do it right could treat a million dollar car that way? Just boggles the mind. (I do understand it, it still boggles the mind.)

I would guess the door handle to be from about 1925 to 1927. It is almost certainly earlier than the 1929 Reo I used to have. If it is Reo at all.

Personally, I am satisfied with the explanations being a conclusion to the sad event itself. Of course I would like to see an update or more about the repairs or any other changes made for future security (if appropriate?). I would of course like to hear about the truck's eventual repair. Like TerryB, having dealt with some family members, I can say from experience that trying to help them these days is very difficult. Legions of "rights" groups come marching to their defense proclaiming they have the "right" to live their life "their" way regardless of future consequences. The state with their HIPPA rules, and medical "profession" with more interest in easy patients with deep pocket insurance companies to be billed? Just try to force a family member to get help. I want that to be the last thing I say here on that subject.

Jon, I thought it didn't look quite like any of the Dodge's carburetors I have seen. But I am no expert on them. You, however, are.

Been a long time since I have been there, however, several very good friends show cars there often. There is a tour, of some considerable mileage, before the Concourse show on the grass of Pebble Beach! As I understand it, cars that complete the tour get an extra point. Which in that show usually makes or breaks the win!

You look like a proud participant standing next to a fine automobile! Enjoy it, often.

Thank you for sharing that photo! The car does have nice lines and quite stylish, for a postwar car. In spite of the whitewalls.

The touring car appears to be an Overland, about 1915 to 1918. The fancy roadster appears to be a model T Ford believe it or not! It is difficult to be sure, with an after-market kit body, and fenders, wire wheels, and probably a Livingston "V" radiator? There really isn't much to see that came from Ford! I can't really see the front axle very well. But what I can see on the front axle is a pair of H&D type shock absorbers that were marketed specifically for the model T. The H&D design was a good one, and began early giving them a good foothold in the market. However, the H&D company lacked the manufacturing capability, and the financial backing to produce enough to fill the orders they had. Their solution was to license a few other companies to manufacture and sell licensed copies and collect some royalties. So similar shock absorbers were manufactured by several licensed companies as well as many unlicensed often inferior copies. Since those shock absorbers were basically unique to accessorized model Ts? We can be pretty sure the roadster is at heart a model T.

The day that happened, I turned to my wife and said "It will be many months before they can figure out exactly what went wrong and who might be responsible!" As someone with considerable engineering background, and that has had the responsibility a few times to figure out what did go wrong somewhere? I am as curious as anybody wanting to know. But I don't even follow any news reports about it because it is still way too soon.

Very well said edinmass, very well said.

The size and shape of the big part fits a specific size of stainless trim. They slip in, slide into position, then twist tighter to hopefully snap into place, still loose enough to slide a small amount if needed. They need to be lined up to fit holes (about a quarter inch size) in the fender, door, or body panel. This was one of the most common ways to hold side trim onto fender/door/body panels with poor access to the back inside through pout the 1950s and 1960s. Some similar ideas were used as far back as the late 1930s, usually smaller in size.

I am really not into postwar cars? And maybe I have seen one before? But I would appreciate seeing a nice side or 3/4s view of that RR.