Avanti Bill

Hagerty owns The Amelia Island Concours, Greenwich Concours and the now Detroit Concours, perhaps others. I don't know what Hagerty's end game is buying these events but I doubt it is to make money as there are better investments. The sad thing about the moving this one to Detroit is that they left a really nice venue which had other attractions. I have been to big shows in Detroit, sorry it is not a great place. Everyone focuses on the money angle (making money) which is important to be able to do charity work but they better focus on the participants as well. The cost to take a car to these events is substantial and most of the people I know that take cars regularly like a resort style atmosphere. With that the spouses can enjoy the trip and we can pretend it is a vacation and put all the work it takes to get there out of our minds.

Good luck with those.

The 10 HP motors that are single phase are like many of the other compressor motors overrated. A true 1725RPM single phase motor rated for continuous duty will max out a 7.5 HP.

You should talk to a compressor engineer from a company that makes both like Gardner Denver as screw compressors are not suited for certain applications even though they produce a lot of CFM. My understanding is that for screws to be efficient they want steady all day long demand. For anything over 7.5 HP electric you will need 3 phase.

Even though really nice cars always bring a premium I'm not sure how the leap was made to this price. Perhaps there is some provenance we are not aware of but generally I think land yachts of this type values have flattened due to market appeal. I agree with the previous post that one sale does not make a trend, but my hat is off to the seller!

The Bel Air Plaza, between Starbucks and Bed Bath and Beyond, every Sunday May till it is too cold 7:00-9:00. Look forward to seeing you there!

Our Cars and Coffee, every Sunday morning has a few "exotics" but mostly Street Rods and Resto Mods. A few of us bring original cars but very few. Still it is as much a social event as a car event, so it works. The biggest amount of money spent in the hoby is on modified cars, that market is huge and growing.

My only thought is to ask how long a NCRS judging takes per car? I think I have heard that at the top of the tier the judging can take hours. AACA has 10-15 minutes per car and have to judge dozens of makes and models. I think it would be unrealistic to expect to go over point by point at the time of judging and there are different expectations for AACA members who may be newly exposed to system rather than someone going for a NCRS top flight. In terms of making sure my car is at it's best, tough marque judging is what I like so that I can fix anything that is deficient.

I have been involved in Judging only in Marque events such as the Thunderbird clubs. In those events copies of the actual scoring sheets are given to the car owner after the awards banquet, though I'm sure there are variations of this from club to club. In these club events the judges are almost always very knowledgeable in that they have restored and perfected the same cars that they are judging and they are looking at the details very critically. I hate to judge, even when I really know the class of cars I am assigned to. First of all, many of the owners I am judging are my friends which can make any deduction awkward. Then you get into a level of detail that can seem ridiculous, the head pattern on bolts, the markings on hoses and clamps it goes on and on. I always looked at my judging sheets as work orders for improving my car and not as a criticism of my work. I have had many incorrect deductions over the years but I can say that as far as I know they were all honest mistakes. In the AACA the volunteer judges have to look at many different cars marques and models in a very short amount of time and make a judgement, mistakes can be made, but most of the time the team captain steps in and works it out. With the thousands of cars judged in AACA if the score sheets were given out with point deductions the litigation (not necessarily court) would be endless. While I always like to know where my car needs work I understand and support not giving the scored sheets to the car owners, I do think the redacted sheets seemed reasonable if someone wanted them. This system of the AACA's has worked for a long time, it would be a disaster in my opinion to go to a system that could turn to hundreds of complaints that are in many cases impossible to resolve.

Make sure whatever you buy the motor is a 1750 RPM not 3450. Air compressor companies Gin up the ratings of 3450 motors to try to make there HP higher for advertising and they don't hold up. The Ingersoll Rand brand make some good industrial compressors but they also license their name to others who make really cheap compressors that don't last. I recommend Champion as being a good value with a 1750 RPM motor and an 80 gallon tank most hobby shops would be fine with a 5 HP.

I started a weekly cars and coffee every Sunday morning a few years ago to try to recruit new members to our local region AACA club. I was one of the youngest at now 64 and frankly I could see that we could not remain viable if we didn't get some younger members. After five years we have about 100 or more cars every nice Sunday and though I still try we have not been able to recruit one new member. Frankly there is no reason to belong to a club, you can go out every night of the week to a cruise somewhere. All my cars are 100% original, I have 4 show cars and 4 nice drivers, again all original. Out of a normal day like this morning with 100 cars we may have had 10 cars that were not modified in some way. Everything from Rat Rods to Restomods to classic hot rods even some race cars that should not be on the street. There are countless reason for this change in what people want to own and why original cars are not in favor and all of them good as far as I am concerned, you should buy and own what you like and enjoy. Probably the biggest reason for the proliferation of custom cars is the availability of "crate engines". They are cheap by comparison to having an engine built, most have a warranty and there has developed a huge industry to support the installation. Anyone can build a "Rod" today. I'll keep trying to recruit new people but I suspect that our region will be gone by the end of the year, sad.

You can buy decent drivers ready to go for much less than you would have in this one. I agree you can find more info on the Studebaker site and probably someone wanting to sell a drivable car.

Run like the wind!

When someone asks what we (the forum) think about restoring a car I think they should take those comments into consideration and then do what they want. The best advice I got at an early age from one of the top restorers in the country was to know when to walk or run away.

I love Station Wagons and I will agree this model is unique with the sliding roof, Studebakers were ahead of their time. However you can probably buy the best one in the country for a whole lot less than the restoration of this car, probably half. I think you have to be rational when you look at a project and unless the car has big sentimental value for some reason it is not worth the cost and time of a restoration.

The only thing that would make it rare is if it were a "full package" car, ordered with the "high performance" option with either a R1 or R2 engine. This has neither and my advice is to run like the wind away from this project.

Dave Kinney is an appraiser I know and I think if he was unsure of his ability to value your car he would be the first to tell you. He would also know who to recommend. This is not to say you will like or agree with his number.

There are many issues to be solved and I am sure most will be in one form or another. The point I was making and stand behind is that there can be deadlines imposed and subsidies implemented but that won't get the infrastructure built. Without massive infrastructure investment and probably at least 50 years of serious work you will not be able to travel about this country easily in a pure EV. A hybrid can, for sure, today and I think they make the most sense as they can transition us until a technological leap in battery or power source can take hold. Just because a bunch of dim witted politicians and bureaucrats mandate something doesn't make it happen.

If you would put 1900 as the beginning of the motoring age then you could honestly say that 122 years later we still have areas of our country that don't have enough and in some cases any gas stations. My guess is it will be close to the same amount of time for the EV infrastructure to be adequately developed.

Battery Central Mall has optima batteries in original cases if the appearance of a period correct battery is important. Expect to wait 8-12 weeks though and pay a premium. I only use Optima batteries as the last forever and never leak, well worth the money. If your battery is hidden I guess the look is not that important so you could save some money with an off the shelf Optima.

Good looking tire. What is the country of origin and what do they sell for?

Just got home from the Grand National and I want to thank everyone from the Tidewater Chapter for a job well done. Thing went smoothly and we had a great weekend. My thanks to all the AACA staff that helped as well, it was an exciting weekend for us with the Zenith Awards and everyone made us feel special!

While I agree the response was rude and not smart business practice I think we should all take a breath and think about all sides. In my lifetime in the retail hardware industry I have never seen things tougher on the suppliers and retailers. Covid, help shortage, payroll inflation, material inflation and fuel prices so high I don't think you could even say it is just inflation. Most are trying to do the best they can with less resources than they need. No excuse for the bad manors and unprofessional response to the legitimate inquiry, but perhaps a reason.

I was there during the January Auctions and have to say I was disappointed in the cars generally. Most of the cars were very low quality and most were modified. Seemed like a place to send your car for free storage of you don't want to drive it anymore ( I don't know if they charge a monthly fee or not).

I too like unusual or cars that are not mainstream. Having said that my advice is that if you want a 58 Edsel, take your time and find the best one you can find even if it is more money. There is nothing cheap about a cheap car so get the best one you can, it will be cheaper in the long run. It is admirable to restore/fixup less desirable cars, the popular cars take care of themselves.