Kimo
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Posts posted by Kimo
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Hello everyone. I found an old De Soto data plate/vin tag/not sure what to call it and was hoping one of the experts here might be able to help me decode it so I will know what kind of De Soto it came from.
It is rectangular measuring almost 5 inches wide by 3 inches high, is made of aluminum, is painted black on the front, and has 7 lines of raised text and numbers: Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!
DE SOTO MOTOR CORP.
DETROIT MICHIGAN
CORRESPONDENCE PERTAINING TO THE
BODY MUST BEAR THESE NUMBERS
S32T-7657
808-565
JOB No 50-656
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Thanks even more for all of this analysis and sleuthing! You guys are the best. And yes, my dad has a really big grin at the wheel of his Buick convertible. He was a pretty cocky Captain at the end of the war after having been a squadron commander in the Army Air Force. Those fly-guys were pretty full of themselves which I believe is to be forgiven when you think of what they had accomplished.
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Thanks SBRMD! You really know these fine autos to spot those clues. It is sounding more and more certain that this is a 1940 Super convertible.
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Thanks, John, that is really good sleuthing from an old photo. This photo would have been taken in either 1944 or 1945 so this 1940 Buick would not have been terribly old at the time and perhaps not likely to have been restored after so few years of use, especially since he had been away at the war for much of the time and it would have been left stored in his parents' garage during that time.
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Thanks, guys - you are the best! I wish I did have more photos of my dad's Buick convertible and him in it, but this is the only one I have. I also really wish he kept it and passed it along to me
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Thanks, Ben. Any idea on the model? Is it a Super or something else?
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Hi everyone. I am here to ask the Buick experts as to whether the car in this photo is a Buick convertible and if so what is the year and model? This is a photo of my dad around 1945 - he was a squadron commander in the US Army Air Force during WW2 and he always liked cars that were a bit sportier than the average. I would appreciate any information or just general thoughts as to whether this is a Buick and if so what year and model. My initial thought was that it might have been a Packard but the guys over on that forum said they thought it looked more like a Buick. From looking at photos around the internet is possibly it is a Super but I am no expert and I bow to the knowledge of the people here. Thanks for anything you can tell me!
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I do not know for sure, but my first thought would be that it could be from the Automobile Club de l'Ouest. The A.C.O. is the oldest and largest automobile club in France. It began in 1906 and is still around. If it is the A.C.O. then as for the time period of this badge I suppose it could be just about anytime but perhaps more likely from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s or maybe 1950s. As for value, I do not collect auto club badges and I do not see them collected much in the US so I am not sure it would be fetching a large sum in the US. There seem to be some European collectors though and perhaps it might do better there, though if it is the A.C.O. I might imagine that since it is the largest auto club in France that it may not be as rare as some of the smaller auto clubs.
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Another thought is that you should take into account not only the shipping cost, but also any taxes or fees that might be assessed by the country into which you are exporting the car to understand what the total cost to the buyer might be. And like any buyer anywhere, buyers normally need to get a car for something less than the market rate to take into account any hidden damages or repair needs that may not be easily seen in some photos or videos of the car. Selling to someone overseas makes returns pretty much impossible so they need to have enough comfort that they will not be buying a car that will wind up costing far more than it is worth to put into good condition should they discover something serious. And this would likely go double for a sports car where the expectation is that it has been driven hard - like a sports car - for many years and miles.
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The signature under the wing appears to have been made by a rotary engraver like a Dremel or a Proxxon such being weilded like a large pen. This makes it more likely that it is a home-made figure. That along with the odd and not terribly graceful or accurate proportions.
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It appears to be a license plate topper that would have been used by a doctor on his car. These were sold to the public and are found in many varieties to indicate that the car belonged to a doctor or a clergy member or an undertaker or some profession where the car driver would want people to know that the driver was on urgent business in hopes of not getting speeding tickets or parking tickets. They are also found in various designs from various auto insurance companies that show that the car is insureed by that company in case of an accident. You can find them in various designs from clubs and membership organizations, and they are found in various advertising versions such as ones that feature something along the lines of I visited such and such national park or whatever.
These were most popular in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s but you also find even more recent ones around.
They are not rare. I just did a quick Ebay search on "license plate toppers" and it came up with over 2,600 current auctions. Usually they go for around $5 to $10 for average ones, but sometimes if one has a great deal of detail or fancy transparent enamelling or such they go for more. Some sellers get it in their heads that they are rare and ask very high starting prices, but those do not seem to ever sell.
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Values are so hard to pin down since the word has so many meanings. What is the value of a car to a person who has an emotional attachment for example it is the actual car his grandfather bought and drove, or what is the value if a car were sold at a big auction in terms of the selling price or in terms of the cash that finally would up in the seller's pocket (there is a big spread taking into account the big fees the auction charges the seller and the taxes taken out), or what it the value if you found a person with a huge budget and who desperately wanted that particular car, or what is the value if you were to sell it to a dealer or a picker, or what is the value if you sold it locally at a small auction, etc. etc. The amount of cash you get in your pocket at the end of the day will vary widely depending on these and other factors. You also have the challenge of the Willys brand not being seen by many as "the one" in the way it would be if it were a more popular and avidly sought maker.
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1. The cost is way high and someone or some people are going to be getting a big profit from it.
2. Most all of the old cars there are frankensteins of new car parts in old bodies. Original old parts have been largely unavailable for many decades and these cars are daily drivers for most Cubans so the wear and tear has been far greater than most old cars found in the US.
3. If you do not care about the money or the fact that most of the cars are frankensteins, it could be a fun trip for someone who is not used to international travel.
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For anyone who might like to bid or just watch the bidding for fun, the Ebay auction number for this is
281522458860 and it ends this coming Sunday, December 14. The time it ends depends on your time zone. Thanks! -
Thanks!!
I don't know what it is worth so I was thinking of putting it up on Ebay tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon with a starting bid of $20 with no reserve and let the market decide.
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I was think of selling this Dodge emblem but I am not sure what it came from? My initial thought is it could be from a truck from the 1920s or 1930s? It measures 4.25 inches across and is made with blue and white cloisonné over a heavy brass-like metal. The back has two screw posts with knurled nuts. Does anyone recognize what this came from and the years it would have been used - teens, 20s, 30s, 40s? Was it on a car or a truck? Was it on the top of the radiator on the front or mounted to a side or back area?
Thank you for any thoughts! You guys are great.
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He said in his original post that he is 16 years old.
Before you get too far into your consideration of purchasing this car you really will want to have a very experienced car mechanic spend an hour or two going over and under and in and out on this. You must find someone who really knows the old Chevys and not just the new ones as this car is very different from anything made in the past couple of decades. Given the selling price and the fact that it was not snapped up in the first 5 minutes at that price you should expect that there are likely some pretty serious problems, perhaps in the sheet metal, or the engine, or the electrical or all of the other systems in the car. Chevys from the mid 1950s command much higher prices if they are in reasonable condition. The next thing you need to do before buying something like this is to satisfy yourself that you know how to repair one of these - not just superficially, but really know how to repair the engine and brakes etc. etc. Alternatively you need to be sure you have a mechanic who can do it for you and that you have a large budget to pay for the regular trips to the mechanic it will likely need several times a year if it has not been completely rebuilt which is doubtful at that price. Old cars are great fun for a hobby but they are not so great for reliable transportation. Also, they are an expensive hobby since the constant repairs and parts will become costly fairly quickly. My point is to really do your research and then if you are ready to dive in then go for it as it can be a really fun hobby. Oh, about the radio, if it still has its original radio it will likely need to be repaired unless the previous owner had it done. Any radio can be repaired but these old car radios are not inexpensive to have fixed as they need real specialists to do it and parts are not inexpensive. And it would be an AM radio. Do you have interesting AM radio stations where you live? An original radio to the car would not have an FM band on it which is what most popular radio stations broadcast on these days.
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Thanks, you guys are the best! This is very helpful to know the flat one is a reproduction. It has some wear and patina and that was throwing me off. The convex one has far more patina, has a richer and deeper enameling and appears in all ways to be an original
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These crooks play the odds. If they do this to 1000 different sellers and only 1 of them falls for it then they have just made $2,000 for a few minutes of their work sending fake emails. If they do it not only on cars but other expensive things and they send out 100,000 fake emails over the period of a few days and again get 1 in 1000 to fall for it, then they have just stolen $200,000 with very little risk of being caught, especially if they are doing across country borders and even more so if they are actually in countries with Keystone Cop law enforcement or corrupt law enforcement such as many Asian countries, Eastern Europe countries, Russia, African countries, etc.
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Thanks. It is possible the flat one is a repop, but I am not entirely sure. When looking at it up close there is a fair amount of micro wear that you see on originals.
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Hi everyone.
Does anyone know about the V-12 emblems that were used on the 1930s Lincoln K cars? My question is why are some perfectly flat and some slightly domed? Is it because the perfectly flat ones were used on the grille and the slightly domed ones were used on the centers of the wheels, or were the flat ones used one year and the slightly domed ones used in another year? Or ????
Below are photos of the fronts and backs of two of these that I have. The one on the left is slightly domed and the one on the right is perfectly flat.
Many thanks for anything that you can tell me!
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I hope Greene Productions is able to accomplish what this producer is describing. I am pretty much sick of the artificial silliness on everything that is on the air now including the unlikeability of many of the hosts ranging from nasty repair/restoration shop owners to car sharks buying and selling things for quick flip profit. If someone can put together a well done show I would be a watcher.
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I cannot imagine any TV show producer being willing to actually show everything that goes into a restoration since that would likely take a couple of years' worth of shows to do and it would be as exciting as watching paint dry. TV show producers are under intense pressure to get a show in the can in a very short time and to introduce artificial drama such as the car has to be sold at an auction in three weeks and that will be the only auction for antique cars in the next 20 years so they cannot miss their deadline, and oh by the way one guy on the show will get into a fight with another guy on the show, and someone will make a killing off the deal even though the restoration costs when added to the purchase price of the project car will make it cost three times the actual value of the car.
Your idea is nice but I don't think there would be a large viewing audience other than the extreme collector fringe like you and me. I think that the closest we will see is Jay Leno's Garage where Jay does a decent job of making vintage cars interesting to a wider audience.
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Keep in mind that these beasts were much heavier than regular cars. The 1970 Chrysler New Yorker Wagon weighed in at between 4,500 pound and 4,700 pounds, plus passengers and cargo. They needed the bigger engines just to get them down the road so they are not entirely comparable to muscle cars with similar sized engines in terms of acceleration and top end speed.
There are many questions that would need to be answered to come to a value. Has the car been sitting for a long time? If so there could be problems in the engine including sludge and rust that could require the engine to be taken apart and overhauled. Even if not, an engine of that age with that amount of mileage is going to be getting to the end of its life and may need some serious rebuilding. And there are many other parts of the powertrain that would likely need some work to substantial work to make it reliable and safe since this is basically a high mileage used car that has only recently moved into the vintage car category. Is there any rust anywhere? If so, that can be anything from a fairly easy and moderate cost fix all the way to a very expensive fix. Has it ever been in an accident, is the frame perfectly straight, is there a lot of bondo?
It sounds like it could be a fun car to own and restore but the cost of the restoring could be anywhere from minimal to many times the cost of the restoration.
Please help me decode Desoto data plate
in Desoto
Posted
Thanks. My first thought was that the "Job Number" of 50-656 might have meant is was from 1950.