RVAnderson

Right on, Ghost. The first thing I do when looking at local auction listings is to check the bottom for a BP; if it's there I don't even bother to read the rest. A BP is doing a service for one person and then billing someone else for it. Ridiculous--but somehow, the scam seems to be spreading!! Somewhere, P.T. Barnum's gotta be LOL.

Silverghost, the Old Car Hobby is as well--and as swell--as ever; the Old Car Business, OTOH, is like anything when Big Bux gets into it. Reminds me of Mr. Dangerfield's shower of dough in "Caddyshack"--

Was looking for a mid-/late March timeframe. Thanks anyway.

When?

Sorry; I lost all my marbles years ago.

I did, too. Spent a lot of time in the mid-80s doing these block replacements. We didn't make squat on them but that was partially offset by stripping the fuel system when these newly-swapped cars came back to us on a tow line, because the owners had gotten used to putting unleaded in their loaners' tanks. Also, I remember that we were having trouble with the replacement long blocks. Two of them self-destructed from the get-go; after the second one blew up we pulled the heads on the third one. Found an upholstery screw in one of the jugs. Guess somebody at the factory was ticked off that GM had reduced potty breaks from one hour down to 59 minutes.

Very true, that. The AACA has been seen, with some justification, as a sort of wheeled-and-well-heeled AARP. The best way to get a start is to inherit a car, but the kind of "inbreeding" that results from that isn't good for the hobby either.

Even so, Ron, try it: Set it on the floor and turn the light on it. You'll be surprised. I was!

Ron, next time take a flashlight and shine it parallel to the floor, as close as you can get it to the floor. The missing part will cast a long shadow thataway and it's easy to spot.

A NY historic registration carries different safety inspection requirements: these cars need only to have their factory-issued equipment in safe, working condition. A regular registration requires pollution control, restraints, sealed beam headlights, 4-wheel brakes, etc.

Well Diz, looks like Dad?s gonna be able to drive his T this summer after all. After getting Brian Higgins? office involved , he received within a week an official statement from the US Customs in Buffalo that he does NOT owe the Feds or anybody else any duty on his car as it is BOTH over 25 years old AND the purchase price is under the threshold set by the government. ?Just bring both reams of paperwork (and your checkbook), take the NY sales tax hit and the license is your?n.? He did and walked away yesterday AM with his historical plates. A non-transferable registration was issued because he has the original Canadian title, which he could transfer over if he feels like any more paperwork hassle. The End. Coming in the next issue: ?Dad Learns to Drive His T? (and with his 5E feet?it ain?t gonna be easy?but oughta be fun!!

'Cept that Dad's T is Canadian-built and has "Made In Canada" all over it. That doesn't change the fact that they ARE wrong about things being Dad's mistake.

Diz, Dad has been in contact with Sen. Cathy Young's office and they were hugely helpful. They promised to contact the Feds in Buffalo on Tuesday and see if they could help straighten it out. No doubt we will have to pay some sort of duty but the nonsense aspect about "avoiding" it and having to pay a penalty or even the threat of having the car seized should disappear. I have worked with Senator Young's husband Richard at my school for 10 years now; in fact he was on the interview committee which hired me in the first place and he is a good friend of mine. Sen. Young straightened out a tax situation for me two years ago within a week of soliciting her help, so with me anyway she has a proven track record. After talking with them Dad is a whole lot calmer. Sen. Young's office seemed totally confident that he wouldn't have to drive all the way back to the port of entry, anyway.

Well Diz, I guess that Big Government got us after all. When we brought Dad?s ?23 back from Canada through US Customs at 12:02 AM, the young officer asked us a bunch of questions about the car (?Can you still get tires for them?? Etc.) and waved us on through. Never even asked to see our meticulously prepared paperwork. Now, when Dad and Mom went to NY DMV to license it, they were accused of having tried to avoid paying duty on it! They told Dad that he had to load the car back on the trailer and go back up to the Queenston-Lewiston entry and do the whole thing all over again, this time paying the proper duty that he?d tried to ?avoid? the first time. I thought he was going to have a stroke. He asked why, if paying duty (which he was totally prepared to do when we came through) was required, why it wasn?t collected when we had the car right there? He voiced the radical, anti-government idea that folks who are paid to do so, i.e. Customs officers, should know the law better than us serfs. He further wondered why it?s always incumbent upon the individual to have to clean up the bureaucracy?s mess at their own expense. Dad pointed out that having to bring the car back up there is going to cost an entire day of his time. The only response was that ?it?s your job to know this stuff.? Dad wondered then: if that?s so, then he should be entitled to a Customs pension upon his retirement. He practically got thrown out of the DMV. He?s still ticked off about it.

Maybe the perception that the AACA is all about exclusiveness, competition, and judging is simply because it's so hard to objectify anything auto-related. "Factory standard" on the other hand is sort of objective and indisputable. Anything else is far too subjective to allow any sort of legitimate competition. Just as, when touring, we all drive by homes with outlandish paint schemes or architecture that makes us shudder. Clearly, the owner/designer feels differently. Cars are so personal to so many people, and modifying to suit one's own taste and/or pocketbook could not ever, in my opinion, be judged against some else doing the same, at least not in any true sense of the word. Maybe the AACA should subdivide, with rods in one division, bone-stock show cars in another, pure drivers in a third group, and what-the-heck-it's-a-car-ain't-it making up a fourth.

They go for around $300 if it's been out in the pasture since '29 up to about $2500 for a really nice one. But there are many variables.

Thanks!

Anybody know when the Dunkirk swap meet is scheduled this year?

Diz, after all the concern of getting Dad's '23 T coupe through Customs, it turned out to be the easiest part of the whole trip. Dad and Andre, the seller, went over the paperwork several times to ensure that all was in order, but when we arrived at the Queenston-Lewiston at midnight, the youthful agent spent most of the 60 seconds it took us to get through making comments about the car and wishing us luck in getting it running. He didn't even ask to see any of the paperwork. Thinking on it later, I guessed that these guys can pretty well tell right away if there's any monkey business afoot. Thanks for your and everyone else's helpful comments received beforehand. Now to get that original old crate running! Dad's only the third owner.

Hi Diz: Let the aggravation commence!!--Dad got his information from Sen McGee's office; he contacted the customs office at the PB and the officious whippersnapper on the line told Dad he'd have to get an EPA emissions statement from Ford before the Model T would be allowed through. Dad did as he was told, and after confusing the heck out of the poor guys at Ford, who seemed to be trying their best to help him comply, Dad gave up after about 45 minutes altogether on "hold." He called the PB back to tell them he'd gotten nowhere, but this time a much older fellow answered his call. He scoffed at the other official's "assistance" and told Dad that all he needed was the registration or title (showing the car's correct serial number), properly signed over to him. He said that since these cars never had any EPA accoutrements when they were new, they didn't need them now. When a bureaucracy gets so unweildy that even experienced officials can't agree on procedure (how often do taxpayers get conflicting advice from the IRS??) and don't themselves know what the correct answers are, it's time to cut the whole mess down to a manageable size so everyone can get on the same page.

Which reminds me of the time my family was returning from the CNE in Toronto: the US customs guy gives Grandad, who was driving, the usual queries. The guy began eying a poke that was on the front seat between Grandad and Granma and demanded to know its contents. Granma truthfully replied that it was just the garbage from our picnic that we had enjoyed on the way home. The fellow reached over Grandad and shoved his arm in it up to his shoulder; he removed it with his uniform sleeve covered with potato salad, jello drippings, banana peels--in short, the garbage that we had said was in there. He angrily thumbed us through after demanding to know why we hadn't disposed of it in Canada. We thought better of telling him that we had hung onto it in case somebody got carsick on the way--a '58 station wagon with so-so shocks didn't ride so good.

Steve, I rebuild all makes of early vibrator coils and have done quite a few Connecticuts. I have a set in for rebuilding in my shop now. Email me at rvmodelt@madbbs.com if you're interested.

Hi Diz: Here's a new twist on things--Dad contacted the office of Sen. Pat McGee and they said they'd take care of everything as far as customs and their paperwork goes. He has been in frequent contact with Ms. McGee's staff re. various other issues so I guess they know him a little bit.

Diz, sorry to be a pain, but how are things at the PB on a Friday evening?? Should I have a sleeping bag in the truck bed?

Thanks, guys; great ideas. Diz, I live in the Southern Tier near Jamestown and will be coming through Buffalo to Canada via the Peace Bridge. Do you recommend returning that way or should we come back through the Lewiston-Queenston bridge?