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Mike, you've reminded me a of a story my dad tells of one of his first trips from Massachusetts to Auburn in 1956. He was driving his speedster and had stopped for gas. while he was gassing the car two guys approached on the other side and one was pointing at the side pipes. The one guy was saying that the pipes were just fakes so the other guy touched one of the pipes and burned his hand.

If anybody actually guessed this I would be blown away so I'll give it up. M. Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud was an eccentric genius Brazilian living in Paris who had designed an automatic transmission. They tried to use it in the first traction avants but the engine was too small for the transmission to work properly. This is a 27/28 Sensaud de Lavaud. Total production can be measured on one hand.

Here is a complete history: Fageol Supersonic - Kustomrama

That covered some ground! Do you know when it went to NZ? Very attractive car imo. Here is another of my favorites that you almost never see. A REO Royale Conv coupe.

Has he ever restored that? I can remember 20 years ago his ad looking for a partner interested in financing the restoration.

Next best thing to a 540k. A 852 Horch.

Very cool garage but he needs someone to help advise him on what to put in it.

Matt, I think this one would be hard to nitpick

Another Model M Stutz down in South America.

Mike, Didn't you do basically the same trip a couple of years ago in a L29? If so, how does the driving compare?

+1. Like everything in life, there are those that have talent, those that have work ethic, and a few that have both. Again, not to discourage anyone's dream, but this is something that needs to be approached slowly and incrementally. I would suggest again working after hours or weekends at an existing shop for slave labor to get a feel for things. Again, Again, there are easier ways in life to make a living. Remember, cars won't be as much fun when it's your job 10 hours a day.

Here is one that is near and dear to my heart and it's on a Classic chassis. Photo circa 1933 taken in Yonkers NY. That is Gustav Schumacher standing in back.

This car is not in the CCCA list but if somebody could find one and apply it would be a slam dunk. I'll buy lunch at Hershey to anyone that can identify it.

A Rolls Royce that needs identification.

J292 after coming back from South America in the 1960s.

Another of my (slightly) under appreciated favorites. The Marmon 16.

This would be an interesting one to identify. Looks like a Model M Stutz with a fabric body. Does this car still exist? This picture was taken in South America.

A photo of one of my favorite under appreciated cars, the Reo Royale.

Ed, are you going to force me to post some of my good stuff? Does the picture itself have to be prewar? If not, how about an early 1960s shot of 4 Model J's? From the front: 1. George Wallace's Lebaron 2. Doc Clemens Murphy now owned by Dave Kane. 3. My dad's Murphy 4. One of Tony Pascucci's Model J's. EDIT: If anyone is interested I'll get the J numbers. I have trouble keeping track of all of them in my head.

Bob, has that happened often? I've seen more of the "show quality" getting downgraded to "driver quality". Of course this points out another problem in the restoration business. The customer dictates the level of work. If the customer dictates a "driver level" of restoration that reflects against a "show quality" restorer down the road. This especially happens when the car moves between shops as the second shop will find all kinds of things wrong with the first shop - it is a law of human nature.

I think there are certain cars where a known history increases the value more then with other cars. This particular body style falls into that category. Without a known history at least back to the 50s you should assume less money.

This came back from the chromer last week. 750 dollars worth of chrome. Equal to about 1% of the chrome on a 53 Skylark!

Restorations make little economic sense in almost all cases even when you start with a free car. What that means is that the guy having his car restored is going to get into a bad mood quickly, regardless of how competent the restorer is. This is not a good business to be jumping in to. If you a really interested get an entry level job in an existing shop and learn what it is all about.

I've very proud of myself . I pulled the 30k number out of thin air.

Here is Steve's dad's car J533 (Picture from Steve via ACD post) There are no photos of J565 floating around on the web as far as I can tell. According to Randy is is somewhere in Pennsylvania.