Matt Harwood

I was reading the great article on Packard Speedsters in the latest "Antique Automobile" and I was reminded of a car that used to tour with us. I don't recall all the details or the owner (I was only 12), but it was roughly a 1925-6 Packard 5-passenger touring, eight cylinders, long wheelbase, dark gray, red pinstripe, black top, black interior, dual rear spares, disc wheels. Long and low and sleek, not your average touring car. Flat-out gorgeous. I don't have any photos, but these were the VMCCA "Michigan Tours" in the early '80s so I'm hoping someone here might remember that car. It was the best-looking '20s car I've ever seen. Hopefully it's still around.

Here are a few photos of a 1930 Cadillac that featured Pilot Rays. I don't have any specific photos of the linkage, but you should be able to see most of it in the photos. Sorry, that's all I've got, hope it's helpful.

And what's with the dogs all over the place? I can only imagine the smell coming out of that car and what has been living in it for the past 60 years...

Jay Leno had a quote that resonates with me all the time: "In the past, labor was cheap and technology was expensive. Today it's the other way around." In the past, labor was cheap, so they built magnificent things by taking advantage of it (literally and figuratively). Cars, houses, buildings, railroads, theaters. All those beautiful things from the past that could never be replicated today because the costs to do so would be astronomical and the skills are non-existent and come at a premium if they do exist. Next time you see a place like Carnegie Hall on TV, look at how lovely it is. Nothing built today could approach that level of amazingness without an army of artisans working for pennies a day. It's extraordinary and probably why so many of us are drawn to cars of the past. They engender that same feeling of hard-working craftsmanship instead of efficiency by computer.

Agreed. I didn't realize the barn find was a KA. $33,000 should have bought it. That said, I tend like the lines of the shorter wheelbase cars (as if 136 inches is a "little" car!) better than the bigger cars. And given the impressive performance of my aluminum-bodied 136-inch V12 Lincoln K (you know, that one day when it ran for a while), a good-running KA should be a flat-out awesome tour car even though the engine is 32 cubic inches smaller. Oh, and look at the nomenclature in the Lincoln ad up there. The "convertible sedan-phaeton." Wasn't there just recently a discussion on how all the different manufacturers named their 4-door cars with folding tops and how confusing it can get? Add another log to that fire...

Desirable car, but $33K really should have bought it. This one sold at Hershey last fall for $260,000 in 2+ condition, so I think there's still a case to be made for buying and restoring it. But if they're looking for more than $33K, it's going to put everything upside-down very rapidly. And while we all tend to agree that looking at the dollars and cents of a project isn't really what the hobby is about, I promise you that the guy who buys and restores that car will think ONLY of the ROI. On the other hand, this scruffy but fully operational car with a freshly rebuilt V12 engine and driveline sold for $90,000. Does that make car on eBay more or less of a deal? I don't know. It hurts my head to think about it. So lovely, so much potential, so much money... As I've learned rather quickly, Lincolns cost as much as anything else to restore, but finished value is about 60 cents on the dollar compared to a Packard. I don't know why since they're really fine, handsome automobiles, but there it is. You might be rolling the dice taking this on as a project, but then again, maybe not. It's the best model of the best year with one of the most desirable body styles.

SOLD! Had a dozen people waiting in line for it, but the first guy to see it bought it for full asking price. Nice to sell a car that's a win-win for everyone involved. Thank you!

Gosh that's a clean car. Want a half-disassembled 1935 Lincoln with a bum V12 in trade?

Here's a video:

I just wish the future would hurry up and get here already. We're 18 years over-due for a manned space mission to Jupiter and sentient computers. Ten years overdue for having manufactured androids doing the heavy labor for us. And where the hell is my flying car?!? Seriously, nobody can know the future and things always change far more slowly than we expect.

I finally collected clean copies of all the 1941 Buick Limited ads. I'm going to have them arranged in a single frame for my office.

I've used ceramic coatings on many different manifolds and headers over the years. My favorite is Jet-Hot, but there are others that do a good job as well. Most of them will sandblast and clean the parts being coated. Some, like Jet-Hot, will do minor repairs, but I doubt they'll be willing or able to repair cast iron manifolds. I just had this set of custom headers I made for my 1941 Buick Limited ceramic coated in satin black to help them blend in. The coating is like paint, not thick like porcelainizing, so it won't hide the pits nor will it strengthen the manifold if there are weak spots. It's a thermal coating that does make a notable difference in radiated heat, and the finish is quite durable, but those are the lone advantages of a ceramic coating. If you want the manifold to look good, you'll need to grind and fill the pits with something heat resistant enough to survive the heating process of the ceramic coating, as well as the heat of the exhaust itself. I don't know what might work on cast iron, though. Here's a close-up view of the welds--as you can see, they are still very visible. The coating doesn't hide anything. Maybe give them a call and see what they can and can't do, and maybe they can recommend a way of filling the pits before the part is coated. Hope this helps!

I did contact the guy selling those 11 Lincolns and asked about buying the '35 separately. His reason for not breaking them up is simply because they don't have time to deal with them individually: Your thoughts on selling individual cars has crossed our minds. We hope to find a party who sees an opportunity having the cars to make a couple good ones from or to use to help others complete their cars. We just don’t have the time to sell them separately. I understand that perspective, especially if it's a task that he didn't ask for and they aren't his passion--I get the impression that the seller is probably family dealing with an estate. I asked them to let me know if they decide to separate the group, so we'll see what happens...

He states that the reserve is $66,000 but there's a buy-it-now of $84,000. I'd be very interested to buy that '35 as a parts car and I might even consider it if the math works the way he seems to imply (11 cars/$66,000 reserve). However, I'll have to spend $2000 dragging it home from California and I'm not sure the math adds up at that point, but maybe. Hopefully he'll recognize that separating them will be more lucrative and an easier sell rather than burning through his money on eBay trying to dump them all at once. I'd like to see them go to good homes. There's a '36 limousine here in Ohio that they keep flogging on eBay (either as a '34 or a '35, but never a '36 for some reason). They're asking $10,000 but I know for a fact that they bought it at auction for $660 at RM Auburn last August. Maybe they'll get realistic soon. It's not as useful to me as a '35, but I might be in for $3000 or so. I'd take a 400% profit on that car...

That's cool. I've seen a lot of Buick Special convertible sedans like that, but never a Pontiac. That's got to be a very rare car. Awesome!

That's a great idea! I'll try that if those titanium bolts don't fit. I'm sure I could find a way to make it look right. It's mostly hidden under the carburetors anyway, but perhaps something just long enough would work. Thanks for thinking for me--sometimes you get too close to a problem and you can't see any other alternatives. Nice!

Getting it running probably isn't a big job if it ran in the not-too-distant past. Most running issues on cars that were laid up for a period are fuel-related, so fresh gas, a clean carburetor, new plugs, and new filter (if applicable) are all good places to start. Make sure you have a strong battery and fresh oil and coolant (you can do the other fluids later, after it's running). There's always the possibility of a gunked-up gas tank, but you can tackle that later if necessary. Also, if it's currently in good cosmetic condition, you should get it under cover or into a garage ASAP. Exposure to the elements will hasten the car's deterioration. More details and you'll get better assistance here--there are experts on almost every type of car who will give you all kinds of useful tips. Good luck!

I tried the stud already, but the nut is too large to fit past the tubes. You can see how it worked a bit farther up the page. Same problem as a bolt--not quite a straight enough shot to the bolt hole in the head. And even if I could get it in there, there's just not enough clearance to put a nut on it. All the other holes use studs and jam nuts, but these two in the middle just don't have enough clearance. I tried that, too. You can see standard allen head nuts not working, but I don't think I could grind it enough to make sufficient clearance and leave enough meat on the head to keep the washers in place. I've really tried everything. I've combed through the inventory of every hardware supplier on the 'net and found nothing that I could use. I ordered some that looked right, but they showed up and the head was way too big. I tried some flatter button-head allen bolts but the angle of the bolt versus the location of the intake manifold cross-tube, I can't get a wrench onto the bolt, even a ball-socket allen key. You can see in one of the photos above were my allen wrench has scraped the paint off the manifold as I tried to make it fit. The 12-point bolts I found would work, except I can't get a wrench on them to tighten them, hence the 6-point bolts. Unfortunately, I can't find any 6-point bolts with that tiny 3/8" head that are also 1.75 inches long. Plenty that are 3/4 or 1 inch, but not many that are longer. The 12-points I found are long enough, but I can't grab them with a wrench. Those titanium bolts are the right length, have the right-sized head, and they're 6-point. They're all I could find anywhere that were that configuration. If they work, great. If not, well, I guess I put a bigger dent in the tube. I've resisted doing that simply because it's hack work. It feels like cheating. It's not the right way to do things, and that offends my sense of craftsmanship. If it's the only choice, so be it, but I want to try everything else before I resort to it. In truth, the right thing to do would have been to orient that tube properly. Another 10 degrees downward would have caused zero problems--the one on the left is fine. When I was fabricating, I didn't bother putting bolts in these holes and I probably should have. So that's on me and I'm disappointed by it. I'm also going to let the folks at Sanderson know that they'll need to modify their jig to account for this so that people using this design won't have this problem. Or maybe they already figured it out, I don't know. We'll know later this week. I'm pretty optimistic these titanium bolts will work. And they'll remove a few fractions of an ounce from the car, so... zoom? Thanks for the advice, guys. We'll get this figured out.

It always make sense to buy the best car you can afford in a particular price bracket. Obviously the best '57 Chevy convertible is going to be expensive, but the best 1966 Mustang coupe isn't. Buying a tired example of an expensive car is an ideal way to burn through a lot of money without ever having a great car. However, buying a high-quality example of an inexpensive car will get you in the game immediately with a car that you can use without spending a lot of extra money. You can show it proudly and enjoy all the events and have it living in your garage without worrying about how you're going to take it to the next level, and when the time comes to sell it, it will be much easier to sell. If a car needs paint or chrome or interior I'd skip it, no matter what it is. Even if it's a dream car and you think you can get into your dream car and invest a little elbow grease to improve it, it doesn't often work that way. Cars with needs tend to stay cars with needs until you've spent way more than you wanted to, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a budget. If you have $90,000 to restore a car, you should be looking at $90,000 cars that are already finished. If you have $25,000, you shouldn't be looking at $10,000 cars that still need $30,000 worth of work. At $25,000, I urge you to skip any high-end cars with needs no matter how tantalizing they may be. Look at mid-priced to low-priced cars (Mustang, Corvair, 4-door sedans, non-numbers-matching, etc.) with no needs and on which someone has already spent the $30-70,000 to restore it to a high standard. You will enjoy the car more, you will enjoy the hobby more, and you won't have to keep shoveling money into a bottomless pit.

This is what $32.84 worth of bolts to fit this application looks like: Should have them next week. I'm travelling the week after that, so hopefully they show up before I leave. If these don't work, I'm not quite sure what the next step should be other than putting a bigger dent in the tube. Not excited about that...

I think Corvairs represent incredible value at the moment and I suspect they won't be this cheap for much longer. Find a high-quality convertible Corvair, preferably one with a 4-speed and/or the Corsa turbocharged engine, and that would be the car to own. Great road manners, tidy handling, good power, easy to service, plenty of parts and knowledge. I just sold what might be the world's finest Corvair Corsa convertible with a turbo and a 4-speed for $30K--that was A LOT of car for the money. If it were a Camaro in that condition it would have been more than twice as expensive. Corvairs are a great choice and you might even get lucky and live on the appreciation curve for a while. I would also vouch for a V8 Mustang of any type. A convertible might push your budget a bit, but there are REALLY nice V8 coupes for well under $25,000. I sold an extremely clean California car just today for $20,000. This was probably the nicest $20,000 car in the world. The right car will talk to you. Wait for it. You'll know it when it presents itself because you'll walk backwards to admire it as you walk away.

Golly. If a car costing that much can be a bargain, this might be it.

Ugh, really? I don't have any agenda--my point was only that Reattas and post-war Buicks show up at every Buick show and that the guy who has been turned away because old men don't recognize his car as a real Buick is probably not a common occurrence. I don't care who goes to shows and I don't have an axe to grind with anyone who owns a Buick. I don't think one era is better than any other. I did point out that the complaints post-war owners have are matched by complaints made by pre-war owners and the grass always seems greener on the other side, but I think both are unfounded. I do find it amusing that people like to describe driving an essentially modern car as some kind of adventure, but if they love their cars, that's cool. But thanks for putting words in my mouth to suit your agenda. Whatever the ACTUAL number of Reattas and post-war cars at any given show, my point still stands because it is ALWAYS a non-zero number, so they're not getting turned away at the gate as a matter of policy. Will any of you dispute that post war cars form the majority at most Buick Club shows (and since I apparently have to define "majority" for the pedants, it's any quantity more than 50%)? And of those, a significant number are performance cars, Reattas, and other interesting models from the 80s and 90s. I'm not talking absolute numbers, but the complaint was that people turn away late-models and Reattas because they're not even recognizing them as Buicks. My point was only that I have never gone to a Buick Club show and seen zero Reattas nor has the show field been so overwhelmed with pre-war cars that a 1970 Buick Skylark would be turned away for being "not a Buick." I'm not saying it hasn't happened, just that in general I don't see a trend towards excluding Buicks of any kind and that late-models/Reattas/GNs/muscle cars are always very well represented at any BCA event. Pay attention: My ONLY point was that it's awesome to have the Buick Club and that I enjoy all the cars at Buick shows, and I'm glad they all show up. I never said people were telling pre-war cars not to come. I never said post-war cars weren't worthy. Reading comprehension, anyone? As for my Buick at the Grand Classic, I registered a 1935 Lincoln, which shit itself on the way to the show. So I went home and got my Buick which I knew would run, run fast, not overheat, and would make it to the show without incident. I was able to pull all the way on to the show field before one of the show runners flagged me and told me to get it out. Meanwhile, other cars are backing up behind me, radiators are starting to boil, cars in line are lined up the street waiting to get in, and horns are honking. I really wasn't going to make it all about me and force everyone to sit and wait while I looked up the list on my phone and proved to someone that I belonged there. It's just a stupid car show. I got out of the way, parked in the parking lot, and made a day of it. My car isn't so important that the whole place has to stop for me, so I did what seemed to be the smart thing and just moved and allowed them to get the other cars safely off the street. I understand a pedant who finds nit-picking rewarding also not being able to understand a big-picture decision like that, but that's not me. Fix the problem, not the blame. So I did. Irritating, but I was somehow able to get on with my life. I think I know now who causes problems at shows, and it's probably not the people who just show up to have fun. Jeez, do you guys get this whiny when a red car parks next to an orange car, too?

I sold this complete, presentable (a little scruffy and not 100% correct), running, driving 1930 Cadillac sedan for $22,000, so I'm kind of thinking he should have taken the $10 grand and run away laughing like a mental patient...

That's the challenge. How many can you name?